Towards Sustainable Household Consumption Trends And Policies In Oecd Countries

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of household consumption patterns in five key areas: food, tourism-related travel, energy, water and waste generation.

This report reviews currently available information on the success of Member country initiatives in influencing consumption patterns.

The report assesses the contribution made by OECD countries, both at home and internationally, and brings together the main lessons learned through the Organisation's extensive work on sustainable development.

The 30 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) represent the heart of the developed world. The OECD's database of economic, environmental and social statistics is respected as a guide to global development. This publication draws out trends from the statistics and looks at future prospects through a series of authoritative commentaries from leading members of the OECD, relevant NGOs and some of the world's leading professional service firms, banks and international corporations. Planned as an annual overview, the yearbook should be a useful reference source for boardrooms, government strategists, and decision-makers world-wide.

This publication presents the main results and policy implications of an OECD survey of more than 10 000 households in 10 countries. It offers new insight into what policy measures really work, looking at what factors affect people’s behaviour towards the environment.

Household choices – such as what to eat, how to get to work and how to heat our homes – have significant implications for the environment. With the urgency of environmental action and the need to shift to more sustainable consumption patterns, making more sustainable choices holds great potential to reduce environmental impacts.