A comparison of sustainable development consumption and production in the countries of southern and northern Europe based on selected indicators
Streszczenie
Sustainable consumption and production has been the subject of keen demand
in many countries around the world for over 20 years, especially in the countries
of the European Union. Despite this, negative environmental effects are still observed,
caused by growing consumption and excessive economic growth. Many
environmental strategies involve the usual increased resource efficiency and eco-
-efficiency of processes and products.However, this does not fully balance the
environmental impact caused by the increased consumption, which in the EU is
four times higher than public expenditure. However, there are very large differences
in the approach to this difficult topic. The northern states of the EU turn out to
be more inclinedto being involved in promoting and subsidizing sustainable consumption
and production than the countries of southern Europe. The main purpose
of the article is to compare sustainable development in the countries of southern
and northern Europe andto fathom what the reason forthose differences is,based
on specific and selected indicators and influences on countries’ economic development.
The research is based on indicators of,among others: domestic material
consumption, recycled and composted municipal waste, atmospheric emissions
and organic farming.