With SwitchMed again coming to Barcelona in October 2016 I thought I would get people thinking with this short article about sustainable consumption and production and the circular economy

1. As you maybe aware SwitchMed Connect comes to Barcelona again in October 2016. This
conference deals with many current issues that we face within sustainability and the circular
economy.
Below I discuss some thoughts about sustainable consumption and production.
The modern concept of sustainable consumption and production forces society to change towards a
new relationship between consumers and producers that are willing to promote a sustainable world.
From an open and wide perspective, this approach combines ethical production and responsible
consumption since the actors share the objective of making sustainable choices when meeting in the
market.
Nowadays it is very evident that the results of producing and consuming in a sustainable way can be
efficient only if they work hand in hand taking into account one another, mainly due to the fact that
this tendency goes totally against the tide of the traditional economic trend.
On the one hand consumers barely find products that assure health to them and to their
environment. Consumers are more aware of the impact of production on society and on nature, but
we still lack tools to measure such impact.
On the other, producers invest efforts to apply particular policies that guarantee human rights and
the protection of the environment. Enterprises find it difficult to demonstrate their commitment to
corporate social responsibility due to the different approaches regarding company procedures.
Therefore both consumers and producers should be provided with tools to implement respect
towards all kinds of life and equal treatment amongst human beings.
During the switch med connect 2015 we had the possibility to make engage with the switchers.
There were eco and social innovative practices from different Mediterranean countries. The labs
were very much focused on sharing needs and challenges, on applying techniques to improve in the
daily- efforts.
Some challenges that we verified were the need of a level guaranteed by switch med that would
give the switchers a legitimation under the project umbrella; the need of building networks amongst
SME in order to act as a lobby to claim for better business conditions, to be able to self manage the
process using the tools without public finances; the lack of awareness amongst consumers in
general, and the public institutions to guarantee a market for the clean producers; underline the
absence of quality resources and raw material.

2. Our participation in the switch med connect 2016 will give us some examples of successful
instruments to reinforce Green business, promoting sustainable economic networks, and models of
responsible consumption.
Come and join us!
About the author
Montse is an expert in Social Responsibility in sustainable consumption and production. She is
available for consulting to companies, societies and other groups. Please find her contact details
below:
Barcelona (SPN) Cel. + 34 644 53 53 39 / Firenze (ITA) Cel. + 39 347 386 73 10
Email: montseframis@gmail.com
Skype: montseframis
Linked-in: es.linkedin.com/in/montseframisabella