Environment & Sustainability

Research Ink conducted its 2024 Australian Consumers’ Sustainability Study, exploring the role of sustainability in Australians’ purchasing attitudes and behaviours.
MMResearch built on this study through follow-up qualitative research to deepen understanding of how less-engaged consumers think about sustainability. The research explored attitudes, beliefs and motivations that sit behind sustainable purchasing, particularly among those who express concern but do not prioritise sustainability in their purchasing decisions.
Full details of our project can be found here.
We conducted a series of online group discussions with Victorians who fell into two segments identified in the quantitative study, which MMResearch simplified into Concerned and Passive consumers.
We aimed to identify the factors that would motivate these groups to engage more with sustainable purchasing, and to understand what it would take to shift them towards taking more sustainable action.
The research was compiled into a report titled Sustainability Attitudes: Shifting consumers towards more sustainable purchasing, outlining our findings on sustainability perceptions, personal relevance, motivations, barriers, social norms and influences, responsibility and impact, confidence, and response to marketing, as well as a section on facilitating sustainable purchases.

Access to the full report can be requested here.

The Global Cooksafe Coalition and Action Speaks Louder are working on a campaign to encourage consumers to switch from cooking with gas at home to using electric instead.
We were commissioned to undertake a program of research to provide target audience insights to assist this process, exploring awareness and perceptions of the impact of gas cooking on health and climate change.
We also looked at messages that have the potential to encourage people to consider changing from gas to electric cooking.
This project involved both a quantitative and a qualitative component.
We conducted a series of group discussions with parents who had children living at home. All participants were homeowners, including a mix of both detached houses and apartments, who all used gas cooktops in their homes.
Sampling and segmentation were informed by the earlier quantitative phase of the project, which identified population segments most likely to be receptive to messages about transitioning from gas to electric cooking.
Insights from this research are contributing to the Global Cooksafe Coalition’s ongoing work to build public understanding of the health and climate risks associated with gas cooking and to support a broader shift toward safe, sustainable electric cooking.
More information about their work can be found here.

The Climate Council was looking to develop communication guides and messages to encourage greater support for active and public transport.
They wanted to explore attitudes to active and public transport, and to explore transport behaviours to the extent that these affect support for advocacy. The project also aimed to identify and explore the factors that contribute to people supporting advocacy aimed at encouraging government spending on public and active transport.
We conducted a series of group discussions with metropolitan residents in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, who were not already daily public transport or bicycle commuters, allowing the research to focus on those less engaged with active or public transport options.
We explored attitudes and behaviours related to active and public transport, and evaluated a range of draft messages. Messages were assessed in relation to comprehension, acceptance and believability, and their potential to increase support for advocacy encouraging government spending on active and public transport.
This research was used by the Climate Council to develop a communications guide on how to effectively talk about active and public transport, titled ‘Send the right signal’.
The guide draws on the findings to show which messages are most likely to be understood, accepted, and believed, and how to build support for increased government spending on public and active transport.
A copy of the guide can be found here.

The Climate Council wanted to develop a communications strategy for reshaping the national conversation around climate change and economic renewal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic induced recession. The intention of the strategy was to develop an approach to messaging that would position climate action as the key to creating good jobs, and the only path to a strong economic recovery.
The research provided target audience insights to inform the development of positively framed climate action messages.
The project involved a series of group discussions with men and women aged 25-60 from key target audiences, including those who had previously supported the Federal Coalition parties, but had become uncomfortable about their climate policies, blue collar workers and rural audiences.
This research was used by the Climate Council to develop a communications guide that provides practical advice about how to effectively talk about climate change, titled ‘Just get on with it’, with a particular focus on ensuring that the issue is not lost in discussions during a global pandemic and recession.
A copy of the guide can be found here.