ABSTRACT
It is becoming increasingly accepted that in order to reach sustainable development, or, in other words, to use the vocabulary of ecological footprinting, to reduce ‘humanity’s overshoot’, consumption also needs to become more sustainable (e.g. see EEA 2005; Jackson 2004). However, despite the growing number of studies relating to sustainable consumption, there is no generally agreed and accepted definition available for the term. For the purposes of the present chapter, sustainable consumption is 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’ (Norwegian Ministry of Environment 1995: 9). Accordingly, it encompasses economic, environmental and social dimensions, all of which need to be changed or adjusted in order to achieve consumption patterns and levels that are indeed sustainable.
