Current projections indicate that by 2050, two in every three people will live in urban areas, and that cities will accommodate 3 billion people during this period. Cities are consuming three-quarters of the world's energy and causing three-quarters of global pollution. To reduce these impacts, new technologies have been considered in the development of smart sustainable cities, but technology has not always favoured the idea of sustainable consumption. To address this issue, we have aimed to focus on identifying the role of sustainable consumption within implementations of smart cities’ projects across Europe. We have selected a set of smart city projects in 76 cities in Europe from CONCERTO initiatives, Mapping Smart Cities in Europe, Energy Study for the Stockholm Region and Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas and classified them according to: smart governance, smart mobility, smart living, smart environment, smart citizens and smart economy. Furthermore, we established a number of categories for the classification of the evaluated projects based on their relevance to sustainable consumption, and considered several solutions for the integration of sustainable consumption in smart sustainable cities. The results show that in 18.9% of the projects, sustainable consumption is not relevant at all. The second classification shows the percentage of the remaining categories where sustainable consumption is relevant; 8.3% consider sustainable consumption as relevant even though it was not implemented in the project. These cities aim to achieve a higher level of sustainable consumption, which is expected to be included in future projects. If they keep themselves in this category, their behavioural consumption patterns will not change and the impact of citizens on the cities will remain the same. The majority of the projects, 54.2%, implemented technology to reduce consumption but if the projects do not coincide with the behaviour of citizens, a big rebound effect will occur. 37.5% of the projects consider relevant sustainable consumption to its full potential and this can change citizen’s behaviour. In conclusion, sustainable consumption is relevant in most of the projects analysed, with new technologies available to help energy savings and reduction of our consumption. However, if there is a lack of smart consumption from the citizens, the technologies available might not be sufficient and consumption could increase. One quarter of the analysed smart cities projects still do not consider the consumption behaviour of the citizens. This can be changed through campaigns and explanations targeting the population on how to manage and reduce energy and resource consumption. To reduce the negative impact of the cities’ growth, projects considering smart sustainable cities need to integrate sustainable consumption policies that account for citizens' behaviour.

In recent decades, the global impacts of unsustainable consumption and production patterns have become a leading topic of sustainability, and more recently, climate action discourse. At the policy level, green consumerism – an element of green capitalism – has been positioned as the pathway to more sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices. Within this model, eco-labeling schemes are used to communicate various sustainability attributes, or conditions of production, to the consumer. This study set out to investigate whether SCP is achievable through green consumerism using a two-part case study that centers around the egg industry and specific hen welfare standards. The case study examines the effectiveness of egg eco-labeling schemes and related statements and images placed on egg packaging in informing consumers' purchasing decisions. It also examines the impacts of green consumerism on organic egg production in the presence of strong consumer demand for enhanced hen welfare standards. The results of the case study demonstrate that in the egg industry, green consumerism is not highly effective because consumers' purchasing decisions are often informed by vague and misleading information about conditions of production. Moreover, the presence of strong consumer demand has not resulted in enhanced hen welfare standards in organic production. In interpreting these findings through the lens of David Harvey's theory of the spatial fix, I argue that the true role of green consumerism is to facilitate a spatial fix to resolve the chronic crisis of overaccumulation in the conventional egg industry. Furthermore, that the limitations and contradictions within green consumerism (e.g. vague or insignificant eco-label claims) aid in removing the barrier of capital fixity so that the spatial fix can occur.

In Swedish society, food is the fourth most prominent area of consumption. The number of large grocery shops is increasing, and today a consumer can choose between several different brands for the same product. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about defining sustainable food consumption as well as a lack of knowledge about how the consumer receives communication about sustainable food consumption. By using semi-structured qualitative in-depth interviews with students from a Swedish university, this study investigates whether sustainable food consumption is relevant to young people living with limited resources and how they define the concept. The study also examines how the interviewees make sense of communication promoting sustainable food consumption. Results illustrate that sustainable food consumption is not as relevant for students due to today’s expensive food prices. However, these students were also motivated and informed. They knew how to consume sustainably but were constrained by the economic situation. In addition, the students had difficulty defining sustainable food consumption, while they had no problems defining the more general concept of sustainability. Secondly, the public opinion about communication to promote sustainability was negative because the messages were either misleading or not transparent enough; the recipients became confused and critical. The messages were therefor interpreted as inauthentic.

Background:  The comfort of buying online satisfies consumers more than the traditional way of shopping in stores. Buying fashion online is highly influenced by consumers' fashion consciousness and their personal values which enhances the willingness and dependence to buy new products. Emotional needs come from moral emotions and can be felt frequently by consumers in the thought of purchasing, and can interfere with the sustainability aspects.    Purpose: The purpose of this study to understand how moral emotions can shape the consumers decision making in regards to consumption of fashion. Since sustainability awareness is increasing, the study further aims to investigate whether or not this aspect will further have an effect. Methods:  The research is a qualitative study, which is made by semi-structured interviews of different consumers with different buying behaviour. It is analysed with a deductive and inductive approach to thematically analyse and enable an interpretative method to find differences, themes and new experiences.  Conclusion: There is evidence on moral emotions affecting the decision-making of fashion purchases. It does not necessarily shape a sustainable consumer behaviour but rather find obstacles for the consumers to act according to their own ethical obligations.

Background: The textile and apparel industry is seen as one of the most polluting industries of these times. Consumers and retailers are both considered important stakeholders in the textile supply chain. Despite that Dutch Millennial consumers are willing to buy sustainable products, there is a gap between their intention and behaviour with regard to sustainable textile products. To narrow this gap, the influencing factors on the gap need to be indicated and opportunities for retailers to be generated.  Purpose: Explore how to narrow the intention-behaviour gap of sustainable textile consumption of Dutch Millennials together with Millennial consumers and retailers.  Method: To attain the purpose, a qualitative study was conducted. An analytical framework was created to study the factors influencing the intention-behaviour gap of sustainable textiles by Dutch Millennial consumers. To gain insights, 16 semi-structured interviews have been conducted, ten interviews with consumers and six with textile retailers.  Conclusion: Price, availability, trust in a company and knowledge and information are factors from a consumer perspective that directly impact the intention-behaviour gap of Dutch Millennials. Moreover, the results show a direct impact of retailers on the intention-behaviour gap. Four opportunities are formulated to narrow this gap from a retailer's perspective.

Collaborative Consumption is an economic model wherein consumers gain access to goods without acquiring ownership, for example through sharing, trading, swapping, or renting (Belk, 2014). This approach is often viewed as a means to enhance resource efficiency and transform the economy in a sustainable way (Botsman, 2013). Likewise, the concept of toy rental suggests a more eco-friendly alternative to purchasing, extending a toy's lifespan through shared usage among multiple families (Martin-Woodhead & Waight, 2023). The empirical data for this thesis was gathered through in-depth interviews, centered around a case study involving the toy-rental subscription service Tribu Box. This thesis aims to gain a deeper understanding of the behavioral drivers that influence parents’ adoption of Collaborative Consumption behavior within the children’s goods industry. This includes exploring internal and external motivators and barriers, as well as shedding light on how this consumption model contributes to sign-value and self-expression. The findings highlight that parents primarily value Collaborative Consumption in the form of toy rental for its practical utility, simplifying daily life and decluttering. Additionally, it enables parents to construct an identity centered around family time rather than material possessions and differentiating them from previous generations through increased adaptability and flexibility. Building on these findings and drawing on previous literature on environmental communication, the second part of this thesis formulates communication strategies that aim to promote sustainable consumption behaviors, encouraging consumers to embrace various forms of Collaborative Consumption.

In today’s society, companies engage in sustainable efforts to lower the impact consumption has on the environment. To emphasize these efforts, companies utilize sustainable marketing to gain consumers’ attention. The advertisements used in sustainable marketing often involves marketing appeals, and mainly the two appeals: self-benefit and other-benefit. Studies have shown that most consumers appear to want to consume sustainably, however, there is a gap between consumers’ willingness and their actions. As young consumers are generally more motivated to consume sustainably, the purpose of this study was to provide the reader with more information regarding young consumer’s attitudes towards these appeals and how they affect young consumers’ decisions when it comes to sustainable consumption. By conducting qualitative one-on-one interviews with young consumers, their thoughts and attitudes towards the two appeals were collected and then analyzed with the help of the hierarchy of effects model created by Lavidge and Steiner (1961). The findings were compared with previous research on the subject, which also added an understanding to what motivates young consumers to consume in a more sustainable manner. In conclusion, this study found that both appeals worked as a reminder to young consumers to engage in sustainable consumption, as they were already very aware of the issue. It also suggested that the respondents had more positive attitudes towards the self-benefit appeal, as it benefitted themselves as well as the environment, which resulted in positive attitudes to engage in sustainable consumption. The other-benefit appeal seemed too holistic and some respondents developed skepticism towards the product/brand.

This study intended to examine Swedish upper secondary school students' argumentation related to the socioscientific issues about sustainable consumption and production, where the students take a position more specifically about a vegetarian diet. Examining sustainable development as an SSI becomes natural here as it is a constantly emerging feature in both the media but also within the school where it is used to give students a developing knowledge to be able to make informed decisions for future problems. This gave the idea to sustainable consumption and production which is one of the sub-goals (goal 12) of the UN goals for sustainable development which can be linked to the question of whether expanding vegetarian diets in schools would be better for sustainable development. In order to understand students' informal argumentation, the choice is to use the SEE-SEP model, which was used as a tool that gives the possibility to categorize arguments and gain an understanding of which grounds the arguments were based upon. The study will also examine the students' development of arguments during the course of the study to examine if there are changes to the argumentations during the study. The results show that students chose to mainly use environment/ecology and science-based arguments during the course of the study. An overview of the arguments shows that the students choose to use the knowledge aspect as their main support when it comes to the design of the arguments. The process of the study shows that there are changes in the design of the arguments and which categories are chosen to build the arguments.

The prevailing capitalist and growth-driven economic system has led to an increase in inequality, resource consumption, and environmental pressure on the earth’s vital support systems. Cities face a number of sustainability challenges, and in view of overconsumption in affluent societies, particularly in the Global North, the question arises how alternative approaches can be implemented at the local level. The “sharing economy” is considered as having the potential to open a “new pathway to sustainability”. To unfold the alleged sustainability potential of the sharing economy, the focus should be on non-profit sharing initiatives rather than for-profit sharing companies. This study analyses different modes of governance applied by local authorities in steering non-profit sharing initiatives, highlights the challenges local authorities face, and draws attention to more general conflicts of interest in developing the non-profit sharing economy. A comparative case study of Gothenburg and Umeå, Sweden, is conducted using qualitative research methods. The results show that some modes of governance applied by local authorities in steering non-profit sharing initiatives are more prominent than others. It becomes clear that the municipal involvement in the non-profit sharing economy as investor and host depends largely on the political will. The challenges for local authorities in developing the non-profit sharing economy are quite diverse, ranging from lack of political support to legal aspects, organisation of administration, local conditions, and structural problems. A conflict of interest between a for-profit and non-profit orientation in the sharing economy becomes evident.

This case study sets out to gain an understanding of the complexities involved in promoting sustainable consumption by looking at Malmö Fairtrade City’s communication approach and the challenges it faces. Analyzing empirical data from in-depth interview and archival documentation, the results show that Malmö Fairtrade City uses a mix of multi-step and network approaches in its communication. Although its way of promoting Fairtrade consumption displays some features of social marketing, it is not yet an ideal premise for the approach unless it aims explicitly at changing behaviour. Despite having the municipality as a power and credible sender, it still has to overcome hurdles such as getting people interested in Fairtrade and operating with little resources. It is hoped that results from this study could provide insights for communities interested in becoming Fairtrade Cities and programmes that aim at promoting sustainable consumption. / Award-winning Master thesis for the academic year 2010-2011.