Sustainable consumption and production: Need, challenges and further research directions

This article reviews the literature and identifies challenges, research gaps, and further research directions on sustainable consumption and production (SCP). Several research gaps in the area of SCP are identified that includes: 1) there are very few research works analysing the mismatch between the demand and supply of sustainable products in the market, with the increasing environmental awareness of consumers; 2) despite the growing prominence of emerging nations like BRICS, research in the context of emerging markets in the area of SCP is very limited; 3) researchers on SCP do not seem to embrace mix-methodology; 4) most of the researchers mainly focus on policy reviews or factors behind customer buying patterns or on the use of cleaner energy. There is a further pressing need to explore the soft dimensions and psychological factors behind the acceptance level of policies and sustainable life style. Finally, we outline further research directions.