Agenda 2030 and COVID-19: A Young Consumer’s Perception of Sustainable Consumption

Abstract

COVID-19 threatens sustainable development and is a potential opportunity for downsizing the consumer economy. The virus’s impacts on society are still unclear and additional contributions are required to investigate its effects on sustainable consumer behaviours. The paper aims to evaluate consumers’ awareness regarding the emergency impacts on the 2030 Agenda SDGs achievement and sustainable consumption (SDG 12) in terms of societal and environmentally responsible behaviour. A qualitative study is planned to reach the research goal and 133 in-depth consumer interviews are performed. The sample is composed of young students informed on sustainability topics and issues. The thematic analysis is used to assess the data. The paper contributes to the existing literature about the 2030 Agenda and young consumers’ sustainable behaviours by identifying the goal perceived by respondents as most negatively and positively impacted by the crisis and detecting those that can help overcome the emergency. Five themes (Social factors, Knowledge, Habits, Values, and Price) describing the main young consumer behaviour dimensions influenced by COVID-19 and lockdown in sustainability and social responsibility are detected. A theoretical framework is proposed to describe the effects of the five themes on sustainable behaviours. Finally, a roadmap for future research is identified.

Deploying SDG Knowledge to Foster Young People’s Critical Values: A Study on Social Trends about SDGs in an Educational Online Activity

“…This SDG is also the mission with the second highest number of verifications (20% of the total verifications), but far from the 39% accumulated by the mission corresponding to SDG 15. These data are consistent both with the interests expressed in the Flash Eurobarometer 502 [31] and with the global pandemic context on the occasion of COVID-19 in which the game data were collected in BotBuster and which was therefore a topical issue that young people consider as the SDG most affected by the pandemic, considering as key the importance of the restoration of national health systems to achieve their goals [33]. SDG 13 was the least chosen mission (219 players) but the percentage of verifications represents 19% of the total.…”

“…In Spain, young people from generation Z and millennials are the ones who declare the least interest in sustainability due to a lack of information or because they do not feel interested or appealed by it [41]. Young people consider that the emergency situation resulting from COVID-19 can make the population aware of the importance of moving towards sustainable means of consumption and production [33]. Young people consider that the main reason for the lack of responsible consumption and production behaviors is due to a lack of knowledge and awareness of the impact of consumption practices on society and the environment, and they consider that new technologies can remedy this lack of knowledge [33].…”

“…It was also considered relevant to include SDG 12 because of its potential to make the population aware of the importance of moving towards sustainable means of consumption and production. The preferences of potential adolescent and/or young players were taken into account, since, although BotBusters is a game open to the entire population, the target audience for which it was designed is the European adolescent and young population [33].…”

“…The behavior of Spanish-language gamers in relation to SDG 12 corresponds to the lower interest of young Spaniards of the Z and millennial generations in sustainability [41]. Despite the lower interest in this goal by young Europeans [31], the young population considers its promotion important [33].…”

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“…In the last period, these difficulties were mainly caused by SARS-CoV-2 and the Russian-Ukrainian war (Renzi et al, 2022). Mainly, it is problematic for countries still developing like V4 countries, which strive to reach the level of highly developed countries.…”