Governments around the world are trying to find viable solutions for reducing carbon emissions and pollution, one of the primary sources of which is domestic household consumption. Although Qatar is rich in fossil fuel energy resources, there is a strategic drive towards sustainability to decrease energy consumption overall whilst increasing the nation's dependence on clean and renewable energy. One of the areas to enhance sustainability is through reducing and managing the energy demands and habits of domestic users. This research examines the current energy use in Qatar with a view to making recommendations in regard to challenging and improving consumer behaviour in respect to energy efficiency. A mixed methods approach was untaken consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was gathered from a wide spread survey of n=410 Qatari based consumers in regard to their energy consumption behaviour, investigating avenues for enabling sustainable behaviour change. The qualitative data was been collected by interviewing a panel of energy experts in Qatar. The purpose of this research study is to gain valuable insight into Qatari resident's energy consumption behaviour and perception of renewable energy and sustainability. The results will help to identify solutions to Qatar's high consumption of electricity per capita. This study has further implications amongst similar nations and states to address energy consumptions where there is a natural abundance of fossil fuel energy resources. This study has found that user's education and awareness of the environmental impact is dependent on efficient energy monitoring and usage. However, due to the presence of energy subsidies in Qatar, citizens are not inclined to modify their energy consumption behaviour through economic means. This suggests that a greater awareness of the effects of excessive energy use is required through sustainability education to motivate behaviour change. The results of this study were analysed using self-determination and hierarchal needs theories, indicating that education and public engagement and awareness are the best options for domestic energy conservation in Qatar.

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Ensuring sustainable food systems requires vastly reducing their environmental and health costs while making healthy and sustainable food affordable to all. One of the central problems of current food systems is that many of the costs of harmful foods are externalized, i.e., are not reflected in market prices. At the same time, the benefits of healthful foods are not appreciated. Due to externalities, sustainable and healthy food is often less affordable to consumers and less profitable for businesses than unsustainable and unhealthy food. Externalities and other market failures lead to unintended consequences for present and future generations, destroying nature and perpetuating social injustices such as underpay for workers, food insecurity, illness, premature death and other harms. We urgently need to address the fundamental causes of these problems. This chapter sets out the results of an analysis to determine the current cost of externalities in food systems and the potential impact of a shift in diets to more healthy and sustainable production and consumption patterns. The current externalities were estimated to be almost double (19.8 trillion USD) the current total global food consumption (9 trillion USD). These externalities accrue from 7 trillion USD (range 4–11) in environmental costs, 11 trillion USD (range 3–39) in costs to human life and 1 trillion USD (range 0.2–1.7) in economic costs. This means that food is roughly a third cheaper than it would be if these externalities were included. More studies are needed to quantify the costs and benefits of food systems that would support a global shift to more sustainable and healthy diets. However, the evidence presented in this chapter points to the urgent need for a system reset to account for these ‘hidden costs’ in food systems and calls for bold actions to redefine the incentives for producing and consuming healthier and more sustainable diets. The first step to correct for these ‘hidden costs’ is to redefine the value of food through true-cost accounting (TCA) so as to address externalities and other market failures. TCA reveals the true value of food by making the benefits of affordable and healthy food visible and revealing the costs of damage to the environment and human health 3.

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