Fostering 1.5 Degrees Lifestyles With Urban Partnerships

Recent studies such as the 1.5-Degree Lifestyles report illustrate the scale of the sustainable living challenge: the need for reductions of over 80 per cent in GHGs by 2050 from today’s intensity of lifestyles. This research proposes that we need to aim for per-capita lifestyle carbon footprint targets of 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2eq) by 2030, 1.4 tCO2eq by 2040 and 0.7 tCO2eq by 2050. 

Transitioning to renewable forms of energy production can enable us to achieve only a bit more than half of the required reductions in global GHG emissions. In order to tackle the remaining half, consumption patterns and dominant lifestyles need to be shifted with the support of circular economy interventions. There is the need for consumers to have available and accessible choices for eco-designed products, the elimination of waste within product chains and the end-of-product-life, easier ways for consumers to keep materials in use, and support for regenerative forms of living.  

Cities, where consumption and production meet, provide the perfect leverage points for enabling 1.5 °C living. Recent household experiments for sustainable living such as the Future Lifestyles project, led by IGES, show that along with citizens’ willingness, enabling urban infrastructures and municipal services also have to be in place. These transitions especially need to happen in six priority domains – food, housing and mobility, goods, services and leisure – which cover the majority (approximately 75 per cent) of city dwellers' carbon footprints.

Session 1

Discusses the significance of consumption-based strategies, IGES’s work on 1.5 Degree Lifestyles, and organizes a dialogue among experts from the policy-arena, academia, and the business sector to accentuate the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration for sustainable lifestyles. 

Session 2

Introduces the findings from the "Envisioning Future Low-Carbon Lifestyles and Transitioning Instruments" project, led by IGES, in collaboration with project partners from Brazil, India, South Africa and Thailand. This session starts with the introduction of the overall achievements of the analysis and participatory process in 6 cities. Then it organises a roundtable discussion among experts working on the project in these cities, to accentuate the importance of a city specific approach and engaging citizens to choose transition pathways towards sustainable lifestyles.