Consumer Trends and Forecasts in selected emerging Economies

Currently, global patterns of human production and consumption exceed the planet’s biological capacity to regenerate by 1.3 times. The global population is growing, as is the overall level of prosperity. The next two decades will be characterized by a massive increase in middle-class households throughout emerging countries. This goes hand in hand with increasing levels of production and consumption, and consequently increasing environmental impacts.

adelphi was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to assess and analyze consumption trends in seven emerging economies– Mexico, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria – and six sectors – mobility, nutrition, energy, clothing/textiles, building and housing, and e-commerce. The overall objective of the study is to analyse current consumption patterns, trends, and prognoses and to identify whether and what kind of action is required to facilitate sustainable consumption. The methodology followed a desktop assessment of publicly available data and publications and a subsequent cross-country and cross-sector comparison.