Sustainable consumption, the new economics and community currencies: Developing new institutions for environmental governance

Abstract

Seyfang G. (2006) Sustainable consumption, the new economics and community currencies: developing new institutions for environmental governance, Regional Studies 40, 781–791. Sustainable consumption is gaining currency as a new environmental policy objective, but there is a limit to the changes in consumption behaviour that individuals can make within current socio-economic frameworks. The ‘new economics’ literature argues that sustainable consumption is characterized by five factors: localization, reducing ecological footprints, community-building, collective action, and building new social institutions. These form a set of indicators for the evaluation of initiatives and policies. Community currencies have been put forward as a new tool to promote sustainable consumption, but until now there has been no appraisal of their ability to deliver this goal. Three different community currency types are described, and their effectiveness and potential in enabling more sustainable consumption patterns are assess...