Seikatsusha and Sustainability: what helps people make more sustainable choices?

Every year, colleagues across Suntory Beverage & Food Europe come together for Green Awareness Week to learn, share experiences and explore how sustainability connects with their everyday work.

This year, we looked at that question through the lens of Seikatsusha, the idea of understanding people in their entirety, with their own values, routines and everyday realities.

People may care about sustainability, but their choices are also shaped by price, taste, quality, convenience and habit. Recognising these realities does not mean lowering our ambition. It helps us understand how to turn that ambition into products, packaging and experiences that people will choose and that our business can deliver in practice.

Exploring the idea across our markets

Colleagues brought this thinking to life through activities across Europe.

Teams in Belgium and the Netherlands explored the barriers that can make sustainable choices difficult and developed practical ways to reduce them. In France, colleagues discussed how to build more sustainable offers while continuing to create value for people.

GB&I examined what deposit return systems could mean for Seikatsusha, retailers and the wider beverage value chain. In Spain, colleagues challenged common perceptions about sugar, while a vegan lunch in Poland connected sustainability with a familiar, everyday choice.

The formats were different, but the underlying question was the same: how can we make the more sustainable choice simpler, easier and more tangible?

Listening beyond intentions

An SBFE-wide panel explored the “say-do gap”, the difference between people’s sustainability intentions and the choices they make day to day.

This gap is not necessarily evidence that people do not care. It can reveal the pressures, habits and unmet needs influencing their decisions.

The discussion connected this insight with practical examples from Ribena and Lucozade Energy, showing how it can inform brand communication, packaging design and the wider product experience. 

It was also honest about the fact that progress is not always linear. Solutions sometimes need to be tested, adapted or reconsidered when they do not yet work for people or the business.

Green Awareness Week gave us space to pause, listen and learn from one another.

But its central question remains relevant throughout the year: what helps people turn what they care about into everyday choices?

Keeping Seikatsusha in view can help us answer that question and support Suntory’s ambition to grow responsibly, with people at the heart of our decisions.