New Resources: Recommendations for Nature-friendly Consumption

In the case of shrimp, the study reveals how the expansion of intensive aquaculture drives the destruction of tropical mangrove forests. The high demand for soy, which is used mainly for animal feed, causes the conversion of biodiversity-rich savannas and forests into soy monocultures. In the case of palm oil, plantations in tropical rainforests and on peatland soils threaten the habitats of endangered species and cause excessive CO₂ emissions.

The study reveals that the severe impact of European consumption on biodiversity is the result of political and economic decisions—which also offer leverage for a shift toward nature-friendly consumption. It demonstrates how the EU can significantly reduce its biodiversity footprint through coordinated measures aimed at global justice. To do so, regulatory, fiscal, marked-based, voluntary, and trade policy instruments should be combined. Many of the findings are directly transferable to other regions in the Global North – addressing, for example, the need to abolish or reform subsidies that are harmful to nature, incentivize sustainable choices, establish biodiversity-criteria for public procurement, avoid leakage effects by better coordinating policies, and promote sufficiency as a prerequisite for a good life within planetary boundaries.

The publication is a result of the project “Shaping nature-friendly consumption”, which was implemented in close cooperation with the Working Group on Biodiversity & Consumption (WG4) of the One Planet network’s Consumer Information Programme. The project was carried out by the Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW) and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) Heidelberg. It was commissioned by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and supported with funds from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). 

On November 3^rd, all project results were presented in the international online conference “Nature-friendly consumption: Policies for biodiversity protection”. Beside the main report, the project’s publications include factsheets on all three case studies as well as a series of policy briefs. The latter present targeted recommendations for policy-makers on how to promote sufficiency as a key strategy for sustainable consumption, how to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation in a just and effective manner, and how to address the biodiversity impacts of food consumption in the context of Target 16 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. All publications are freely available for download.

Publications and further information 

• Study “Towards nature-friendly consumption – Biodiversity impacts and policy options for shrimp, soy and palm oil” (https://www.bfn.de/en/publications/leaflet/towards-nature-friendly-consumption-biodiversity-impacts-and-policy-options)

• Policy Brief “Sufficiency for biodiversity: Governing consumption within ecological limits” (https://www.bfn.de/en/publications/policy-brief/sufficiency-biodiversity-governing-consumption-within-ecological-limits)

• Policy Brief “EU Deforestation Regulation in action: Towards just and effective implementation” (https://www.bfn.de/publikationen/policy-brief/eu-deforestation-regulation-action-towards-just-and-effective)

• Policy Brief „Implementing GBF Target 16: Addressing biodiversity impacts of food consumption” (https://www.bfn.de/publikationen/policy-brief/implementing-gbf-target-16-addressing-biodiversity-impacts-food)

• More about the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation’s work on nature-friendly consumption (https://www.bfn.de/en/sustainable-use-and-nature-friendly-consumption) 

• More about the One Planet network Working Group on Biodiversity & Consumption (https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/programme/ci-scp/biodiversity-consumption)