GGCA Gender and Climate Change Training Manual - Women's ...

In spite of the above-mentioned studies and examples, the theme of
reducing emissions, and how it is linked to gender, is one of the areas that will
need more research and analysis in the next few years.
5.1.4 Consumption: gender matters
In recent decades the global consumer class has been rapidly
expanding, as the diets, transportation systems, and lifestyles of the world’s
wealthier nations spread out around the world. According to the Worldwatch
Institute (2008), there are now more than 1.7 billion members of “the consumer
class” – nearly half of them in the developing world. However, while the
consumer class thrives, great disparities remain. The 12% of the world’s
population that lives in North America and Western Europe accounts for 60%
of private consumer spending, while the one-third living in South Asia and sub-
Saharan Africa accounts for only 3.2%.
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The fourth Global Environment
Outlook: Environment for development
(GEO-4) report provided further cause
for apprehension, showing that humans
are overusing the Earth’s
ecosystem services at a rate that is
outstripping nature’s ability to to renew
and replenish them (UNEP, 2007).
Box 5 Definition of sustainable
consumption
Sustainable consumption takes
into account the social, economic,
environmental and ethical
dimensions of products and how
they are produced as well as their
ecological impacts.
As a result of the above, climate change mitigation solutions also need
to engage consumers since they are key to driving sustainable production and
play a central role in sustainable development.
According to studies conducted by the OECD (2008a and 2008b)
gender has a huge influence on sustainable consumption (see Box 5), partly due
to the differing consumption patterns of men and women:
• In some OECD countries, women make over 80% of the consumer
decisions;
• Women are more likely to be sustainable consumers, e.g., they tend
to buy eco-labelled or organic food, have a higher propensity to
recycle and place more value on efficient energy than men; and
• Women pay closer attention in their purchases to ethical issues such
as child labour and fair trade.
Module 5