Shedding Light on Realized Sustainable Consumption Behavior and Perceived Barriers of Young Adults for Creating Stimulating Teaching–Learning Situations

Sustainable consumption behavior has a central impact on climate balance. Research on sustainable consumption behavior of young adults is still in its infancy. To boost sustainable consumption behavior for young adults in vocational education training, it is necessary to reveal insights on their behavior during their sustainable consumption processes and in its barriers. To get insights of young adults’ sustainable consumption intention, we used a questionnaire ( N = 60). To identify young adults’ consumption behavior as well as the perceived barriers, we also conducted a semi-structured interview ( N = 14). Results show that young adults primarily consider the acquisition and bear less in mind the phases of use and disposal during their realized sustainable consumption behavior. The main barriers identified are high price, lack of information, as well as knowledge and abilities. They do not want to spend time for housekeeping and are not ready to disclaim from fashion or habits. Based on that, stimulating teaching–learning situations can be constructed to broaden the view on all consumption phases. Strategies of already realized behavior can be assured.