Green Burial and Funeral Options ─ Where We Are in 2009

What We Know About the "Green" Movement

• The green movement is here to stay. The U.S. population had treated environmental issues like an unwelcome head cold until the awakening resulting from gasoline prices surpassing the $4 mark in the last couple of years. This is not to say there was no serious concern before, but the environment came to the forefront of concerns, when energy costs skyrocketed.
• 90% of consumers now say they are concerned about the environment.
• Green issues are pervasive. Since the energy price spurt, environmental issues have gained both greater attention and deeper general understanding. For example, consumers are not only aware of inefficiency in products they use, but also in production and transportation excess consumption of energy, even though the product itself is environmentally friendly.
• Consumers and investors, alike, are aware and interested in companies' efforts to optimize energy use in production, packaging, transportation, and recycling of used materials.
• There are many organizations that have evolved as a result of demand for information about energy efficiency. Organization focus includes advocacy, information resources, and research. A simple Google search on "green-friendly organizations" recently yielded over 8 million hits.

Deathcare's Role Related to the Environment

• Many consider use of embalming fluids, especially those that are toxic, to be unnecessary and wasteful.
• Many think use of wood, metal, and concrete in final disposition of human remains is wasteful. For example, Americans inter 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 1.6 million tons of concrete, 90,000 tons of steel, and more than 827,000 gallons of toxic embalming fluid every year.
• In spite of mercury pollution and high energy use, cremation appears to provide a sense of energy efficiency to the consumer, but unfortunately, as an alternative to traditional burial.
• Those consumers aware of green funeral and burial options are likely to see these green offerings as alternative to cremation.

Corporate Issues

• Not only can we expect increased government intervention, there is a wellspring of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Good Guide, Social Investment Forum, Climate Counts, and Innovest Strategic Value Advisors that focus on products and corporate performance from an environmental perspective. Call it "Environmental Sarbanes-Oxley," if you will.
• It just makes good sense for companies, public and private, to polish their green image.
• A new field of study, examination, and intervention relates to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. A Google search on "environmental, social and governance" yielded 8.2 million hits.
• National Grid, for example, is sidestepping another assault on executive pay by disclosing how it is linking executive pay to greenhouse gas reduction.

Implications for Deathcare Service Providers

• Some consumers are interested in green funerals and burials. An AARP study in 2007 found that 21% of Americans over the age of 50 preferred a green burial.
• The Green Burial Council predicts there will be 200 natural burial cemeteries within five years.
• There seems to be a lack of reliable data about the size of the market and consumers' genuine intent regarding green funeral and cemetery options. Nonetheless, the data taken as predictive or simply anecdotal indicates there is a significant segment of the population looking for green alternatives.
• Awareness of green funerals is 52% and green burial is 73%.
• While customers probably won't pay extra for the intangible benefit of helping the planet, they will pay for the value of direct benefits they receive. Therefore, direct customer benefits, including those of being green, need to be communicated in product/service value messages.
• Offering products at competitive prices, while helping the environment, gives providers a chance to add value for their customers and to increase market share. Total revenue should be comparable between green and non-green offerings.
• Having a green presence, cemetery or funeral home, expands market reach beyond the traditional geographic boundaries by giving interested consumers a reason to pass a dozen or more competitors to reach the green provider.
• According to Glenn Gould of MKJ Marketing, green disposition will more likely take away from cremation:
  

  	Disposition Preference
  	Burial/Mausoleum	Cremation
  	43%	30%
  Percent Who Would Consider a Green Alternative	40%	53%

• Green burial revenue may be additive by converting those who prefer cremation and are not now cemetery customers.
• The primary reason cited for choosing cremation is the environment, with 32% of consumers giving this as their principal reason.
• Having a green presence gives providers an additional forum for presenting their image and overall value proposition to a new constituency.
• Because of a general public interest in both green and death-related issues, the news media is eager to capture information about green cemeteries and funeral homes.
Bottom Line
• There is a sizeable, interested and viable market segment for green options.
• Offering green options will expand market share.
• Offering green options yields benefits to providers beyond just an additional revenue source.
• Investment to develop green options is relatively small and relatively low risk.
• First to the party not only gets the bigger piece of the cake but maybe the only piece, if they become market-dominant. What are you waiting for?

Johnson-Woodford, management consultants to the deathcare industry

Postscript

This post and others on the Johnson-Woodford Blog will be compiled into a Free, downloadable E-book, which will also be available in hard copy. A final thought. We can all learn from one another. Your thoughts, ideas, and sharing are important to us and others. Please send your notes and comments to blogger@johnson-woodford.com or log on to www.johnson-woodford.com.