creators_name: Christensen, T.H.
creators_name: Godskesen, M.
creators_name: Røpke, I.
creators_name: Gram-Hansen, K.
creators_name: Quitzau, M.-B.
type: journalp
datestamp: 2007-10-01
lastmod: 2009-08-20 14:37:09
metadata_visibility: show
title: Greening the Danes? Experience with consumption and environment policies.
ispublished: pub
subjects: 7consumer
full_text_status: restricted
keywords: consumer-oriented environmental policy; sustainable consumption; housing; transport; information and communication technology; Denmark
abstract: Consumer-oriented environmental policies came high on the political agenda during the 1990s. Internationally, consumers were assigned a key role in environmental policies; also in Denmark, political initiatives were taken to promote sustainable consumer behaviour. In this article, the results of Danish policies related to consumption and environment are assessed by considering first, the environmental impacts of the political measures, and second, whether the policies have succeeded in addressing the dynamics behind increasing consumption. The study combines a theoretical understanding of consumption as an inseparable part of daily practices with empirical analyses of three fiels of consumption: housing, transportation and information and communication technologies. It is pointed out that policies to promote sustainable consumption are succesful only when technological development, economic structures, and information are all in accordance with each other, and this is the case only when sustainable consumption does not conflict with economic growth. A more fundamental critique thus concerns the failure of Danish consumer-oriented policies to address consumption growth and the rising standards for 'normal consumption'. 
date: 2007
date_type: published
publication: Journal of Consumer Policy
volume: 30
publisher: Springer
pagerange: 91-116
refereed: yes
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citation: Christensen, T.H.; Godskesen, M.; Røpke, I.; Gram-Hansen, K. and Quitzau, M.-B. (2007) Greening the Danes? Experience with consumption and environment policies. Journal of Consumer Policy, 30, pp. 91-116.
document_url: http://orgprints.org/11295/1/Greening_the_Danes.pdf