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Sustainable Consumption Transitions Series Issue 6 In cooperation with Sustainable Consumption Transitions Series Issue 6 SCORAI Europe Workshop Proceedings Sustainable Consumption and Social Justice in a Constrained World SCORAI Europe Workshop August 29/30, 2016, Budapest, Hungary In collaboration with: Resource Cap Coalition Ombudsman for Future Generations, Hungary SCORAI Steering Committee: Julia Backhaus, Maastricht University, NL Janis Brizga, NGO Green Liberty & University of Latvia, Latvia Frances Fahy, NUI Galway, Ireland Audley Genus, Kingston University, UK Sylvia Lorek, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Germany Henrike Rau, University of Munich, Germany Marlyne Sahakian, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Edina Vadovics, GreenDependent Institute, Hungary Workshop organizing team: Klára Hajdú, Resource Cap Coalition, Hungary Sylvia Lorek, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Germany Barbara Muraca, Oregon State University Marlyne Sahakian, IPTEH, The University of Lausanne, Switzerland Edina Vadovics, GreenDependent Institute, Hungary Philip Vergragt, Tellus Institute & Clark University The workshop was organized with the financial assistance of the European Union within the project "Time for change: Promoting sustainable consumption and production of raw materials in the context of EYD 2015 and beyond". The contents of this event are the sole responsibility of organisers and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. Please cite as: Lorek S., Vadovics E. (Ed.) (2016). Sustainable Consumption and Social Justice in a Constrained World. SCORAI Europe Workshop Proceedings, August 29-30, 2016, Budapest, Hungary. Sustainable Consumption Transitions Series, Issue 6. Design by Julia Backhaus, Aachen Cover photos: Jörg Bublies, Overath Table of contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 4 Welcome note from the Host Marcel Szabó ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 I Defining the limits in relation to wellbeing and planetary boundaries Consumption corridors and social justice: exploring the limits Doris Fuchs & Antonietta Di Giulio .......................................................................................................... 14 Sufficiency, degrowth and sustainable consumption Joachim H. Spangenberg ..................................................................................................................................... 25 Ossified materialism: on achieving Absolute Reductions Lewis Akenji .............................................................................................................................................................. 34 Discussant Contribution Anders Hayden ................................................................................................................................................. 35 Note taker report Edina Vadovics ................................................................................................................................................ 39 II Grappling with social justice Sharing in urban and rural context Filka Sekulova .................................................................................................................................................. 43 Social justice in a constrained world: introducing convergence mapping Edina Vadovics ................................................................................................................................................ 58 Breaking through the behaviour impact gap and the rebound effect in sustainable consumption Janis Brizga ....................................................................................................................................................... 79 Discussant Contribution Philip Vergragt ................................................................................................................................................ 88 Note taker report Ágnes Zsóka ....................................................................................................................................................... 91 III Implementing the 'limits' approach, with social justice Limiting energy consumption while considering equitable distribution Veronika Kiss & Klára Hajdú ....................................................................................................................... 94 (Un)sustainable electricity consumption at the upper limits Marlyne Sahakian ....................................................................................................................................... 108 Breaking through the behaviour impact gap and the rebound effect in sustainable consumption Mária Csutora & Ágnes Zsóka .................................................................................................................. 122 Discussant Contribution Halina Brown ................................................................................................................................................ 131 Note taker report Sylvia Lorek ................................................................................................................................................... 134 IV Potential actions for sustainable consumption and social justice in a constrained world Note taker reports Edina Vadovics & Marlyne Sahakian ...................................................................................................... 137 Annex Programm ........................................................................................................................................................... 140 Workshop Participants .................................................................................................................................. 142 Calculating and Offsetting the Carbon Footprint of the Workshop………………………………..144 About SCORAI Europe .................................................................................................................................... 147 3 Introduction The problem Economic growth has turned from a means of guaranteeing and increasing prosperity into a goal of its own for economic policies worldwide. Growth is depicted as a magic wand to transition countries of the Global North out of financial crises, and to accomplish development and the overcoming of poverty and environmental degradation in countries of the Global South. Modern societies are structurally dependent on economic growth for their stabilization: tax revenue, social pacification, debt financing, the pretext of job creation, and the perspective of on-going prosperity are interlinked with a growing economy – and consumption is perceived as one of the major driver of economic growth. The goal of the degrowth-movement is not to reverse growth and embrace an unavoidable recession, but to transform institutions, practices, and values towards a growth- independent paradigm. Social experiments in a de-growth perspective address new forms of production, consumption, social relations, as well as new institutions, towards social- ecological transformation. With this in mind, sustainable consumption can no longer be perceived solely in terms of the responsibility of individuals to change their lifestyles. In a social and cultural setting in which consumption triggers growth and, therefore, is expected to secure collective prosperity, consuming has been projected as being almost a civic duty (e.g., George W. Bush’s so-called appeal to shopping as a response to the 9.11. attacks). Cultural and material infrastructures as well as institutional settings reinforce the consumption paradigm while at the same time more and more voices call for environmentally and socially responsible lifestyles. In-built obsolescence of products, the glamour of technological novelties and luxury goods, but also urban planning, and time cultures and politics, are all oriented towards promoting over-consumption, yet individual consumers have little room for manoeuvre in addressing these factors. Sustainable consumption from this point of view risks remaining a privilege for the rather few social milieus that identify with values of voluntary simplicity, sufficiency, or sustainable lifestyles, yet more than micro-efforts by the few are necessary for challenging the economic growth paradigm. What’s more, as consumption is not only a vehicle of need-satisfaction, but also the main carrier of social recognition, these models risk neglecting important aspects of social (in)justice and (in)equality built in the cultural value setting of sustainable consumption. Several trends are underway, which highlight the importance of social justice in relation to sustainable consumption: Sustainable consumption in its dominant understanding often involves buying the ‘right stuff’, which is economically unaffordable for many people under current conditions of wealth distribution. This kind of ‘green consumerism’ also avoids challenging the growth paradigm as it relates to over-consumption. Different groups of people still consume – often considerably – less than ‘average’ either because they still practice ‘traditional’ lifestyles or because they live in some level of poverty. More often than not, these groups aspire to more not less consumption, posing a moral issue of who gets to decide on
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