The younger generation is driving change: who’s willing to pay more for ethical use of financial technology?
Two separate ESG studies by the insurtech Zelros and a wealthtech advice platform Connectd prove that the majority of people are willing to pay more for responsible technology, sustainability and diversity. However, there’s a clear generational gap when it comes to prioritising ESG.
Ethical Insurance
InsurTech vendor Zelros conducted a study involving over 1,000 people from the US, Canada, the UK and parts of Europe. The research revealed that 70% of people are willing to pay more for their insurance policies if their insurance company was committed to ESG principles.?
There was a slight gender difference in the results. Firstly, men were willing to pay larger sums for responsible use of data and AI (an additional $21-$50+ a month), while women were inclined to pay about $10-$20 more for corporate sustainability. Besides, 30.3% of women reported that they were not willing to pay more, versus 26.3% of men.
When it comes to age categories, there’s a clear generational gap in the willingness to pay more to ESG-committed insurance companies. Namely, 45.5% of people aged 54+ were not willing to pay more for ethical technology use, the highest percentage out of all age groups studied. Meanwhile, almost 84% of 18-24-year-olds stated they would pay anywhere from just a few dollars to 50+ dollars more a month for ethical insurance.?
ESG – a priority for Gen Z entrepreneurs
Another study, conducted by Censuswide and Commissioned by Connectd, polled 50 Gen Z entrepreneurs (aged 18-24) and 50 entrepreneurs aged 25 and over to discover the changing ESG priorities among these groups. It appeared that 96% of Gen Z entrepreneurs would turn down cash from a prospective investor based on moral and ethical objections. More than half (58%) consider an investor’s green credentials when deciding who to partner with.
CEO of Connectd
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Nina Bobro
Nina is passionate about financial technologies and environmental issues, reporting on the industry news and the most exciting projects that build their offerings around the intersection of fintech and sustainability.