ABSTRACT

Over the last 15 years, “sustainable consumption” has become a core issue on the international environmental agenda, and the definition which has become widely adopted in international policy arenas is that originally set out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD):

sustainable consumption is the use of goods and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations.

(Norwegian Ministry of Environment (1994), in OECD (2002): 9).