Sustainable consumption was one of the key issues at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation calls for the adoption of tools, policies and assessment mechanisms based on life-cycle analysis to promote sustainable patterns of production and consumption and to increase the eco-efficiency of products and services.
For IndEcol, sustainable consumption is a new research area which we plan to expand in the future. We currently participate in two funded research projects and a number of collaborations. This research area is lead by Professor Edgar Hertwich.
FESCOLA Feasibility and Scope of Life-Cycle Approaches to Sustainable Consumption: This EU-financed study aims to lay out how life-cyle assessment (LCA) and related approaches (such as environmental input-output analysis) can be used to further the sustainable consumption agenda of the European Union. This implies both research to identify areas and courses of action, and practical information or tools to implement sustainable consumption policy. It describes, classifies and critically evaluates different options for using life-cycle approaches. Visit the FESCOLA pagesfor more information.
Evaluating examples of sustainable consumption This project, started by Hertwich while he was at theInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, aims to develop an integrated approach that evaluates both the environmental and the social aspects of examples, projects, or policies of sustainable consumption. The project builds on a review of examples of sustainable consumptionand takes the car-free housing project in Vienna-Floridsdorf as a case. In a case-control study, the environmental impact of the inhabitants of this building complex are compared to the impacts of inhabitants of a reference building in Vienna. Interviews are used to study the inhabitants' consumption patterns, motivation, and reasoning around consumption. The study is financed by the Austrian National Bank and the Japanese National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) .
The Journal of Industrial Ecology will publish a special issue on sustainable consumption. Financial support is provided by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Garfield Foundation. Submissions are welcome until September 2003.
