Dentsu Japan Network Conducts Its Third “Consumer Survey on Carbon Neutrality”

• Consumer awareness of the term “carbon neutrality” has gradually increased to approximately 45%. The figure has increased significantly to around 70%, if those people who responded “I feel like I have seen or heard the term,” which does not quite reach the recognition rate criteria, are included.
• The percentage of consumers who think that efforts toward “carbon neutrality” are necessary has also increased to around 80%.
• Consumers who are working in the manufacturing industry and those who work for large companies are particularly likely to think that it is important for their industry or their company to work on carbon neutrality.

Dentsu Japan Network (President & CEO: Hiroshi Igarashi; Head Office: Tokyo, hereinafter referred to as “DJN”) conducted its third “Consumer Survey on Carbon Neutrality” (hereinafter referred to as “the survey”) from September 3 to 5, 2021. The survey was carried out by its DJN Sustainability Development Office and Dentsu Team SDGs, both of which promote sustainability projects across the Dentsu Group, and the respondents were 1,400 people across Japan with an age range spanning people in their teens to those in their 70s.

In this survey, DJN conducted a comparative analysis with the results of the two previous surveys held in April and June 2021 with regard to the awareness of consumers in Japan toward “decarbonization” and “carbon neutrality,” which are important themes both in Japan and abroad, and the 14 priority fields identified in the “Green Growth Strategy Through Achieving Carbon Neutrality in 2050” announced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In addition, this time DJN also conducted a survey of consumer attitudes toward the industries working to realize carbon neutrality. This survey will continue to be conducted and published on a regular basis.

Main Findings

1. The carbon neutrality recognition rate^*1 has gradually increased to approximately 45%. The figure has increased significantly to around 70%, if those people who responded “I feel like I have seen or heard the term,” which does not quite reach the recognition rate criteria, are included.
2. The percentage of consumers who think that efforts toward carbon neutrality are necessary*2 has increased to around 80%.
3. There is an increased interest or willingness to participate in 4 of the 14 priority areas.
4. Approximately 60% of consumers think that it is necessary to work on carbon neutrality in their own company or their own industry, while only around 50% think that their company or their industry will actively work on it in the future. When the responses are sorted by industry type and company size, the awareness of initiatives is particularly high among consumers who are working in the manufacturing industry and those who work for large companies.
5. From the viewpoint of consumers and users, factors such as “support, “trust” and “use” rank particularly high in their evaluation of companies working on carbon neutrality, and television commercials are the most common opportunity to learn about which companies are working on it.
6. The permissible level of an increase in spending on the products and services of companies that are working on carbon neutrality was a low rate (+1–5%) for those involved in living infrastructure and a high rate (+6% or more) for those involved in hobbies and tastes.
7. In order to increase the intention of consumers to use the products and services of companies that are actively engaged in carbon-neutral activities, it is important to cultivate a sense of trust through promoting and/or engaging in its sustainability.

Notes

*1: Recognition (rate) is the ratio of the total number of consumers who answered “I understand the content” or “I only know the words” to the total number of respondents.

*2: After answering the questions that led to Findings 1, all of the respondents acknowledged the content of the explanations given in the questionnaire before proceeding to answer the questions that led to Findings 2.

- Since the composition ratio (%) in this survey is rounded off to the second decimal place, the total may not add up to 100%.

Media inquiries:

Shusaku Kannan
Executive Director
Group Corporate Communications Office
Dentsu Group Inc.
Telephone: +81 (3) 6217-6602
E-mail: s.kannan@dentsu.co.jp