Collaborative Consumption: Towards a Resource-Saving Consumption Culture

Kristin Leismann, Martina Schmitt, Holger Rohn and Carolin Baedeker
Additional contact information
Kristin Leismann: Trifolium–Beratungsgesellschaft mbH, Alte Bahnhofstraße 13, 61169 Friedberg, Germany
Martina Schmitt: Wuppertal Institute for Climate Environment and Energy, Döppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany
Holger Rohn: Trifolium–Beratungsgesellschaft mbH, Alte Bahnhofstraße 13, 61169 Friedberg, Germany
Carolin Baedeker: Wuppertal Institute for Climate Environment and Energy, Döppersberg 19, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany

Resources, 2013, vol. 2, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Resource efficiency in production and technological innovations are inadequate for considerably reducing the current use of natural resources. Both social innovations and a complementary and equally valued strategy of sustainable consumption are required: goods must be used longer, and services that support collaborative consumption (CC) patterns must be extended. “Using rather than owning” strategies, such as product sharing, have the potential to conserve resources. Based on the results of different German studies, this article highlights the resource-saving potentials of CC patterns and recommendations proposed for policies and further research questions. The purpose of this paper is to show that a general resource-saving potential can be realized by “use rather than own” schemes, depending on the application field and the framework for implementation. CC is suitable for making a positive contribution to achieving the Factor 10 target by playing an important role in changing consumer patterns.

Keywords: collaborative consumption; resource efficiency; resource saving potential; rebound effects; product sharing; service; product service systems; ownership-substituting services; sustainable consumption patterns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/2/3/184/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/2/3/184/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jresou:v:2:y:2013:i:3:p:184-203:d:27602

Access Statistics for this article

Resources is currently edited by Ms. Donchian Ma

More articles in Resources from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().