Background and Aim of the Project

EUPOPP will address sustainable consumption strategies and individual policy instruments. It will tackle the existing knowledge deficit with regards to the impacts and effectiveness of sustainable consumption (SC) strategies and instruments. A focus is on policies in the need areas of housing and food. In the analysis, all European regions will be covered, with special emphasis on Spain, Finland, Germany, and the Baltic area. The international dimension of the effects of sustainable consumption will be covered as well.

Basic Constellation and Research Questions

As a starting point an overall conceptual framework for portraying the relationships between SC policies, consumption patterns and sustainability will be developed. Under this umbrella the following questions will be addressed: What are consumption / production trends and what are the respective sustainability potentials of SC policies – in general and in selected need areas? How can impacts of policy instruments on sustainable consumption be assessed and how do they influence sustainable consumption – mainly in the need areas housing and food? What are conditions of success or failure that promote or hamper the impacts of a SC instrument on consumption patterns? What are options to enhance sustainable consumption policies and instruments?

Project Design and Methodological Approaches

The project will address the research tasks with a variety of methodological instruments. A new key approach will be developed by linking policy analysis with in-depth empirical research and material flow analysis with a view to:

• Evaluating and describing the conditions of success and failure of sustainable consumption strategies against the background of different regional, cultural and socio-economic framework conditions and with the focus on individual and collective consumption behaviour in different phases of the consumptive decision-making process,
• Describing and assessing the impact potentials for different types of policy instruments,
• Analysing and discussing the conditions of success and failure under the umbrella of a conceptual framework, including all relevant disciplines and methodological approaches,
• Exploring and quantifying the effects of consumption patterns on sustainability by means of a material flow analysis – EU-wide and under consideration of the international dimension of sustainable development,
• Presenting innovative policies and operational instruments (best practice) with an expected high impact on sustainable consumption patterns, Developing policy recommendations.

Results and Products

The project will deliver products of different shape and scope. Besides the elaboration of policy papers, e. g. on gender aspects, European SC strategies, or the consumption and production trends, several stakeholder workshops, regional procurer workshops, focus groups and a final conference will be held. The project results will promote sustainable consumption in the three main arenas of Sustainable Consumption and Production. An early well-grounded dissemination strategy will address for policymakers, consumer organisations, academia and other stakeholder groups.

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