Consumer Voices in Action: 2026 Highlights so far
Every day we make choices that shape our lives – choosing an energy provider, paying with a digital wallet, buying products online or using artificial intelligence (AI) to help us decide.
Yet being a consumer today is not straightforward. In addition to the global rise the costs of in basic goods and essential services, many of us face complex choices, unequal access to products and technology, and gaps in consumer protection, particularly as new innovations and business models emerge. This is why Consumers International brings consumer experience, evidence and perspective to the organisations, businesses, policymakers and global decision-making forums that shape how markets work, helping to ensure they are fair, safe and sustainable.
The first half of 2026 has shown the power and potential of strong consumer organisations, effective consumer rights advocacy and meaningful collaboration in the consumer interest – from influencing international policy to advancing digital trust to driving Member-led action. Read on for our top highlights from the year so far.
Leaders unite for product safety on World Consumer Rights Day
World Consumer Rights Day once again demonstrated the strength and reach of the movement. Under this year’s theme Safe Products, Confident Consumers, 106 Members across every region mobilised communities through campaigns, investigations, media engagement and policy dialogue.
Consumers International convened global discussions with more than 200 participants and over 20 senior leaders, including government ministers and representatives from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A further 12 leaders from organisations including the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the European Commission shared endorsement statements, reinforcing international support for safer products and greater consumer confidence.
Our research tells us that 85% of consumer organisation leaders believe product safety systems are working either poorly or only partially. These findings provided a shared evidence base during our dialogue between consumer organisations, policymakers and international institutions, helping identify common challenges, inform policy conversations and build consensus on the collaborative solutions needed to improve product safety worldwide.
Consumer evidence helps shape international policymaking
As multilateral organisations continue to develop policies and frameworks that influence consumer outcomes across borders, we mobilised Members to inform seven consumer and competition policy submissions to the OECD and UNCTAD. We championed areas such as stronger consumer protection in digital consumer rights and financial resilience, product safety, trade and competition.
Our international collaboration took us to the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference, represented by our Member, CADEF (Nigeria) and several other high-profile moments across leading institutions. At the 47th ISO/COPOLCO Plenary, our product safety research was requested to inform future international standards work.
Most recently, at UNCTAD’s Intergovernmental Group of Experts, which we attended alongside a delegation of our Members from Brazil, Fiji, Germany, Indonesia, we helped secure agreement from UNCTAD Member States to create new working groups on ‘online advertising and scams’, and ‘protecting vulnerable consumers in the age of AI’.
Together, these engagements are ensuring that the experiences of consumers today help shape the policies and standards that will define tomorrow's markets.
Building trust in digital finance
Digital finance has fundamentally changed how consumers participate in the economy, but innovation only succeeds when consumers can trust the systems they rely on. As instant payment systems rapidly become essential public infrastructure around the world, ensuring they are safe, transparent and responsive to consumer needs is now an urgent priority for policymakers, regulators and providers alike.
Also since the start of the year, we have built on four years of impact of the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator, which entered a new chapter. The Accelerator has demonstrably strengthened consumer organisations' ability to influence digital finance policy, contributing to at least 10 policy and legislative improvements, while our transparency campaign led to new regulatory achievements in Barbados, Rwanda and Uganda. Now we are expanding the evidence, tools and partnerships that help consumer organisations influence digital finance policy.
A key priority is ensuring instant payment systems are designed with consumers in mind from the outset. Through our new Fair Instant Payments Initiative, Members in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda will generate consumer-led evidence, engage policymakers and providers, and help embed stronger consumer protections into these rapidly expanding systems. Practical tools and lessons will be shared across our wider global network, helping accelerate a more resilient and trusted financial future for consumers worldwide.
Building a stronger response to online scams
Behind every scam statistic is someone who has lost money, confidence or trust. The pace of change in online scams was reflected by our latest Scams Barometer, which found 69% of respondents report an increase in scams activity over the past six months, with AI emerging as a defining concern.
Through our Consumer Coalition to Stop Scams, we continue to bring together consumer organisations and businesses in our Change Network to tackle scams of today and the future. The latest edition of our Barometer, informed by our Coalition, featured compelling examples of consumer protection initiatives from India and the United States, via our Members Consumer Education and Research Centre and Consumer Reports respectively.
The Barometer, as well as our research in this space, identifies critical gaps where stronger coordination is needed. In March we released Stopping Online Scams: Building Consistency and Coordination for Consumers, examining policymaker-led responses across 28 jurisdictions. While there is cause for optimism – 27 of the 28 jurisdictions have legal frameworks enabling businesses to share relevant data safely with governments – more than half have yet to implement them.
Our evidence is already advancing discussions, including at the Global Fraud Summit in Vienna hosted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and INTERPOL, and with policymakers worldwide, while helping our Coalition members strengthen collective action against evolving threats.
Supporting millions of consumers through the clean energy transition
With energy prices projected to rise by 24% this year, ensuring consumers have reliable and easy access to affordable and clean energy is urgent. This year we launched a Global Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services, the result of a collaborative, multi-stakeholder process bringing together expertise from across the energy and consumer landscape. Informed by research in Italy, where around 2.4 million households experience energy poverty and almost 40% of people aged over 75 live alone, the Blueprint sets out 10 practical recommendations to make energy services more inclusive. Its lessons are relevant well beyond Italy as countries navigate affordability pressures and the transition to cleaner energy.
We are also helping Members put our vision for clean energy principles into practice. In June, Members in Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines launched renewable energy one-stop shops, giving consumers a single, independent source of advice on clean energy technologies, financing, consumer rights and savings. Building on successful initiatives in Thailand, Colombia, Chile and Nigeria, this growing network now has the potential to reach more than three million consumers.
Investing in Member-led action
This year, 45 Members will receive tailored support from Consumers International through impact and innovation grants, from areas such as product safety and consumer redress, to ending plastic pollution and promoting sustainable transport.
An example of a grant programme this year is our global initiative Consumers for Clean Air, which uses people's everyday experiences to drive worldwide action and change on clean air. In Bangladesh alone, meeting World Health Organization air quality guidelines could increase average life expectancy by more than five years, demonstrating the real-world impact of stronger action on air pollution for consumers and communities.
Ensuring emerging technologies develop in consumer interests
In a recent survey of our Members on AI, we found that while 52% believe AI will positively impact consumers, only 42% currently trust the technology. The research also shows that 90% identify privacy and security as consumers' most pressing concerns, while recognising the technology’s potential to improve complaints handling, redress and access to information – if designed responsibly.
Insights gathered from consumer organisations worldwide, including our participation at the AI Impact Summit in India, reinforce the need to place privacy and consumer agency at the heart of AI development, particularly as agentic AI and AI-powered commerce become more widespread.
In September, we will kick off a global campaign to reframe privacy as a public good. We will also publish unique insight, informed by our Members, on agentic commerce, exploring consumer preferences around the trade-offs involved in using agentic AI, and outlining how to design the technology so that consumers can retain meaningful choice and control as it develops.
Looking ahead
The progress made during the first half of 2026 provides a strong foundation for the months and year ahead.
Together with our Members, Change Network and other partners, we will continue to bring consumer experience and insights into global forums, release recommendations on AI, scams and energy, connect and raise visibility for consumer advocates, and drive impactful campaigns.
Markets will continue to evolve. Through our connected network and the evidence and innovation it drives, we will support core decisions affecting us all and build fair, safe and inclusive markets for everyone.
