Regulating Consumption for Sustainability? Why the European Union Chooses Information Instruments to Foster Sustainable Consumption. (May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pollex, Jan
• Other Names: Bandelow Nils guestEditor.; Biegelbauer Peter guestEditor.; Sager Fritz guestEditor.; Schubert Klaus guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: European policy analysis. Volume 3:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 185
• Page End: 204
• Publication Date: 2017-05
• Subjects: policy design -- target groups -- sustainable consumption -- EU environmental policy -- policy instruments; 政策设计 -- 目标群体 -- 可持续消费 -- 欧盟环境政策 -- 政策工具; Policy sciences -- Europe -- Periodicals; Policy sciences -- European Union countries -- Periodicals; Periodicals; Periodicals; 320.609405
• DOI: 10.1002/epa2.1005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2380-6567

Abstract

Abstract : In light of ever increasing usage of natural resources, the global discourse on sustainable development is increasingly emphasizing the crucial role of sustainable consumption and thus the contribution of individual consumers—rather than the traditionally focused corporate producers—to the protection of ecosystems. This paper investigates how the European Union (EU) addresses and characterizes consumers and how the framing of the consumers' role impacts on the design of sustainable consumption policy. Thus, this paper analyzes the relevance of target groups and their discursive construction for policymaking. Based on the analysis of central EU policy agendas providing the frame for consumer‐oriented environmental policy, the paper shows that the EU's sustainable consumption policy builds on an image of average‐rational consumers and a weak sustainable consumption perspective. Both constructions of reality subsequently frame the choice of soft policy instruments. The role of citizens (as opposed to only producers) and the image of average‐rational consumers who can be activated through information measures or incentives gained prominence in the EU—and in OECD countries generally—at a time of dissatisfaction with the performance of regulatory policy in the 1990s, hinting at the significance of contextual factors in understanding discursive shifts with their policy implications.