SDG 12 aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Browse books and journal articles relating to this SDG below and find out more on the UN Sustainable Development Goals website.
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
You are looking at 1 - 10 of 724 items
This article aims to critically examine cultural discourses in food marketing from the perspective of mundane food practices and contested meat consumption. In conceptualising normativity and sociocultural contestations of consumption in practice-level performances, less attention has been paid to legitimations of (un)sustainable consumption, such as meat consumption, in marketing discourses. We take inspiration from the concept of teleoaffective formations – particularly that of promotional sustainable consumption – and adopt a critical discourse analysis method to analyse the food marketing content of Finnish grocery retailers. Our findings exemplify discursive tensions between normative ideas of food practices (effectiveness, healthiness and environmental friendliness) and practice reproduction and change. Our analysis uncovers how practices are utilised as arenas for contradictory, parallel legitimations: meat is justified as a convenient means in the fight against busy everyday life, while the shift towards ideal, reduced meat consumption is promoted. Additionally, the findings illustrate responsibilisation of the consumer as both a morally and practically conscious actor concerned about food sustainability and caring for the family. The study exemplifies how analysing discursive consumption legitimation by marketers reveals power issues in consumer culture in practice theoretical terms and elucidates sociocultural conditions for sustainability shifts in normative consumption. This article thus responds to the calls for approaching consumption in practices from a cultural and critical perspective and for extending research to the commercial sphere.
Scientific evidence highlights the pivotal role for structural change in pursuit of the sustainability transformation. A particular challenge for research on structural aspects of sustainable consumption and lifestyles, however, is the assessment of their impact. Especially quantifying the impact of structural change remains a serious problem. While some forms of structural change can be quantified, like the rate of building renovations, changes in the energy mix at the production level, or trends in access to health care or education, the impact of other changes such as societal narratives about wellbeing, political campaigns on energy technologies or policies, or the abandonment of the growth paradigm defy easy quantification. This article aims to shed light on potential avenues for quantitatively assessing the impact of structural change drawing on insights gained by a group of international and interdisciplinary research consortia funded by the European Union in the area of sustainable consumption, citizenship, and lifestyles research. It delineates strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, foci and blindspots of associated data types. Thereby, it highlights fundamental decisions that need to be made in research designs, but also important aspects to consider in the interpretation of results. Finally, the article highlights the particular challenges related to assessing the impact of deep political and ideational structures.
How to engage diverse groups of people in the energy transition in Europe is a pressing issue, one that requires grappling with the role of collectivities and social change dynamics. Based on the results of multi-form Citizen Action Labs (CAL) in four European cities, this article details the different ways in which energy citizenship was practised, drawing from an analysis of survey and workshop data, national reports, and exchanges between research team members. From tiny houses in Overhalla, renewable energy production in Berlin and citizen-led action plans for the climate in both Città di Castello and Geneva, the CALs had different objectives, but all revealed how citizens, research teams and local partners engage with technical solutions, as an established socio-technical imaginary, as well as sufficiency measures and collective political action, as emerging and more radical socio-technical imaginaries. We introduce ‘dispersed’ practices, such as planning and imagining, as central to collective forms of action, and differentiate individual action from collective action in relation to complexity, defined as increased coordination. We demonstrate how citizen collectives are limited by more complex dynamics, such as existing infrastructures or regulations. In the conclusion, we highlight what measures could be taken to further support collective energy citizenship in the future.
We are currently witnessing a paradox in climate governance (CG): despite growing awareness of the socio-biophysical impacts of current lifestyles, there remains a persistent commitment to high-consumption habits with large carbon footprints. Around this paradox, a debate on responsibility for change has developed. Which actor can and should do what to solve the problem? Simultaneously, however, scholars depict trends towards ‘organised irresponsibility’ (Beck, 1988) and individual responsibilisation bound to be ineffective in the context of existing structural challenges. The most likely result of such dynamics is a responsibility ping-pong with actors assigning responsibility to each other, which, in turn, invites the question of how it might be overcome. What other forms of talking about and organising responsibility might exist that could provide an actual basis for transformation change? Disentangling discourses around responsibility in CG, thus, is crucial for enabling a shift in consumption patterns and lifestyles that are compatible with the 1.5° Paris climate target. The present article pursues this objective. Building on a multi-method research approach, including stakeholder laboratories, expert interviews, and Delphi workshops across several European countries, it explores to whom and how European stakeholders in CG, specifically governments, businesses and citizens, assign responsibility, what risks and opportunities are involved, and what indications of a potential for game change exist. The findings uncover a complex web of pre-empted responsibility, which frequently leads to pessimism or ineffective strategies. However, the research also identifies some opportunities for organising a shared, justice-oriented and comprehensive notion of responsibility (Young, 2006).
As a major contributor to overall carbon emissions and energy consumption, the housing sector has great potential to reduce energy consumption, whether by reducing the number of appliances, heating temperature or floor space. Consumption patterns encompass how people choose and consume products that satisfy their needs and wants. However, wants, and to some extent needs, are influenced by various factors and existing material and non-material (infra)structures, especially in the housing sector. Focusing on the floor area, this article aims to identify potentials towards lower consumption lifestyles by applying the Avoid-Shift-Improve framework in the residential sector. Through a conceptual review, the article explores what shapes current patterns of space use and outlines potential future pathways. Starting from the macro level, the article examines existing and emerging (societal) trends with (potential) impacts on housing consumption. It then looks at the structural development of households affected by the studied trends. At the micro level, the article provides an overview of the potential impact of individual behaviour on space use patterns within different categories of housing behaviour. The article identifies the potential for social and technical change in the housing sector and concludes that promoting non-materialistic narratives (avoid), offering alternative and innovative solutions to satisfy people’s spatial needs (shift) and designing flexible buildings (improve) appear to be effective ways for fostering behavioural change towards more efficient use of space.
To explore the complexity of household living conditions and their relation to electricity consumption, the socio-technical constellations they create for themselves and the perceived ease of saving electricity, we conducted a clustering analysis to categorise Norwegian participants in an electricity-saving programme based on environmental concerns, personal norms and socio-economic parameters. We also explored if the household clusters differed in perceived risk of energy poverty. A sample of 1,135 Norwegians participated in the study in 2023. A two-step cluster analysis resulted in five distinct clusters which we named: (1) older couples with moderate environmental concern; (2) eco-ease in midlife; (3) middle-aged females in medium-sized households; (4) growing families with moderate concerns; and (5) moderate advocates with adolescents. Analysis of variance indicated significant variations in mean scores of environmental concerns, access to energy appliances and perceived behavioural control implement energy-saving tips across clusters (p<0.01), but no difference in perceived risk of energy poverty. The results show that changes in the living situation, especially children moving out, seems to have strong effects on per capita electricity consumption, if the housing infrastructure is not adapted to the new family size. Lower environmental concern particularly impacts electricity consumption negatively in the time after children leave the household, and the same can be concluded for gender roles with females being more motivated to save electricity. Based on these results we recommend to more actively support these transitions of living situations, but also support existing sustainable energy use practices or connect electricity saving to other motivations (like supply security) for clusters where environmental concern is low.
The following trend projection is based on the state of scientific knowledge of summer 2024, and the policy assumptions are optimistic for 2030. Still the outlook is dystopic – readers are invited to identify intervention and bifurcation points for the better, but in line with the state of science.
Sufficiency consists of less materially intensive consumption patterns that focus on wellbeing rather than material wealth. Such consumption patterns are commonly referred to as sufficiency lifestyles and are increasingly seen as a key driver for achieving decarbonisation. However, while research finds that sustainable consumption and environmental behaviour are often associated with high social status, lower carbon footprints and lower consumption more broadly are associated in the literature with poverty and deprivation. This article aims to investigate whether a combination of low carbon footprint and high wellbeing exists, what socio-demographic characteristics are associated with it, and to explore the actual experiences of people engaged in sufficiency lifestyles through initiatives and their characteristics.
We use a mixed-methods design with data from demographically representative surveys in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Latvia (N=5,080), and in-depth interviews with participants from sufficiency-oriented intentional communities (N=90).
We find that sufficiency lifestyles are linked to a stronger inclination towards sufficiency orientation or a heightened stronger environmental identity, accompanied by a negative correlation with social deprivation aspects. Drawing on the interviews, we find that individuals engaged in sufficiency-oriented practices tend to benefit from economic, social and cultural resources that allow them to overcome energy dependency and constraints, and that their motivations are not limited to pro-environmental behaviour. Based on these empirical findings, we explore potential avenues for the diffusion of sufficiency-oriented lifestyles, including the establishment of binding rules through a democratic process that curb overconsumption while providing attractive low-carbon lifestyles for all.
Repair and maintenance of household goods facilitate longer product use lives. These activities can be considered forms of consumption work that may be critical for the realisation of the circular economy but lack visibility and the attribution of value (Hobson et al, 2021). We draw on findings of a survey of 2,717 households across Australia in which respondents were asked about their practices of maintaining and repairing three types of products: (1) clothing and accessories; (2) furniture and homewares; and (3) appliances and white goods. The analysis offers insights into socio-demographic patterning of households most and least likely to repair and maintain the different product types. Life stage, gender and income are particularly significant for household repair and maintenance practices. These patterns may be best explained in terms of economic capacity, necessity, and availability of time, skills and space. The dynamic between environmental, social and economic motivations for repair and maintenance may be fluid and there is evidence of a value–action gap. We argue that a strong foundation exists for household-scale consumer-driven practices that could be supported to complement parallel transitions in production systems towards product design for repairability and longevity, in line with circular economy principles. We reflect on the implications for changing social norms and practices as part of a societal scale transition towards more sustainable forms of material use, and position repair and maintenance within the social dimensions of a circular economy transition, particularly in relation to debates around green growth and degrowth.
