In 2020, China announced to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Carbon peak and carbon neutral were written into the government work report for the first time at this year's Two Sessions. Chinese government’s green campaign resolution has awakened Chinese people’s environmental protection awareness. They are inspired and become willing to embrace a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

During the 2021 FBIC Global Food Beverage Innovation Conference held from May 19-21 in Shanghai, we have seen a noteworthy trend that more innovative food brands are highlighting sustainability as a prominent feature in their positioning and communications with consumers.

Chinese consumer trend: environmental actions are becoming routine

According to Kantar, in 2021, the global food industry shows five major consumption trends: brands’ shift to online, diversified in-house consumption scenarios, food with more functions, the polarization of consumption choices, and routine environmental protection actions.

Although Chinese consumers have always been the least concerned about sustainability in the global market and do not give priority to this factor in the selection of products and brands, they begin to pay more attention to sustainability and environmental protection due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Impacted by the epidemic, more consumers have started to reflect on the relationship between human beings and nature. The environmental concept gains popularity at a faster rate than we’ve seen before. In 2020, China's environmental protection activists accounted for 20%¹, reaching the global average. High-income people in the first and second tier cities, with high spending power and consumption willingness, are the main force.

The young generation, who are growing up with a global and forward-looking vision, is a promising group as they have formed a long-term view of people’s influence on the planet and prefer to choose brands that align with their values and behaviors. As they have become a key pillar in the Chinese consumer market, they prefer brands that embody the concept of sustainable development.

Brands’ efforts in China

OATLY

Swedish oat milk brand OATLY has driven the trend of oat milk consumption in China. Zhang Chun, president of Oatly Asia, said in Global Food Beverage Innovation Conference (FBIC) that sustainable development was a big idea rooted in the brand and products. Oatly’s production process can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, land use by 79%, and energy consumption by 60%². 

In regard to sustainable development in China, Zhang said that the brand encountered setbacks when using sustainability and environmental protection as the selling points in China in 2018. Chinese consumers paid little attention to the idea and were not willing to pay for it.

However, the epidemic has made many consumers aware of the significance of sustainability. Last year, Oatly joined the Good Good campaign initiated by Starbucks China to encourage consumers to explore an environmentally friendly lifestyle that is "good for themselves and good for the planet." Earlier this year, it cooperated with LELECHA, China’s leading store-made tea chain brand, to launch the environment-themed co-branding campaign.

The Good Good campaign.

Zhang predicted that sustainability would become a prominent part of the brand’s branding and marketing, and sustainable development would become a business model, a way of life and a culture in the future.

Chicecream

Chinese high-end ice cream brand Chicecream’s founder Lin Sheng also highlighted the importance of sustainable development in the brand’s growth.

According to him, Chicecream strives to achieve "zero addition" in the ice cream, without adding flavor and pigment, and without stabilizers, emulsifiers, and colloids in most products. The ice cream stick is made of natural straw, which is degradable and pollution-free. All the above characteristics meet the consumers' pursuit of environmental protection.

CHOCDAY 

Lin Xi, the co-founder of the Chinese chocolate brand CHOCDAY, said that sustainable development is a value CHOCDAY is consistently delivering. The brand has tried to make all the products produced with clean energy. The contact food packaging they use is a plant fiber developed in Europe in 2019, which can be degraded and metabolized in the land.

Lin also stated that CHOCDAY is the youngest brand among the top 20 brands that have made the most significant contributions to sustainable development in China. This year, the brand plans to cooperate with forest restoration agencies to help make the earth better.