In the last century, our social and economic growth has only been possible at the cost of environmental degradation. The latter, however, is negatively correlated with our future survival and resilience. As such, economic growth has to be decoupled from environmental degradation, natural resources have to be used efficiently, and sustainable consumption and lifestyles have to be promoted.
Prof. Dr. Algesheimer and his team has created the seminar titled “Marketing for Sustainable Consumption” to open a discourse about this important topic, to raise questions and carefully think about interventions that may lead people to more sustainable behavior. The main objective of the class is to offer students an overview of marketing interventions that can transform consumer behavior to be more sustainable. More information about the seminar can be found here.
The pandemic has shown us the threats of growth, mobility, and over–consumption, but it has also challenged our perceptions and sensibility of fairness, equality, peace, and freedom. It even dominated much of our energy, attention, and emotions. With this mindset, we’d like to start rethinking consumption in this seminar. The seminar is built around the SHIFT framework, developed by Professor Katherine White to support companies and assist societal marketers in better understanding their customers, discover the best methods to communicate to their consumers and establish tools that foster sustainable behavior.