ETC CE Report 2024/10 Drivers of consumption and sustainable consumption levels

28 Nov 2024

Maarten Christis, Pieter Fonteyn, Dani Sangers, Philip Nuss, Mariana Nicolau, Jens Günther

This report analyses the consumption footprint of EU-27 supporting a better understanding of the current status, past trends and the drivers behind them. The consumption footprint refers to the environmental and climate impacts associated with the consumption by EU citizens of goods and services, whether produced within or outside the EU. The impact of EU-27 final use, or the consumption footprint indicator (CFI), decreased in the 2010-2016 period, but increased in the period 2016-2021, except for 2020 where we see a decrease due to the Covid crisis. The main drivers of these trends are our increased affluence and the environmental improvement in production processes. These drivers are discussed per consumption domain, namely housing, food, personal mobility, household goods, services and clothing and footwear. In addition, the report provides the link between the consumption footprint and the planetary boundaries concept by applying allocation approaches to derive planetary boundaries at the EU scale. As multiple planetary boundaries are transgressed, solutions are proposed in the form of sustainable consumption pathways focussing on circular economy in food, mobility, and housing.