**5. Conclusion**

This chapter offers a prospective argumentation of what may be the future of sustainable consumption in the post-pandemic period. There are possible positive and negative effects, but overall, we believe that there are reasons for optimism. We proposed a framework to examine the effect of lockdowns on the interaction between known drivers of behavior change toward sustainability [5] and target consumption categories [4]. We also argued that confinement impacts at least three factors that undermine the hyper-consumerist economic model. However, it does so by favoring sustainable consumption, and by accelerating the development of consumption preferences that privilege experiences and services through technology and virtuality, as opposed to the traditional symbols of suburban life (house and car). Preliminary empirical evidence seems to support not only some of the proposed specific effects (e.g. food, reordering of consumption priorities) but also the potential to accelerate the weakening of hyper-consumption by accentuating social and business innovations that harness the rise of collaborative consumption, voluntary simplification, teleworking, blended family dynamics, and minimalism. The way unemployment and income may reduce sustainable consumption remains an open question. Overall, we think there are enough reasons for optimism but it is necessary that both public environmental policy and private action take advantage of the potential positive effect of habit discontinuation on sustainable consumption in order to maximize the opportunities.

*The Future of Sustainable Consumption after the Pandemic, Optimism or Pessimism? DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107140*
