Saving costs is the biggest driver for introducing sustainability measures
Some 43% of homeowners do not believe that the grants available are sufficient to encourage people to upgrade their homes to make them more sustainable, citing that they should be far more generous. Only 9% of respondents to the survey believe that the grants are sufficient, with a further 29% thinking that, while the grants are quite good, they still could not afford to make changes. Saving costs is the biggest driver for introducing sustainability measures in their homes for 66% of those surveyed, with environmental concerns significantly lower at 23%.
The survey was conducted by iReach Insights with 1,000 people nationwide, over 50% of whom are homeowners include:
Other key findings from Aviva’s survey include:
- 19% of homeowners are unaware of how much the grants are to upgrade their homes to become more sustainable – with more men (32%) than women (22%) claiming this
- 24% of women claimed that although the grants are quite good, they could not afford to upgrade their homes to make them more sustainable, with only 12% of men saying this
- While saving costs was the No 1 driver for 66% of homeowners to introduce some sustainability measures in their homes, environmental concerns was the key driver for only 23% of respondents
- 6% of homeowners would upgrade their homes to provide better security and 5% would do so to access the available grants
Commenting Billy Shannon, Aviva said: “It is clear from the findings of our survey that high inflation and the resultant increase in everyday essentials such as energy and food costs is having an impact on homeowners’ attitudes to introducing sustainable measure in their homes. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that the majority of those surveyed (66%) admit that saving costs would be the main driver for doing so, significantly ahead of the 23% who claimed environmental concerns as the key driver”.
The Aviva survey also probed consumers on their attitudes to sustainability when food shopping / eating. The most common sustainability measure recorded by 63% of respondents was to reduce food waste where possible, followed by 42% saying that they buy fresh food very carefully to ensure minimum waste.
The Aviva survey also found that:
- 32% of respondents said that they minimise the amount of plastic they buy, support Irish farmers, and buy organic where possible
- Some 30% said that they try to buy food that is in season, with 16% eating more plant-based food.
- 13% of respondents claim to grow some of their own food, higher amongst homeowners at 16%
- More women (50%) claimed to buy fresh food to minimise waste than men (34%), minimise the amount of plastic they buy – 39% of women v’s 24% of men, and focused on buying food that is in season – 32% of women v’s 28% of men
“Whether driven by costs or in order to better protect the environment, it is good to see the high percentage of survey respondents who look to reduce food waste as well as trying to buy fresh food to further minimise waste”, concluded Billy Shannon.