59 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing Abstr Act Although European environmental and climate policies have helped to improve the state of the environment in recent decades, various reports suggest that Europe is not progressing fast enough and that the prospects for the environment in the coming decade are not good. It is becoming more and more obvious that in order to reduce the impacts of climate change, a rapid transition to a sustainable lifestyle will be necessary, along with the simultane- ous adaptation of the organization of society, institutions and in- frastructure. sustainable transformation requires policies that take into account the global consequences of individual lifestyles. t his is also the subject of this article, which deals primarily with some trends in the field of user lifestyles related to real estate. With the help of a literature review, three issues are discussed, such as the impact of household consumption, green decisions and the suf- ficiency approach, and the representation of the sufficiency ap- proach in current climate scenarios. Household consumption has a significant carbon footprint; therefore, it represents a great po- tential for reducing environmental impacts. Keywords: real estate, green transition, lifestyle, carbon neutral- ity, sufficiency sustainability aspects of housing Živa Kristl* * Nova univerza, Evropska pravna fakulteta, slovenija, Ljubljana, ziva.kristl@epf.nova-uni.si. 60 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing Trajnostni vidiki nepremičnin Povz Et Ek Čeprav so evropske okoljske in podnebne politike v zadnjih desetletjih pomagale izboljšati stanje okolja, različna poročila na- kazujejo, da Evropa ne napreduje dovolj hitro in da obeti za okolje v prihodnjem desetletju niso dobri. v se bolj postaja očitno, da bo za zmanjšanje vplivov podnebnih sprememb potreben hiter pre- hod v trajnosten življenjski slog ob sočasni prilagoditvi organi- zacije družbe, institucij in infrastrukture. t rajnostna preobrazba zahteva politike, ki upoštevajo globalne posledice posameznih življenjskih slogov. t emu je posvečen tudi ta prispevek, ki obrav- nava predvsem nekatere trende na področju življenjskega sloga uporabnikov, povezanih z nepremičninami. s pomočjo pregleda literature so obravnavana tri vprašanja, vpliv porabe v gospodin- jstvih, zelene odločitve in zadostnostni pristop ter zastopanost za- dostnostnega pristopa v trenutnih podnebnih scenarijih. Poraba gospodinjstev ima znaten ogljični odtis, zato predstavlja velik po- tencial za zmanjšanje vplivov na okolje. Ključne besede: nepremičnine, zeleni prehod, življenjski slog, ogljična nevtralnost, zadostnost 1. Introduction While European environmental and climate policies have helped to improve the state of the environment in recent dec- ades, the report ‘European Environment - state and o utlook 2020 (so Er , 2020) suggests that Europe’s progress toward carbon neu- trality is not fast enough and that the outlook for the environment in the coming decade is not good. o f particular concern is the rate of biodiversity loss, the increasing impacts of climate change and the overexploitation of natural resources. o verall, environ- mental trends in Europe have not improved since the last EEA state of the Environment r eport in 2015 (so Er , 2020). t he assess- ment finds that most of the 2020 targets will not be met, critical are especially the biodiversity targets. t he report of the European Environment Agency (so Er , 2020), however, states that with in- creased public awareness about the need to transition to a sustain- 61 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing able future, technological innovations, increasing community ini- tiatives and strengthened EU action, such as the European Green Deal (co M 640 final, 2019) there is still reason for hope. In the industrial field, Europe has made significant progress in the field of efficient use of resources and the circular economy. but recent trends show that the progress is slowing down in areas such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, industrial emissions, waste generation, improving energy efficiency and the share of renew- able energy. Projections show that the current rate of progress will not be sufficient to meet the 2030 and 2050 climate and energy targets (so Er , 2020, p. 12). According to IPcc (2021, p. 12) forecasts, regardless of the emissions scenario, the global surface temperature will continue to rise until at least the middle of the century. Many changes in the climate system become larger in direct relation to increased global warming. For example, due to past and future greenhouse gas emissions, changes are irreversible and will last for centu- ries or millennia, especially changes in oceans, glaciers and in- creased level of oceans. We already know that global warming of 1.5°c (UNEP, 2020, p. 26) is most likely to be exceeded in the 21st century, and a temperature increase of at least 2.4°c or even 3°c is expected. t his means that, on current trends, the average air temperature in central slovenia will increase from today’s 9º c to approximately 11º c (Arso , 2018, p. 5) or more. Major cli- mate changes will also cause increasing damages from extreme weather events. In Europe, for example, the percentage of flood damages for the period 1970-2005 represents almost 40%, storms 20% and extreme temperatures 14% of all natural disasters (Arso , 2010, p. 43). Moreover, economic losses due to climate change are becoming increasingly encumbering (EEA; 2022). Forecasts show that, depending on the level of mitigation of the changes, in the year 2100 the average loss of global annual GDP will be between 1.5% and 3.3% (Aligishiev et al., 2022, p. 24). UNEP (2020, p. 75) therefore predicts that in order to reduce the impacts of climate change, a rapid transition to a sustainable lifestyle will be necessary, along with the simultaneous adapta- tion of the organization of society, institutions and infrastruc- ture. It is important to emphasize that household consumption accounts for approximately two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. For example, Ivanova et al. (2016, p. 528) estimate pop- 62 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing ulation emissions (lifestyle and consumption) at 65% of all global emissions. r eaching a more sustainable consumption, however, presents a serious challenge due to the existing economic para- digm which is based on constant growth, primarily driven by con- sumption (song et al., 2019, p. 1). As consumption is embedded in the economic system and mindsets of the consumers, the cen- tral goal of the transition is modification of meaning “progress” and “wealth”, and shift from the accumulation of goods and the use of energy-intensive technologies toward increased wellbeing (Ditmar et al., 2014). Ultimately, achieving a low-carbon lifestyle will require changing deep-rooted socioeconomic systems and cultural conventions. c urrently, average co 2 emissions per capita vary considerably across countries. According to some figures, Us per capita emissions are about 17.6 tonnes of co 2e , about 10 times higher than India’s 1.7 tonnes per capita and slightly higher than the European Union and the United kingdom combined, where the average emissions footprint is about 7.9 tons per capita (Ivanova et al., 2016, p. 62). UNEP (2020, p. 65), on the other hand, estimates that housing, transport and food are the three main are- as of influence with the largest co 2 emissions, but also with great potential for mitigating climate change. As suggested above, sus- tainable transformation requires policies that take into account the global consequences of individual lifestyles. In this context it is encouraging that the emerging sufficiency trends, especially in the developed western countries support the tendencies toward a more sustainable lifestyle. As o sikominu and bocken (2020, p. 2) point out, this often includes a decision for a lesser income and a lower consumption in exchange for e.g., more leisure time. Furthermore, Wynes and Nicholas (2017) suggest that the most efficient emission reduction actions are a smaller family, car free life, avoiding flying and plant-based diet. Actions including ener- gy efficient home, reduced consumption and limited waste gen- eration have moderate impacts. In the context of sufficiency and residential space, this combines into a smaller, simpler and energy efficient dwelling, positioned close to local resources. Nevertheless, research in this field is still limited. For example, o sikominu and bocken, (2020, p. 2) note that the largest num- ber of studies on voluntary simplicity were conducted in the UsA followed by some studies in the Uk . t he researchers come from various fields like sociology, psychology and marketing. t hey fur- 63 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing ther suggest that attempts by researchers to define the voluntary simplicity in more detail did not generate a consensus within the academic debate yet. Many times, the concept has no common criteria or lacks underpinning data. o ften, the term is also used in conjunction with downsizing and simplicity. Moreover, the concept is strongly linked to North American and similar Western societies and does not include other parts of the world. t here is currently only a limited number of research on changes in current lifestyles and future trends in the field of built environment, but they do not cover important issues linked to climate induced and sustainable changes in lifestyles. Indeed, much more research is needed on this topic, especially in the area of sufficiency lifestyles linked to dwelling. t he aim of the paper is a literature review, through which the emerging trends in the field of user lifestyles related to dwelling are identified. More in detail, three issues are addressed: the im- pact of household consumption, green decisions linked to suf- ficiency lifestyle, and the representation of the sufficiency ap- proach in current policies. Due to the small volume of literature on the topic, a literature review in the first step was performed with the help of databases such as scienceDirect, World of science and Emerald. t he key- words: real estate, green transition, lifestyle, carbon neutrality, sufficiency was used, which were combined with each other in different ways in order to obtain as many resources as possible. In the next step, the search was expanded with the additional key- words: voluntary simplicity and downsizing. t he search yielded many titles, but after a detailed review, only about 20 studies were included in the shortlist of the searched literature. t hese were in- cluded in the review. t he studies were processed on the basis of topics that will be processed in more detail, namely the impact of household consumption and the concept of sufficiency linked to green decisions, and the representation of the sufficiency ap- proach in current climate scenarios. t he literature review is intended to show which areas are un- derrepresented in the research and can serve as a guideline for further research. In addition, for professionals it can show current trends and indicates directions for the future practices and busi- ness opportunities. For policymakers, this research may show the main impacts of household consumption in various fields and can 64 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing indicate pathways to mitigate them through legislative measures and other policy approaches. 2. Household emissions Household consumption is a significant contributor to green- house gas emissions. Globally, the share of the household carbon footprint – greenhouse gas emissions directly generated and indi- rectly caused by household consumption – caused approximately 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 (UNEP, 2020, p. 532). About 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 came directly from household consumption (mostly fuel for heat- ing, cooling, cooking and the use of personal vehicles) (Ivanova et al., 2016, p. 530). Household carbon footprint is, though, closely related with economic development level (Yu et. al., 2022, p 1). Discussions to date regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in households mainly focus on lower energy consumption and obstacles to the implementation of existing building renovation measures, especially of buildings constructed after 1960 (Antonič kogoj and kristl, 2022, p. 81). some authors, however, note that the need for energy renovation is equally urgent for older build- ings, even if they have already been renovated, as they need fur- ther interventions due to stricter legislation and the transition to a carbon-neutral society (Johansson et al., 2016). Measures for en- ergy renovation of buildings are also important in wider context, e.g., for decarbonization of cities (c aro et al., 2021). Household carbon emissions need to be placed in a broader context. Understanding how the consumption of certain goods and services contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions has an important impact on defining consumer strategies to mitigate climate change. Due to global trade, emissions caused by house- hold consumption can also occur abroad. Let’s take households in the EU and the Us as an example. Europeans have one of the most unsustainable lifestyles in the world (Ivanova et al., 2016, 2017). o n average, European households emit up to 20 t of co 2 per inhabitant annually (Ivanova et al., 2017, p. 3). o nly 20% of these emissions are related to household fuels, while the majority of emissions are embedded in consumer products and services (Ivanova et al., 2016, 2017). In addition, Europe is a net importer 65 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing of carbon resources and emissions, with around half of its carbon footprint occurring abroad (t ukker et al., 2016). song et al. (2019, p. 1) note that Us household consumption is a key driver of the global economy, but also has a significant carbon footprint. t hey find that the annual carbon footprint of Us households is increasing. It averaged between 17.7 tco 2eq per per- son in 1998 and 20.6 tco 2eq per person in 2009. o verall, Us house- hold expenditure on transportation (29.8%) and housing (33.6%) contributed more than 60% of the total domestic carbon footprint in 2009. Expenditure on services, food and clothing contributed 19.3%, 16.7% and 0.1% respectively. t he utility subcategories (elec- tricity and natural gas) and fuel consumption (mostly gasoline and diesel) together contributed almost 50% to the total domestic carbon footprint. In contrast, transportation expenditure per Us household contributed only 17% of the overseas carbon footprint, while housing became the most important factor (34.7%). Among all subcategories, food, equipment, supplies, and clothing are the three largest contributors to 40.8% of the total overseas carbon footprint of Us households. t he authors note that the share of the overseas carbon footprint has been increasing and in 2006 amounted to 20.4%. t his was mainly due to spending on cloth- ing, equipment, supplies, electronics and appliances (song et al., 2019, p. 7). Yu et. al. (2022, p 1), however, note that in fast de- veloping economies, carbon footprint is increasing also due to domestic consumption. For instance, consumption expenditure was the major positive driving force and technology was a major negative driving force in china, while Japan was mainly driven by technology. t he same authors suggest that transportation and communication can be a potential source for reducing carbon footprints. Another finding is that food carbon footprint will prob- ably decrease, while housing carbon footprint will increase with economic development. It is worth noting, that household consumption and thus car- bon footprint is directly related to household income. song et. al. in their latest study ( song et. al., 2022, p 1) suggest that the top 20% income households were the main contributors to the emission increase before the peak around 2006, while the medium and low- er income households were the emission mitigation leaders after 2010. Emissions from certain consumption categories of the top income households are significantly higher than of the lower in- 66 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing come households with increasing trends, especially services and goods related to leisure. t his suggests that policies should primar- ily address the emission-intensive expenditure of households and high-carbon consumer groups. 3. What is sufficiency and what are its impacts According to Jackson, sustainable lifestyles can be broadly de- fined as “living well within the Earth’s limitations” (Jackson, 2011, p. 88). Awareness of climate change in the general public is in- creasingly beginning to influence the transition to a more sustain- able way of life. A sustainable lifestyle is emerging as a choice for many consumers, especially in the group of millennials and post- millennials. t his also means that researchers highlight the role of identity and consumption culture as central principles of lifestyle factors that need to be taken into account (su et al., 2019). When exploring how well the technical, economic, social and behaviour- al patterns of building users are considered and which measures to choose, Antonič k ogoj and k ristl (2022, p. 97) note that the gen- eral measures are not effective enough and that it would be pru- dent to adapt them to individual population groups according to the type of building they live in and their socio-cultural status. In the particular case they explored it showed, that the consequenc- es on buildings are clearly visible, while the technical, economic, social and behavioural patterns are less detectable and therefore do not play the central role in decision-making. t he situation is somewhat better in the field of regulatory and financial challeng- es of sustainable renovation, as some studies have already been carried out on this topic and pointed to certain challenges linked to implementation of regulations and financing opportunities. In the future, an opportunity for improvements is mainly in the in- terconnectedness and cooperation of the managers of residential buildings and other stakeholders. In analysing sustainable behaviour, o nel et al. (2018, p. 752) distinguished three consumer archetypes with different sustain- able consumption strategies: • holistic sustainable consumers, • occasional sustainable consumers and • partial sustainable consumers. 67 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing Lubowiecki-vikuk et al. (2021, p. 96) note that the emerging patterns of consumer behaviour and sustainable lifestyles found in the literature clearly show that, despite their many different names, represent cohesive concepts. Above all, they indicate that consumer behaviour is oriented towards post-materialistic values. o sikominu and bocken (2020), nevertheless, find that most per- sons who adopt sustainability-oriented lifestyles live in developed countries (e.g., Western societies) and belong to middle class (e.g., have met their basic needs and are often well educated). t hey also note that, beyond the constitutive basis of voluntary reduction of income and consumption to gain more free time, there is no com- mon agreement on their characteristics. some lifestyles strongly emphasize care for the environment, well-being and health, and active leisure time. A low-carbon and smart lifestyle is also very pronounced. Among the advocates of sustainable lifestyles, especially sufficiency approach, there is a consensus that such a lifestyle can lead to the well-being and satisfaction of users. Within a sustainable sufficiency framework Lamberton notes that “the decision criterion is the achievement of ecological, social and economic objectives concurrently; that is, action taken must be consistent with achieving sustainable suffi- ciency in a holistic context.” (Lamberton, 2005, p. 61). such an ap- proach suggests that the concept of sufficiency is closely related to the paradigm of de-growth. If sufficiency is widely adopted, we can expect it to affect economic growth, as it involves a lower level of consumption. When assessing the impact of two lifestyles on achieving the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 2050 mainly the following two approaches can be compared (vita et al., 2019, p. 7). • Green consumption is the practice of using environmentally friendly products that do not pose a risk to human health and do not threaten the operation and diversity of natural ecosystems. • Sufficiency focuses on the behaviour of consumers and users with the goal of reducing the absolute consumption of resources and energy. v ita et al. (2019, p. 7) used the time series back-calculation meth- od for the analysis. t hey hypothesized that reducing the ecologi- cal footprint (carbon footprint, impact on water, air, soil, toxicity to organisms) can be achieved through a widely accepted way of 68 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing living a sustainable lifestyle. t he research analyses in great detail various areas such as transport, food, construction and lifestyle. In the context of real estate, we are particularly interested in the field of construction and the residential real estate along with mobility, which can affect the choice of location and use of real estate. In the field of the building sector, the most interesting approach is co-housing and reducing the size of the living space. t he trend can result in a smaller volume of construction work, which can have the effect of reducing the carbon footprint and reducing the impact on land. o n the other hand, the increased scope of work- ing from home can have the opposite effect, as it increases the need for additional space and the use of energy at home. sustain- able housing patterns have a positive impact especially within the EU (for example, on local electricity production and other local energy sources) (v ita et al., 2019, p. 20). Although construction is not directly related to the choice of lifestyle, it can have a significant impact on emissions. According to Eurostat (2020) data, as many as 70% of Europeans own their own residential property, which substantially affects energy effi- ciency in the building sector and the use of building materials. An- other important trend that could have a significant impact is the intensification of maintenance and renovation work on real estate. t his could increase the impact on land by 11% and slightly reduce other impacts (for instance emissions). Among the construction activities, the impact of energy renovations is particularly impor- tant, which could have a significant impact on reducing energy consumption, but due to the improved quality of indoor environ- ment and lower energy costs, could have a negative impact on decisions regarding the reduction of living space. According to the authors’ calculations, increasing the use of natural materials such as wood, clay and similar materials has a very small positive impact on the carbon footprint and a negative impact on land use. similar to decisions regarding the use of natural or artificial materials in clothing, in the construction industry, the choice of materials does not have a decisive impact on any of the discussed areas of the ecological footprint. t he authors note that only the sufficiency scenarios have a significant mitigation impact on the construction (v ita et al., 2019, p. 17). For comparison, let’s consider the impact of the mobility pat- terns. r eplacing all local ground transportation with walking and 69 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing cycling could reduce carbon footprint of residents by 26% and toxicity by 14%. As an alternative, working from home includes flexible working hours and a smaller volume of daily migration to and from work, which could reduce the carbon footprint by 13% and toxicity by 7%. Movement mainly within the community also includes a lower intensity of impacts. An extended periods of time spent in the local environment mean that the range of some local services, which will have to be reachable on foot or by bicy- cle, is also likely to increase. such an approach may decrease the environmental footprint for a few percent (v ita et al., 2019, p. 17). At least half of the food and textiles consumed in the EU have footprints outside its borders. c hanging dietary habits and textile purchases would relieve impacts on land and water resources in producing countries, which are typically more climate-vulnera- ble. r educing the consumption of meat and clothing also benefits Europeans, as it limits the domestic carbon footprint and toxicity due to a smaller scale of processing, packaging and delivery. At the societal level, reducing pollution and noise levels has a posi- tive impact on public health. Individuals who walk or cycle daily (i.e., are physically active) and eat more fruits and vegetables (af- fected by adapted changed diet) also have a positive effect on the health status of the general population (v ita et al., 2019, p. 32). similar to the UsA (song et al., 2019, p. 5), the EU also imports a significant share of devices and electronics, which has a strong impact on the conditions in the exporting countries. sufficiency approach could inhibit economic growth and employment, so the transition would need to be mitigated with certain measures. Although some green consumption scenarios bring reductions in emissions and other impacts, they usually pose the potential risk of increasing impacts on land and water. t his happens in par- ticular when replacing carbon-intensive goods with renewable fuels, materials and products that involve intensive use of land and water. t he sufficiency approach has larger mitigation poten- tial in the areas of transport, services and clothing, while green consumption shows a more significant impacts in the areas of food and industrial products. A combined large-scale transition to a plant-based diet, reduction of motorized traffic and energy- efficient dwellings enable the largest reduction of European envi- ronmental impacts (Wynes in Nicholas, 2017, p. 3). r educing the volume of manufactured products and clothing has considerable 70 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing potential, but the effect will only be achieved through a combina- tion of measures in all areas of life. For instance: • A shift to local services, intra-community services and mu- tual aid could mitigate 3-23% of Europe’s environmental impacts. • Reducing the need for car transport, increased scope of work- ing from home and switching to cycling and walking are options that do not require major trade-offs and could mitigate 9-26% of carbon emissions and 2-4% of land and water impacts. • Switching to a plant-based diet can mitigate between 4 and 15% of total impacts, while reducing food waste and surpluses could reduce 2-5% of carbon emissions and save up to 16% of water. • The use of natural textile fibres has negligible effects, but in- creased durability of clothing (for instance through replacement and repairs) could contribute to a 2% reduction in European im- pacts. • Similarly, sharing and repairing household appliances and devices could result in a 2.5-6% reduction in total impacts. • The impacts of alternative forms of housing depend on use of energy sources. If, for example, the current needs for heating and cooking would be covered with biomass, carbon emissions would be reduced by 8%, but at the expense of doubling the use for land (v ita et al., 2019, p. 17). Even though the sufficiency scenario is generally more effi- cient and less risky, it is not as attractive as green consumption due to its contrast with the dominant paradigm of economic growth. As expected, all sufficiency scenarios result in a reduc- tion of the environmental footprint. o n the other hand, green consumption scenarios redirect expenditure towards goods that consumers perceive as more “environmentally friendly” based on their (perceived) lower carbon emissions. As the studies show, the sufficiency scenarios have the greatest mitigation potential, but they also challenge to the growth paradigm, which affects the re- duction of GDP. 4. Policies and sufficiency In the recent years, several studies of energy scenarios have been carried out, the aim of which is to indicate appropriate ener- gy policies. t hese studies examine the changes needed to achieve 71 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing a sustainable energy system, security and affordability. r egarding energy scenarios and lifestyle change, samadi et al. (2017, p. 128) consider that, in addition to other options, sufficiency-based sce- narios should be taken into account. In addition, they note that the current energy scenarios do not adequately take into account the sufficiency approach and neglect its potential. t he authors con- sider that behavioural patterns that move in the direction of an energy-sufficient lifestyle have substantial potential, as they con- tribute to policy goals and may even be indispensable for achiev- ing some of the outlined goals. t his potential should therefore be reflected in energy scenario studies. t he authors analysed the role of energy-sufficient lifestyles in key studies of global energy scenarios and concluded that these studies largely neglected the potential of possible behavioural changes towards an energy-suf- ficient lifestyle. t he authors suggest considering lifestyle change in energy scenarios as both necessary and beneficial. r egarding the consideration of behaviour change towards an energy-sufficient lifestyle, samadi et al. (2017, p. 127) defined two levers, which strongly relate to energy performance. o n the one hand, the purchase, rental and investment phases are important. During these phases, the sufficiency approach aims to reduce the scope and size of the equipment or encourages the sharing of goods. o n the other hand, reductions are possible in the applica- tion phase; for example, with the aim of reducing the frequency or length of journeys or lowering the heating temperature in the property. r egarding energy scenarios, sufficiency can be catego- rized according to the drivers that promote its implementation. sufficiency in the context of energy-intensive goods and services can be achieved by: • changing individual preferences (influence on lifestyle), • change in relative prices (taxation), • binding prohibitions or restrictions (legislation). Furthermore, the authors (samadi et al., 2017, p. 129) note that most of the energy scenarios envisage ambitious reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, but the measures are primarily tech- nological and do not envisage major lifestyle changes. t he only foreseen changes in consumer behaviour are foreseen in the area of mobility (a greater share of rail and bus transport, cycling, walk- ing, fewer car journeys and flights). since the changed mode of travel includes significantly changed behavioural patterns, the au- 72 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing thors believe that such predictions could be characterized as suf- ficiency lifestyle. A strong driving factor is also regulative framework, for in- stance the proposal for an enhanced EU construction product regulation, introducing several new requirements linked to car- bon footprint of the construction products (co M 144 final, 2022). According to some authors (vita et al., 2019, p. 17), it would be necessary to introduce certain measures to prevent a reverse ef- fect. A traditional measure is e.g., price increases or the introduc- tion of taxes to regulate the prices of energy services. c ompanies are also increasingly responding to sustainability challenges. For example, a study by Arslan et al. (2021) explores the link between climate change, consumer lifestyles and corporate sustainability strategies. Drivers for the adoption of sustainable strategies and practices come from different directions. o n the one hand, it is necessary to take into account the institutions and coordinate the operation with new regulations and other adjustment efforts. o n the other hand, decision-making is increasingly influenced by in- dividuals within companies and their customers. key stakehold- ers such as customers are also increasingly concerned about the carbon footprint of companies and expect them to find solutions to mitigate climate change (r andrianasolo, 2020). t he changes and the connection between lifestyle, consump- tion culture and identity are particularly visible in the western developed economies. In his study, Howell (2013) notes that in these economies, the attitude toward consumption is transform- ing from a means to satisfy a need to a factor that reflects self- identity. A growing number of consumers are searching for a new identity by focusing on specific consumer choices and patterns. For example, many consumers are willing to pay more for prod- ucts that have been produced in a more environmentally friendly way. t his further means that consumers define the way of pro- duction to a certain extent by forcing companies to adopt more sustainable practices (Arslan et al., 2021, p. 3). As consumers, es- pecially in developed countries, become increasingly aware of the importance of their choices and the resulting environmental impacts, the development of climate change mitigation technolo- gies is closely linked to consumer lifestyles. In fact, changing con- sumer lifestyles are very important and effective in reducing the carbon footprint (stern and Wolske, 2017). Despite the fact that 73 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing sustainable lifestyles are increasingly important and more recog- nizable in the strategies and practices of companies, other practi- cal aspects of successful business in a highly competitive market are also important for companies. Establishing legitimacy in a way that embraces and grounds different approaches thus emerges as a connecting factor between changing consumer behaviour and corporate practices (Arslan et al., 2021, p. 8). 5. Conclusion climate change will inevitably affect lifestyles and quality of life. Already today, we notice that due to e.g., heat waves condi- tions in buildings are worsening. At the same time, we notice that the residents are changing the behavioural patterns in response to environmental influences. t his means that adaptation processes are already underway. At the same time, it is becoming increas- ingly clear that significant changes in the approach to individual groups of users will be necessary in specific areas. For instance, the results of the research shows that socio-cultural barriers in the field of the built environment persist. Pressing issues are above all insufficient information about the effects of climate change, unmindful attitude towards the built environment and large com- plexity of organized energy renovation. t he review shows that it is mainly the ageing part of population who is uninformed and that it would be prudent to direct the campaigns to them, since they are the owners of the real estate in a significant proportion. As reasons for renovations, it would be reasonable to emphasize positive financial effects and aspects related to health and living comfort. t herefore, it is necessary to strengthen awareness cam- paigns on the impact of climate change on the environment and society and introduction of mitigation strategies, as well as to pre- sent the adaptation approaches. It is clear that the cov ID-19 pandemic has also provided an opportunity to reflect on what is important in life and to change the consumption patterns. t his emergency has significantly trans- formed the attitude of consumers and exposed essential elements in the lives of individuals; many consumers began to give prior- ity to the quality of life, while consumption focused primarily on goods that are essential and not merely desirable. Many people also find that they can get by with what they already have. 74 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing 5.1 Household consumption t he household consumption is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and a key driver of the global econ- omy. It is important to emphasize, that household consumption and thus carbon footprint are directly related to household in- come. Furthermore, emissions from certain consumption catego- ries of the top income households, like services and goods relat- ed to leisure, are significantly higher than of the lower income households. t his suggests the reasons why most studies address the emission-intensive expenditure of households in developed Western economies and high-carbon consumer groups, which are also most prominent policies targets. With regard to new housing patterns, the most promising models are co-housing and downsizing, which can substantially reduce the consumption and the impact of emissions. However, the review shows that potential of sufficiency approach in the cur- rent energy scenarios is not well enough exploited; most of the energy scenarios envisage ambitious reductions in carbon diox- ide emissions, but the measures are primarily technological and do not envisage major lifestyle changes. Another important issue is construction itself. Although not directly related to lifestyle, it can have a significant impact on emissions, especially linked to energy related approaches and the use of building materials. such impact is well noticeable in the EU, where a large share of popula- tion possesses residential property. 5.2 Lifestyles t he review shows that the sustainable lifestyle is emerging as an important research area, however, currently the number of studies considering this question is very limited. sustainability ori- ented lifestyles carry many different names and have various rates of environmental impacts but at the same time present a cohesive concept. t he driver is growing awareness of climate change in the general public, especially in the group of millennials and post- millennials, predominantly in the Western societies. o ther geo- graphical regions are insufficiently covered and therefore cannot be treated separately. sustainable lifestyles focus on changing the perception of con- sumption as a status symbol of equivalent for well-being Lifestyles 75 DIGNITAS n Sustainability aspects of housing that incorporate simplicity and downsizing (which also includes the sufficiency approach) replace the accumulation of material possessions with non-material goals such as spirituality, meaning- ful work, and nurturing relationships. such a lifestyle is adopted by free choice and not imposed due to poverty, and moves away from consumerism. However, research gaps emerge when ex- ploring how well the technical, economic, social and behavioural patterns are considered among various population groups, espe- cially in conjunction with dwellings. t his applies both to groups within the considered population and also (as mentioned above) for various geographical regions. t his means that in the future the role of identity and consumption culture as central principles of lifestyle factors need to be taken into account, bot in research and policy making. 5.3 Policies Drivers for the adoption of sustainable strategies can be di- vided into top-down and bottom up. A strong driving factor are above all international agreements and regulative framework. t he goal to reduce the growth and with it the increasing consumption (not only in the developed but also in the emerging economies with substantial population growth) is a task that very few poli- cies directly address yet. before this happens on a wider scale, not only an economical, but also social agreement will be needed. o n the other hand, incentives are increasingly coming from individuals within companies and their customers. Awareness of the impact of everyday individual actions on the environment and well-being in connection with informed decisions is there- fore crucial for a changed lifestyle. Legislation and financial poli- cies which already indicate measures related to, for example, the taxation of energy products, greener transport and the quality of the building envelope, will also contribute to faster adjustments. At the same time, it is also necessary to emphasize the financial consequences of such a transformation, not only in the sense of switching to, for example, new energy sources, but also of chang- es in the economical paradigm (e.g., de-growth) and structure of jobs. Above all, the countries or parts of the population that do not have enough financial assets and that will not be able to compen- sate this transition from their own resources will be most affected. 76 DIGNITAS n Sustainability and housing Acknowledgement: t he article is the result of research work within the research program sUst AINAbLE DEvELo PMENt o F Urb AN sPAcE t Hro UGH PArAMEt Ers oF soc IAL INFrA- str Uct Ur E DEv ELo PMENt AND LIFE sAt IsFAct Io N (J5-3112) and Health-oriented behaviour as a creator of sustainable devel- opment of the built environment (J7-4599). BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES Aligishiev, z ., bellon, M., Massetti, E. (2022). 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