Why does it matter?
In a linear economy, where economic growth is measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), mass consumption and production have always been put first, leading to human-made harm and pollution to the environment and human health. Irresponsible consumption and production are a root cause of the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. It is summed up as a take [natural resources], make [products], waste model, where the value of the natural resources and labour are destroyed when products are disposed of in landfill. If current consumption and production patterns continue, the planet will need 183 billion tonnes of material every year by 2050, which is three times today’s amount and impossible to sustain. The current unsustainable (linear) consumption and production patterns have been beneficial to the economy at the expense of the environment and human health. At the same time, other issues such as food security, poverty alleviation and inequality issues are highly dependent on productive activities. Thus most, if not all, of the SDGs are intricately linked with SDG12, i.e. SCP.
The UN’s SDG 12 Brief explains that SCP is about doing more and better with less. The consumption and production system needs to be overhauled on both efficiency level and system level. On efficiency level, resource efficiency needs to be increased through technological improvement and informed consumer choices or sustainable lifestyles; this approach is the focus of SDG12, but it is unlikely to achieve sustainable outcomes. The systemic level is largely ignored by SDG12 despite overall volumes of consumption and production being closely associated with environmental impacts; hence there is a need to curtail these volumes to safeguard social sustainability. The required transformation, in summary, is a move towards what is known as the “Circular Economy” where the linear-economy’s endpoint (landfill) is avoided by “looping” a used product back into a useful form, to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources. Turning a linear consumption pattern into a circular one requires much more than just recycling, which is one step above sending waste to landfill. It involves changing the way in which value is created and preserved, how production is made more sustainable and which business models are used. The methods for moving to a circular model include sharing a product, maintenance/repair, reuse and refurbishment, as shown on the circular economy diagram, illustrated by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, a leading proponent of the move towards a circular economy.
SDG 12 comprise 11 targets and 13 indicators, addressing areas such as:
- Implementing the 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on SCP Patterns at country level
- Use of natural resources and material footprint
- Managing food and chemical waste, waste reduction, reuse and recycling
- Company sustainability reporting and sustainable public procurement
- Awareness and education about sustainable lifestyles
- Renewable energy capacity in developing countries, and fossil fuel subsidy rationalisation
- Sustainable tourism
From 2000, our global reliance on natural resources has increased 65% globally. 13.3% of the world's food is lost between harvesting and retail markets, and then 17% is wasted at the consumer level. The global average e-waste collection rate is 22.8%, but as low as 1.2% in Latin America and 1.6% in Sub-Saharan Africa, with more detailed progress data in the UN SDG Report 2022.
Eurostat's Sustainable Development in the EU report 2022 edition explains that the short-term trend for decoupling environmental impacts from economic growth has been unfavourable, with rising consumption of hazardous chemicals, material footprint, average CO2 emissions from cars, and waste generation. The EU Green Deal of 2019 aims to address these challenges, and more.