Changing consumer behavior

None of us is untouched by the rapid pace at which the natural resources are getting depleted. A major contributor to this would be the manufacturing agencies who develop materials to fulfill the demands of the consumers which exerts pressure on the natural resources thereby affecting the environment adversely. The purchasing power of the consumers has increased about 40% in the last four decades.

Consciousness needs to be developed amongst the consumers to shift their preferences towards sustainable and greener products and services along with capping their resource consumption thereby reducing the burden on the resource pool. Majority of the consumers are under the impression that sustainable products are expensive and acts as the greatest barrier in the adoption of sustainable materials. Policy interventions are thus required to encourage and motivate the manufacturers for mass scale production of these materials in order to make them competitive in the market.

This session aims to bring about the various stakeholders to deliberate on the initiatives which should be adopted to bring about a change in the behavior of consumers through the process of legislation, marketing and education thereby relieving the stress on the existing resources.