Nearly a quarter of young Brits seek to make their parents buy environmentally friendly products

Last month’s COP28 UN climate summit was most notable for its landmark formal agreement among nations to transition away from coal, oil and gas. Some observers see it as a historic step forward on climate change, whilst others remain sceptical about the practical impacts it will have.

Any consequences of climate change will in particular affect the nation’s youth, who will have to live with its realities in the coming decades. So how do they engage with environmental issues today and what does this mean for brands?

Latest data from our Youth TGI study reveals that agreement among British 11-14 year olds with the statement ‘Everybody has a responsibility to protect the environment’ is robust at 72%. Similarly, only 15% of 11-14 year olds believe that there is too much concern with the environment, which is lower than the 20% figure among Britain’s adults. However, these figures, along with some other environmental-related attitudes, have changed little, if at all, across recent years.

Some of the most committed young environmentalists are those who say they try to make their parents buy environmentally friendly products. 

22% of 11-14 year olds say they try to do this and this is a group that is particularly likely to be proactive about making their own purchase decisions, making them potentially valuable to brands to reach them directly with advertising and marketing.

Those 11-14 year olds who try to make their parents buy environmentally friendly products are particularly likely, relative to others in their age group, to be heavy consumers of newspapers, magazines/comics and TV viewing. 

This is reflected in the media-related attitudes with which they are especially likely to agree.