Expert Interview: How Greennovate is leading the Chinese youth to a greener future

Having worked closely in the past, we here at enoVate are familiar with the ideals and practices of Greennovate. For those unfamiliar, Greennovate is made up of a group of creative thinkers from around the world. Their goal is to promote greater environmental awareness in China through both social and business platforms.
Having already launched two successful campaigns with eno, Greennovate have already started to raise eco-awareness amongst young Chinese. enoVate got in touch with Greennovate founder Mihela Hladin to get her opinion on eco-awareness and the Chinese youth.

Can you give us an overview of Greennovate and your work within the eco-friendly product space?
We are a social enterprise, developing ideas for sustainable future. Our projects are focused on raising environmental awareness and sustainable development for businesses and communities in China. We are following the trends in eco friendly products from the consumers, retailers and manufacturers perspective. We encourage businesses and consumers to see the big picture of each product including raw materials, their source and production process. Calling a product green or eco friendly is getting more sensitive as consumers are getting more curious on environmental related topics and they are speaking out on social media. It’s a challenging time where it is important for companies to strategize beyond one product line or sustainability part and really start incorporating environmental and social principles into the whole business model.

What can brands do to encompass a greener perspective whilst remaining relevant to ever changing youth trends?
We think that most important thing is to educate the consumers. With all the ‘greenwashing’ going on I think consumers will go for honest approaches, even though they might look like smaller steps. Every brand should develop a long term sustainability strategy and be transparent in how they are getting there, rather than popularizing one or two ‘green’ actions and calling themselves green.

greennovate x eno - neti charms

What ways does Greennovate work to target and communicate with the Chinese youth? What is most effective in getting your key messages across?

We started partnering with designers because we believe that fashion is a good communication channel for environmental education. It is a way to build awareness and get young consumers encouraged to go and learn more themselves. We are also building up the capacity on Chinese social media, having a lot of interesting content available which is spurring ideas and calling out for participation. We found it very exciting with the amount of young people coming back to us and discussing what they are concerned about and how willing they are to live more sustainable lifestyles.

What is the biggest challenge for companies looking to create and source eco-friendly product in China?
I think access to the relevant information and where to source is the first challenge. Then pricing is usually right after that as there is a constant struggle on how to justify the higher price on eco products. The real challenge as we see it is how to get consumers to understand why to pay more and relate to it on their rational and emotional level. Most of the feedback that we get is that they buy eco products because they are cool, and only after that, because they are eco friendly. This has to do with young people not really seeing the real connection between the eco friendly product and the size of the environmental challenges that they know of.

What is the most surprising or interesting thing you have learned to date through working with the Chinese youth?
For me it’s always so amazing how they are willing to learn if information is presented in fun and engaging ways. The Chinese young people that we are working with, in different places around China, are always asking: “What can I do, what can I do?” We think this is a great opportunity for the companies to build loyalty for their brands, through transparent environmental commitments and initiatives.