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Current situation: unsustainable consuming
Three key elements account for 75% of the impact of household consumption
on the environment: food, mobility and housing (Tukker, Huppes et al. 2006).
On a per Euro spent basis, food accounts for the greatest single share: solely
responsible for 20-30% of environmental impacts. 3 Figure 3 below illustrates
European consumption and impacts in terms of emissions and resource consumption.
Figure 3 Environmental pressure per euro spent on private consumption in
nine EU Member States, 2005
Pressure intensity relative to average across all consumption categories
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Transport
Food and beverages
Housing, water, electricity,
gas and other fuels
Tobacco and narcotics
Clothing and footwear
Restaurants and hotels
Furnishing, household equipment and
routine maintenance of the house
Recreation and cultute
Greenhouse gases Acidifying emissions Tropospheric ozone precursors Material consumption
Health
Communication
Education
Miscellaneous goods
and services
Note: * Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands,
Portugal and Sweden.
Source: EEA 2010b
Overall, the largest environmental impacts in the consuming domain are linked
to the consumption of meat and dairy products, jewellery and air travel (EEA
2010a). Broader impacts of consumption include:
• Increased resource consumption for manufacturing of products,
• Increased household waste, coupled with low levels of recycling,
• The depletion of certain fish stocks through over harvesting
• Increased long distance transportation of goods and increased imports of
non-seasonal and exotic food,
• High levels of food processing associated with high energy use both for production
and use (CSD 2004),
• Resource depletion caused by the sourcing of materials and food (wood
products, metals, diamonds, fish, exotic fruits and vegetables).
Increase of food imports
to the EU 1990-2007 (FAO,
2010):
• Meat: 120%
• Cereal imports: 83%
• Frozen vegetables: 174%
• Bananas: 2%
3 A summary of food related impacts can be found in Reisch, L., G. Scholl, et al. (2010).
Sustainable Food Consumption CORPUS – Enhancing the Connectivity between Research
and Policy-making in Sustainable Consumption, CORPUS.).
Challenges and opportunities for sustainable lifestyles 41