“To get consumers to engage on sustainability, focus on health.” That’s the straightforward headline on Trellis, a media entity focused on sustainability and business; the article, by Tove Malmqvist, cites data from a 2025 survey of nearly 32,000 people around the world conducted by GlobeScan. Specifically, 65% of respondents said they’re interested in becoming healthier and more sustainable, with only 14% interested in becoming healthier alone, 7% interested in sustainability alone and 14% in neither.
“For brands, NGOs and governments, the data reveal a strategic opportunity: Health isn’t just an added benefit for sustainability but instead may be the primary motivator for sustainable lifestyle changes,” Malmqvist wrote. “By leading with health, organizations can cut through skepticism, apathy and sustainability-related fatigue to reach disengaged audiences and achieve behavior change at scale.”
That may sound easier than it actually is; however, and more to the point for pet food brands, there are corroborative data related to pet owners, according to the Pet Sustainability Coalition’s (PSC) “State of Sustainability in the Pet Industry 2025” report, released in the beginning of 2026.
Value has a new meaning for pet owners
PSC’s report includes pet owner and other consumer data from GlobeScan, NielsenIQ (NIQ) and Nextin Research, plus insights from its inaugural PSC Annual Benchmark Assessment, “the first comprehensive snapshot of sustainable business practices for companies in the pet industry.”
What that combination of information makes clear is that, in an era of economic uncertainty and financial concerns for many consumers, value is taking on a new meaning. “While affordability is the top barrier, sustainability grows in importance in what consumers actually buy,” the report says. “The areas where consumers tend to make more sustainable choices for their pets is when health and wellness are impacted,” with products like specialty diets, supplements and grooming aids illustrating how “sustainability attributes gain traction when they reinforce core functional benefits.”
In a chart with NIQ consumer data from 2025 showing affordability as a key purchase driver combined with various attributes, sustainable ranks first at 70%, followed by new at about 58%, healthy at about 48% and homemade at 45%.
The report also provides anecdotal information about the sustainability-health connection for pet owners at the retail level. “In our conversations with retailer members, we are hearing that some purchasing behavior is shifting and products that link health and sustainability are selling well, but just pure sustainability marketed products are starting to suffer on shelf due to global economic uncertainty,” it says. Which jibes with the GlobeScan data on global consumers.
Take-aways for pet food brands
The new definition of value emerging in this environment offers opportunities for pet food brands, PSC says, but also demands accountability in the form of building sustainability into every part of the value chain, ensuring it’s verifiable and clearly communicating its presence and benefits to consumers.
Opportunities range from “ingredient selection to packaging design to distribution and brand storytelling”— again, every part of the value and supply chain — because pet owners now consider sustainability an expression of health, quality and integrity, which are exactly the attributes that define the bond with their pets, the report reads.
At a higher level, “the intersection of pet health and sustainability has emerged as a major engine for innovation and market differentiation,” PSC maintains. Pet food brands can market features like personalized nutrition as “dual-benefit tools: improving pet health while reducing overfeeding and food waste. This approach connects sustainability to core consumer purchase drivers, reframing it not as a tradeoff but as an enhancement to performance, longevity and pet well-being.”
Exactly what devoted pet owners want for their furry family members.
