Conference calls

Call for papers: Up-scaling co-benefits of sustainable consumption for development

April 11, 2022

Do you have expertise in green transition? Submit your paper!

Sunrise in farm country. Photo: William DeHoogh / Unsplash

Deadline: April 24, 2022

Environmentally sustainable consumption is now high on the agenda of researchers and policymakers in rich countries. In low and middle-income countries, sustainable consumption is de facto already practised in various contexts, for instance when it comes to energy saving, shared mobility, decentral digital markets, (informal) repair and recycling services or innovative plastic re-use start-ups. Yet, such practices are often realized in settings of poverty, precarious working conditions and environmental hazards.

About the conference

This conference discusses the challenge of how to chart a pathway to sustainable consumption that is aligned with the economic aspirations of growing urbanizing middle classes, and at the same time creates economic benefits in terms of viable business innovations, decent work and good health conditions. Put differently: To unleash a virtuous cycle in which sustainable consumption and production reinforce each other and improve well-being.

The conference is jointly organized by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and the Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg. The conference is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The conference addresses academics, policymakers, donor organisations and other non-governmental organisations interested in designing demand-side policies and programmes for a green transition.

Submission procedure and target journals

Interested applicants should send their paper title and abstract (max 600 words) to
with the subject line ”Conference co-benefits of sustainable
consumption”. DIE aims to publish the most interesting papers of the conference in a special issue. Target journals are Ecological Economics, the Journal of Cleaner Production or Global Environmental Change. Editors of the journal will be contacted before the workshop with a preliminary list of papers/authors after abstract selection.

Extended deadlines: 24 April 2022