The Numbers

For the sixth consecutive year, the development in consumer interest (measured here by the share of consumers actively discussing sustainability topics) is stable. There is a slight decline since 2025, but the majority of consumers are still expressing a clear interest.

The past six years are a clear indication that sustainability is integrated, expected and a part of the new normal for consumers. Otherwise, the numbers would fluctuate much more, like they did between 2013–2020, when macro events like the Paris Climate Meeting (2015), Donald Trump's first term (2017) and Greta Thunberg and Climate Activism (2019), heavily affected the numbers.

There have been major events over the past six years, but sustainability interest remains stable. The slight decrease in numbers is to be expected due to less sustainability focus in the media in general and less communication from companies (as seen in the communication numbers further below).

When we ask consumers to assess how sustainability impacts their purchasing decisions, we see a continuation of the decline that started roughly four years ago. It is a small decline, but over time, indicating that the challenging economy for people, along with less communication from companies have decreased the sense of urgency.

It is a straight-forward logic: companies communicate less about something, consumers then feel less urgency, and the impact on their purchasing decisions go down.

Our four Behaviour Groups, Ego, Moderate, Smart and Dedicated, are also a good way of deriving the state of sustainability among consumers.

According to psychological models for crisis response (e.g. Threat-Rigidity Theory), individuals tend to withdraw and prioritise their own safety and finances when the outside world is perceived as uncertain. Consumers in 2026 will only choose the sustainable option if it is also the financially smart choice. Judging by the development of the Ego group, it rarely is at the moment.

Consumer attitudes towards sustainability communication remain consistently positive, with steady figures for the period 2024–2026. The same goes for consumer trust in communication, which remains consistently negative. In The Netherlands, this negative trend strengthens.

Consumers also feel that there is less communication about sustainability from companies, as the perceived frequency continues to decrease. This is a clear trend in Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands year on year, but also in Denmark and Finland since last year.