Advancing the concept of consumption corridors and exploring its implications

Abstract

As a salutogenic concept, "consumption corridors" aims to support what is necessary for sustainable wellbeing to be achieved in relation to the Earth system, with a deep consideration for justice and equity. Living in consumption corridors is a representation of everyday life whereby people live within limits, so that all peoplenow and in the futurecan access what is needed to live a good life. In this special issue, a series of scholars and practitioners have come together to further develop the concept, engage with its methodological implications, and relate it to consumption domains and policy implications. We begin by introducing how the concept emerged, in relation to the complexity of grappling with the societal transformations required for achieving more sustainable forms of consumption. We then present the different contributions, which demonstrate the importance of considering both maximum and minimum consumption standards, the relevance of human-need theories, as well as the difference between achieving wellbeing and the means necessary for doing so. We conclude by opening up to areas that merit further deliberation: how to relate consumption corridors to everyday-life dynamics, but also to the critical question of power relations at play in implementing consumption corridors.

Social Policy in a Climate Emergency Context: Towards an Ecosocial Research Agenda

“…In addition, the concept of a sustainable 'consumption corridor'i.e. the space between the acceptable minimum and maximum standards of livinghas been suggested (Di Giulio and Fuchs, 2014;Sahakian et al, 2021). In welfare states where the consumption-based emissions of an average citizen are far from meeting the 1.5°C target (Akenji et al, 2021), regulating consumption in a way that also considers the need for socially acceptable participation in a given society becomes a relevant focus for social policy research.…”

Bioeconomy and Circular Economy Approaches Need to Enhance the Focus on Biodiversity to Achieve Sustainability

“…However, there is a Doughnut Economics Action Lab actively working to prototype new practices at local scales [137] and some recent reflections [138,139] suggest that the concept of doughnut economics may be more appealing after the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of consumption corridors [140][141][142] pursues the aim of well-being in a world of limits. Consumption corridors take a needs-based approach, address intergenerational justice and acknowledge that planetary boundaries imply imposing limits on consumption.…”

The elephant in the room is really a cow: using consumption corridors to define sustainable meat consumption in the European Union

“…Consumption corridors (CCs) constitute an innovative approach that is gaining traction in the literature on sustainable consumption governance (Fuchs 2020;Fuchs et al 2021;Sahakian et al 2021). At the general conceptual level, Kanerva (2022) introduces the idea of using CCs for the case of meat.…”

“…The "expert knowledge" needs to be embedded in an integrated approach that is not lopsidedly informed by natural or social sciences, but is convincing from an inter-disciplinary view-point (Di Giulio and Defila 2021). Similarly, the "experiential knowledge" would require engagement in societal debates and participative democracy, including a variety of actors and considering different contexts (Sahakian et al 2021). The ambition of such participatory approaches is to tackle the deepest leverage points for sustainability transformation (Abson et al 2017;Meadows 1999) by addressing the "intent" of a system, i.e., the norms, values, goals, and their underlying paradigms (Defila and Di Giulio 2020).…”