Future Perfect

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Changing unsustainable consumption

and production patterns

Nadine Gouzee, Member of the Belgian Federal Planning Bureau

onsumption and production are central to global

economic activity. Their patterns change in time accord-

ing to living conditions and lifestyles. While they are

sustainable if they contribute to the present and future well-

being of people and society, they can also be unsustainable

when they generate social and environmental costs. “Changing

unsustainable production and consumption patterns” is an

overarching objective of sustainable development (SD) adopted

by the international community at the World Summit on

Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002 and can be consid-

ered as the central goal of a sustainable economy.

Three Belgian public and civil society institutions (a public agency

providing SD studies and expertise, a public planning service for

SD and a non-governmental organization undertaking development

cooperation activities) report here their conceptual and practical

experience concerning sustainable consumption and production

(SCP) at global and national levels. They highlight the need of

robust sustainable development policies and frameworks for domes-

tic development as well as the importance of close partnerships with

development partners abroad to achieve this overarching goal.

The three dimensions of sustainable consumption and production

The main commitment on the shift from unsustainable patterns

towards SCP was reaffirmed ten years after Rio in Johannesburg as

follows: to “encourage and promote the development of a 10-year

framework of programmes in support of regional and national initia-

tives to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and

production to promote social and economic development within

the carrying capacity of ecosystems (...)”. This language shows the

tension existing today between the three dimensions of sustain-

able development: social development, economic development and

matters related to the carrying capacity of ecosystems.

SCP is a three-dimensional concept: it is central for the economy

but must also improve social progress, hand in hand with protecting

the environment. SCP cannot be reduced to green consumption and

production (GCP), which is central to a green economy. GCP can,

but does not necessarily, improve human well-being or social equity,

while “...SCP seeks to identify and strengthen synergies between

sound stewardship of the Earth’s resources and improvements in the

well-being of all humanity, especially of the poor”.

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development, the work on sustainable production patterns has mainly

striven to better identify, recognize and improve the environmen-

tal impacts of these patterns. But SCP policies are too often reduced

to GCP policies. Beside pressures on the environment, production

patterns also have a host of impacts on human resources.

They can in particular have effects “on workers, ranging

from the lack of freedom of association, to child or forced

labour”, “on gender discrimination, on occupational

health and safety hazards” as well as “on poverty and

insecurity”.

The social impacts are often deeply inter-

woven with the environmental ones. They are generally

poorly reported when dealing with sustainable produc-

tion and therefore do not receive the attention required

in SCP policies.

As it is the case for the environmental impacts, the

social impacts are diffused along supply chains. These

chains became more global with the growth of world

trade and they affect consumers and producers, includ-

ing workers, in developed and developing countries. In

the developing and transition economies, the globali-

zation of some supply chains had positive impacts on

economic development. However, some of these chains

also had severe negative environmental and social

impacts through the promotion of unsustainable life-

styles on a larger scale, as recognized during the review

year at the 18th session of the high-level Commission on

Sustainable Development (CSD18): “(...) the lifestyles to

which many aspire, and which globalization has enabled

increasing numbers around the world to enjoy, are not

sustainable on a business-as-usual basis”.

This evolution was reviewed at CSD18 and the envi-

ronmental implementation gap was described as follows:

“Despite some progress towards improved materials and

energy efficiency in production processes, the global

economy is still producing more and more products with

shorter lives, using more physical resources.”

The report

also underlined social impacts:

“(...) globalization has also magnified gaps between

rich and poor, within and between countries and

regions, with consequent social and political impacts and

tensions, for example, related to migration”.

This concern over social impacts linked to global

production supply chains is also expressed by ILO in its

report on Fair Globalization: “Global production systems

are now a significant source of employment growth

for those developing countries that have managed to

become part of them. (...) Regulation is weak in these

new production systems, and there is widespread debate

about whether there is a ‘race to the bottom’ in labour

and other standards.”

ustainable

agriculture

wildlife

food

security

consumption

and

production

patterns