South Americans want policy makers to put ethics above price
South Americans want policy makers to put ethics above price
January 22, 2013
Researchers at Royal Holloway university have found that Brazilians and Chileans want the state to buy on social and environmental criteria, not just on price.
Based on this pioneering research, researchers from Royal Holloway have been invited to be the first academics to join the UN Environmental Programme's global Sustainable Public Procurement Initiative and attend its meeting in Paris this week.
The Choices Project is a collaboration between Royal Holloway, the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and Universidad Diego Portales. The project team also involves the Ethical Consumer Research Association in the UK, Instituto Akatu in Brazil and Ciudadano Responsable in Chile. It uniquely looks to compare consumers' ethical opinions and behaviour with government procedures for purchasing collectively on behalf of citizens.
Main findings from the project include:
- 85% of Chileans say that the state should buy from companies with a good social and environmental record.
- In Brazil, the top criteria people want the state to take into account when making buying decisions are: animal welfare (89%), energy efficiency (88%), that the product is certified as environmentally friendly (87%), good working conditions for labourers (86%) and that the company has good relations with the local community (86%).
More:
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-south-americans-policy-makers-ethics.html#jCp