International Environment Forum

Paper published in: Dag Tangen and Victoria W. Thoresen (eds.), Catalyzing Change. Proceedings of the Third International Conference of the Consumer Citizenship Network, Hamar (Norway) 2006. Høgskolen i Hedmark, Oppdragsrapport nr. 4 - 2007.

Two values underpinning the concept and practice of consumer citizenship are concern for the whole planet and humanity today and concern for future generations, but this is not what underlies most actions of individuals and societies. The major challenge for society is to institutionalize such wider concerns so that global and long-term thinking are made more permanent. Institutions are those formal and informal rules that communities, corporations, organizations and governments establish for their own decision-making processes and to influence behaviour. These range from the informal, invisible codes of conduct among people in communities on what is accepted and desired consumer behaviour, to national consumer laws with sanctioning systems, to international free trade agreements. Institutions create incentives for behaviour and, if effective, can greatly influence the actions of both individuals and collectivities. Most institutions today help to entrench spatially narrow and temporal short-term thinking, whether it is free trade rules or three to five year election cycles. We need more creativity in designing institutions that consider seriously both global and long-term concerns. Globally these might include a global trusteeship function for future generations held by permanently appointed councils or ombudsmen, steps towards some form of global citizenship, and finance mechanisms to ensure fair and long-term investments from natural resource revenues so that money flows are not only going towards unsustainable consumption. We also need to identify and strengthen the types of institutions which consumers and non-governmental organizations create themselves to support sustainable consumer options.