Does inflation make Quebec consumers more respectful of the environment? It’s hard to say, according to the 2022 Responsible Consumption Barometer published on Wednesday. On the one hand, Quebecers have restricted their purchases of goods; on the other hand, they choose less local and sustainable products, perceived as being expensive.
A sample of 1,000 people was selected to respond via the Internet, at the end of September, to questions about their habits. However, 57.3% of respondents indicated that they had reduced their consumption in the last month, an increase of 9.2 percentage points compared to the similar study published in 2021. The reason given by 90.5% of them is rising prices.
“This year, the inflationary crisis is having a positive effect on consumption,” says Fabien Durif, director of the Responsible Consumption Observatory at UQAM, which led the annual research.
Clothing, shoes and accessories, as well as packaged food products, are among the most neglected goods. The consumption of red meat, the production of which is particularly harmful to the environment, would also have been limited by more respondents than last year, reaching 46.1% of respondents.
“What is less encouraging is that since the start of the pandemic, we saw a slowdown in lifestyles, with the “homemade” which had progressed, expresses Mr. Durif, referring in particular to gardening and DIY. . There, we see a stagnation of these habits, even a decline. »
The craze for buying local would have decreased by 8 percentage points since 2021. Consumers frequently choosing products with a low environmental impact, such as green household cleaning products, recycled toilet paper or fair trade accessories, would have gone from 49% to 46%.
“We are not in a major fall of the eco-responsible sector, compared to the European market on the organic, on the bulk. They have falls, these are the first times that these markets have fallen, nuance Mr. Durif however. Here, we feel a contraction, but we will have to see what happens in the longer term. »
In recent years, Quebecers’ perception of responsible consumption has changed, to be based mainly on optimization, that is to say, avoiding waste, waste and packaging, and extending the life of objects, through repair, reuse and sharing.
Mr. Durif concludes that it is difficult to predict what the responsible consumption trends will be in the coming years and to identify ways to engage citizens more. “It is unheard of to suffer such a health crisis followed by an energy and economic crisis at the same time. All of this has an impact on our lifestyles and consumption patterns, ”he said.