Everyday Ecology, Energy, Consumption
first results
WP 1: “Gender aspects of sustainable consumption strategies and instruments”, Irmgard Schultz and Immanuel Stieß, Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), Frankfurt/Main April 2009 ... download
Project:
Policies to Promote Sustainable Consumption Patterns EUPOPP
Project Coordination
Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology
Project head in ISOE
Project team in ISOE
Dr. Irmgard Schultz
Dr. Immanuel Stieß
Project Partners
National Consumer Research
Centre, Finland
University College
London
Baltic Environmental Forum
ecoinstitut Barcelona
ICLEI – Local Governments
for Sustainability
Duration :
08/2008 - 07/2011
Funding:
Seventh Framework Programme of the EU
Policies to Promote Sustainable Consumption Patterns EUPOPP
The promotion of sustainable production and consumption patterns became an important object of international policy and research at the 1992 UNCED conference in Rio de Janeiro. Since then numerous studies have been carried out on this topic as part of research into sustainability. Most of these have concentrated on the analysis of constraints on sustainable consumption and the development of appropriate policy measures to overcome these.
Questions, however, remain: Do the policy measures that have been recommended and accepted so far really work, and, if so, how? Do they really contribute to more sustainable patterns of consumption in everyday life? Why does the relationship between environmental problems and consumption habits play such a subordinate role in the everyday lives of consumers? How can policy strategies and measures be improved so that the consumption behavior of different population changes in everyday life?
These questions are being studied by seven European research institutes within the project, “EUPOPP – Policies to Promote Sustainable Consumption Patterns.”
The focus of the project is on policies in the need areas of housing and food. The project partners, following an interdisciplinary approach, are investigating and evaluating previous strategies and measures for promoting sustainable consumption, and developing these further, using trend analyses. As part of the project, results are being presented for discussion at stakeholder workshops. The goal is to provide policy makers and other decision makers with better instruments and ways to organize consumption in a manner gentler for people and the environment.
ISOE is studying the effects of policy measures and strategies for promoting sustainable consumption patterns from a gender specific perspective. At the core of the study is the question of how the effects of such measures are influenced by the different life situations, experience and needs of men and women and how, during the development and implementation of policy measures, these differences can be better taken into account.