The change in current production and consumption patterns is indispensable for achieving the social-ecological sustainability goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the German Sustainability Strategy of the Federal Government (2017). According to that, co-producing or self-producing consumers, so called "prosumers", shift into focus of politics and research. Prosuming does not only appear in the business-driven involvement of users in production and innovation processes or in outsourcing of services to consumers but also in an increased interest of consumers in self-sufficiency, in-house production and community activities. This development is also associated with consequences for companies and the diversity of economic actors. On the one hand, organized groups of prosumers create new business models and become economic actors, such as community supported agriculture or social enterprises. The new actors that often tend to ideological values, diversify the existing market. On the other hand, conventional economic actors develop new or expanded business and marketing strategies – for example by offering DIY instructions, ingredients or tools and materials instead of finished products. Thus, prosumers are subject to a constant change and adjust to new economic operators and conventional enterprises. This leads to unknown innovation and interaction processes.
Against this background, the project ProMoNa investigates the phenomenon of "prosumption" to assess selected prosumption models in the food and clothing sector regarding their sustainability potential. The participating actors, which include prosumers themselves, but also sectors of science, consumer policy, local institutions, communities and companies, should be enabled to have an overview of the various prosumption models. In addition, the prosumption models are systematized in terms of resource consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, possible rebound effects, time use, monetary investments of key players and their potential for implementing the SDGs. Finally, the resulting assessment tool is intended to enable relevant actors to transfer the outcomes to other sectors outside the food and clothing business.