Europe consumes more resources than most other regions. An average European citizen uses about four times more resources than one in Africa and three times more than one in Asia, but half of one in USA, Canada or Australia. Does this mean that we and the rest of the western world are being too greedy?

What is Consumption?

“Consumption is shaped by an array of complex, interrelated factors such as demographics, income and prices, technology, trade, policies and infrastructure, as well as social, cultural and psychological factors. Production activities across economic sectors, including extractive industries, agriculture, energy, transport and manufacturing, are directly responsible for the majority of the environmental impacts caused by the economy. However, it is private and public consumption that are the fundamental causal factors and drivers of change in production activities [1].”

European Consumption

Europeans consume a lot: Europeans consume 43kg per person per day; in comparison, the North American region 88kg and the Oceanic region 100kg per day. According to Friends of the Earth, the reason why the North American and Oceanic regions have such a high consumption rate is due to the fact that people in these regions live in larger houses, drive bigger cars and eat more meat [2]. However, that’s not to say that we Europeans cannot be let off the hook either, because within Europe sustainable consumption is still regarded as an ongoing problem and remains a key topic today. This was highlighted in a meeting organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Danish Consumer Council, and hosted by the European Environment Agency (EEA) this month [3]. The focus is on private and public consumption, because the things we buy contribute, directly and indirectly, through the product lifecycle, to climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and resource depletion in Europe and other regions of the world. And as will be explained, next, within Europe, this could perhaps be better managed.

Consumption of resources per capita per day, 2000.

Despite resource extraction within Europe being particularly low, we nevertheless are largely responsible for and contribute to high resource extraction in other countries. This is because of the nature of our economy which focuses on services (e.g. banking, healthcare etc) and the lack of natural resources we have ourselves. Meaning, we rely heavily on imports and this results in high resource consumption. Our GDP interestingly is in fact able to withstand and actually sustain this higher and increasing demand. As an example, between 1990 and 2002, resource productivity increased by 30%. However, GDP also grew by the same order of magnitude and yet, no absolute reduction of resource use was achieved. Economic growth is outweighing gains in resource efficiency, and the “rebound” effect means that we are consuming more. In Europe, when looking at the average resource consumption of a European, a large proportion (60%) is dedicated to: housing and infrastructure, eating and drinking, and mobility. This demand is reflected well in the key statistics from the EEA meeting (see below).

The Rebound Effect:

“When enterprises use less energy and fewer materials to produce their products and services, the production costs decrease. Lower production costs, in turn, lower the price of the product or service. And lower prices for consumers mean that – with the same budget – consumers can purchase more of the cheaper product or other products. Rising resource efficiency therefore often increases the demand for natural resources. This rebound effect therefore means that there isn’t an overall reduction in resource consumption [2].”

The Meeting’s Key Points [3]:

• Resource use in Europe is increasing. Resource use per person increased by 9.1% in the EU-27 between 2000 and 2007, reaching some 17 tonnes per person annually. Of the 8.2 billion tonnes of materials used in the EU in 2007, minerals and metals accounted for more than half, while fossil fuels and biomass were approximately a quarter each. Could you purchase more resource efficient products?
• Europe can use resources more efficiently. 87% of EU citizens agree that Europe could use its natural resources more efficiently, and 41% think that their household produces too much waste.
• Europeans use more and more space to live on. The average floor area of dwellings increased from 81 to 87 m² since 1990, while the number of people per household decreased from 2.8 to 2.4.
• Europeans travel more kilometres by car. Although cars on average become more fuel-efficient, overall fuel consumption for private cars does barely go down, mainly because more kilometres are driven.
• An estimated 89 million tonnes of food ends up as waste each year in the EU. This is roughly 180 kg per citizen, wasted in households, manufacturing, shops and restaurants. In the UK, 25% of food purchased is thrown out, of which nearly two-thirds could have been eaten. Composting food waste can help reduce the amount thrown into our residual bins.
• Consumption indirectly uses water. For example, a cheeseburger requires 2,400 litres of water to produce, including the bread, beef and cheese. There are also indirect greenhouse gas emissions from our consumption. Staying with the burger example, producing the average patty results in more carbon emissions than driving 15 km in a large car.
• Current consumption leads to unsustainable waste levels. In 2008, every citizen on average threw out 444 kg of household waste, and indirectly generated 5.2 tonnes of waste in the European economy. And this is just in the EU – no data are available on waste generated from producing products and materials imported from other regions.

Conclusion

Even though technological dependence means we are improving resource efficiency, consumption nevertheless continues to rise. Resource consumption is increasing because of demand for both life sustainable and non-life essential resources (such as technology!). Better education with regards to recycling and lifestyle patterns could help this; in addition to better policy and resource monitoring from governments. Friends of the Earth, also suggest that another way that governments could strategise for sustainability would be to place emphasis on well-being, self fulfilment and life satisfaction rather than a focus on the benefits of material  wealth; although, this is easier said than done. But as mentioned, despite technology helping us, and a GDP which continues to sustain us beyond our resource demands of the past, it would seem that, perhaps, we are being increasingly greedy after all!

[1] http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/europe/consumption-and-environment

[2] http://foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/publications/FoEE_Overconsumption_0909.pdf

[3] http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/unsustainable-consumption-2013-the-mother