Improving without transforming? The foregrounding of (un)sustainable values in sustainable consumption policy discourse

In this article, we explore the transition discourses and values expressed and foregrounded in Swedish national policy documents on sustainable consumption. Values, as material-discursive practices, shape the pace and direction of transitions, and for deep, system-wide sustainability transformations, it is critical to strengthen intrinsic, sustainability-aligned values. Public policy is especially well-positioned in this regard since policy shapes the discourse as well as the space for action. Our findings, however, reveal how market connotations frame Swedish sustainable consumption policy within a growth logic, where the public is to facilitate the market by removing barriers for the consumer while encouraging business innovation. As such, the Swedish policy discourse essentially reproduces a so-called improve discourse on sustainable consumption and reinforces extrinsic values of power and achievement. The scope of sustainable consumption is occasionally expanded, particularly in alignment with a shift discourse that emphasizes the move toward a circular economy. However, despite elements of benevolence and universalism in the overarching framing of the Generational Goal, these efforts remain overshadowed and co-opted by the extrinsically focused dominant market framing. Thus, we find limited potential for the policy discourse to help foreground more diverse values essential for deep transformations. Acknowledging the challenges of disentangling values in written policy documents, we call for future research to explore value tensions in practical policy-implementation contexts.