Canalys Asks Who is Willing to Pay More for 'Green' Technology

Greg Galitzine : Green Blog
Greg Galitzine
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Canalys Asks Who is Willing to Pay More for 'Green' Technology

With all the talk about ‘being green’ these days, it can be easy to forget that environmentally-conscious products may cost more to make and/or buy, in terms of dollars, than their less earth-friendly counterparts. Industry research firm Canalys recently decided to take a closer look at this topic.
 
During April, Canalys conducted an online survey of more than 2,000 employed, adult mobile phone and PC users in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The first asked these respondents if they would pay more for technology products and services produced in a ‘green’ manner.
 
By ‘green,’ Canalys here meant products and services for which manufacturers/providers made reducing the impact on global warming a focus. The firm noted that, although many types of technology can help businesses and consumers reduce their carbon footprint, this benefit may be offset by the emissions resulting from the creation of the products/services in question.
 
Of the consumers surveyed, 55 percent agreed or strongly agreed that they would pay up to 10 percent more for electronic products manufactured in an environmentally-conscious way.
 
Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham noted that more people probably will say they’re willing to pay more than actually will. But, with 11 percent of respondents strongly agreeing to the concept of paying up to 10 percent more, it’s likely that the actual percentage is somewhere between 11 and 55 percent.
 
“We will be monitoring this issue closely in future surveys to see the effect growing awareness of environmental concerns is having on consumer buying behaviour,” Cunningham said in a statement.
 
While gender and income seemed to have little impact on how people answered the question, their age and where they live did matter. The older respondents were, the less likely to be willing to pay more (67 percent of those age 15-17 said yes, versus only 49 percent of those age 50 and older).
 
Regionally, respondents from the UK were least likely to consider ‘greenness’ be worth paying more (44 percent versus 66 percent of Italians, 61 percent of French, and more than 50 percent of Germans and Spanish).
 
So, it’s worth asking: are you willing to pay more for ‘green’ technology?


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