Does green awareness and information make consumers green?
Student name: Ms Sayantani Chakravarty
Guide: Dr Nidhi Pande
Year of completion: 2014
Host Organisation: TERI University
Abstract: The increasing pressure on the existing resources of the planet has necessitated adoption of
more environmentally sustainable behaviours. Green consumption is one such activity. This
paper seeks to examine the impact of an individual’s environmental awareness and given
information about a product on their purchase decision. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India
has mandated energy labelling in the form of stars for air conditioners. The energy label
provides information on energy efficiency of an air conditioner and associated cost savings. An
air conditioner with a higher star rating is more energy efficient and hence considered greener.
Using primary data of 328 students, the study estimates the marginal willingness to pay for an
extra star using a discrete choice survey under different information representation techniques.
An environmental awareness score for all individuals is also estimated. The study finds that
provision of green information about a product range is likely to result in a more
environmentally friendly purchase. It also finds that information about personal benefits
accruing to the consumer is more likely to result in a greener purchase. Whereas, information
about benefits accruing to everybody is more effective in increasing the marginal willingness
to pay. However, only a very low degree of correlation was found between a consumer’s
existing level of environmental awareness and the choice of a greener air conditioner.
