G20 Foundation Publications Turkey 2015 | Page 112

112 CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES: FROM
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY TO
COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Dr. Stefanos Fotiou, Head of “Cities
and Lifestyles” Unit, United Nations
Environment Programme
A basic assumption we
should make in the process
of understanding better
the relations between
sustainability as a long term
concept and our daily life is that
all of us (either as individuals or
as institutions) have a share of the
responsibility to deliver a better
planet to the next generations.
And the way we exercise this
responsibility is demonstrated
and materialised through the
choices we make. And while
the choices and decisions of
institutions are emerging via
policies, the decisions and choices
of individuals are emerging via
lifestyles.
The concept of sustainable lifestyles has
emerged over the last 20 years within
the global efforts to promote Sustainable
Consumption and Production (SCP). They
are broadly defined as “patterns of action and
consumption, used by people to affiliate and
differentiate themselves from others, which:
meet basic needs, provide a better quality of
life, minimise the use of natural resources and
emissions of waste and pollutants over the
lifecycle, and do not jeopardise the needs of
future generations ”. While this definition could
be applied to every society at any development
stage we need to acknowledge that for
someone to demonstrate a sustainable lifestyle
needs to have:
• Available market options (in terms of
available goods and services) that will help her/
him to make sustainable choices;
• Access to these options from both a
physical and economic point of view;