EU 1.5° Lifestyles - Lifestyles for a sustainable future

The main objective of this project is to promote lifestyles that align with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C and to facilitate the transformations envisaged under the Paris Agreement and the EU Green Deal. To achieve this, the project develops guidance for political decision-makers, companies, civil society organisations and private households based on scientific findings about the impacts of lifestyle choices on carbon footprints and how structural contexts enable or constrain sustainable lifestyle choices.

EU 1.5° Lifestyles combines analyses of lifestyle options at household level with studies of relevant political and socio-economic structures. This research focuses on household consumption practices across the particularly resource-intensive fields of mobility, housing, food and leisure, as well as their political, economic, technological and social contexts. The project is unique in its recognition of the relevance of social acceptance of change and focus on identifying the potential contributions of individuals and households as well as their limitations. In doing so, it pinpoints necessary political interventions and other structural changes - for example in the economy and the welfare and pension systems.

The four-year project will develop concrete recommendations for households, as well as for national and European policymakers and actors in civil society and the business community. The project will also provide stakeholders at national and EU level with:

• quantitative data on the climate and health impacts of possible changes in lifestyles in the EU and three G20 countries
• an overview of opportunities and barriers to change at household level, including options for a transition to 1.5°C lifestyles and the potential risks and opportunities associated therewith
• an analysis of the structural barriers and levers for the systemic change necessary for 1.5°C lifestyles;
• Scenarios for economies and welfare systems that enable 1.5°C lifestyles, and
• Business models that are compatible with 1.5°C lifestyles.

The research project EU 1.5° Lifestyles commenced on 01.05.2021 under the leadership of Professor Doris Fuchs (Research Institute for Sustainability - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, and University of Münster) and is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101003880 with a total project budget of approx. 5 million euros. In addition to the University of Münster, which is coordinating the project, nine other cooperation partners from Germany, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Hungary are involved. Further information is available on the project's website: http://onepointfivelifestyles.eu/