Principal Methodological Approaches to Studying Sustainable Consumption: Scenario Analysis, Ecological Footprints and Structural Decomposition Analysis

The environmental impact of a person, whether measured in terms of average energy consumption, specific CO

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emissions, or a person's occupation of ecological space, has received sustained interest at least since the 1970s. The need for quantifying drivers, key impact segments and leverage points from a consumption perspective lead to the formulation of various indicator concepts and analysis techniques, amongst which are scenario analysis, the ecological footprint, and structural decomposition analysis. Since

sustainable consumption

has become a key interest of environmental policy makers, not at least through the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, there is an increased interest in such investigations.

Rather than providing a broad literature review of the issue, the purpose of this paper is to concurrently demonstrate example applications of the three input-output based methods mentioned above — scenario analysis, the ecological footprint, and structural decomposition analysis — and by so doing, provide a means for comparison and critique. Whilst all three analysis techniques are concerned with the overall theme of the study of sustainable consumption, they each provide a different focus for assessment and interpretation, and are thus suited to diverging purposes and research questions.