Title: Who will be more active in sustainable consumption? Evidence from China

Authors: Bing Zhang

Addresses: Center of Environmental Management and Policy, School of Environment, Nanjing 210093, PR China

Abstract: Economic growth in China improves the quality of life and income-driven levels of consumption. However, environmental behaviours with regard to water and energy consumption, as well as wastes produced, which have significant impacts on sustainable cities, have scarcely been studied. A survey is conducted to interview about 300 residents in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, China. Analysis of both household consumption behaviour and the effectiveness of environmental policies shows a rough pattern of sustainable consumption of Chinese urban residents. This paper concludes that income level is a very significant variable for various sustainable consumption behaviours. The research results will contribute to the study of both sustainable consumption and environmental policy. Policy makers will benefit from the research results as well.

Keywords: sustainable consumption; environmental behaviours; environmental policies; policy effectiveness; sustainable development; sustainability; China; household consumption; urban residents; income level.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2007.016242

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2007 Vol.6 No.4, pp.389 - 404

Published online: 11 Dec 2007 *

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