Harald Heinrichs · Pim Martens Gerd Michelsen · Arnim Wiek Editors

1 Introduction
This chapter adopts Paul Stern’s (
1997
, p. 20) definition of consumption: 
“Consumption consists of human and human-induced transformations of materials 
and energy. Consumption is environmentally important to the extent that it makes 
materials or energy less available for future use, moves a biophysical system toward 
a different state or, through its effects on those systems, threatens human health, 
welfare, or other things people value.” Moving consumption toward sustainable pat-
terns has been a key goal of sustainability science and practice since the 1990s 
(Kates 
2000
; Cohen et al. 
2005
). Herein, “sustainable consumption” will refer to the 
OECD’s (
2002
, p. 9) definition: “The use of services and related products which 
respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of 
natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollut-
ants over the life-cycle of the service or product, so as not to jeopardise the needs of 
future generations.”
There remains a large gap between knowledge of consumption-related problems 
and making progress on resolving them (Fischer et al.
2012
; Thøgersen and Schrader
2012
). For example, there are clear indications that consumption patterns, in par-
ticular, in industrialized and industrializing countries, have major impacts on green-
house gas emissions and climate change (Harriss and Shui
2010
). Because of the 
close link between consumption and production (i.e., consumption of produced 
goods), however, the majority of policy efforts so far have focused on regulating 
production (Aall and Hille
2010
).
A series of recent studies call for a shift to addressing consumption instead.
Harriss and Shui (
2010
) point out that global trade “offshores” the burden of green-
house gas emissions from developed consumers to developing producers – but the 
consumers remain the primary driver of this scheme. Girod et al. (
2010
) emphasize 
the relevance of advanced consumption patterns, in which consumers initially save 
resources through technological advancements, but then re-spend the saved 
resources, and even more, due to more frequent use (rebound effects). Several stud-
ies propose methods for allocating greenhouse gas emissions to consumption cate-
gories (Spangenberg and Lorek
2002
; Hertwich and Peters 
2009
), and a number of 
studies highlight the potential of influencing greenhouse gas emission profiles, and 
eventually climate change, by changing consumption behavior (Dietz et al. 
2009
; 
Girod and de Haan 
2009
).
With the intent to change consumption, special attention needs to be paid to the
drivers of consumption. With focus on the drivers, Schaefer and Crane (
2005
) 
explore five views of “consumption,” including rational, cultural, pleasurable, iden-
tity, and communication. They find that “sustainable consumption” is generally dis-
cussed within the rational view of consumption. Viewing consumption as simply 
rational is insufficient to address how culture, pleasure, identity, and communication 
drive consumption. To target behavior change strategies effectively, sustainability 
practitioners must synthesize views of consumption into a holistic problem map of 
consumption drivers. Problem maps display the root causes of problems and orient 
researchers to the most strategic intervention points for change (Wiek et al.
2012
).
J. Harlow et al.

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295
Consumers are the subject of countless behavioral change strategies (Michie 
et al. 
2011
). Most often they are the target group of marketing strategies, primarily 
designed to increase consumption. As an example, what goes where in supermar-
kets is the subject of many algorithms designed to increase consumption and retailer 
profits (Yang 
2001
; Hwang et al. 
2005
). Marketing is also effective at targeting 
views of consumption other than the “rational.” Bertrand et al. (
2010
) found that a 
photo of an attractive woman was as effective in increasing demands for loans as a 
25 % reduction in the interest rate.
In his seminal book Influence: Science and Practice, Cialdini (
2009
) lists “weap-
ons of influence” with six principles and discusses “how their enormous force can 
be commissioned by a compliance professional who deftly incorporates them into 
requests for purchases” (p. xii). These tools of influence have been trained squarely 
on increasing consumption, which has manifested many sustainability challenges, 
including greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and inequalities (Jackson et al. 
2004
; 
Fischer et al.
2012
).
There are numerous proposals on how best to change behavior in order to make 
progress toward sustainability (most recently in Cohen et al. 
2013
). In the following
section, we provide examples of how to use insights from behavioral science 
(Whitley and Kite
2012
), including the aforementioned tools of influence, to drive 
sustainable
consumption.
• Task: How does consumption contribute to sustainability challenges? What 
dimensions of sustainability are affected by over-consumption and how? As you 
reflect, consider the relationships between the resources we consume today and 
the resources that remain for future generations.