European context

Progress in linking research and policy making for managing the contradictions of sustainable consumption and economic growth requires a European approach, since the policies under consideration are European and transnational efforts by nature:

Renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy (2006): RESPONDER will contribute important results and insights in order to achieve the EU SDS’s objective “to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns” in the EU and its Member States. Moreover, the proposed project will make contributions to several operational objectives and targets of the EU SDS’s key challenge “sustainable consumption and production”: (i) promoting sustainable consumption (…) by addressing social and economic development (…) and decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation, and (ii) improving the environmental and social performance for products and processes (…).

EU SCP and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan (2008): RESPONDER will help to achieve the action plan’s main objective “to improve the energy and environmental performance of products” and which measures are needed to foster their uptake by consumers. It will also make a contribution to achieve results in ‘smarter consumption’, one of the action areas of the Action Plan.

Europe 2020 strategy (2010): The main focus of the “Europe 2020” strategy is to shift towards a more sustainable economy in Europe. The activities in RESPONDER will contribute to this general aim as well as to several priorities of the strategy. RESPONDER will especially contribute results to more energy efficiency and more sustainable consumption patterns.

European Economic Recovery Plan (2008): Due to its focus on linking sustainable development and growth issues, RESPONDER will contribute to several aims of the European Economic Recovery Plan. In particular, it will contribute insights on how to shift towards a low-carbon economy and energy efficiency in the overall energy consumption.

© 2024 Institute for Managing Sustainability
Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, A-1020 Vienna