Veranstaltung Mitgliedshochschulen
As a means to reduce the pollution and resource use following from consumption, attempts are made to motivate consumers to switch to less environmentally harmful and resource consuming products and increasingly also services. One of the increasingly popular tools is to label products and services in such a way that consumers can distinguish the least harmful from others and, hence, are able to choose them. In this presentation, I will present and discuss research on the effectiveness of sustainability labelling as a means to influence consumer decision-making and behavior and environmental outcomes.
John Thøgersen is professor of economic psychology at Aarhus University, Denmark, Department of Management, where he coordinates the Marketing and Sustainability Research Group. He is also connected to MAPP – Centre for research on customer relations in the food sector. His research focuses on consumer willingness to reduce their climate footprint, responses to eco- and climate labelling, the establishment of sustainable lifestyles, and drivers and impediments for energy renovation and for buying organic food. He has published extensively on sustainable consumption in top journals, edited volumes, and recently a monograph on Edward Elgar. He is a Fellow of IAAP,editor of Journal of Consumer Policy, published by Springer-Nature, and member of several editorial boards, including Journal of Environmental Psychology.
Click here for more information.
Environmental Lecture Series Summer Semester 2025
BEYOND THE SHELF: The environmental debt of our consumption
Every product we take off the shelf and buy comes with a hidden cost – one that is not reflected in the price tag. While we focus on convenience, affordability, and trends, what remains unseen is the environmental debt our consumption creates. From forests cleared for farmland, to rivers polluted by factories over mountains of waste piling up in landfills.
The lecture series Beyond the Shelf: The Environmental Debt of Our Consumption uncovers these hidden consequences. How are the resources for our everyday items extracted? Where do our discarded goods truly end up? How much energy and water are used to produce the things we consume without a second thought? And who – whether people or wildlife – pays the price for our demand for more? Some of these costs are invisible, like the carbon emissions from shipping goods across the world. Others, like electronic waste dumps, are deliberately ignored.
By understanding the debt we are creating, we can begin to make more responsible choices – for ourselves, for others, for the planet, and for the future. Now is the time to look beyond the shelf and ask ourselves: What price are we truly willing to pay?
More Infomations
