--- title: Consumers Don’t Buy Corporate Blame Shifting on Climate description: A new survey shows that consumers think companies have the most responsibility to tackle climate change canonical: https://time.com/6986626/consumers-individual-action-climate-change/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-06-07T15:29:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:44:50.313Z article:section: Climate og:title: Consumers Don’t Buy Corporate Blame Shifting on Climate og:description: A new survey shows that consumers think companies have the most responsibility to tackle climate change og:url: https://time.com/6986626/consumers-individual-action-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d4e146bc34c1d0/698a57a99862f5f89b895cbb/recycling-cop27-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Consumers Don’t Buy Corporate Blame Shifting on Climate twitter:description: A new survey shows that consumers think companies have the most responsibility to tackle climate change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d4e146bc34c1d0/698a57a99862f5f89b895cbb/recycling-cop27-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Consumers Don’t Buy Corporate Blame Shifting on Climate > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 7, 2024 3:29 PM UTC  A man cleans up recycle bins at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCC) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on November 7, 2022. A man cleans up recycle bins at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCC) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on November 7, 2022. Mohamed Abdel Hamid/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 7, 2024 3:29 PM UTC One of the most pervasive misunderstandings I hear in some corporate circles is that consumers really don’t care about climate change because, by and large, they aren’t willing to pay much to address it. To make this argument, skeptics of corporate climate action often point to the mounds of evidence showing that most consumers prioritize price over sustainability in their buying decisions. It is true—and unsurprising—that price remains the top concern for most consumers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t care at all. Indeed, surveys suggest that consumers do care about climate change. They just don’t think it’s their responsibility to address it. In a recent poll asking who bears responsibility for climate change, respondents answered decisively: companies, first and foremost, are responsible. In the June 4 University of Chicago [survey, ](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=5c9bd625a9d16334c02e560b3c10c1259e7d6abf96535c7ef484fa39377ad40484b670f2a65040927496c29c20bf5e8ae594f12506fabb37b62db4f9e22a9290)62% of respondents said that industry bears significant responsibility in cutting emissions. That’s followed closely by 59% who say the same about the federal government. (I am the journalism fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago). [Another survey](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=5c9bd625a9d16334bb480f62aee0cfa88ea4d45cea0317e154616567ca1389937881454ebc2f4d3ef06c002e7e0f4efad05d9f1487e45fdb589b310d20db462b) released earlier this year by the consulting firm EY found that two-thirds of American consumers think that they have already done enough to address climate change and that energy companies should take the lead in reducing energy consumption. An economics-minded reader might balk at the apparent contradiction in these findings. Companies can offer more climate friendly products in a range of industries right now without any further technological breakthroughs, but those costs would ultimately hit consumers in one way or another. In other words, consumers can’t have their cake and eat it, too. But the findings are nonetheless worth reflecting on. For one, they throw cold water on the long-running campaigns by some companies and industry groups aimed at convincing individuals to take responsibility for climate change. Despite decades of pushing that message, only 41% of respondents to the Chicago survey said individuals bear significant responsibility for addressing climate change. Extrapolate a little further, and the findings help make the case for companies to find ways to prioritize sustainability. For one, it’s worth noting that some consumers [say](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=5c9bd625a9d16334e32810386f56325835e784c5ec19f475c91b59815f5a649dc5768f8237477e69e48cea19658232662807d17d8e5292afec4b02bdf82f096a) they are willing to pay a sustainability premium, if only a small one. And behavioral economists have found that companies can effectively “ [nudge"](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=5c9bd625a9d163343cc63c89c66540c7193b7f462bc78897bf29ae9e189e30cce465c4ce9fad9ee25925b5bd101e30ef0fb328f7ac8308dad8e1a42a387a577c) consumers into greener choices—think of making the default option the more sustainable one. Even consumers who aren’t willing to pay a premium for sustainability right now may see a company’s green products as a differentiator when the cost comes down. In the long run, as more and more companies invest in sustainability efforts, sustainability metrics are likely to become less of a “nice-to-have” and more of a baseline for entry. Threading the cost and sustainability needle isn’t always easy, but it’s increasingly necessary. _To get this story in your inbox, subscribe to the TIME CO2 Leadership Report newsletter_ [_here_](https://www.time.com/co2-newsletter)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6986626/consumers-individual-action-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6986626/consumers-individual-action-climate-change/"},"headline":"Consumers Don’t Buy Corporate Blame Shifting on Climate","datePublished":"2024-06-07T15:29:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:44:50.313Z","description":"A new survey shows that consumers think companies have the most responsibility to tackle climate change","url":"https://time.com/6986626/consumers-individual-action-climate-change/","keywords":["Leadership Report"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d4e146bc34c1d0/698a57a99862f5f89b895cbb/recycling-cop27-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d4e146bc34c1d0/698a57a99862f5f89b895cbb/recycling-cop27-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt","caption":"Seven different types of trash bins—including plastic cans, food and general trash—at the 2022 UN climate conference","creditText":"Mohamed Abdel Hamid/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/co2-leadership-report/","name":"Leadership Report"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6986626/consumers-individual-action-climate-change/","name":"Consumers Don’t Buy Corporate Blame Shifting on Climate"}}]}] ```