Towards sustainable market strategies: A case study on eco textiles and green power

This study focuses on the economic, market-related context of consumptionpatterns and incorporates the regulatory settings and values. The aim is tosystemise the influences on sustainable consumption patterns. Special attention isdrawn to the question how existing niche markets could be extended to massmarkets. This question is deepened by case studies on the green textile and thegreen power markets.The results emphasise the different key factors which influence the successfulpathways for an extended green market volume. Looking at the case of the greenpower market it can be seen how important it is to create an economic andinstitutional context for adoption. Looking at the case of green textiles theimportance of new lifestyles and cultural impacts are obvious.Looking at the interfaces between institutional settings, supply structure, societalvalues and consumers' decision-making, it can be seen that consumers' demandsare not only a product of individual needs. Therefore sustainable consumptionstrategies will have to face not only the change of needs, but also the change ofstructures which influence individual choices. -- Diese Studie konzentriert sich auf den ökonomischen, marktbezogenen Kontextnachhaltiger Konsummuster unter Berücksichtigung von staatlicher Regulierungund gesellschaftlichen Werten. Eine besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird der Fragegewidmet, wie bestehende Nischenmärkte erweitert werden können. Am Beispielder Märkte für umweltfreundliche Textilien und umweltfreundliche Energiewerden vertiefend die Erfolgsbedingungen für eine Markterweiterung untersucht.Als ein wichtiges Ergebnis kann festgehalten werden, dass unterschiedliche Einflussfaktoren für den Erfolg in den untersuchten Märkten verantwortlich sind.Das Wachstum der umweltfreundlichen Energiebereitstellung kann vor allem mitden veränderten Rahmenbedingungen erklärt werden, während das Marktsegment umweltfreundlicher Textilien vor allem durch Lebensstile und kulturelle Einflüssegeprägt wird.Betrachtet man die Schnittstellen zwischen institutionellem Rahmen, Angebotsstrukturen, gesellschaftlichem Wertewandel und den Entscheidungen der Konsumenten systematisch, so wird deutlich, dass Konsumentscheidungen nicht nur aufindividuellen Bedürfnissen beruhen. Von daher ist es für eine Strategie desnachhaltigen Konsums wichtig, nicht nur auf die Veränderung von Bedürfnissenzu zielen, sondern auch die Strukturen zu verändern, die individuelle Entscheidungen beeinflussen.

Debunking Weak Sustainable Consumption : Towards Strong Sustainable Consumption Governance

Achieving sustainable consumption patterns is a crucial step on the way towards sustainability. The scientific knowledge used to decide which priorities to set and how to enforce them has to converge with societal, political, and economic initiatives on various levels: from individual household decision-making to agreements and commitments in global policy processes. The aim of this thesis is to draw a comprehensive and systematic picture of sustainable consumption and to do this it develops the concept of Strong Sustainable Consumption Governance. In this concept, consumption is understood as resource consumption. This includes consumption by industries, public consumption, and household consumption. Next to the availability of resources (including the available sink capacity of the ecosystem) and their use and distribution among the Earth’s population, the thesis also considers their contribution to human well-being. This implies giving specific attention to the levels and patterns of consumption. Methods: The thesis introduces the terminology and various concepts of Sustainable Consumption and of Governance. It briefly elaborates on the methodology of Critical Realism and its potential for analysing Sustainable Consumption. It describes the various methods on which the research is based and sets out the political implications a governance approach towards Strong Sustainable Consumption may have. Two models are developed: one for the assessment of the environmental relevance of consumption activities, another to identify the influences of globalisation on the determinants of consumption opportunities. Results: One of the major challenges for Strong Sustainable Consumption is that it is not in line with the current political mainstream: that is, the belief that economic growth can cure all our problems. So, the proponents have to battle against a strong headwind. Their motivation however is the conviction that there is no alternative. Efforts have to be taken on multiple levels by multiple actors. And all of them are needed as they constitute the individual strings that together make up the rope. However, everyone must ensure that they are pulling in the same direction. It might be useful to apply a carrot and stick strategy to stimulate public debate. The stick in this case is to create a sense of urgency. The carrot would be to articulate better the message to the public that a shrinking of the economy is not as much of a disaster as mainstream economics tends to suggest. In parallel to this it is necessary to demand that governments take responsibility for governance. The dominant strategy is still information provision. But there is ample evidence that hard policies like regulatory instruments and economic instruments are most effective. As for Civil Society Organizations it is recommended that they overcome the habit of promoting Sustainable (in fact green) Consumption by using marketing strategies and instead foster public debate in values and well-being. This includes appreciating the potential of social innovation. A countless number of such initiatives are on the way but their potential is still insufficiently explored. Beyond the question of how to multiply such approaches, it is also necessary to establish political macro structures to foster them.Global Warming and overfishing of the oceans, competing demands on land use for food or bio fuel, the peak in oil production, and global equity on sharing the world's resources; there are many urgent reasons for us seriously to consider our lifestyles and the environmental burden they are causing. But where to start? And what is the best way to induce changes? As good, enthusiastic, and engaged consumers we can do a lot, from travelling less in private cars, installing better insulation and more efficient heating in our homes to consuming less meat and dairy products. But how flexible are we in our daily decision making when faced as we are with the constant mantra of the global economy to consume more and more? This thesis analyses the changes that are needed and the very real pitfalls on the path to making substantial changes. It points out that the confidence that the sum of small decisions at the super markets will make a difference eventually is as risky as solely relying on technological solutions. Instead serious efforts are needed. The first – and may be the most important for the time being – is to realize the urgency of the problem. The second is to realize that a reduction in the level of consumption does not necessarily mean a reduction in the quality of life. How smoothly these unavoidable changes take place depends on how quickly and effectively governments take up their responsibility for shaping the conditions for more sustainable lifestyles. Civil Society Organizations in turn should overcome the habit of promoting Sustainable Consumption by using marketing strategies and should instead foster public debate in values and well-being

Environmentally sustainable houshold consumption: From aggregate environmental pressures to indicators for priority fields of action

During the UNCED conference in Rio de Janeiro 1992 unsustainable consumption and production patterns were identified as one of the key driving forces behind theunsustainable development of the world (Agenda 21, chapter 4). These consumption and production patterns are based on the European model of industrialisation, spread around the globe in the age of colonisation and brought toextremes by the upper-class of industrialised societies, in particular in the United States, but also in a number of countries in the South. Therefore, all states of theworld share the task of developing sustainable consumption and productionpatterns, while particular responsibility rests with the industrialised nations of Europe, North America and Japan. They, and the thriving but small rich elite in the transition countries and in the South, form a global consumer society, with shared products, lifestyles and aspirations. As it is essential to support the transition towards sustainable development byproviding the proper information in an operational manner, the UNCED conference has called for the development of suitable means of information, and in particular for the development of sustainability indicators applicable throughout the world (Agenda 21, chapter 40). The UNDESA set of indicators for changingconsumption and production patterns offers helpful advice in this regard but stilllacks the theoretical underpinning needed to consistently complete it by definingthe few still missing indicators.This paper undertakes to suggest such a methodology based on the environmental space concept. It derives a set of science based indicators from this approachwhich are easily applicable in everyday life and analyses the environmentalrelevance of the consumption clusters chosen for analysis as well as the relevanceof the phenomena characterised by the indicators suggested. As households arejust one actor in the field of consumption, a qualitative assessment of influences isperformed and the result depicting the key actors for each environmentallyrelevant consumption cluster is presented as an actor matrix. --

Strong sustainable consumption governance – precondition for a degrowth path?

"This paper aims to link two debates and literatures at the cutting edge of sustainable development research and governance: sustainable consumption and degrowth. Interestingly, these literatures have only recently started to exchange and integrate insights, despite their similar interest in the fundamental systemic challenges to sustainable development arising from a political discourse favoring (green) growth and the recognition of the insufficiency of technological solutions. The paper argues that this lack of connection is due to a predominance of perspectives in sustainable consumption research and governance that fail to deliver as promised. These perspectives, which we summarize under the label of “weak consumption” perspectives, focus almost exclusively on questions of efficiency gains. They therefore are not able to address the challenges to sustainable development arising from overconsumption in general or the rebound effect in particular. In contrast, a strong sustainable consumption perspective provides a basis for both, a promising inquiry into the linkages between consumption and sustainable development and fruitful exchange with de-growth. It is based on an inquiry into levels and patterns of consumption and thereby allows the delineation of relevant scientific and political implications for the de-growth debate and literature." [author's abstract

An inquiry into the impact of globalization on the potential for 'sustainable consumption' in households

This paper aims to determine whether and how globalization affects the sustainability of household consumption in industrialized countries. Our focus of inquiry arises from the existence of a tremendous gap between references to the influence of globalization on sustainable consumption in political and academic discussions on the one side and empirical evidence on the reality and strength of such an influence on the other. In order to prepare the ground for filling this gap, our paper inquires into the possibilities of a respective empirical study. Our specific focus of inquiry is on the three consumption clusters food, mobility, and energy

A moral householding perspective on the sharing economy

In this paper, we scrutinise the sharing economy from a moral householding perspective and evaluate the moral justifications for a sustainable form of the sharing economy. We consider the emergence of normative moral justifications through householding practices that rest on local mobilisation of people in defence of communities and commitments against the adverse impacts of neoliberal market capitalism. Our perspective draws on Karl Polanyi's conceptualisation of householding, that is, autarchic, communistic provision in a closed community. Using timebanking as an example, we illustrate how a moral sharing economy can be mobilised in collective battles against the current neoliberal system of economic crisis. We contribute to the amassing sharing economy literature emphasising a central, yet missing element of the current discourse: householding as practices creating self-sufficiency and autonomy as well as combining both kin and stranger

Energy sufficiency : how can research better help and inform policy-making?

The concept of sufficiency - reducing energy uses beyond technical efficiency - is far-reaching and requires a reflection on human needs, energy services, urban structures, social norms, and the role of policies to support the shift towards lower-energy societies. In recent years, a growing body of literature has been published on energy sufficiency in various disciplines. However, there has been limited exchanges and cooperation among researchers so far, hindering the visibility and impact of this research. This paper presents an assessment of where sufficiency research stands, especially in the perspective of policy-making. It is the first overview paper issued in the context of the newly-founded ENOUGH network - International network for sufficiency research & policy, established in 2017. In the first part, we provide a condensed literature review on energy sufficiency, based on dozens of recent references collected through the network. Through four main themes (the nature of sufficiency, the challenges of modelling it, the barriers to its diffusion, and the approaches to foster it), we summarise the key issues and approaches. We then present what the scholars themselves see as the priorities for future research, promising sufficiency policy options, and key barriers that research should help overcome. We collected their views through a questionnaire completed by more than 40 knowledgeable authors and experts from various disciplines. We finally build on the previous parts to draw some recommendations on how sufficiency research could increase its impact, notably in relation to policy-making

Why Achieving the Paris Agreement Requires Reduced Overall Consumption and Production

Technological solutions to the challenge of dangerous climate change are urgent and necessary but to be effective they need to be accompanied by reductions in the total level of consumption and production of goods and services. This is for three reasons. First, private consumption and its associated production are among the key drivers of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, especially among highly emitting industrialized economies. There is no evidence that decoupling of the economy from GHG emissions is possible at the scale and speed needed. Second, investments in more sustainable infrastructure, including renewable energy, needed in coming decades will require extensive amounts of energy, largely from fossil sources, which will use up a significant share of the two-degree carbon budget. Third, improving the standard of living of the world’s poor will consume a major portion of the available carbon allowance. The scholarly community has a responsibility to put the issue of consumption and the associated production on the research and policy agenda

Consumption corridors : Living a good life within sustainable limits

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Doris Fuchs, Marlyne Sahakian, Tobias Gumbert, Antonietta Di Giulio, Michael Maniates, Sylvia Lorek and Antonia Graf.Consumption Corridors: Living a Good Life within Sustainable Limits explores how to enhance peoples' chances to live a good life in a world of ecological and social limits. Rejecting familiar recitations of problems of ecological decline and planetary boundaries, this compact book instead offers a spirited explication of what everyone desires: a good life. Fundamental concepts of the good life are explained and explored, as are forces that threaten the good life for all. The remedy, says the book's seven international authors, lies with the concept of consumption corridors, enabled by mechanisms of citizen engagement and deliberative democracy. Across five concise chapters, readers are invited into conversation about how wellbeing can be enriched by social change that joins "needs satisfaction" with consumerist restraint, social justice, and environmental sustainability. In this endeavour, lower limits of consumption that ensure minimal needs satisfaction for all are important, and enjoy ample precedent. But upper limits to consumption, argue the authors, are equally essential, and attainable, especially in those domains where limits enhance rather than undermine essential freedoms. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in the social sciences and humanities, and environmental and sustainability studies, as well as to community activists and the general public. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780367748746, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.Peer reviewe