Sustainable lifestyles in the Alps

Climate change, increasing resource consumption and waste problems threaten nature and society and pose major challenges for the Alps. The negative effects on people and the environment cannot be solved by technical efficiency and structural measures alone, as efficiency-gains are often offset by increased consumption (rebound effect). A sustainable lifestyle means reducing material consumption in the overall system and adapting one's own behaviour accordingly. Only with changes in behaviour towards a sustainable lifestyle will it be possible to conserve resources and preserve and improve our ecosystems.

Goals

With this project, CIPRA aimed to make a contribution to achieving sustainable development goals in the Alps by promoting sustainable consumption patterns and lifestyles oriented towards a good life in the Alps:

• Expand the energy and climate protection debate with social and innovative, sustainable lifestyle approaches,
• show how behavioural change towards a low-carbon lifestyle can be effective,
• initiate an alpine-wide discourse on the topic of sustainable lifestyles,
• contribute to the transition of the Alpine Space to a low-carbon and post-fossil society and economy and thus contribute to the achievement of the SDG objective 12.

The way forward

• Researching scientific concepts
• Making good examples and pioneers visible in the Alps
• Developing prototypes for sustainable lifestyles
• Carry the results into relevant political bodies

Project partner: Irmi Seidl, Swiss Federal Research Station WSL, Birmensdorf/ CH

Project duration: August 2018 - June 2019

Financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) Germany