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Defining limits: What is ‘sustainable’ consumption? 2025

Abstract

Unsustainable consumption and production patterns are at the root of the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. All four governments of the UK have policies related to increasing the sustainability of our consumption at a national level, including via reducing our impacts overseas. However, there remains a lack of consensus around how to define environmentally ‘sustainable’ consumption. Whilst global temperature increase associated with carbon emissions has a widely accepted upper ‘limit’ of 1.5°C that actors are aiming to stay beneath, similar ‘limits’ for other impacts associated with consumption are less clear.

This report aims to assess whether it is possible to set such global limits based on impartial scientific evidence (for example, through identification of key thresholds beyond which cascading ecological effects take place), or whether limits are necessarily subjective and reliant on the judgements of policymakers. It is based on a time-limited review of global limits that are defined and discussed within the scientific literature.

This resource may not be fully accessible for all users. If you need a copy in a different or more accessible format, please contact Communications@jncc.gov.uk.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2025·05·01

Citation
Wood, E., Hallatt, R. & Harris, M. 2025. Defining limits: What is ‘sustainable’ consumption? JNCC Report 796. JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091.

Lineage
This report aims to act as an information source that, alongside other information, could be used by policy makers considering policies to improve the sustainability of consumption.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC publisher

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2025·06·03

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

Temporal extent 2012·01·01 2018·06·30

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