trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

Figure 2.Material footprint in the different consumption components of three decent minimumreference budgets.5. Discussion and conclusionsWhen the decent minimum reference budgets are compared to the households studied by Kotakorpi etal. (2008), their material footprint per person per year is relatively low. In Kotakorpi et al. (2008) onlyseven out of 27 household studied have a material footprint of 20 tonnes or lower and there are sixhouseholds with a material footprint of more than 50 tonnes per person.Out of the decent minimum reference budgets, the family has the greatest material footprint perperson (23.6 tonnes). This differs from the results of Kotakorpi et al. (2008) where families tend to havesmaller material footprints than single or couple households. The reason is that the consumer panelassumed that the decent minimum reference budget of a family should include a car whereas the otherhouseholds are supposed to be car-free. The use of the car raises the material footprint of both dailymobility and leisure time (incl. tourism) above the level of the other household types.The reference budgets describing the socio-economical minimum illustrate the level of consumptionthat allows a household to fulfil all basic needs and participate in society. The material footprint due tothe decent minimum reference budget is approximately half of that of an average Finn. This means thatthe present average material footprint of households can be halved while still keeping the possibility ofachieving a decent lifestyle. This is a remarkable potential for making consumption more sustainable.In order to operationalize the potential for decreasing the material footprint, one must have a closerlook at the different consumption components. Housing is the most resource-consuming consumptioncomponent of the decent minimum reference budgets (despite in the family reference budget). This isdue to the fact that housing always needs some infrastructure and as the private living space wasregarded as an important part of decent housing the amount of living space is relatively high in the209