InternationalSustainableDevelopmentResearchConference.doc

International Sustainable Development Research Conference 2000 STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING, COOKING AND EATING FOR 2050 – SUITABLE FOR EUROPE? By C. William Young*, Jaco Quist** and Ken Green* *CROMTEC, Manchester School of Management, UMIST, UK. **Technology Assessment Group, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Abstract The paper will report results from a part of the SusHouse (Strategies Towards the Sustainable Household) project. This is an EU-funded research project concerned with developing and evaluating strategies to bring about household activities that are more sustainable. Three household functions are being studied in the SusHouse project: Clothing Care, Shelter, Shopping, Cooking and Eating. This paper focuses on the results of the latter household activity from The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The project has used experts from different stakeholder groups to develop scenarios for sustainable shopping, cooking and eating for 2050 based on a Factor 20 reduction in associated environmental impacts. These scenarios were assessed for economic credibility, environmental reductions and consumer acceptance. A second set of workshops developed strategies and policies for moving households towards the scenarios. Methodology and results from the second set of workshops in The Netherlands and the United Kingdom are reported. The paper also discusses if the developed strategies and policies can be implemented at a European level. Introduction One of the major issues at the turn of the 21st century is how to achieve environmental sustainability, in the context of an increasing environmental burden, a growing world population growing and increasing global wealth. Some claim that we have to improve our environmental efficiency by a Factor 4, enabling the world to double its wealth while halving the environmental burden (Von Weizs?cker et al., 1997). Others, including the Dutch governmental programme for Sustainable Technological Development