Pull Factor 2025: Relevance Requires Evidence of Impact.
Consumers expect visible action on climate, equity, and trust.
A Culture Rewritten by Climate
Climate change has moved from distant threat to daily experience. PwC’s 2024 survey shows 85% of consumers already feel its impact in their lives. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, disrupted food systems, these are now lived realities, not future risks.
This shift explains why nearly 80% say they are willing to pay 9.7% more for sustainable products. When the environment is no longer abstract, consumers begin to treat sustainable choices as baseline, not luxury.
The Expectation Gap
BBMG + GlobeScan’s 2025 study uncovered a paradox: 77% of Gen Z admit to being inactive or indifferent on sustainability in their own habits, yet their expectations of brands are higher than any other group. This generational stance transfers responsibility upward. People may not always act, but they demand companies lead.
That expectation translates into market behavior: Sustainable Brands’ 2025 segmentation found 74% of consumers switched brands in the past six months for options they judged more responsible. The idea that sustainability is “nice to have” has collapsed.
Proof Over Posture
GlobeScan’s 2025 polling shows 49% of Americans bought an environmentally friendly product in the last month, the highest level recorded. PwC highlights the drivers: recycled content, nature-positive production, and visible supply chain transparency.
These are operational signals, not advertising claims. Consumers want evidence embedded in the product itself, packaging, ingredients, sourcing. Quality, price, and convenience still decide entry, but trust in values and proof of action now determine preference.
Where Behavior Meets Market
The Pull Factor framework remains useful because it identifies nine behaviors that tie personal life to systemic impact: low-carbon living, waste elimination, mindful consumption, resilience building, regenerative diets, durability, food and water waste reduction, circularity, and ingredient simplicity. These are not abstract aspirations, they are markets already moving:
Budweiser: contracts renewable electricity at scale; its 2019 Super Bowl campaign signaled a permanent pivot to wind power.
IKEA: phased out incandescent bulbs globally by 2015–2016, normalizing efficient lighting at mass-market price.
H&M: collected over 20,000 tonnes of garments for reuse and recycling in a single year, equivalent to more than 100 million T-shirts.
PepsiCo: committed to a 35% cut in virgin plastic by 2025 across its beverage portfolio, embedding circularity into packaging strategy.
These examples show scale moves, not pilots. Each resets consumer expectations for its category.
Culture Moves Faster Than Regulation
Legislation lags. Consumer culture shifts faster, propelled by images and accessible alternatives.
Viral visuals of plastic waste, mainstream plant-based meals like the Impossible Whopper, and renewable energy announcements in mass media have driven awareness into habit.
When consumers see brands delivering alternatives at scale, adoption follows, often faster than policy can mandate.
Takeaways
85% of people feel climate impacts today, embedding urgency in daily life.
80% will pay more for sustainable products, proof of mainstream value shift.
49% of U.S. consumers bought green products last month, moving beyond niche.
74% switched brands in six months for better social or environmental performance.
Gen Z expects brands to lead, even if they lag in personal behavior.
Bottom Line
2025 data shows that sustainability is no longer differentiation, it is entry criteria. Relevance now depends on whether brands prove action in ways consumers can see, touch, and buy. The winners will not be those that market intent but those that operationalize it.
