From 6-8 November 2011, the FONA conference “Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact” was held in Hamburg. Over 250 participants from more than 30 different countries attended, projects from the social-ecological research program were presented, giving rise to intense debates among participants. The focus of the conference was on consumer behaviour, its social and cultural embeddedness, and its interdependencies with institutional, economic, physical and political frameworks. Researchers from different disciplines (e.g. Sociology, Psychology, Economics, Political Science, Business Administration, Environmental Sciences, Ethics), studying different fields of consumption (e.g. residence, mobility, energy, nutrition, clothing, leisure) were addressed. EIFER was partner of the conference.
EIFER staff contributed with several presentations to the conference. The presentations by Andreas Koch and Pia Laborgne were realised in the framework of the project groups of the focal topic “Consuming energy sustainably - consuming sustainable energy” (link: http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/nachhal...). The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the topical focus "From knowledge to action- New approaches to sustainable consumption" within the research programme “Socio-ecological research” (SÖF). The scientific goal of the project is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis of heat energy use. In addition, the project devises practical recommendations targeted to consumers, actors in the periphery of consumers, such as tradesmen or energy consultants, as well as for political decision makers to promote the sustainable use of heat energy.
Additionally the project “Milieux Durables Urbains” (MDU), which is co-fundend by the ADEME was presented by Andreas Huber. This study assessed the carbon footprint of different social segmentation groups in France (“Sinus Milieux®”) and suggests targeted intervention strategies to promote less carbon intensive lifestyles.
Monika Heyder presented a discussion paper on sustainable neighborhoods making the case to combine planning approaches with grassroots initiatives to achieve a more sustainable development on the scale of urban neighbourhoods.
