Sustainable household consumption in Europe?

A significant renewed policy focus on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) can be observed from policy documents and processes in the European Union (EU) and at the global level in the first half of 2006.

At EU level, the renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy, adopted in June 2006,

identifies sustainable consumption and production as one of seven key challenges with corresponding targets, operational objectives and action.1 It includes a specific commitment by the European Commission to propose an EU Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan by 2007. At national level, the adoption in early 2006 of the Swedish action plan for sustainable household consumption2 was the latest in a series of national action plans on sustainable consumption and production (or major aspects hereof) in EU countries. Other EU countries with action plans on sustainable consumption and production include the Czech Republic, Finland and the UK.

At global level, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) annually reviews global progress towards sustainable development. In 2010 and 2011, it will focus specifically on sustainable consumption and production. In preparation, the global Marrakech process established seven task forces aimed at making progress for specific aspects of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). Task forces have to date been established on sustainable lifestyles (led by Sweden), sustainable products (led by the United Kingdom), sustainable building and construction (led by Finland), sustainable tourism (led by France), sustainable procurement (led by Switzerland), education for sustainable consumption (led by Italy) and cooperation with Africa (led by Germany).

The renewed policy focus on SCP reflects the growing political recognition that our current patterns of consumption and production cause increasing environmental impacts. If the declared sustainable development goals are to be achieved, our current patterns of consumption and production need to be addressed. Although significant environmental impacts caused by production activities continue, there have been successes in tackling many of the negative environmental effects of industrial production in Europe. This has mainly been achieved by reducing end-of pipe pollution and by using better technology.

The direct environmental impacts of household consumption are still relatively small compared with that of production activities,3 and therefore it may seem less relevant to focus policy attention and financial means addressing unsustainable household consumption.

In this article I will, however, argue that there are considerable and rapidly growing direct and indirect negative environmental impacts of continued consumption growth. Moreover, these impacts outweigh the positive effects from increased efficiency in production and consumption. Hence, in terms of environmental policies in Europe focusing on production efficiency is necessary but not sufficient. Furthermore, we should not marginalise the problems that continued increases in consumption can create simply because changing consumption patterns is a difficult task.

The arguments of this article are largely based on analysis in the recent report on 'Household consumption and the environment' by the European Environment Agency (EEA).4 This study shows that the total household consumption expenditure within the EU-15 increased by almost a third from 1990 to 2002, resulting in increased pressures on the environment, For example, greenhouse gas emissions from personal travel and tourism, and waste amounts from households continue to grow. Projections by the EEA and others show that many environmental pressures are expected to continue to grow over the next 25 years if no further action is taken.5

This article consists of three sections. The first section describes how household consumption in Europe is increasing and changing, and identify the factors driving these changes. The second section identifies consumption categories for which environmental effects are either significant or increasing rapidly: consumption of food and drinks, housing activities, personal travel and mobility, and tourism. The third section looks at some of the many potential policy measures available for addressing the environmental effects of household consumption and argues that political success depends on the willingness and ability of a wide range of actors to bend the trend, accept responsibility and take action.

Changing consumption patterns

European household consumption has grown continuously alongside GDP in past decades. Moreover, its form has also changed. In the relatively rich European countries the share of household expenditure on recreation and leisure, culture, restaurants, transport, communication and health have all increased, while the share of more basic goods such as food and drink, clothing and housing have decreased.6

Household consumption expenditure in the EU15 between 1990 and 2002 increased by almost one third to more than 12,000 EUR per person per year on average. Expenditure on recreation, culture and dining-out increased by 30 per cent, transport and communication by 33 per cent and that of health by 56 per cent. Household consumption expenditure by the new Member States in 2002 averaged approximately 2,400 EUR per capita -approximately one fifth of that in the EU-15.7 Expenditure by the new Member States increased by around one third between 1995 and 2002. The share of recreation, culture and dining-out increased by more than 50 per cent while health more than doubled. Projections show a doubling of total household consumption (in terms of expenditure) in the EU-25 by 2030.8

Which factors are shaping such significant changes in the patterns of household consumption in Europe? Understanding changes in household consumption patterns is basically about understanding human behaviour - why do we consume, what drives us to behave the way we do and consequently buy specific products and services. Our patterns of consumption are not easy to map as they are constantly changing, shaped and reshaped by an array of interdependent social, cultural, political and economic changes in Europe and the world in general.

Key economic and technological drivers of household consumption include growing income levels, globalisation which gives us access to goods from all over the world, and major systemic technological breakthroughs, such as the internet and mobile phones.

With regard to specific social drivers, the average number of persons per household in the EU-15 has fallen from 2.8 in 1980 to 2.4 today. This is an important driver because smaller households tend to use more energy and water per person in the household. The average number within the EU-10 is 2.5. At the same time Europe's population is ageing which will undoubtedly change our consumption patterns. For example, expenditure on personal travel and health is likely to increase, as is the purchase of second homes.

Understanding consumption patterns also means understanding how individuals make choices.9 At an individual level, our consumption patterns are shaped by our needs, abilities and opportunities. Besides focusing on economic and political drivers, it is important to recognise that individual and social identity matter for the individual's choices of consumption. Consumption patterns are, to a large extent, influenced by a desire to identify with groups that define themselves in a variety of ways. For example, consumption patterns differ according to national identities (that is, Europeans consume differently than Americans), education (that is, people with higher formal education consume differently than people with lower formal education), and family situations (that is, households with or without children consume differently) and so forth. Hence, consumption is also shaped by the cultural and social setting.

Finally, and linked to the question of identity, the role of marketing and advertising is an important driver shaping consumption. Recent changes include the increased focus on very young consumers, the use of new media - including mobile phones and the internet, and the use of product placement in films and TV shows.

Negative environmental effects

In analysing the long-term sustainability of household consumption patterns in Europe, it is crucial to focus on both the direct (from consumption) and indirect (from production, transportation, and so on.) environmental impacts of household consumption in Europe. Sustainable consumption can be defined as 'the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimising the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations'.10 In other words, sustainable consumption is about meeting our needs without destroying the environment or overexploiting natural resources, and thereby not jeopardising the potential of future generation to meet their needs.

European studies carried out by the European Environment Agency show that we are increasingly using resources extracted from outside Europe for consumption within Europe. Resource extraction in Europe has decreased, while imports of resources, especially fossil fuels and metals, have increased. In fact, environmental pressures from resource extraction in other regions of the world are increasing due to European consumption.11 The total amounts of resource consumption vary considerably between countries, ranging from less than 10 tonnes per person per year in Turkey and Romania to approximately 40 tonnes in Finland and Iceland. For the EU-25, direct material consumption amounts to 16.5 tonnes per person per year on average.12

The ecological footprint of the average EU resident was 4.9 global hectares in 2002 and is on the increase.13 However, this average disguises the great disparity between countries. The average footprints of EU citizens in 2001 ranged from 3.8 global hectares per person in Italy, 4.8 in Germany, 5.8 in France and 7.0 in Sweden.14 In comparison, the global average was estimated at 2.2 global hectares per person. In 2002, EU-25 contained 7 per cent of the world's population and its consumption generated 17 per cent of the world's ecological footprint.

The European Environment Agency's analysis of the consumption of food and drink, housing, personal transport and tourism shows that technological improvements and breakthroughs have led to improved efficiency in production and consumption, especially with regard to the use of resources such as energy and water, waste generation and reduced pollution. Although efficiency is improving, growth in the total level of consumption of goods and services has been so high that in many cases it has outweighed these technological improvements. For example, while the energy efficiency of heating systems and electronic appliances has improved considerably, our homes are becoming larger and we use an increasing number of electronic appliances. As a result, CO2 emissions from households have remained stable. Also, despite increased resource efficiency the amounts of waste generated from households continue to increase. Finally, in spite of improvements in energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions from personal travel by road and air, including tourism, continue to increase.15

From their own work by analysing research and reports carried out by researchers and international organisations16, the EEA has identified four major categories that form a large part of total consumption expenditure and for which the environmental effects are either great or increasing rapidly. The categories are: consumption of food and drink, housing, personal travel and mobility, and tourism.17

Food and drink consumption

The share of total European household expenditure on food and drink has declined as incomes have risen, with 10 to 35 per cent of total household consumption expenditure going on food and drink: the smallest shares being in the EU-15 and larger shares in the EU-10.18 Furthermore, the share of European citizens' expenditure on food is projected to continue decreasing.19

It is estimated that approximately one third of households' total environmental impact is related to food and drink consumption.20 The most significant environmental impact related to food consumption are the indirect effects from food production and processing in Europe and in other regions of the world .21 These include the effect of emissions from livestock, agriculture and industry on water, soil and air; the overuse of fish resources; the increased transport of food; and waste from production processes, in particular organic and packaging waste. Packaging waste in the EU-15 continues to grow and amounts to more than 160 kg per person per year. More than two thirds of packaging waste is related to food consumption.22

Although the direct negative environmental effects of food and drink consumption (that is, from travelling to the shops, storing, cooking and generating waste) are fewer than the indirect effects, they are generally rising.23 This is the case with regard to the impacts from travelling to shops (that is, nowadays we generally travel farther to do our shopping), and also with regard to energy use from the increasing number of kitchen appliances and increasing amounts of packaging and food waste.

Housing activities

Housing activities represent approximately 25 per cent of total consumption expenditure in Europe and include the consumption of energy and water, and the generation of waste.

Many homes are becoming more luxurious with multiple electronic appliances.24 We build larger homes for fewer people and use more energy both for heating and electricity. Space heating is still by far the largest household energy end-use in the EU (70 per cent). The total amount of energy used for space heating continues to grow, due mainly to the increase in the number of households and the size of the average dwelling.25

We also buy increasing numbers of TVs, DVDs, PCs, laptops, mobile phones and stereos. By 2003, the number of mobile phones reached 850 per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU-15, compared with an average of 600 in the EU-10.26 Due to changes in fashion, reduced durability of goods and low prices (compared with the cost of repairs), we replace our electronic and communications tools and household appliances (for example, washing machines, dishwashers) more often.

As a result of increased energy use for heating and appliances, and even though the energy and resource-efficiency of each appliance is improving, households are contributing to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions and generating increasing amounts of waste. In fact, households' share of total energy consumption has increased in the past ten years in almost all the EU-15 countries and in some of the EU-10 Member States. Households contributed 10 per cent of CO2 emissions in the EU-15 in 2002. A shift to renewable energy balanced the increase in energy use. Therefore, CO2 emissions from households remained stable between 1990 and 2002, only fluctuating with outdoor temperatures in winter.27

EEA projections show a continuing increase in the various waste streams from housing activities, including municipal, construction and demolition, packaging and electronic waste. However, all waste streams are expected to increase slightly more slowly than gross domestic product (GDP). This represents a slight relative decoupling of waste amounts from GDP growth.28

In contrast to energy use and waste generation, household water use per person has decreased in all regions of Europe in the past decade. Domestic water use in the northern EU-15 and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries is expected to stabilise and then slowly decrease (by 18 per cent between 2000 and 2030). In the southern EU-15 countries domestic water use is projected to increase slightly and then stabilise. Projections for the new Member States are uncertain, but domestic water use could increase by as much as 74 per cent by 2030.29

Personal travel and mobility

Personal travel by European citizens is mainly for commuting to and from work, school and leisure activities, and for shopping or visiting family or friends. The share of transport in household expenditure in Europe has remained more or less constant over time (14 per cent), but varies between countries, from almost 15 per cent in France to less than 8 per cent in Estonia.30

In the period 1995 to 2002, there was a slight relative decoupling between the growth of passenger transport and the growth of economy for the EU-25: passenger transport demand increased by some 15 per cent, while GDP (in constant prices) increased by almost 18 per cent.31 Cars have generally become more energy-efficient. However, the growth in transport demand and the increased use of heavy and relatively fuel-inefficient cars has outweighed these improvements. This has resulted in a net increase of about 20 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions from transport over the past decade.32 The growing trend of using fuel-inefficient sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and multipurpose vehicles (MPVs) is contributing to this.

Emissions of air pollutants from passenger transport by road, however, are currently falling. This is due mainly to technological improvements, such as catalytic converters, and other technical measures needed to meet EU standards. These improvements outweigh the growth in personal travel. As a result, emissions of particulates (PM10), acidifying substances (NOX, XXSNMVOCs) and ozone precursors (SO, NO, NH) have decreased in the past decade.

Despite a temporary decline following 11 September 2001 and the SARS epidemic in 2002, aviation is currently growing significantly faster than the economy. This rapid growth is projected to continue. Greenhouse gas emissions from air travel have increased rapidly in recent decades, reflecting the strong increase in air traffic. This trend is expected to continue.

Tourism

Tourism in Europe is growing by about 3.8 per cent per year. Approximately 60 per cent of all international tourist arrivals are in Europe, mostly in the Mediterranean region. A recent and growing European trend is the purchase of second homes for holiday and/or weekend use. Many are in highly environmentally sensitive areas, in coastal zones and skiing areas. On the other hand, second homes may prevent citizens from travelling much farther for tourism or from buying other goods and services, and thereby avoid putting even greater pressure on the environment.33

As a result of the increase in tourism, the negative environmental effects are also increasing rapidly. In particular, there has been a growth in greenhouse gas and other harmful emissions, especially from air and car travel; the consumption of more energy and water; increased land use; and the generation of waste at destinations.

Due to the rapidly increasing number of tourist arrivals by air and the longer distances to destinations, emissions from air transport are taking an increasing share of total greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, as emissions from air transport take place at higher altitudes, their potential impact on climate change is more severe.

At destinations, especially those with more luxurious accommodation, tourists consume large amounts of water, energy and natural space. Consumption of water and energy is particularly high during peak seasons.

Bending the trend

As the factors that determine consumption and production patterns are complex, interrelated and not always fully understood, bending the trend to make European consumption more environmentally sustainable is a difficult challenge. This is not least due to the fact that consumption patterns cannot be deduced from material or economic factors alone, as they are also dependent on social and cultural factors. In Europe alone, consumption behaviour varies greatly. It is therefore difficult to identify efficient actions to transform behaviour in a sustainable way

Moreover, as scholars of public administration have argued, it is difficult in a liberal democracy to implement environmental policies that affect a large number of citizens (consumers) due to reasons of legitimacy and the fear of lost of legislative power. The ability to reach political agreement and common understanding among consumer groups, business and public authorities is therefore essential for success.

Attaining more sustainable consumption and production is a shared responsibility, where all parties, including public authorities, business and consumers, have complementary and interdependent roles and responsibilities. While the role of public authorities is to provide the framework within which business and consumers can operate (that is, using legal, market-based, information and other tools in combination), business face the challenge of producing goods and services that are sustainable in their entire life-cycle. The challenge for consumers is to consume sustainable goods and services in so far as they are available and affordable and to use natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Food

Sustainable food consumption policy can be seen as part of a life-cycle strategy that addresses environmental effects at different points in the food chain. Regulatory, economic, technology-supporting and information action can be used to influence production and consumption patterns. The labelling of environmentally friendly food products, such as organic food, is an effective example of a policy measure that helps consumers to make informed choices about what to buy - and thereby should enable more sustainable food consumption. Hence, one of the major challenges is to make the environmental effects of the consumer's food choices visible.

Housing activities

Studies of policy effectiveness34 show that a mix of legal, market-based, information, educational and other tools can reduce the environmental impact of consumption related to housing. Options for promoting more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies are of particular importance. EU regulation on energy labelling has effectively shifted consumer buying behaviour towards the purchase of more energy and water-efficient, large household appliances. The use of water pricing to make the price of water better reflect its true cost is an example of a measure that has effectively reduced water consumption in households in some European countries.

Personal travel and mobility

There are many and varied policy options for reducing the negative environmental effects of personal travel. Road pricing, traffic-calming schemes, better provision for pedestrians and cyclists, public transport investment, telecommunications, car sharing, etc. have all been put in place and enjoyed varying levels of success in Europe. It is a challenge to implement a mix of actions across Europe, including in particular legal and regulatory tools, marked-based instruments, information and other instruments, spatial and urban planning, and public transport. The London congestion charge is an example of a policy measure that has already proved to be effective in reducing environmental pressures.

Tourism

In order to minimise the environmental effects of tourism and thereby improve its sustainability, a variety of options are available, including marketbased instruments and information. A mix of options could address both the demand and supply sides. Past policies have tended to target impacts at destinations and not those caused by travel to the destinations. Effective policies to reduce pressures from tourist travel have yet to be seen. The use of market-based instruments, such as targeting tourist travel, or labelling are promising policy options.

Role of consumers and others

Generally, public authorities at global, EU, national, regional and local levels can influence the sustainability of consumption and production by providing a framework within which business and consumers can operate and improve coordination of action. The tools available include legal and regulatory instruments (for example, directives, laws and regulations), market-based instruments (for example, taxes and charges, tradable permits and subsidy removal), technological improvements, information and other instruments. Legal instruments and supporting technology are necessary, but not sufficient. This is due to the fact that consumption growth often outweighs efficiency gains made from improved technology, and that new technologies sometimes stimulate consumption. However, they can be combined with adequate market-based measures, information and other tools.

In practice, the challenge is to implement the right combination of policy instruments that take all different groups of consumers and producers into account.

Business has an instrumental role in enabling and implementing sustainable consumption and production. Operating within the framework provided by public authorities and meeting the demands of consumers, the challenge for business is to produce goods and services which are profitable and sustainable, both in their production and consumption. In recent decades, companies across Europe have made significant progress towards more sustainable production and consumption, and improving efficiency, particularly within energy and water use and material consumption. For example, many companies have developed and implemented corporate social responsibility strategies, where companies assess themselves on the sustainability of their products (often throughout their life-cycle). Some industries and businesses have made more progress than others. However, a significant challenge still remains; namely, further increasing efficiency and producing goods and services that use less materials, energy and water, generate less waste and require less transportation. Also, new and more sustainable goods and services could be produced and advertised to meet the demands of consumers.

Finally, Europe's consumers themselves have an important role to play since they are the ones who make choices about which goods, services and resources to consume and in what amounts. If information on the environmental effects of goods and services is made available by public authorities, and prices are affordable, consumers can choose to buy goods and services that are sustainable throughout their life-cycle from production to consumption. Other options for consumers include using sustainable energy resources, using transport modes which cause the least environmental effects, using less water, and generating less waste.

Conclusions

The current patterns and growth of household consumption in Europe are unsustainable, as they cause increasing negative environmental impacts in Europe and in other regions of the world. Consumption categories with high or increasing environmental impacts are food and drink consumption, housing activities, personal travel and mobility, and tourism.

There are many policy measures available to address unsustainable consumption and production patterns, but past policies have not been effective in reducing environmental impacts from consumption. This continues to be the case despite political agreement on the need for sustainable consumption and production policies.

Possible reasons for the general lack of progress is that the debate on the basic principles of sustainable consumption from which a framework for actions could be derived remains unresolved, and that it is generally difficult in a democracy to implement policies that affects many consumers and producers due to the fear of loss of legislative power. The main factors that shape our consumption and the major changes we have seen in the past decade highlight the complexities involved.

Many of these factors are social and cultural in nature, which makes it difficult to agree on how to influence consumption behaviour effectively, and design and implement suitable measures.