Business & Government help and support
The mission of the project is to understand how households can be supported to make the sustainable changes they want, to create homes and ways of living that are fit for the future
The report highlights that households look to businesses to support them, as 76% of homeowners polled believe that businesses need to support households to do their bit for climate change.
75% of householders polled are open to making changes to how they live to help do their bit for the environment, with the right help and support from business and government.
While the recommendations are made by Hubbub, the Home Advantage study has been supported by Unilever and a cohort of businesses, B&Q, Barratt Redrow PLC, Starbucks UK, TSB and Virgin Media O2, who provided funding for the study, as well as lending their subject matter expertise and insights from their sector.
Unilever UK was pleased to support the study to better understand the barriers and opportunities for households towards achieving net zero, as well as ways we might further support actions people can take at home, including clothes care and avoiding food waste.
Importantly, the report also puts focus on how we can work with governments and regulators to tackle climate change and create the enabling environments and systemic change needed for us to meet our climate targets.
Policy recommendations
The insights from Home Advantage have helped create 12 policy recommendations for government and businesses, including:
The research covered a wide range of everyday habits, from the stuff we buy and throw away - which examined behaviours around buying fewer new clothes and looking after the clothes we already own - to the food we eat - which looked at reducing food waste at home through planning meals and using up leftovers - as well as home energy and heating.
Participants in the Home Advantage study were furnished with advice and inspiration to help them make sustainable changes at home and to have their say on what kind of support would help them go further.
Household action on climate change is an essential part of the combined effort needed from all corners of society to reach net zero, including businesses and government too. According to the Climate Change Committee2, 32% of the emission reductions needed between now and 2035 to meet net zero rely on the choices made by households, and the rest involve them in some way.
Helen Fenwick, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Lead, Unilever UK & Ireland, said:
“Responding to climate change has been a key part of Unilever’s sustainability agenda over the past two decades, where we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in our operations by 74% since 2015. However, with around 98% of our value chain emissions occurring up or downstream of our operations, we know we cannot achieve our targets alone and need to work closely with regulators, policymakers, retailers and consumers.
“So, we were pleased to support Hubbub’s Home Advantage project to better understand what support and action is needed from business and government to help UK households on their journey towards net zero.
"We’ll be looking at the report findings to consider how we could further support simple actions at home, such as encouraging low temperature washes on the very shortest, energy-saving wash cycles, where our latest Persil innovation, Wonder Wash, has been designed specifically to get clothes clean in just fifteen minutes.”
Gavin Ellis, Director and Co-Founder at Hubbub said: “We’ve listened carefully to homeowners across the country, and we are encouraged by the overwhelming appetite to act. Householders have told us they want to know where to start, what will make the biggest difference, how much it will cost, what the wider benefits will be and how others will also play their part.
We’ve identified a range of recommendations for government and business to support people to live more sustainably. We believe this challenge requires a radical rethink of how these issues are presented to the public to stimulate a step change in demand for sustainable choices. Applying the overarching principles from this report alone could help the UK to make huge strides towards the third of emissions reduction required by 2035 that relies on the decisions of households."
For access to the full report, please visit this link.