Companies must lead climate change fight: consumers

Most consumers want companies to do more to protect the environment and reckon that firms should play a leading role in fighting global warming, a worldwide survey showed Tuesday.

The poll, of 28,000 Internet users in 51 nations by The Nielsen Company, showed that corporate commitment to green ethics is playing "an increasingly influential role in consumers' purchasing behavior," Nielsen said.

The survey showed that 51 percent of respondents considered it "very important" for firms to improve the environment and another 36 "somewhat important."

Nielsen said it was the first worldwide poll of company ethics and corporate responsibility.

"A 'global conscience' is one of the biggest trends to have emerged in the last decade," said Amilcar Perez, a vice president of the Nielsen Company in Latin America.

The survey was carried out in May, before current financial turmoil.It was unclear whether economic slowdown would undermine environmental concerns, Timmons Roberts, a professor of Sociology at the College of William and Mary in Virginia involved in the poll, told Reuters.

"It's hard to tell. For some consumers who buy fair trade coffee, for instance, it may now part of their budget," he said.

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Source: Reuters