Source page: McKinsey & Company

Commentary

Visual form

Stacked Bar / Stacked Column: Likert-style sustainability-behavior bars for European consumers.

Layout / body structure

The visual has three vertical stacked columns, one for each sustainability statement. Agreement segments rise above the baseline, disagreement segments fall below it, and each column uses the same response-scale structure.

What is being compared

It compares European consumers’ reported changes in sustainable behavior during the COVID-19 crisis, covering environmental lifestyle changes, recycling, and purchasing environmentally friendly packaging.

Measurement system

The bars show percent of respondents across strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree.

Visible structure inside the graphic

Positive agreement segments are larger than negative segments in all three columns. Recycling and environmentally friendly packaging show especially strong positive agreement.

Main takeaway from the visual

The chart shows that many European consumers reported more sustainable behavior early in the pandemic. The positive side of the response scale dominates each statement.

Key standout values or extremes

Positive agreement totals are about 57 percent for lifestyle changes, 67 percent for going out of the way to recycle, and 61 percent for buying environmentally friendly packaging.

Controls / sequence, when applicable

This is a static Likert-style stacked-column chart; there are no in-chart controls to operate.

Companion media, when applicable

There is no separate companion audio or video; the sustainability-behavior chart is the full visual on this page.


Europeans turned to a more eco-friendly way of life early in pandemic

COVID-19 | Sustainability | Consumer | Europe

July 31, 2020 – The majority of UK and German consumers surveyed in April 2020—57 percent—said they had significantly changed their lifestyles to benefit the environment. And more than 60 percent reported making it a point to recycle and seek out products with environmentally friendly packaging.

During the COVID-19 crisis, consumers have already changed their behavior to achieve sustainability goals.

To read the survey, see “Survey: Consumer sentiment on sustainability in fashion,” July 17, 2020.


customizer here