Customers happy to go green, but not if it costs

Despite growing concern for the environment, people aren’t prepared to pay more for green products, technology, media and telecoms executives told an industry summit this week. Ideas are multiplying for ways to save energy, increase recycling and use more environmentally friendly materials, but such measures could not be implemented fully unless consumers accepted at least some of the cost, the executives said. “If the individual is not willing to pay a little more for the environment, don’t expect the industry to do it,” said Russell Ellwanger, chief executive of Israeli chip maker Tower Semiconductor. “Industry has a responsibility but the one who needs to be responsible is the individual,” Ellwanger told the Reuters Global Technology, Telecoms and Media Summit in Paris. The impact of such companies on the environment is less visible than that of heavier industries, such as oil and gas producers or car manufacturers, but they are big consumers of energy and harmful materials as well. Environmental issues have come under the spotlight as a growing number of scientists defend the idea that humans are responsible for climate change. “People start realising that this not just something to do to be hip but that it is absolutely necessary,” said Barbara Schaedler, chief marketing officer of Fujitsu-Siemens Computers. Some executives noted how quickly the environment had emerged as a top concern and they were being asked increasingly what they planned to do about it. “I had never been asked that question until three months ago. This is the second time in the last week,” said Miles Flint, president of phone maker Sony Ericsson. “It is clearly becoming more of an issue on people’s agendas.” Image source: itpro.co.uk

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company: Tower Semiconductor, Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, Sony Ericsson, United Business Media | Source: IT Pro / Reuters