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1. sustainable consupmtion 2.0 by Maurie Cohen
- 1. Sustainable Consumption 2.0: Fostering Social Innovation and Enhancing Well-being in Asia Maurie J. Cohen, Director Program in Science, Technology, and Society New Jersey Institute of Technology Presentation at the Sixth International Symposium of the Regional Centre for Future Earth in Asia, Kyoto University, January 15, 2018
- 2. Asian Origins of Sustainable Consumption (1972) “Countries with but a small fraction of the world population consume the bulk of the world's production of minerals, fossil fuels and so on. Thus we see that when it comes to the depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution, the increase of one inhabitant in an affluent country, at his level of living, is equivalent to an increase of many Asian, Africans or Latin Americans at their current material levels of living.” Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972
- 3. Chapter 4 of Agenda 21 (Changing Consumption Patterns) (1992) “Poverty and environmental degradation are closely interrelated. While poverty results in certain kinds of environmental stress, the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries, which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances...Although consumption patterns are very high in certain parts of the world, the basic consumer needs of a large section of humanity are not being met. This results in excessive demands and unsustainable lifestyles among the richer segments, which place immense stress on the environment. The poorer segments, meanwhile are unable to meet food, health care, shelter and educational needs.”
- 4. Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002) “[F]undamental changes in the way societies produce and consume are indispensable for achieving global sustainable development.”
- 5. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) (2012) Fundamental changes in the way societies produce and consume are indispensable for achieving global sustainable development. All countries should promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, with the developed countries taking the lead and with all countries benefiting from the process, taking into account the Rio principles...Governments, relevant international organizations, the private sector and all major groups should play an active role in changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns.
- 6. Paris Climate Agreement (2016) “[S]ustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production, with developed country Parties taking the lead, play an important role in addressing climate change.”
- 7. Sustainable Development Goals “[S]ustainable consumption and production aims at ‘doing more and better with less,’ increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life.”
- 8. Typology of the Sustainable Consumption Research Field Ecological Economics Environmental Sociology Innovation Studies Industrial Ecology/Life Cycle Analysis Knowledge Brokerage Marketing Ethics New Business Models Standards/ Accreditation Business Cluster Sustainable System Innovation Social Practices Consumer/ Environmental Psychology Behavioral Economics Degrowth/ Secular Stagnation Sustainable Lifestyles/Social Innovation Decoupling/ Dematerial- ization Material Flows/Circular Economy Socio-technical Innovations Sustainable Consumption Sufficiency Consumption- based GHG Accounts Agro-food Systems Transport & Mobility Built Environment Energy Domains/Provisioning Systems Finance
- 9. Achievements of Sustainable Consumption 1.0 Despite no shortage of grassroots social experiments, some effort by a handful of national governments to formulate national sustainable consumption plans, and publication of ~2,000 peer-reviewed articles and books, substantive achievements have been extremely modest.
- 10. With respect to public policy, the emphasis has been almost exclusively on consumer education, awareness raising, and product labeling—all of which have demonstrated very modest capacity to overcome attitude-behavior gaps that interfere with more sustainable purchasing practices. Achievements of Sustainable Consumption 1.0
- 11. Organizational Infrastructure for Sustainable Consumption
- 12. Organizational Infrastructure for Sustainable Consumption
- 13. Organizational Infrastructure for Sustainable Consumption European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production United Nations Environment Program
- 14. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0: The Role of Asia
- 15. What Does Sustainable Consumption Mean in Asia?
- 16. Four Caveats Caveat 1: It is first of all important to acknowledge the excellent work on sustainable consumption in Asia that has been done to date.
- 17. Four Caveats Caveat 2: It is unrealistic to conceive of a pan-Asian strategy for addressing sustainable consumption across the approximately 50 countries.
- 18. Four Caveats Caveat 3: Circumstances suggest it is most relevant to focus on rapidly growing high- and middle-income Asian countries/regions (>US$10,000 per capita) + India.
- 19. Four Caveats Caveat 4: Need to acknowledge the current processes of demographic contraction in East Asia (and China) provide very real opportunities for absolute reductions in energy and material throughput.
- 20. Customary Sustainable Consumption Domains Food and agriculture (including food waste) Household energy use (including embodied energy of goods and services) Transportation
- 21. One Planet Living in Asia
- 22. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0
- 23. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 1. Sustainable consumption policies share some common ground with efforts to encourage resource efficiencies and to deploy renewable energy technologies but should not be constrained by an overly narrow focus on these objectives.
- 24. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 2. Be extremely skeptical of “folk policies” stridently predicated on economic localization. It is important to avoid strategies predicated on facile notions of demodernization.
- 25. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 3. Recycling (as well as related notions of product stewardship, smart packaging, and circular economy) is a necessary but by no means a sufficient strategy. When formulating solid waste-management policies the emphasis needs to be on “source prevention” rather than “materials recovery and reuse.”
- 26. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 4. Progressive taxation policies on income and property are imperative to limit expansion of income equality.
- 27. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 5. Utility tariffs should include provisions for graduated price step-ups based on aggregate usage.
- 28. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 6. Discourage status-impelled consumption (and consumerist lifestyles) through economic policies that exacerbate income inequality.
- 29. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 7. Resist temptation to expand consumer credit as a means to spur economic growth.
- 30. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 8. Land-use and transport planning policies should thoroughly reject the private automobile as a privileged mobility alternative.
- 31. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 9. Supplement customary measures of economic growth with alternative gauges of societal well-being that focus on social and ecological flourishing (satisfying employment, well-being, environmental quality, equity, health).
- 32. Toward Sustainable Consumption 2.0 10. Exploit opportunities enabled by artificial intelligence, robotics, and the digital revolution.
- 33. Concluding Comment “[S]ustainable consumption and production aims at ‘doing more and better with less,’ increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life.”
- 35. Concluding Comment City planning to enable high quality of life through high density and urban vitality, effective public transport, efficient public services, and accessible recreational facilities.
- 36. Concluding Comment Macroeconomic policies that enable reduction in working hours, employment flexibility, ample parental leave, and time off for vacation.
- 37. Concluding Comment Social Change that favors usership over ownership of goods, quality of life over ever-increasing volumes of material output, and social solidarity over unbridled individualism.