People who tend to consider environmental sustainability important still clearly outnumber those who do not, the survey firm noted. At the same time, the share of those who generally do not consider companies' environmental sustainability important has risen to 40 percent.

"A year ago, amid increased general uncertainty and rising prices, Estonians' willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products declined rather sharply," commented Kantar Emor research expert Katrin Männaste. "This year, the number of people explicitly stating that the environmental friendliness of products and services and the overall green mindset of producers and service providers are not important to them has increased significantly."

According to Männaste, this trend is most pronounced among older men, but is likewise noticeable across all demographics.

Willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products remains below two-thirds (63 percent), and most people are only willing to pay up to 5 percent more. Thus, opposition to higher monetary contributions is roughly on par with disregard for environmental sustainability, the survey firm noted.

"Ultimately, willingness to contribute to environmental sustainability through consumer choices largely depends on overall eco-consciousness," Männaste added. "For example, most people who do not perceive climate change as a serious problem also don't consider the higher price of green products and services justified."

According to the latest survey, the list of Estonian companies people perceive as eco-conscious remains largely unchanged. Kantar Emor mapped out the most eco-conscious companies in four sectors: manufacturing, retail, ICT/finance/telecom/media and infrastructure.

Similarly to last year, the top five eco-conscious infrastructure companies according to the results are the State Forest Management Center (RMK), Ragn-Sells, Enefit, Elron and DPD, and this year, Tallinna Vesi rose to equal DPD.

What sector a business is active in still tends to be the main factor influencing perceptions of its eco-consciousness. However, open-ended responses indicate that consumers also notice concrete steps taken toward environmental sustainability.

For example, several food producers were highlighted for using environmentally friendly packaging, retail chains for reducing food waste and service providers for moving toward paperless transactions. Likewise noticed and mentioned has been businesses' use of green energy.

For its latest survey, Kantar Emor polled 1,048 Estonian residents aged 16 to 74 between February 18 and March 5.

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