Oslo Rountable on Sustainable Production and Consumption
Part 1 - THE IMPERATIVE OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
1.4 Linking production to consumption
Achieving globally sustainable production and consumption production patterns will require substantial structural change over the long-term. Considerable efforts have already been expended by governments, labour and business and NGOs to achieve more sustainable patterns of production. As a result, this document focuses on the new opportunities for environmental improvement provided by targeting the consumption side of the equation. The approach is based on influencing the decisions that are taken along the life cycle of a particular good or service by citizens, industry and governments, so that environmental damage is progressively reduced to levels within natural limits. The aim is to expand the opportunities for end-use consumers -- whether individuals, companies or public agencies -- to make sustainable consumption choices. Taking this approach channels attention onto the goods and services that people require to meet their needs. This then places the production sector in the appropriate role of serving world needs in a sustainable fashion.
DOCUMENT WINDOW - TOWARDS CLEANER PRODUCTION
It is evident that many worrying environmental trends are to a large extent the result of millions of discrete lifestyle decisions. However, focusing on end-use consumption does not change the basic division of responsibilities among the various actors or place the burden of change primarily on households and individual consumers. Governments have to provide the overarching framework of incentives, infrastructure, regulation and leadership that will enable other actors to take up their responsibilities for their part of the chain from production to consumption and final disposal. The business sector has a major responsibility for managing the life cycle environmental impacts of the goods and services they supply. Furthermore, public agencies and business consume large amounts of energy and natural resources, and generate corresponding levels of pollution and waste. Consumer decisions are also strongly influenced by, and in turn influence, advertising and other economic and structural mechanisms controlled by business and government.
To be successful, actions to change end-use consumption patterns requires effective incentives, accurate and available information, accessible facilities, social support systems, adequate sufficient resources and cultural norms that reward sustainable consumption practices. Adopting the end-use approach to sustainable consumption could have a number of advantages:
- - it balances the traditional supply-side focus of environmental management efforts, and complements the current trend towards more efficient and preventative approaches to environmental management in both government and industry.
- - it picks up on the steps being taken to move beyond reactive command and control legislation towards integrated pollution prevention and control measures, and efforts to apply a life cycle approach to product management (eg design for environment, eco-labelling).
- - it builds on the demand-side management (DSM) approach to reducing energy use.
- - it can take advantage of the information revolution and the increasing emphasis on quality and service performance.
- - it can ensure that environmental problems are not shifted from one part of the life cycle to another: it will be especially important to ensure that developed world changes in consumption are managed so as to support rather than undermine the prospects for sustainable development in developing countries.
- - it acknowledges the wide array of driving forces behind consumption including: need and price, quality and performance, regulatory requirements and stakeholder demands, competition and technological innovation, marketing and advertising, the imperatives of financial markets, peer pressure and fashion, as well as values, altruism and cultural imperatives.
- - it can have an important educational and communications value by revealing the connections between consumption practices and environmental impacts in distant places.
- - it recognises that a bottom-up approach driven by local action can make substantial progress within an enabling framework provided by national governments.
DOCUMENT WINDOW - AN END-USE APPROACH TO ENERGY MANAGEMENT
While the demand-side measures proposed here can influence the spectrum and volume of consumption, many environmental problems can only be dealt with through measures taken to change production practices (eg the phase-out of eco-toxicological substances).