This is a discussion on how a change in consumer preferences can be both a risk and an opportunity for a company’s sustainability journey.

Several years ago, while traveling in the middle east, I asked for a cup of lemon tea. My expectation was a tea bag with hot water. Instead, they made the tea with garden mint, a slice of ginger, a wedge of lemon and a touch of honey. Yum. There was no way I could go back to a plain old tea bag. The experience permanently altered my tea preferences.

That meant locating fresh mint throughout the year. At first, I bought pre-packaged mint, the kind you can find in an herb section of a typical grocery store if you time your visit right. When the mint was available, it was expensive and short-lived in freshness. Plus, the annoying packaging did not give me Zen vibes.

So, I switched to a mint plant that I keep in my kitchen, enabling me to harvest the leaves whenever I want and having them as fresh and delicious as can be. I no longer buy the prepackaged mint muddle.

The risk to the pre-packaged mint supplier is that they did not adapt to my evolving preferences, losing me as a customer, possibly forever. And although I’m one person, there is a risk that many more customers will opt out because the product isn’t considered sustainable.

The opportunity is for the plant supplier, to sell me exotic varieties of mint plants grown locally, to provide tea recipes that boost my immune system and different kinds of plants that complement mint and support my personal health goals and sustainability commitments.

I read with interest the recent article, When Talk Turns into Action Be set for Change, which is one of the highlights from EY Future Consumer Index. The company’s findings suggest that it would be unwise for consumer products companies and retailers to ignore the large percentage of consumers thinking about changing their lifestyles and consumption habits in response to climate change, which have now reached significant levels. “Some consumers have already made changes out of necessity, and more are likely to follow.”

“For example, 42 per cent are thinking of changing the food they eat because climate change has pushed up prices or limited availability, and 29 per cent have been forced to make new choices already.”

This is an opportunity that shouldn’t be ignored. For suppliers, it’s clear that consumer preferences are changing due to climate-related impacts. Those who are inattentive are in jeopardy of falling behind, while those who anticipate and adapt to these consumer trends will likely lead in the sustainable market of the future.