Down-to-earth economy: the discursive contribution of sustainable consumption and production debate

Summary

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is a topical concept as national SCP programmes have been drafted by several countries around Europe. This discourse analysis, based on interviews with Finnish SCP committee members, suggests that sustainable consumption and production can be a useful concept for approaching economy in a down-to-earth manner. It can enrich the environmental policy agenda that has long been dominated by technology-oriented ecological modernization. A critical point is, however, that the SCP depate is more concentrated on the needs of consumers than on the needs of poor, the initial focus of sustainable development. Moreover,ideas on how to really change consumption patterns seem to be scarce, scattered, and also contradictory among the SCP stakeholders.