A Better Way to Market Sustainable Products

Overview

Despite growing consumer preference for sustainable products, many companies face challenges capturing this market’s full potential. Key hurdles include proving growth and price premium justifications, balancing sustainability with other product features, and gaining customer trust amid complex, competing sustainability claims and certifications.

The Business Case for Sustainability

Research by NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) and PwC, based on 12 years of US point-of-sale data in 36 consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories (about 40% of the CPG market), reveals impressive growth in sustainability-marketed products:

• From 2019 to 2024, sustainability-oriented product sales grew at 12.3% annually—over twice the pace of conventional products.
• By 2024, these products represented 23.8% of total sales in monitored categories.
• Price premiums are significant: PwC’s 2024 consumer survey shows willingness to pay an average 9.7% more for sustainable products.
• CSB data finds actual premiums averaging 26.6%, with some paper products exceeding 100%, and coffee, cereal, and chocolate brands around 50% premiums.

Strategies to Maximize Value from Sustainable Products

1. Understand Customer Segments and Product Categories

• Higher purchase rates among millennials, college-educated shoppers, urban residents, and high-income consumers.
• Sustainability products hold strong shares in key categories like dairy across all ages.
• Identify target groups and categories where sustainability attributes align with consumer priorities.

2. Amplify Appeal by Layering Sustainability with Core Product Benefits

• Successful marketing merges the product’s main appeal (taste, quality, efficacy) with 1–2 compelling sustainability messages.
• Research jointly conducted by CSB and Edelman shows this combination boosts product appeal by 30 percentage points.
• Example: For skincare, emphasize “formulated with sustainable ingredients that are good for your skin” linking benefit and sustainability.

3. Prioritize Consumer-Valued Claims and Provide Clear Evidence

• Most trusted claims emphasize direct consumer benefits such as:
  • Protecting human health (no harmful ingredients)
  • Saving money
  • Supporting local farms and future generations
  • Animal welfare
  • Locally or sustainably sourced ingredients
• Less effective claims relate to biodegradability, traceability, packaging (except all-recycled content), and certifications alone.
• Certification seals support validation but need complementary messaging to be persuasive.
• Avoid vague terms like “clean,” “natural,” or “safe,” which are prone to legal challenges.
• Companies should track evolving regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Green Claims Directive requiring scientific evidence for environmental claims.

Regulatory Landscape and Best Practices

Ongoing changes in sustainability legislation, particularly in the European Union, demand robust value chain analysis and traceability to substantiate claims and avoid litigation. Building these capabilities ensures credibility and consumer trust, safeguarding brand integrity.

Conclusion

Marketing sustainable products effectively requires:

• Clarifying the robust business case through data-backed evidence of growth and price premiums.
• Crafting marketing messages that harmonize core product benefits with well-chosen, consumer-trusted sustainability claims.
• Providing precise, transparent evidence aligned with emerging regulatory requirements.

These strategies enable brands to connect authentically with customers, leverage sustainability as a growth driver, and build long-term loyalty in an increasingly eco-conscious market.

Authors:
Tensie Whelan, Distinguished Professor at NYU Stern and Founding Director of CSB
David Linich, Principal at PwC US, expert in decarbonization and sustainable operations

Data source: Circana’s point-of-sale data and PwC consumer surveys, 2019–2024.

Design Delight Studio curates high-impact, authoritative insights into sustainable and organic product trends, helping conscious consumers and innovative brands stay ahead in a fast-evolving green economy.