[Translate to English:] Institut für Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement

Sustainable Consumption

In this area of research we cover the demand side of sustainable development by analyzing needs, patterns of consumption and market developments. Since patterns of consumption can be shaped not only by economic but also by social and environmental factors, sustainable consumption relies on education, information and awareness. In our research projects we combine the concept of a sustainable lifestyle with social science concepts such as needs. We analyse the impact of information, of educational initiatives and of product labelling, and we explore ways in which environmentally-friendly products can find their way out of the ecological niche into the market of mass production.