The research group on sustainable consumption addresses a wide range of
interdisciplinary research topics related to societal and individual
consumption patterns and their consequences for greenhouse gas emissions and
resource use. Specific emphasis is put on consumption areas with large impacts,
including air travel, car use and food habits but the research also covers
aspects related to the overall volume and composition of household
expenditures. Examples of studies:
Determinants of energy
use and greenhouse gas emissions from private consumption (including technological,
economic, socio-demographic, physical/spatial and motivational
determinants).
Impacts on emissions and resource use of
various demand-side measures analysed using scenarios and prospective life
cycle analysis.
Rebound effects of technical energy
efficiency improvements and consumption choices.
Policy analysis, including analyses of
public support for new policies.
An open approach to the formulation of relevant and interesting research
questions is applied, with the subsequent large variation in choice of methods.
The research group is interdisciplinary including researchers with both a
social science and engineering backgrounds. Currently the main research project
is “Mistra Sustainable Consumption”, which is a large programme
with collaborations with several other universities and societal
partners.
Senior researchers:
Jonas Nässén, Jörgen Larsson,
Daniel Johansson
Key Publications:
Larsson, J., Morfeldt, J.,
Johansson, D., Rootzén, J., Hult, C., Åkerman, J., Hedenus, F., Sprei, F.,
Nässén, J. (2022). Consumption based scenarios
for Sweden – a basis for discussing new climate targets. Mistra Sustainable
Consumption, Rapport 1:11E.
Morfeldt, J.,
Johansson, D.J.A. Impacts of shared mobility on vehicle lifetimes and the
carbon footprint of electric vehicles. Nature Communications. (forthcoming)
Larsson, J., Matti, S., &
Nässén, J. (2020). Public support for aviation policy measures in Sweden.
Climate Policy, 20(10), 1305-1321. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1759499
Larsson, J., Kamb, A., Nässén,
J., & Åkerman, J. (2018). Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international
air travel of a country’s residents - methodological development and
application for Sweden. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 72,
137-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2018.05.013
Andersson, D. (2020). A novel
approach to calculate individuals’ carbon footprints using financial
transaction data–App development and design. Journal of Cleaner Production,
256, 120396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120396
Nässén, J., & Larsson, J.
(2015). Would shorter working time reduce greenhouse gas emissions? An analysis
of time use and consumption in Swedish households. Environment and Planning
C: Government and Policy, 33(4), 726-745. https://doi.org/10.1068/c12239
Nässén,
J., Andersson, D., Larsson, J., & Holmberg, J. (2015). Explaining the variation in
greenhouse gas emissions between households: Socioeconomic, motivational, and
physical factors. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 19(3), 480-489. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12168
Andersson, D., Linscott, R.,
& Nässén, J. (2019). Estimating car use rebound effects from Swedish
microdata. Energy Efficiency, 12(8), 2215-2225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09823-w