67.3% of Gyeonggi Residents Consider Eco-Friendliness When Choosing Products

Changes in Green Procurement Performance in the Public and Private Sectors (Left) and Status of Green Products by Usage (Right) Graphic provided by Gyeonggi Research Institute

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] It was found that 67% of Gyeonggi Province residents consider a company's eco-friendly activities when choosing products.

According to the results of the "Green Purchasing Awareness Survey" conducted by the Gyeonggi Research Institute from October 17 to 19 last year on 1,000 residents, 67.3% answered that they "consider" a company's eco-friendly activities when selecting products or services.

Additionally, 68.5% of respondents said they are willing to pay an additional "5-10%" cost compared to regular products when purchasing eco-friendly products.

Furthermore, 94.7% of those who have experience purchasing eco-friendly products (586 people) expressed their intention to repurchase. The most common reason for hesitation in purchasing eco-friendly products (multiple responses allowed) was "higher price compared to regular products" (58.3%). This was followed by ▲lack of variety in product categories (38.7%) ▲lack of information about eco-friendly products (33.2%) ▲lack of stores selling eco-friendly products (29.5%) ▲low trust in quality (13.8%).

Regarding the entities that should make efforts to expand the eco-friendly product market (multiple responses allowed), "government" (60.2%) and "companies" (57%) were mainly selected. In contrast, "consumers" (31.8%), "local governments" (17.7%), "media such as press" (14.5%), and civic groups (4.2%) were relatively fewer.

Lee Jeong-im, a research fellow at the Gyeonggi Research Institute, explained, "Since consumers feel a burden on the price of green products, it is necessary to improve laws and systems that can directly affect the price aspect, such as expanding incentives for green products, increasing budgets, and promoting public-private cooperation."

The Gyeonggi Research Institute also proposed measures to revitalize green purchasing, including ▲activating ESG management including green purchasing using the K-ESG (Korean-style ESG) guidelines ▲expanding the scope of green product certification and increasing small and medium-sized green stores considering consumer needs ▲spreading the "Green Purchasing Usage Labeling System" centered on public and private facilities ▲strengthening education and promotion systems specialized by class centered on the "Green Purchasing Support Center."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.