Effects and success factors of sustainable consumption policy instruments: a comparative assessment across Europe

ABSTRACT

Important knowledge gaps exist regarding the effects of policy instruments for sustainable consumption (SC) and success factors of such instruments. This article compares and summarizes the results of six case studies on the effects and success factors of SC instruments in the need areas of housing and food. While analysing different instrument types from four different European countries, all case studies were guided by the same analytical framework and mixed-methods approach. This synthesis article particularly emphasizes factors fostering the generation of instrument effects (outcomes and impacts) or hampering the creation of such effects, respectively. These factors include instrument goals and design, the accommodation of consumer needs, and the simultaneous addressing of framework conditions, as well as market context, policy interaction, and stakeholder involvement. The findings and conclusions can contribute to a better understanding of the conditions under which policy instruments can steer consumer behaviour towards sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable consumption
• instrument effects
• impact assessment
• policy evaluation
• food
• housing

Acknowledgements

This article draws on papers from K. Aalto (NCRC), A. Alcantud (ECOI), C. Brunn (Oeko Institute), E. Heiskanen (NCRC), D. Leung (UCL), D. Mazo (ECOI), and co-author N. Schönherr which conducted the individual case studies within the EUPOPP project. We wish to thank these colleagues for their excellent work, as well as the EU for project funding. We also want to thank two anonymous reviewers and the journal’s co-editor C. Daugbjerg for their helpful comments to substantially improve earlier drafts of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Franziska Wolff is head of the Environmental Law and Governance division of the Oeko-Institut, a Germany-based environmental think-tank.

Norma Schönherr is a project manager, teaching and research associate at the Institute for Managing Sustainability, Vienna University of Economics and Business. Her research focuses on sustainability and impact evaluation.

Dirk Arne Heyen is a research fellow in the Environmal Law & Governance division at Oeko-Institut Berlin. His research focuses on the role of policy and politics for societal transformation processes towards sustainability.

Notes

1 Cf. the ‘10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns’ (10YFP) and Target 12.1 of the Agenda 2030.

2 A ‘need area’ can be defined as a field of policy intervention for the purpose of tackling specific societal needs and challenges, usually systemic in nature, which span several policy fields at the same time. The term has been applied in a range of publications related to sustainable consumption (e.g. for the need area of mobility, cp. Geerken & Borup (2009); the need area of food, cp. Fritsche et al. (2012, pp. 259–266); the need areas of housing, Heiskanen et al. (2009).

3 The project was funded within the EU’s 7th Framework Programme (2008–2011), Grant Agreement No. 212236. For an overview of project activities and results see www.eupopp.net.

4 Sustainable consumption and sustainable production are often discussed in conjunction. They are, in principle, two sides of the same coin, since the impacts of current consumption patterns are determined by many actors in the production chains. For instance, producers influence consumer demand via design and marketing activities, whereas consumers influence production via market demand (Mont & Dalhammar, 2005).

5 These included stakeholder roundtables, surveying techniques, and indicative screenings with material flow analysis (MFA) data.

6 The assessment of formal goal attainment suffers from two flaws. On the one hand, it tends to obscure unintended instrument effects. On the other hand, positive (or negative) results may result mostly from a low (or high) ambition level of its goals. Case study authors reflected on the goals’ ambition levels and on unintended effects where these could be identified. Practical difficulties arose in some cases (especially in the need area of food), when policy goals were only qualitative and rather vague, or when they were specified at impact level while the assessment only resulted in findings at outcome level. Evaluations at the impact level were not always possible in a quantitative manner since ‘back-casting’ to conclusively attribute impacts requires intense calibration of an adequate baseline. We therefore refrained from classifying impact levels.

7 The UK Climate Change Act (2008); the Electricity and Gas (Carbon Emissions Reduction) Order 2008; and the Electricity and Gas (Carbon Emissions Reduction) (Amendments) Order 2009 and Order 2010.

8 Council of State Decision of Principle on Promoting Sustainability in Public Purchasing, Finland.

9 It is noteworthy that the concept of ‘public catering’ is not familiar in all European countries. In Finland and several other European countries, including France, Sweden, and Germany, catering for schools, ministries, prisons, and military forces is well established and provides an interesting entry point for nudging eating patterns of end consumers towards sustainability.

10 Catalonian Waste Law 6/93 (amended by 15/2003 and 9/2008 Waste Laws) in combination with the laws on waste treatment infrastructure and waste management taxes 16/2003 and 8/2008, Catalonia's Municipal Waste Management Programmes (PROGREMIC) between 1995 and 2012, municipal bylaws and waste management programmes.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union within its 7th Framework Programme [grant number 212236].