Sustainable consumption

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Sustainable consumption is part of a sustainable way of life and consumer behavior: buying environmentally and socially compatible products can exert political influence on global problems in order to minimize economic, ecological and social costs .

A well-known example of the global dimension of purchasing decisions are efforts to promote fair trade . Consumers should take slightly more expensive goods from smaller producers in developing countries and thus support fair working conditions. In other respects, too, the purchase decision is decisive, which primarily takes into account the operating and follow-up costs of a product. This applies to the subsequent energy consumption as well as to the ease of repair or the longevity of the products.

The term ethical consumption is sometimes used synonymously with sustainable consumption . More generally, ethical consumption is consumption that is influenced by the consumer's ethical considerations - not just with regard to sustainability. In particular, the question of whether one form of meat production is more compatible with animal welfare than another has nothing to do with the category of “sustainability”; however, the question is of central importance for ethically oriented consumers.

Concept history

The emergence of the term sustainable consumption is in the context of the discussion about sustainable development , as a development that meets the needs of the current generation without jeopardizing the possibilities of future generations to satisfy their own needs. The origin of the term sustainable consumption goes back to Chapter 4 of Agenda 21 , which was adopted in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Conference). Under the heading “Change of consumption habits”, it was called for to deal specifically with unsustainable production methods and consumption habits and to develop a national policy to change them. This takes account of the fact that demand controls production structures and processes and that environmental pollution occurs in the consumer sphere itself, which is contrary to sustainable development. At the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, the development of a ten-year framework program for sustainable consumption and production was decided against the background of increasingly less sustainable production and consumption patterns. This program is known as the so-called Marrakech Process .

A uniform, universally recognized definition of the term “sustainable consumption” is still lacking. A helpful definition, which also forms the basis of the work of the consumer advice centers, is the understanding of sustainable consumption as the consumption or use of goods and services that meets the needs of consumers, protects the environment and resources and is both socially and economically viable . The definition thus includes the three basic sustainability dimensions, environmental and resource conservation, social compatibility and economic viability. These also characterize the so-called three-pillar model of sustainability .

Abstinence from consumption

The concept of sustainable consumption contrasts with the concept of abstinence from consumption . The focus here is on whether you really need a new product or not want to repair the old one, buy, rent or exchange a used one, or whether you can make a new product from an old one by upcycling . At the end of November the day of action for abstaining from consumption takes place, the purchase-nothing day , see also: Sufficiency (ecology) .

Sustainable consumption by individual consumers

People who practice a sustainable lifestyle are known as LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). People who consciously consume less meat because they want to counteract the negative environmental effects of factory farming are called flexitarians .

Certifications of products or companies can help the consumer with the consumption decision. There are numerous product certifications with corresponding seals of approval, e.g. B. the fair trade seal for "fair trade" or the Demeter seal for a bio-dynamic economy. Furthermore, the CSE standard, as a company certification for economic actors, offers a guideline for ethical consumption.

Sustainable consumption by companies and organizations

When it comes to sustainable consumption, people have so far primarily thought of individual consumers and less of companies where sustainable action is primarily associated with corporate social responsibility . The focus here is mostly on the supply chain or value chain , which in responsible companies should not only be economically profitable, but also socially and ecologically compatible. It is mostly about the product itself or the manufacturing and delivery process.

The focus is increasingly on sustainable consumption in office operations. Especially in the ecological area, companies and organizations can use the Green Office principle to improve their ecological balance. Above all, the procurement and behavior of employees play an important role. There are points of contact for sustainable consumption in companies and organizations in the following areas:

  • Energy and resources - examples: Use of green electricity , self- generated electricity for example via photovoltaics , double-sided printing, switching off devices and lighting when not in use
  • Mobility - examples: company bicycles, job tickets , low-emission vehicles, trains instead of airplanes or - if flights are unavoidable - compensation for flights through climate protection projects
  • Office supplies and equipment - examples: purchase of low-energy and / or recycled office equipment, recycled paper
  • Catering and event management - examples: if possible, buy regionally and seasonally, prefer products from fair trade

In addition to fair trade , corporate health management is part of the social dimension of sustainable consumption in companies and organizations .

controversy

Many products, which should be sustainable consumable, are more of a marketing instrument of the offering company than part of a sustainable way of life. For example, the purchase of green electricity can be sustainable, but in many cases the product is a means of customer loyalty and increasing sales. The consumer should be given a pleasant feeling when consuming, even if the environmental impact is in reality just a facade (see also: Greenwashing ).

Occasionally, sustainable consumption is classified as a substitute for “real” political or social commitment (see: Bionade-Biedermeier ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Veronika A. Andorfer: Ethical Consumption . In: Daniel Thomas Cook and J. Michael Ryan (Eds.): The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies . March 2, 2015, p. 268-269 .
  2. ↑ Ethical Consumption . In: Frederick F. Wherry and Juliet B. Schor (Eds.): The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society . 19th November 2015.
  3. ↑ E. Cooper-Martin and ME Holbrook: Ethical consumption experiences and ethical space . In: Advances in Consumer Research . tape 20 , no. 1 , 1993: "decision-making, purchases and other consumption experiences that are affected by the consumer's ethical concerns"
  4. ↑ Cheers to the flexitarians. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 10, 2014
  5. ↑ Dieter Spath , Wilhelm Bauer, Stefan Rief (eds.): Green Office: Economic and ecological potentials of sustainable work and office design , Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012.
  6. ^ Ministry of the Environment Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Environmentally oriented procurement of durable goods and consumer goods for the office sector. ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Stuttgart 2008 (PDF file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.um.baden-wuerttemberg.de
  7. ↑ Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) (Hrsg.): Alliance for sustainable procurement. ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Berlin 2013 (PDF file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmwi.de
  8. ↑ Hessian Ministry of Finance (Hrsg.): Guidelines to support buyers in sustainable procurement for the product groups office supplies, office equipment with printing function, office furniture, cleaning services, textile products, computers and monitors, motor vehicles. ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Wiesbaden 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hessen-nachhaltig.de
  9. ↑ Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Federal Environment Agency (Ed.): Guide for the sustainable organization of events , Berlin 2010, PDF file ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.atmosfair.de
  10. ↑ Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forests (StMELF) (Ed.): Sustainable nutrition
  11. ↑ Real environmental protection or "green dyeing" ?: How green is green electricity really? ( Memento from April 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Westdeutscher Rundfunk
  12. ↑ Karl-Werner Brand: From the agricultural turnaround to the consumption turnaround? In: Ernähr-Umschau 53 (2006) issue 7