Poll: Corporate Eco-Awareness Urged

Most people around the world want companies to do more to improve the environment, especially in the industrial and manufacturing centers of Asia, according to a survey released Wednesday before Earth Day 2000.

The study in 29 countries by New York-based marketing research firm Roper Starch Worldwide found that overall, environmental concerns ranked ahead of education, hunger and poverty on a list of 19 issues.

"It is important in minds of consumers around the world that companies get involved in social causes," said Tom Miller, who heads the Roper Reports Worldwide Global Consumers 2000 study. "The fact that the environment ranks clearly No. 1 on the list does send an important message to businesses everywhere."

The study, conducted November 1999 through January 2000, was released as environmental activists and governments prepared to mark the 30th anniversary of Earth Day Saturday.

The environment ranked No. 1 for 22 percent of those interviewed, followed by education at 20 percent and hunger/poverty at 16 percent, according to the study.

Miller said the automotive, food and beverage and petrochemical industries were cited by respondents as most associated with environmental issues.

"In terms of the kind of credibility of being involved with helping to address the environmental problems and challenges, these are the ones that come to mind to most people," Miller said.

The survey, based on interviews with 1,000 consumers aged 13 to 65 in each of 29 countries and Hong Kong was projectable to 1.39 billion people. The sampling error was 4 percent for each country.

Miller said the research revealed regional differences - Japan at 62 percent, South Korea at 53 percent and Taiwan at 36 percent - were most concerned about the environment but people in the United States were more concerned about education than the environment by 24 percent to 17 percent.

"In the United States, concerns about the environment are now relatively low compared to other countries but that is not the case in developed Asia, where worries are very high," Miller said.

People in Latin American countries were most concerned about hunger and poverty compared with other regions, the interviews revealed.

The study covered the national populations of the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Russia; it also covered the urban populations of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, South Africa and Saudi Arabia and urbanites without the lowest incomes in South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, China, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.