Environmental sustainability a top concern for Gen Z, millennials as they push businesses to take climate action: Deloitte

Most respondents believe businesses should do more to enable consumers to make more sustainable decisions
Nearly eight out of 10 believe governments should play a bigger role in pushing companies to address climate change

Business of climate change

Martin Choi

Published: 7:30am, 17 May 2024

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Environmental sustainability is a leading concern for the younger generation, and they have been pushing businesses to take more action on climate change, according to a Deloitte survey.

Around six out of 10 Generation Z (Gen Z) and millennials had reported feeling anxious or worried about climate change within the previous month, while the majority believe businesses should do more to enable consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions, said the findings of Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey released on Wednesday.

The study of thousands of people globally defines Gen Z as people born between January 1995 and December 2005, while millennial respondents were born between January 1983 and December 1994.

“Protecting the environment is the societal challenge where respondents feel businesses have the greatest opportunity and necessary influence to drive change,” said Deloitte in the report. “And Gen Zs and millennials are pushing business to do so, through their career decisions and their consumer behaviours.”

One member of the Gen Z clan is Tiger Yung, the 24-year-old founder of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) start-up who tries to help firms transition to more sustainable business practices and drive “meaningful change” in his career.

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“Corporates have a responsibility to do more so that customers can make more sustainable purchasing decisions,” he told the Post.

Yung co-founded Green Point Data Solutions, an ESG platform which aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises improve their sustainability performance.

“Corporates have acquired a lot of saleable resources in the process of building up their companies, so they should use their influence to help society,” he said.

Some eight out of 10 respondents in Deloitte’s survey believe that businesses could and should do more to enable consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions.

Two in 10 Gen Zs and millennials said they had already changed jobs or industries to better align their work with their environmental values, with another quarter of both cohorts planning to do so in the future, the survey found.

Seven out of 10 said environmental credentials and policies are important when considering a potential employer.

Respondents have also been pushing businesses to be more sustainable by making eco-conscious decisions about consumption and the brands they will or will not engage with.

Three in 10 from both generations said they conduct research on a company’s environmental impact and policies before buying from them, while around two thirds are willing to pay more to buy environmentally sustainable products or services.

A quarter of the survey respondents said they have at some point either cut ties completely with a company or partially severed a relationship with a business because of unsustainable practices in its supply chain.

Deloitte surveyed 14,468 Gen Zs and 8,373 millennials from 44 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, between 24 November and 11 March.

The overwhelming majority of both generations, some 73 per cent of Gen Zs and 77 per cent of millennials, said they have taken action to minimise their own impact on the environment.

Nearly eight out of 10 believe governments should play a bigger role in pushing businesses to address climate change.

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