Households are responsible for more than half of the total consumption of goods and services. During the last 10 years average private consumption has risen by 20%. The number of families who own dishwashers, microwave ovens, tumble dryers, video recorders and computers, etc. has increased dramatically since the beginning of 1990s. This consumption results in unwanted impacts on the environment, partly through direct impacts on the environment, e.g. from industrial waste, discharge of sewage, etc. but also indirectly through production of the goods themselves. Despite the fact that considerable improvements regarding e.g. energy and water consumption have been achieved (e.g. better insulation in houses and lower water consumption in toilets), as well as improvements in sewage treatment and waste management, the very size of consumption often overtakes the environmental improvements achieved. At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, focus was targeted at development of sustainable consumption patterns, and in response to the summit the EU has singled out this topic as one of the main focus areas for future efforts.

NERI's activities concerning the environmental impact of households relate to analysis of the development in the environmental impact of households, and of the driving forces behind this development. Furthermore, the impacts of policy measures are also analysed, linking environmental impacts and effects, in order to contribute to a mapping of the effective approaches. One main activity, among others, is development of indicators to illustrate the environmental impacts of households.

A description of the general development of the environmental impact of households is reported in the NERI 'The State of the Environment in Denmark', which is published every four years.

Recently, the Department of Policy Analysis has participated in a large research project funded by the Danish Social Science Research Council on the development of methods to assess and analyse the environmental impacts of the consumption of Danes. Furthermore, for the coming European Environment Agency State of the Environment report, background reports have been prepared on the consumption of food, water, and durable consumer goods, as well as tourism activities, and the associated environmental impact.