Research project HL/DD/21 (Research action HL)
The aim of this research is to better our understanding of industry and households by identifying the factors of unsustainability specific to each sector. The ultimate goal is to make the concept of sustainable development operational so that it can be taken into account by policy-makers.
We are tackling the research along two lines, one concerning enterprises, the other households. As production and consumption cannot be dissociated, the two strands are analysed jointly. A horizontal legal analysis wraps up the study.
We have started by describing the two ‘sectors’, i.e., industry and households. This phase focuses chiefly on theory. It involves an in-depth study of the literature, consultation of existing information sources, and interviews of representatives of the parties involved. The end result is the development of working hypotheses that we must test. We then take stock of behaviour in the two sectors.
With regard to industry, this assessment involves designing and carrying out studies and analysing their results using appropriate statistical procedures. To do this, we can take advantage of the structure set up for the ‘corporate European environmental barometer’. The results of the studies carried out for this barometer make it possible to describe industry’s attitudes towards environmental issues and to identify national and international trends in this regard as well as the influence of factors such as culture, regulations, company size, type of production, and degree of information. Our snapshot of households’ behaviour is obtained from surveys of a representative sample (panel) of Belgian households or, failing this, constructed samples covering an array of specific situations found in Belgian households.
We shall then try to identify the production and consumption factors that can explain (un)sustainable development. To do this we shall use cause-and-effect models in which the various factors likely to foster or hobble sustainable development will be identified and compared. The factors or groups of factors that are considered particularly influential should then become the priority targets of policies and environmental instruments. The search for and identification of these factors will involve analysis of the causality models that are established for industry and households, respectively.
Finally, we shall pull together the results of the research by proposing an analytical canvas that presents decision-makers with the pathways to understanding and communication among the various market operators, producers, and consumers. Using these reference points we shall be in a position to make policy recommendations on the management, political, and economic tools (belonging to the public powers, companies, and consumers associations, inter alia) to establish with a view to sustainable development.
More detailed analyses are being conducted in the specific sectors of paper and waste.
The approaches are managerial, legal, sociological, and psychological, and bring together the complementary expertise of various social sciences.
Methodology
The study will be completed in four stages, with each individual stage contributing to the primary objective.
1) Development of a more thorough knowledge of the target sectors
In the first phase, industrial and household sector structures and organisations will be analysed. Current strategies and working mechanisms will be explored, and the legal framework will be analysed. In this phase, comparisons with other European countries will be established. The goal of the first phase is to observe, describe, and delineate the concepts and contexts analysed.
2) Presentation of the current situation, as viewed by the actors
In this phase we will establish a current inventory, outlining the present activities of the actors concerned with the problems facing sustainable development. The environmental performance of Belgian companies will be described from information collected by our "International Business Environmental Barometer." Next, a comparison of different European countries will take place, identifying similarities and divergences between the different countries. Simultaneously, present household attitudes on the problems facing sustainable development will be described and presented. Behaviour and attitudes towards buying, using and discarding goods and products from the target sectors (pulp and paper industry and the cosmetic industry) will be deliniated. Points of international comparison will also be developed. An inventory of Belgian and European legislative and legal frameworks organised by content and implementation will be produced to identify points of similarity or differences in relation to sustainable development.
3) Identification of factors explaining the non-sustainability of industrial and household activities
Based on the knowledge base acquired during the second phase, the third phase will begin by identifying and explaining the factors that create sustainable or non-sustainable development within the activities of the actors. The catalysts and blocks, incentives and obstacles will be analysed and evaluated according to the importance of their influence on the actor's behaviour. This behavioural identification will enable international comparisons to be made within the social and cultural contexts of the actors involved. Additionally, similarities and differences between the weights of the factors and the behaviours (positive or negative) will be made within these social and cultural contexts. Also, the impact of different producer and consumer strategies (new product norms, product information, environmental evaluations, and eco-labels) will be determined.
4) Formulation of a working analysis framework and set of recommendations linking sustainable development to human activities for decision makers
Finally, the conditions of consumer and environmental movements effective in the development and implementation of new political initiatives will be analysed. We will develop recommendations to help establish pertinent environmental policies, working for sustainable production and consumption, both nationally and internationally, with the ability to advise and protect the best interests of human beings in business, society, consistent with environmental goals and objectives.
Working paper n° 11: Prise en compte de la gestion de l'environnement dans l'industrie belge. Analyse descriptive
Isabelle Callens, Laetitia Wolters (UCL)
Working paper n° 12: Modèle de Réponses aux questions environnementales Système de Management Environnemental
Isabelle Callens, Laetitia Wolters (UCL)
Working paper n° 16: Remplir sa poubelle, c'est faire le ménage...
Lionel Panafit, Françoise Bartiaux (UCL)
Working paper n° 17: Le poids des normes sociales et du contrôle perçu dans les modèles attutidinaux: vers le recyclage de concepts négligés
Thierry Gieseler, Vincent Yzerbijt (UCL)
Working paper n° 18: Inventaire des dispositions juridiques
N. Fraselle, P. Möerynck (UCL)
Working paper n° 19: The origins and the significance of sustainable consumption in the current EC environmental policy
N. Boucquey (UCL)
Working paper n° 20: Le partage des responsabilités du développement durable depuis le cinquième programme communautaire de politique et d'action pour l'environnement
N. Boucquey (UCL)
Working Paper n°26 (juin 99) : Points de rencontre entre les producteurs et les consommateurs : consommation soutenable et gestion des déchets
Nadine Fraselle & Nathalie Boucquey (UCL)
Working Paper n° 27 (décembre 99) : Jeter, trier, conserver, donner : objets au rebut et constructions identitaires. Rapport intermédiaire.
Johanne Mons, Françoise Bartiaux & Vincent Yzerbijt (UCL)
Points d'ancrage pour une politique de développement durable: production et consommation: rapport final
Kestemont, Marie-Paule - Bartiaux, Françoise - Fraselle, Nadine ... et al. Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0801)
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[Exhausted]
Points d'ancrage pour une politique de dévéloppement durable: production et consommation: synthèse
Kestemont, Marie-Paule - Bartiaux, Françoise - Fraselle, Nadine ... et al. Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0802)
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Reference points for sustainable development policy: production and consumption: summary
Brussels: OSTC, 2002 (SP1036)
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