Understanding sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour

This report describes a seed project by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) under the Producer to Consumer Sustainability (P2CS) initiative. The project reviewed existing knowledge on sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour, focusing on high-income countries and gender aspects, to improve SEI's ability to provide policy advice on sustainable consumption.

• Consumer behaviour is shaped by a complex matrix of interacting factors, including pricing, disposable income, technology, product marketing, consumption regulations, peers, media, personal values, habits, and social and cultural norms.
• Effective sustainability strategies should target the 'organization of practices'—the factors that promote and support routine behaviours—rather than focusing solely on the individual. For instance, in Sweden, flight taxes failed to reduce ticket sales because of strong social norms and expectations regarding holidaymaking.
• Infrastructure and institutions can increase the feasibility of sustainable lifestyles; for example, reducing parking availability while providing safe cycle lanes and functional public transport is more effective than simply encouraging people to drive less.
• Promoting sustainable consumption requires a whole-systems approach to prevent rebound effects, such as when energy efficiency improvements lower costs and subsequently trigger higher energy consumption.
• Current research on the role of gender in consumption is limited and yields diverse conclusions; there is a need for nuanced research examining how gender interacts with education, ethnicity, culture, social norms, family status, and income.

APA

Axelsson, K., Tella, P. V., Chan, S., & Barnekow, S. (2019). Understanding sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sei-2019-p2cs-consumer-behaviour.pdf

Chicago

Axelsson, Katarina, Patricia Vilchis Tella, Stefanie Chan, and Sarah Barnekow. Understanding sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sei-2019-p2cs-consumer-behaviour.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Axelsson |first1=Katarina |last2=Tella |first2=Patricia Vilchis |last3=Chan |first3=Stefanie |last4=Barnekow |first4=Sarah |title=Understanding sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=March 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sei-2019-p2cs-consumer-behaviour.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{axelsson2019understanding, author = {Axelsson, Katarina and Tella, Patricia Vilchis and Chan, Stefanie and Barnekow, Sarah}, title = {{Understanding sustainable lifestyles and consumer behaviour}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sei-2019-p2cs-consumer-behaviour.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }