Consumption and planetary well-being

Abstract

This chapter considers sustainable marketing and consumption from the perspective of planetary well-being (PW). While marketing is commonly associated with unsustainability, sustainable marketing can create, communicate, and deliver value to consumers in ways that ensure and restore the urgent needs of nature. Sustainable consumption at the acceptable threshold of disturbance on needs satisfaction globally requires critical reflection on the current norms and practices alongside thoughtful solutions for guiding action. The firstpart of the chapter presents the problematization of marketing and consumption against sustainability from the PW angle. It critically discusses the drivers of and barriers to sustainable consumption from the corporate and consumer perspectives. The secondpart presents sustainable-consumption solutions that respect nonhuman needs. We address the question of how marketing and consumption can be transformed so that they can promote PW while providing goods and services to humans. Circular economy, sustainable consumption, consumer information, and digitalized consumption, including the use of artificial intelligence, are cited as intriguing consumption solutions with respect to nonhuman-system needs. The potential of these solutions to influence PW varies as they imply different degrees of change in practices and behaviours. The chapter concludes with an overview of practical solutions to sustainable consumption for PW.