The past 50 years have seen the birth of many environmental policies, and yet, despite some progress, the ecological integrity of the planet remains threatened. Resource-intensive lifestyles, and the difficulties in decoupling increased consumption from resource use and greenhouse gas emissions at the scale needed, seem to be the main causes of our crisis.
The current distribution of Earth’s resources is very unequal, both between countries, but also within countries. The basic needs of too many people are not met. In order to reach the targets of the Paris Agreement, safeguard ecological limits, and reach sustainable development, we must address the consumption challenge.
In this paper, Dalhammar, Finnveden and Ekvall analyse the current trends and propose some ways to advance towards more sustainable consumption patterns. They encourage policymakers to:
Over the subsequent 50 years, further progress has been made in environmental policymaking. For example, industrial pollution has been cut in many countries due to new technologies and fuel standards, waste management has improved, and environmental taxes and carbon markets have been introduced. However, these policies have not been introduced everywhere, and the adopted policies have not been able to stop climate change or continued ecological deterioration, but merely mitigated the problems.
This paper is part of a series that supports the Stockholm+50: Unlocking a better future report.
Project / The independent report for the Stockholm+50 meeting proposes policy actions to overcome the barriers that stand in the way of sustainable, equitable development
Other publication / Politics and the retreat of nuclear weapons from environmental discourse have implications for effective global environmental governance.
Other publication / Restructuring the socio-economic systems towards a more equal distribution is necessary to tackle climate change effectively.
Other publication / Research on elite and citizen views on international organization legitimacy shows differences between the two and how to bridge the gap.
