2025 In Review: The change we saw in consumer protection
As 2025 comes to an end, we are delighted to share top highlights from our achievements seen together through the energy and resilience of our Members and partners. Together we have championed consumer voices to create a safer, fairer and more sustainable world. We continue to grow in strength and in number, helping us to push for change on the most pressing issues for consumers through innovation, collective action and at international fora. This is a credible, confident and exciting platform for action and impact in 2026.
Here are our top highlights from the year:
1. Growing the global consumer movement
Our global community has grown stronger with 12 new Members joining us from diverse geographies, including Australia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, the USA and more. Partnerships are central to our impact, with leading corporate partners joining our movement as Business Associates to shape the future for consumers in the most important sectors. We have furthered commitments together with international partners including UNCTAD, UNEP and the OECD. We have connected our networks weekly to build bridges on the most pressing issues for consumers, including through our global advisory groups, workshops and panels.
2. Amplifying Consumer Voices to deliver change
We delivered our largest World Consumer Rights Day 2025 yet. Our global movement united under the theme A Just Transition to Sustainable Lifestyles, bringing together 690 participants, 120 speakers from across sectors and 108 Member-led campaigns featuring practical solutions for sustainable choices. With support and interventions by the European Commission, IPCC, SEforAll, UNDP and national governments, the event reaffirmed that consumers are essential drivers of change. We mobilised collective action by launching 18 consumer calls and campaigns on digital finance, transparency, scams, affordability and healthy diets.
We amplified consumer stories creating greater visibility with 2.2 million views of our series Purchasing Powers, showcasing 100+ partner organisations across our communications campaigns, and growing our presence - our LinkedIn audience increased by 40%.
3. Building Consumer Resilience in a Fast-Changing Digital World
We focused on ensuring digital consumers – especially those at heightened risk – remain protected, informed and empowered. Our research showed that up to 75% of consumers experience some form of vulnerability – whether from heightened exposure to scams or challenges in accessing redress – and outlined how to build real consumer protection, inclusion, and trust. Our Fair Digital Finance Accelerator celebrated significant impact, shaping at least 10 policy reforms across six countries, mobilising over 50 initiatives, and growing to a network of 77 consumer organisations. We prioritised real consumer outcomes with the release of our call to action for a more resilient digital finance system. And we established a new Digital Finance Advisory Council, with leading cross-sectoral global experts to drive advocacy and shape future change.
4. Building a Global Response to Scams
Our Consumer Coalition to Stop Scams expanded to 40 organisations, and has convened Members, government, industry and international institutions. Together, we developed our Global Action Agenda to Protect Consumers from Online Scams, offering core principles and practical policy actions for governments.
The Consumers International Scams Barometer, a first-of-its-kind snapshot from the perspective of coalition participants, to be released bi-annually will help us react to new trends. The Coalition is prioritising stronger platform accountability, smarter prevention strategies, and collective evidence to drive action.
5. Addressing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive responsible use and consumer protection
We assessed risks and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI). When surveying across our Members, 90% identified privacy as a top concern. Our new cross-sector AI Advisory Group is helping to drive consumer insight and impact for 2026. With AI rapidly reshaping markets, we brought consumer voices to the global stage at the AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Members represented diverse countries such as St Lucia, Netherlands, Morocco and Nigeria and demonstrated how risks in an unregulated sector continue to cut across global borders and impact consumer daily lives.
Members worldwide have also been exploring its potential for good – with Consumer Reports (USA), IDEC (Brazil), and others looking at how responsible AI can drive efficiency within consumer protection. In 2026 we will build on the ways Members can both counter AI risks and act on its potential to help organisational efficiency and growth.
6. Raising Consumer Voices at the Heart of Global Decision-Making
Throughout the year, collective consumer leadership has played a pivotal role in major global transitions - 50 of our Members were able to attend international fora and to connect with business, government and other partners. Milestones included the UNCTAD Ministerial, World Health Assembly, ISO General Assembly, World Bank Annual Meetings, the EAT-Lancet Stockholm Food Forum.
At the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, we hosted the only civil society-led roundtable with 20 leaders from government, corporations from our Change Network (a multi-stakeholder community with a mission to make markets safer, fairer, and more sustainable) and consumer organisations. We brought regional insights on AI, digital development, product safety and fair markets to the table through Conference sessions and we participated in the ‘Civil Society Dialogue’ with the Secretary-General, issuing an open letter during the General Debate.
7. Powering a People-Centred Clean Energy Transition
The clean energy transition is a global imperative—and consumers are critical to its success. This June, we launched The Impact Initiative: Amplifying Consumer Voices in the Clean Energy Transition, a spotlight on 25+ consumer mobilisation initiatives around the world, demanding a fairer, more affordable and transparent energy transition. This work has since been recognised by the International Energy Agency’s Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions’ Blueprint for Action on Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions. Our contributions to the IEA’s Indicators Handbook for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions were presented at the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial.
At COP30 in Belém, Members from Brazil and partners joined us in ensuring consumer leadership featured prominently in clean energy transition discussions. Strengthened collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and One Planet Network reinforced that consumer rights are essential pillars of global climate and sustainability policy.
8. Shaping the Future of Food through Consumer Dialogue
Food systems remain central to the consumer movement. This year, 130+ global participants came together in a series of Consumer Action Dialogues, with strong representation from Africa and Asia, helping shape the EAT-Lancet 2.0 Call to Action. And we placed a spotlight on consumer focussed innovations which have helped to combat food price shocks at both the World Health Assembly and UNCTAD, ensuring consumer realities inform global food governance.
9. Advancing Product Safety through global policy
Consumers International deepened its impact across the world’s most influential policy arenas—ensuring consumer perspectives shaped emerging markets, rights and protections.
We contributed to the first-ever UN General Assembly Product Safety Resolution during the 9th United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection in July, and joined the inaugural Expert Advisory Group to the OECD Consumer Policy Committee to help shape the Global Forum on Consumer Policy.
10. Building consumer capacity on the ground by supporting impact in action
We awarded 40 grants to Members this year, powering community-driven initiatives from tackling plastic waster in Yemen and reviving indigenous seed systems in Kenya, to launching one-stop-shops for renewable energy across Thailand, Colombia and Chile.
Our Anne Fransen Fund continues to support projects with a powerful social impact— such as advancing financial literacy among women in Bangladesh and train community facilitators on safe food practices in Rwanda.
This year our collective representation, initiatives and dialogue have shared a clear message: strong consumer protections are fundamental to resilient markets, inclusive economies and a fairer world. We look forward to building on our work in the year ahead, for a safer marketplace, for people everywhere.