Sustainable Consumption and Production
Sustainable consumption and production is a process whereby public organizations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life cycle basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organization, but also to society and the economy, whilst significantly reducing negative impacts on the environment
Target 1: Implement the 10-Year Framework of Program on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries.
The use of services and related products, which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations
10-Year Framework of Program on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns are:
Sustainable Public Procurement
Consumer Information for SCP
Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable Lifestyles and Education
Sustainable Buildings and Construction
Sustainable Food Systems
Target 2 : By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
Many things we consume are produced elsewhere, so when we look at efficient resource management at the country level, it can get quite complicated to attribute responsibility for extraction, to understand this target is to look at the two primary indicators:
Material Footprint (MF), it is the virtual amount required across the whole supply chain to service final demand reflecting the amount of primary materials required to meet humans basic needs and an attribution of global material extraction to domestic final demand of a country.
Domestic Material Consumption (DMC), it reports the actual amount of material in an economy which measures the total amount of material (such as biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and non-metallic minerals) directly used in an economy, DMC is calculated similarly to Material Footprint but only accounts for direct material flows like physical imports and exports and It does not account for all global material flows related to final consumption in a country or region.
With this measure, a country can have a very high DMC because it has a large primary production sector for export like countries in south east Asia and China, or it can a very low DMC because it has outsourced most of the material intensive industrial process to other countries like countries in EU. DMC has high environmental relevance as an indicator of potential environmental pressure on a domestic territory regardless of where the consumption takes place.
Target 3 : By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
Roughly a third of the world's food is lost or wasted, that is about 1.3 billion tons a year, and food loss happens at the production steps of value chain from losses on farm due to weather, pests, diseases or low market prices, to spoilage during storage, packaging and transportation. Food waste happens in the consumer and retail stages in the value chain, including in supermarkets where practices like overstocking, inaccurately predicting shelf-life and product damage are common, and consumers wasting food at home or in restaurants.
The food system uses significant natural resources: 20% of global land, 32% of energy and 70% of water withdrawn from lakes, rivers and groundwater. Therefore, reducing food loss and waste is critical for reducing costs and increasing the efficiency of the food system, improving food security and nutrition, and promoting environmental sustainability.
Target 4 : By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
There are over 140.000 different chemicals used in all economic sectors globally, they have many benefits but also potential to adverse impacts to human health and the environment if not properly managed. This target is focused on properly managing chemicals that their wastes according to a number of already existing multinational environmental agreements, this include ewaste type of hazardous waste generated, and there is rapid growth of global e-waste which is driven by growing consumption, short product life cycles, and little repair possibility. This become truly a very big issue particularly given the growing consumption of electronics and disposal of e-waste of in low- and middleincome countries that lack sufficient infrastructure to properly manage it.
Target 5 : By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
It focuses on reducing all types of waste generated, not just chemicals and hazardous waste. It is closely aligning to the concept of circular economy which is a model involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible to extend the life cycle of products as long as possible and to reduce waste the greatest degree possible.
Circular economy is implemented at every stage of the value chain- from doing material extraction in the most efficient way possible, or where possible using recycled materials, to designing products for longterm use and eliminating planned obsolescence, to enhancing refurbishment of products instead of creating news ones, to encouraging borrowing and sharing of products or shifting products to services where possible, to encouraging long time use or reuse, and ensuring proper recycling and waste management.
Target 6 : Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.
Consumption and production are largely influenced by companies rather than governments. In many ways, consumption is a core ideology of capitalism. Companies are encouraged to grow and therefore must convince consumers to buy more. This is why it is so crucial to find unique business models that increase resource efficiency, shift from physical products to services, or that encourage more conscious consumption.
Sustainability annual reporting is measured by the number of companies publishing sustainability reports. The focus of this indicator is on tracking the publishing of sustainability information, rather than on practicing the publishing stand-alone sustainability reports.
There have been a number of efforts to standardize sustainability reporting globally to ensure that it meets minimum standards. For example, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) was created to in 2021 with a mission to develop a comprehensive global baseline of high-quality sustainability disclosure standards to meet investors' information needs.
Target 7 : Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.
Sustainable Public Procurement is a process whereby public organizations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life cycle basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organization, but also to the society and the economy, whilst significantly reducing negative impacts on the environment. It is measured by the number of national government implementing sustainable public procurement policies and action plans.
Target 8 : By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development.
The need to educate people on appropriate levels of knowledge about sustainable development such as Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in order for them to take appropriate action and positively contribute to the well-being of their community, this education program for sustainable development are mainstreamed in national education policies, curricula, teacher education, and student assessment aiming to nurture all the community and to build a sense of belonging to a common humanity, foster responsibility for a shared planet, and help learners become responsible and active global citizens and proactive contributors to a more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable lifestyles in harmony with the nature.
All in all the means of sustainable consumption and production implementation are:
To support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
To develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
To rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities.