Mintel Sustainability Barometer

The Mintel Sustainability Barometer for 2022 was published today (16 August). It features trended data and insight on consumers’ sustainability attitudes and behaviours across 16 countries.

A new feature in this annual report was Mintel’s partnership with Cipher to chart innovation patents.

Highlights

Addressing consumer concerns in the environmental sector, the report pointed out that:

“Cipher’s patent analysis shows that inventions are focused on addressing climate change in the fields of energy storage (e.g. batteries) and generation, with photovoltaics, fuel cells and nuclear leading the way.”

As we noted in our own report, Big Auto, rather than Big Oil is driving the pace of innovation in electric vehicles:

“Cipher’s data shows only Total Energies included among the top innovators in the technology area of climate change/photovoltaics and only Exxon and Saudi Aramco in climate change/carbon sequestration.”

Richard Cope, Senior Trends Consultant at Mintel, commented:

“For all the talk of the value/action gap between consumers’ words and deeds, it’s essential to also look at the activity levels of different sectors and companies when it comes to innovating to address key consumer concerns around climate change, air pollution and plastic pollution.

“Cipher’s patent analysis plays a crucial role in revealing who’s innovating and where and how that corresponds to both the solutions valued by consumers and the framework of Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN”.

Niall McMahon, Head of Research at Cipher, added:

“It was fantastic to work with Mintel on this project, using patent analytics to understand the innovation trends in sustainability for the first time.”

Further information

The Mintel Sustainability Barometer is now available at the company’s website.

For a round-up of all the areas where Cipher’s patent analysis has highlighted trends in sustainability, please visit our patent innovations summary.