An essay: "Green Markets Must Be Created By You"

[Simo Vassinen]

Demos Helsinki was asked to write an essay on emerging green markets. 

In it, our researchers Tuuli and Roope discuss that eco-versions are not enough: instead, we need to base a new economy on completely new products and services that exist with the purpose of pushing behavior change.

There's now a paradox in green consumption: people in developed markets claim ecological values, but eco-products don't sell on a large scale because we value other qualities more. This paradox has paralyzed the sustainable consumer markets.

Through hands on experience, Demos has come up with a set of tools called the Peloton strategy. Peloton aims not just to make current choices more ecological but most importantly to change consumer behavior: to create new choices, new products and services, new alternatives that are not based on efficiency and niches.

The Peloton Strategy (Demos Helsinki 2011)

The core idea of the Peloton strategy is that the wicked problems behind the anticipated raise in energy price (climate change, peak oil and energy security) are here to stay globally. So, products and services aiming to solve them have a near unlimited demand in  global markets. Lessening or eliminating the need for energy is one of the most probable future businesses.

Read the whole thing here. In the essay, it is explained how the Peloton Strategy can be (and has already been in our collaborations) pushed into action by so-called energy gatekeepers. We also share lessons learned.

[Roope Mokka]

Why we think that eco-efficiency and eco-niches are not enough. If you're interested in why business' should be interested in sustainable lifestyles (i.e. the link to profit) read and comment. This is based on our 3 years of work with dozens on gatekeeper-companies.