The importance of using social media to drive more sustainable youth consumption cannot be overstated, Lisa and Linda de Boer write. In recent months, these two elected sustainability leaders at Phillips Academy Andover have contributed to the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Discussion Paper on Sustainable Consumption as part of a pilot project to integrate youth perspectives into CCICED’s work.
Youth should be at the heart of global efforts to tackle climate change, environmental, and sustainable development challenges. Future generations will feel the impacts of the climate and environmental crises—including heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires—most acutely and will live with the long-term consequences of today’s policies and actions.
A 2021 study published by the journal Science found that children are up to seven times more likely to experience extreme weather events in their lifetimes than people born in 1960. This has also led to a rise in climate anxiety: a recent survey of 10,000 young people in 10 countries found that 84% of youth are at least moderately worried about climate change. Indeed, the Paris Agreement acknowledges that climate change concerns intergenerational equity, and over 50% of European Union member states mention future generations in their constitutions.
Social Media Drives Online Consumption
The upcoming United Nations (UN) Summit of the Future highlights the importance of future generations, setting the tone for meaningful youth involvement in international organizations and forums.
A notable example of effective youth involvement is the UN’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, which provides direct advice to the UN Secretary-General to help make the UN’s policies more inclusive and effective. The group’s advocacy has led to the introduction of youth-friendly platforms and increased social media campaigns as part of UN climate initiatives, making high-level UN discussions and policies more relatable and actionable for young people worldwide. On the other end of the spectrum, there are countless examples of “youthwashing,” where organizations involve young people without giving them a clear purpose or meaningful influence, merely as a PR or box-ticking exercise
Over the past few months, we have had the chance to support the CCICED Scoping Study on Sustainable Consumption with research on the topic’s interaction with youth trends as part of a pilot project on integrating youth perspectives in CCICED’s work.
Unsurprisingly, we found that social media has become an increasingly important driver of the e-commerce and fast fashion economies, especially among younger generations. Almost one in three social media users in China categorized as either Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) or Generation Z (people born 1997 and onward) have purchased a product after seeing it endorsed online, and the scale of social media advertising is only growing.
In 2022, China’s live commerce market, where products are advertised and sold in livestreams, had an estimated gross merchandise value of over USD 490 billion, an increase of about 40% over the estimated value in 2021. All this demonstrates the significant influence of social media on youth consumption patterns, an insight that might be less intuitive to older generations.
Online Influencers Can Boost Sustainable Consumption Patterns
The importance of understanding social media’s impact on young people’s consumption—and utilizing it to promote sustainability—cannot be overstated. With platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and WeChat driving purchasing behaviours, young people are simultaneously consumers and key influencers in online markets. Encouragingly, this also means they have the power to shift demand toward more sustainable brands and practices.
One example is the rising popularity of thrifting in the United States. The United States has a resale market valued at USD 39 billion, the biggest in the world. Thrifting has become a fashion trend, especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and there are many influencers who helped make secondhand shopping cool. For example, Jessica Neistadt is known for re-mixing new outfits using thrifted items, and Jacob Starr is famous for finding and visiting great stores.
This suggests that identifying key opinion leaders among youth audiences—such as leading social media influencers—and involving them in green consumption campaigns could have a significant impact on promoting sustainable practices.
In a small yet concrete way, this pilot project has demonstrated how systematically integrating youth perspectives can be valuable for CCICED—and indeed any organization working in the international policy space—by bringing different experiences and fresh ideas to the table.
Integrating youth perspectives is key to designing policies that speak to the lives, behaviours, patterns, and interests of future generations. The climate and environmental crises are simply too threatening, all-encompassing, and urgent for us to ignore this significant group in society.
Lisa and Linda de Boer, sustainability leaders at Phillips Academy Andover and participants in CCICED’s pilot project on integrating youth perspectives
The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of CCICED.