563 Sustainability in motion: youth perspectives on consumption, identity, and transnational family ties

Abstract EP2.1, e-Poster Terminal 2, September 3, 2025, 10:35 - 11:00 This article explores how young migrants from Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova (re)construct the meanings of sustainable consumption following their relocation to various European Union countries. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, it presents findings from 22 semi-structured interviews with youth aged between 18 and 35, focusing on the everyday transformations of consumption practices and the intergenerational transmission of sustainability-related values within family and transnational networks. The narratives reveal a partial continuity between pre-migration practices and post-migration adaptations, where frugality, reuse, and minimal waste, often rooted in family traditions, are reframed and negotiated in new socio-economic and cultural environments. Participants articulate a transition toward more intentional and reflective consumption practices, marked by heightened awareness of product sustainability and increased engagement in practices such as waste sorting, budgetary planning, and the evaluative scrutiny of goods based on nutritional content, material durability, and ethical sourcing. These adaptations occur amidst both opportunities for adopting new norms and tensions arising from conflicting cultural expectations or economic constraints. The shifts suggest an emerging moral economy of everyday consumption, shaped by both structural constraints and agentive reconfigurations. Interpreted through the lens of practice theory and socio-material approaches to consumption, such patterns reveal how migration facilitates the re-negotiation of routines and values, embedding sustainability not as a fixed ideology but as a situated, adaptive repertoire of action. By foregrounding the voices of young migrants, the study sheds light on migration as a transformative experience that fosters critical reflection on consumption, enabling more sustainable practices to emerge at the intersection of personal history, social mobility, and environmental responsibility.