Green Consumption Behaviour for Sustainable Development

Green/sustainable consumption is a form of consumption that is attuned with the safeguard of the environment for the present and future generations. It ascribes consumers’ concern to address environmental issues through embracing environmentally friendly behavior, such as the use of renewable energy, carrying out organic activities, reduce, recycle, reuse, which leads to zero impact on climate. The concept of green consumption first came into existence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when western countries faced environmental issues due to industrial expansion. India witnessed an economic crisis after being independent, so to keep the economy back on track, the industrial sector started to boom, consequently more pressure on the environment, henceforth green consumption practice came out. Making a habit or practice of green consumption that leads to a long-lasting change in lifestyle and behavior is very important to combat environmental issues. Green/sustainable consumption leads to sustainable development. Sustainably practicing consumption may ensure the availability of the resource for the long run. The unsustainable consumption practices trickle up serious environmental issues like global warming, climate change, greenhouse effect, which drive people to change their traditional consumption practices. Interventions and marketing strategies can be used to trigger the consumers’ behavior towards green behavior. This chapter describes the concept, origin, and need of green consumption, green consumers, sustainable development, factors affecting green consumption behavior. The chapter further describes the barriers to green consumption, green marketing, the models to trigger behavior change, and suggestions to enhance green consumption behavior to attain sustainability.