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This paper explores the role of the business community in promoting sustainable consumption. While businesses play an important role in shaping social trends, including the growth of material consumption, allegations that individual corporations wield excessive power may have been overstated. Most of the time corporations are simply playing by the rules and culture of the market.Businesses have mostly assumed that their contribution to sustainability lies in improving eco-efficiency—staying within the current business framework. But sustainable consumption will require wider change, including shifts in the incentives that shape the actions of businesses and others, and a change in the culture that underlies market expectations. Firms, governments, the media and civil society may need to enter a dialogue together to develop a new story about the nature of prosperity and the role of the business community in promoting it. The initiative is most likely to come from civil society. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Oxford Commission on Sustainable Consumption aims to promote debate and action to achieve sustainable consumption. It has met four times since it was established in 1999. Commission members have undertaken a number of projects around the world, working with communities to explore pathways to more sustainable consumption. This paper summarises the Commission’s progress and the messages emerging from its work. Current consumption trends are supported by a number of social trends, including individualisation, the spread of the market ethos, urbanisation, globalisation, and the increasing awareness of risk and uncertainty. However, these trends contain the seeds of their own limitation. In particular, increasing discourse about ethics and social goals may be the key to a shift towards more sustainable consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The concept of sustainable consumption has gained significant attention in international policy discussions. In order to achieve sustainable consumption, it is essential to thoroughly comprehend the underlying causes of current unsustainable consumption patterns and the associated challenges in transitioning to more sustainable practices. This research, employing perspectives from international political economy and psychology, elucidates that unsustainable consumption is rooted in a combination of systemic and individual factors. Systemic factors encompass unequal exchange relations, lack of efficient telecoupling framework, political and ecological trade‐off dilemma. Individual factors include unsatisfied needs, insufficient environmental concern, and low self‐efficacy. Drawing upon these findings, this study presents a comprehensive set of macro and micro‐level policy recommendations for achieving sustainable consumption and a more equitable and sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Erciyes Akademi is the property of Erciyes Universitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cadernos de Gestão Pública e Cidadania is the property of Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Escola Brasileira de Administracao Publica e de Empresas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Semestre Económico is the property of Sello Editorial de la Universidad de Medellin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose – This paper aims to present the authors’ views on education for responsible consumption (ERC) in higher education, and deals with major components to be considered to educate students for responsible consumption. Design/methodology/approach – There are three components that seem relevant for ERC in higher education: taught courses should be closely linked with research being carried out into responsible consumption, ERC should focus on a global approach to reducing ecological impacts by changing consumption behaviour and the diversity of situations in terms of specific characteristics of local administrative areas and populations must be properly understood to adapt ERC messages and actions to significant local features. Findings – The diversity of modes of consumption and the complexity inherent in responsible consumption mean that the issue of ERC has to be considered from a global, cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective. In the educational context, the wide variety of students, although creating some difficulties in terms of teaching, is nevertheless a positive factor, as it provides a cultural mix and encourages the appropriation of responsible consumption issues by all. Regarding the effectiveness of this type of ERC in achieving the expected outcome of reducing ecological impacts, assessment tools have to be introduced from student level to the level of the local authority as a whole. Originality/value – To reinforce these concepts and recommendations, this article highlights the master’s degree in “Human ecology: environmental challenges of the activities of production and consumption” (University of Bordeaux, France). This course is the only one in France to cover the issues involved in responsible consumption using a cross-disciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how and why choice editing is being used as a tool to promote sustainable consumption, using the choice editing of fish as a case study. Design/methodology/approach – This study is explorative in nature and is based on a case study of choice editing of fish as a product category that has undergone fairly widespread choice editing. The case is built on primary empirical data from three Swedish and four British retailers collected through semi-structured interviews. These retailers are of different sizes, but together represent over 50 per cent of the food retail market in both Sweden and the UK taken by market share. Findings – The findings suggest that the main business case choice editing is the creation of a responsible brand image and is often based on pressure from wider societal norms. The case for choice editing is therefore ultimately reliant on consumer recognition of sustainability issues as valuable, and it is unlikely to be taken up when retailers see no added brand value in acting responsibly on a certain issue. Clearer product-based indicators and stronger governmental regulation of unsustainable products may enable further choice editing for sustainability by retailers. NGOs and the media also play a critical role. Originality/value – To enable further choice editing for sustainability by retailers, there is a need for clearer product-based indicators and stronger governmental regulation of unsustainable products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Working life can have negative influences on sustainable consumption. In order to promote environmentally and socially friendly consumption patterns and a sustainable society, these negative influences need to be identified and prevented. Research on sustainable consumption has considered different positive and negative influences of working life on sustainable consumption. However, with regard to work-life-research and its gained insights into the work-life relationship, it can be assumed that significant work interferences that restrain sustainable consumption have been ignored so far. Therefore, this article proposes an integrated approach. An overview on sustainable consumption research and work-life-research regarding their insights into work interferences is first presented. On this basis, the article then integrates both research perspectives and shows that additional work interferences need to be considered in order to prevent restraints of sustainable consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the increased levels of consumption, driven by business, have both a direct and indirect impact on the environment, and do not contribute to our overall wellbeing, business can positively influence consumption by motivating consumers to purchase and use more sustainable solutions. An extensive literature review identified that sustainable consumption requires changes at a 'systems level' incorporating issues such as consumption habits, attitudes, behaviours, lifestyles, and the way in which goods and services are delivered. Additionally, User-centred design (UCD), which can be interpreted in many different ways, offers clear benefits in supporting sustainable consumption. However, there are currently no mechanisms to help businesses to apply these approaches at a 'systems level' to enable sustainable consumption. A prototype framework, which aims to help businesses to understand how UCD can be used to enhance sustainable consumption, is presented. The framework is built on findings from the literature, semi-structured interviews with experts, a workshop and a document analysis. Future work will see the framework developed and tested to identify whether it is replicable in different business contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the concept of sustainable consumption (SC) has received increased attention. Overconsumption in industrialized countries still presents major challenges to achieving sustainable development goals despite the global economic crisis. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of national influences on consumption patterns in the Republic of Ireland, focusing in particular on the role of governance in the design of policy instruments for sustainable consumption. It is argued that country-specific political conditions and policy frameworks fundamentally shape everyday household consumption. After an initial discussion of the effectiveness of three key types of policy instruments-legislative, economic, communicative-the paper compares SC policy making and implementation in Ireland with examples of good practice from Europe. An agenda to progress Ireland's sustainable consumption policy framework is proposed in the concluding part of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory article situates the contributions that comprise this special issue within the field of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) studies. After a brief review of the policy history surrounding SCP, we organize our discussion and the subsequent collection of articles into two groups. The first suite of articles views the environmental impacts associated with household consumption from the perspectives of different consumer groups, income levels, and geographic areas. This work confirms and refines several insights that have been developing over the past several years, namely that food and beverages, mobility, housing, and energy-using products are the most critical consumption domains from the standpoint of environmental sustainability and that higher household income leads to greater (but less than proportional) impacts. The second subset of articles analyzes the potential for mitigating these impacts through behavioral changes and innovation strategies. Although the contributions to this special issue describe several noteworthy examples of information- and team-based initiatives to catalyze behavioral changes, the state of knowledge pertaining to this aspect of the consumption problem is much more inchoate. Research on the formulation and implementation of effective “change management for sustainable consumption” should be treated as an area of priority attention for industrial ecologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from the premise that, particularly in industrialized countries, the consumption decisions made by individuals and households are a major source of environmental strain. Several international organizations and national governments have addressed this issue, but, thus far, their efforts have had minimal effect. This paper examines the conditions necessary for the implementation of policy able to effectively reduce the environmental impact of household consumption. It draws from the experience of American tobacco control, a relatively rare example of a public effort that succeeded in reducing the negative consequences of an entitled consumer behaviour. An extensive review of the tobacco control literature informs the conclusion that three fundamental changes brought about conditions conducive to a widespread reduction in smoking, namely, information about its negative effects became common knowledge and was widely believed as true; cigarettes became a target for taxes that raised the price of smoking while placing a penalty on a behaviour increasingly seen as ‘bad’; the public sentiment regarding smoking shifted, deglamourizing the behaviour. The paper further suggests that these changes, which were the result of a concerted public effort, have a similar potential in reducing environmentally unsustainable consumption. A closer tying of consumption to the issue of climate change is suggested as a primary facilitating strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article extends social psychological research on the motivations for sustainable consumption from the predominant domain of ecologically conscious consumer behaviour to socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours. A UK-based survey study examines relationships between socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours and Schwartz's value types, personal and socio-political materialism, and demographics among the general public. Socially conscious consumer behaviour, like its ecological counterpart, appears to be an expression of pro-social values. In contrast, frugal consumer behaviour relates primarily to low personal materialism and income constraints. As such, it does not yet represent a fully developed moral challenge to consumerism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of previous effects of mediated communication on public knowledge, perceptions and concern about sustainability problems, this case study explores a message framing strategy for improving the effectiveness of mediated communication of the somewhat neglected topic of sustainable consumption. It describes how an information campaign on sustainable consumption was strategically framed, employing theories on effective and persuasive communication, and implemented through a community news medium in Christchurch, New Zealand. The resultant impacts of the campaign (significant increases in understanding of sustainable consumption and in the number of parents expressing concern over advertising effects on their children's material desires) were indicative of the potentials of employing strategic message framing for improving mediated communication about sustainability. The study also illustrates the potentials for engaging alternative media in such communication. This paper argues that further steps to develop message framing strategies for mediated communication of sustainable consumption is necessary, as this appears to be a largely neglected area in communication and consumer studies, and concludes with an overview of aspects that may be considered in future communication and other initiatives promoting sustainable consumption as a means for achieving sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, sustainable consumption has become one of the most important issues in global sustainable development. Rapid economic development in China has greatly improved people's living standards, but has also seriously damaged the environment. In this paper, material flow analysis and life-cycle assessment methods were used to analyze environmental consumption patterns of Chinese urban households. Results show that the total household environmental impact (HEI) increased nearly four fold, increasing from 1.85 in the environmental potential index (EPI) in 1985 to 6.40 EPI in 2000. In 1985 and 1990, more than 80% of HEI came from food and housing consumption behaviors. In 2000, transport and housing consumption behaviors have become the main sources of HEI. Climate, economic development, household income, family size, and urbanization rate are main driving forces of household environmental impacts. The increasing consumption demand in the next two decades and its environmental implications are discussed in the last part of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A global analysis shows that considerable forces contribute nowadays to the perpetuation of the so-called “developed” model of consumption, and its extension to growing parts of the world, despite reiterated calls for “modification of production and consumption patterns”. Environmental product regulation can be situated in this general perspective. This paper returns to the framing of policies devoted to ecologically sustainable consumption, taking the example of the Integrated product policy at the European level. How are the objectives of such policies defined? What instruments are privileged? Comparing theoretical approaches with policy design, we focus on the role devoted to consumers in these contexts. Bringing in literature evidence, survey results and findings from an original study, we argue that appropriate knowledge of the diversity of consumers’ attitudes and about the limitations of their possible actions is not properly taken into account in product policies, notably when information and voluntary tools are dominant. From this point of view, environmental product regulations are well justified, but they should, as all policy instruments implicating consumers, take careful notice of their situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approaches to address unsustainable ways of societal development constantly proliferate, but total consumption of resources and aggregate environmental impacts continue rising. This could partially be explained by weak attempts to develop comprehensive sustainability strategies that address the entire life cycle of products and especially resource extraction and use phases. This paper seeks to explore to what extent these life cycle stages and associated impacts are taken into account when various actors employ life cycle thinking and how these concerns can be better attended to in policy-making, business strategies and lifestyle choices. To accomplish this, we evaluate the efforts of the main stakeholders in reaching sustainable consumption and sustainable resource management, and impediments to further progress, and study whether and how deficits in these phases coincide and can potentially contribute to more holistic practical realization of life cycle thinking. We demonstrate that new approaches are needed to be able to tackle the international dimension of production and consumption. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed at developing a better understanding of environmental pressure of urban household consumption in China. First, we introduced the concept model of household metabolism. Using this model, we analyzed the changes of Chinese household metabolism during the last 20 years. Rather than taking into account all aspects of household consumption, we just focused on water and energy metabolisms. After exploring the clearly increasing trends of urban household metabolism in China, we identified the underlying driving forces as biological/physical factors, economic/marketing factors and demographic factors. In conclusion, we suggest that additional work must be carried out in a wider range of household activities and at more advanced research levels in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial ecology has mainly been concerned with improving the efficiency of production systems. But addressing consumption is also vital in reducing the impact of society on its environment. The concept of sustainable consumption is a response to this. But the debates about sustainable consumption can only really be understood in the context of much wider and deeper debates about consumption and about consumer behavior itself. This article explores some of these wider debates. In particular, it draws attention to a fundamental disagreement that runs through the literature on consumption and haunts the debate on sustainable consumption: the question of whether, or to what extent, consumption can be taken as ''good for us.'' Some approaches assume that increasing consumption is more or less synonymous with improved well-being: the more we consume the better off we are. Others argue, just as vehemently, that the scale of consumption in modern society is both environmentally and psychologically damaging, and that we could reduce consumption significantly without threatening the quality of our lives. This second viewpoint suggests that a kind of ''double dividend'' is inherent in sustainable consumption: the ability to live better by consuming less and reduce our impact on the environment in the process. In the final analysis, this article argues, such ''win-win'' solutions may exist but will require a concerted societal effort to realize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern over the environmental and social implications of modern consumption patterns has emerged as a defining feature of debates about sustainable development. During the last decade, these concerns have crystallised around the concept of 'sustainable consumption'. This paper briefly reviews the recent history of this debate. It highlights, in particular, the failure of policy-makers to agree on precise definitions of sustainable consumption and the contentious nature of exhortations to 'consume less'. In spite of these difficulties, the author suggests that progress towards understanding and changing unsustainable patterns of consumption is not only necessary but possible. Such progress relies, however, on two key understandings: firstly, an informed view of the wider and deeper debates about consumption and consumer behaviour within which the sustainable consumption debate sits; and secondly, a culturally open approach to the role of policy in negotiating change. The paper highlights, in particular, the potential for community-based initiatives for social change. Far from offering an intractable policy domain, the author argues that a sophisticated understanding of the social and institutional context of consumer action opens out a much more creative vista for policy innovation than has hitherto been recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exploration of the nature of consumerism in rich societies, noting the damaging impact on the environment and the loss of interest in public life. The challenge of moving towards sustainable lifestyles is explored with reference to household labour and the use of the car. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]