Developments in European Ecodesign Policy and the Prospects for Design for Sustainable Practices

European ecodesign policy is currently bringing material resource efficiency into focus. This paper explores how and to what extent policy addresses sustainable consumption-related issues, and what the consequences may be for the future role of design in supporting sustainable everyday consumption. How will policy help and hinder designers and others in creating change? The paper focuses on the prospects for practice-oriented design, which sees resource consumption as happening in and for the sake of social practices. It first introduces design for sustainable practices as currently explored in academia, highlighting features that distinguish it from ecodesign. Secondly, it turns to policy to describe and assess relevant instruments and envisaged changes. Based on that, and informed by practice theory and literature on the impact of policy on innovation, it discusses the potential impact of ecodesign policy on the prospects for design for sustainable practices. Finally, the paper turns the question around and asks what a practice-oriented policy might look like.Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin