<p>The aim with this study is to evaluate if standardization of sustainable housing is a practical solution to address the objectives/reach the goals of sustainable housing. The point of departure is that eco-labelling of houses is a way to put sustainable housing into practice. The Nordic Swan criteria for small houses and the UK Code for Sustainable Homes are two recently developed schemes for sustainable construction and design. These two labelling systems are chosen as case studies in order to compare and examine the practice of sustainable housing. How can the goals of sustainable housing be met in the form of eco- labelling? What are the benefits and obstacles/limitations for the cases to be effective and sustainable?  What can explain differences between the two cases? And is the function and organisation of the cases best explained by sustainable development ideas or ecological modernization?  It is suggested in the view of path dependency theory that the UK’s and Sweden’s decisions based on their expectations concerning development of the EU flower has made their respective eco-labelling of houses to have different organisational structure. The Code as a sector-specific label has the advantage, compared to the Swan, of being able to change its structure depending on the needs of pressure in the network of government, business and consumers.  The Code has several criteria concerning sustainable living besides criteria concerning environmental construction of the house and can therefore be considered as part of the sustainable development discourse.</p>

The aim with this study is to evaluate if standardization of sustainable housing is a practical solution to address the objectives/reach the goals of sustainable housing. The point of departure is that eco-labelling of houses is a way to put sustainable housing into practice. The Nordic Swan criteria for small houses and the UK Code for Sustainable Homes are two recently developed schemes for sustainable construction and design. These two labelling systems are chosen as case studies in order to compare and examine the practice of sustainable housing. How can the goals of sustainable housing be met in the form of eco- labelling? What are the benefits and obstacles/limitations for the cases to be effective and sustainable?  What can explain differences between the two cases? And is the function and organisation of the cases best explained by sustainable development ideas or ecological modernization?  It is suggested in the view of path dependency theory that the UK’s and Sweden’s decisions based on their expectations concerning development of the EU flower has made their respective eco-labelling of houses to have different organisational structure. The Code as a sector-specific label has the advantage, compared to the Swan, of being able to change its structure depending on the needs of pressure in the network of government, business and consumers.  The Code has several criteria concerning sustainable living besides criteria concerning environmental construction of the house and can therefore be considered as part of the sustainable development discourse.

The steadily increased environmental concerns have become exceedingly palpable over time, not at least in consumers’ way of demanding greener products, or companies’ ways of incorporating green marketing strategies. A common tool for companies producing environmentally friendly food is ecolabelling. Foods with ecolabels on them enable consumers to know that this certain product indicates a good environmental choice. There are various factors that influence consumers’ buying behavior towards it. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether knowledge, attitude and subjective norms have any relationship with Swedish consumers’ green buying behavior. A theoretical framework consisting of literature-identified constructs was developed. Using a questionnaire, a sample size of 158 was realized which was statistically analyzed. Findings indicated that there is a positive relationship between buying behavior and knowledge, attitude and subjective norms. It further revealed that the buying behavior towards ecolabelled food was not that common among the respondents. Hence, the study suggests that despite the positive attitude and sufficient amount of knowledge, consumers are still not that keen about buying ecolabelled food.