It is never too late to give up, or is it? Revisiting policies for sustainable consumption

Abstract

Early discourse on sustainable consumption policies stressed the importance of educating consumers about the implications of consumption, and advocated the use of policies like eco-labelling and consumption-related taxes. This agenda focused mainly on 'greener consumption' rather than 'consumption limits' (see Mont and Dalhammar, 2005), perhaps not surprisingly, since the term 'consumption limits' has never been popular among emerging economies desiring economic development. This agenda and its and associated policies can, at best, achieve (very) modest relative decoupling of gross domestic product (GDP), yet there is little evidence of absolute decoupling, not least because of rebound effects (Jackson 2009). 2

Why policy coherence in the European Union matters for global sustainability

“…European businesses' GVCs and their impact on other countries should form an integral part of circular economy policies. One of the most promising policy areas are those promoting longer product life cycles (see Dalhammar, 2019) this was also indicated by the workshop participants as PLC [product life cycle].…”

Towards a hierarchy of consumption behaviour in the circular economy

“…According to the 2015 study for the IMCO, providing information to consumers about the products' lifetime could usefully contribute to reducing the appeal of planned obsolescence. 107 Whether it would result from consumers' expected reaction or producers' fear of bad publicity, the outcome is to be welcomed.…”

“…Among the necessary improvements are better access to information to support self-repair and the development of small business and collective platforms; and guaranteed availability of essential spare parts over a certain period with accompanying 106 Faure and Luth, 'Behavioural economics in unfair contract terms' . 107 Montalvo et al, ' A longer lifetime for products' , p. 65. 108 Commission Staff Working Document, 'Impact assessment accompanying the proposal for a regulation setting a framework for energy efficiency labelling' , SWD(2015) 140 final.…”

“…There are also indications that industries prefer the kind of durability requirements applied for vacuum cleaners, where manufacturers provide evidence of how many hours of operation a motor can last, to requirements on extended warranties to consumers. 107 The stated reason for this is that extended warranties mean that consumers may have limited interest in taking care of their products, and there can also be a problem if some consumers use their products much more frequently than the normal consumer. One example could be if a person purchases a vacuum Types of solutions • Usually, the choice varies between repair or replacement, or if that is impossible or cannot take place within a reasonable time or without major inconvenience for the consumer, reduction in the price or total reimbursement • None of the countries favour repair over replacement in their legislation, but most rank them higher than adequate price reduction or refund.…”

“…Further, providers of broadband and mobile phone services also want a steady stream of new phone models because they attract customers to the store and widen their opportunity to sell new services. 107 Political intervention is therefore necessary.…”