Sustainable Consumption and Production, Volume I

The sustainable consumption and production (SCP) agenda has been a hypernym for various efforts and approaches to address the growing concerns on bio-diversity loss, resource availability, climate change, and mounting waste problems on land and in seas.

This chapter maps the genealogy and meaning of the concept of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). It examines the complexity related to its definitional exactitude, policy measurability, targets and indicators, and the gap between intent and outcomes. It delineates the development–environment conundrum and the important steps taken by the international community to reconcile the two, leading to the adoption of the framework of sustainable development. It argues that ethical and moral motivations can bring about behavioural changes towards responsible consumption and production practices. This entails foregrounding ethics of sustainability in addition to invoking the harm principle which applies to both the concerns of environment and development, and promises to contribute to building robust pathways for achieving SCP.

In this chapter, we present an inclusive capitalism approach, which completes the environmental-production-income and distribution-consumption cycles by treating sustainable consumption and production as two sides of the same coin. There are two divides that our approach to inclusive capitalism bridges—one between income earned from capital ownership and from wages, and the other between the human production of goods and services and the impact these activities have on the environment. We analyse different mechanisms to bridge these divides and show that our proposal—broadening the distribution of capital ownership using future earnings of capital and directing this income towards sustainable production and consumption—presents a holistic solution to growing environmental problems and income inequality. In addition, we also achieve the politically desirable goal of participatory economic life through this mechanism.

In market economies production and consumption are dependent on exchanges between market actors providing and using resources. We argue, in line with the “whole-of-government” perspective, that interaction between market actors and policy actors are crucial to achieve sustainable development goals, in our case climate mitigation. Technical, economic and policy innovations are needed for the market to be able to perform fossil-free market exchanges. We use “roadmaps” emanating from a non-traditional Swedish government committee named “Fossil-free Sweden” (FFS) and the government’s climate action plan as empirical focus. The roadmaps for specific industries/sectors are developed by market actors and submitted by FFS to government. With the aim of furthering the knowledge of how interaction between government and business promotes sustainable market exchange, we adopt a conceptual model that identifies three categories of market practices; representational, normalizing and exchange practices; that are interlinked by translation. Our policy practice approach refers to a “whole of government” perspective. We analyse one of the roadmaps, “Construction”, in terms of how policy innovations, as identified in the climate action plan, may promote technical and economic innovations and development of fossil-free market exchanges.

This chapter reflects on how switching to a sustainable production economy could be achieved. The process would involve the “creative destruction” of fossil fuels and other unsustainable industries, as alternatives are brought to the point of competitiveness. It is a process with many themes, including innovation, finance and knowledge of organizations, supply chains and markets. It is above all a political project, involving political economy, industrial policy and macroeconomic management; and it also involves social policy to ease the transition from sunset to sunrise industries. Although the task is unprecedented, there are lessons to be learned from previous episodes of politically driven economic structural change, making an understanding of economic history relevant as well. In short, the creative destruction of fossil fuels is an interdisciplinary project with many opportunities for interdisciplinary research and cooperation among social scientists, policymakers and practitioners.

In this chapter, we explore the motivations of sustainability-oriented investors for directing capital towards sustainable production and consumption practices. Whereas in public communication it is often framed in financial terms, i.e. that a focus on sustainability is a way to generate long-term shareholder value, some investors may also be motivated by “doing good” and by an urge to contribute to a sustainable future. These two rationales build on different logics, and may produce different strategies on part of the investors, and have different outcomes. The financial logic has a theoretical or mind-to-world direction of fit, and it requires investors to adopt a reactive and hypothetical stance towards sustainability issues. The moral logic, on the other hand, has a practical or world-to-mind direction of fit, and it requires investors to adopt a proactive and categorical stance to sustainability issues. In this chapter we reflect on what this might entail for sustainable production and consumption.

Careful attention to choice architecture promises to open up new possibilities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions—possibilities that go well beyond, and that may supplement or complement, the standard tools of economic incentives, mandates, and bans. How, for example, do consumers choose between climate-friendly products or services and alternatives that are potentially damaging to the climate but less expensive? The answer may well depend on the default rule. Indeed, climate-friendly default rules may well be a more effective tool for altering outcomes than large economic incentives. The underlying reasons include the power of suggestion; inertia and procrastination; and loss aversion. If well-chosen, climate-friendly defaults are likely to have large effects in reducing the economic and environmental harms associated with various products and activities. In deciding whether to establish climate-friendly defaults, choice architects (subject to legal constraints) should consider both consumer welfare and a wide range of other costs and benefits. Sometimes that assessment will argue strongly in favor of climate-friendly defaults, particularly when both economic and environmental considerations point in their direction. Notably, surveys in 17 countries worldwide show that majorities in many nations are in favor of climate-friendly defaults.

Sustainable production and consumption are often associated with systems and products surrounding firms and industries. What is often neglected is the production and consumption of sustainability mindsets—the sustainability literacy and education of people behind these endeavours and the alignment of the competencies demanded with the ones being taught. Thus, this chapter aims to focus on that overlooked piece of the puzzle—the production and consumption of sustainability literacy, particularly in business education. Recent trends have shown that business schools across the globe are transforming their strategy by widening their societal engagement and integrating sustainability into their curriculum. Either as a separate course or integrated with other courses or as an independent programme, sustainability has become one of the topics that has been getting the attention of programme managers, teaching teams, and students alike. It remains blurry though what these courses aim to achieve, and how aligned are the sustainability-related competencies being taught to the ones demanded by the market. In this chapter, we analyse the potential and pitfalls of the production and consumption of sustainability courses, as we review existing studies and analyse four specific approaches undertaken by business schools—an elective course, an integrated course, a degree programme, and leading sustainability transformation by example. We aim to provide useful insights into the design and development of sustainability literacy in business schools.

In this chapter we address two research questions: (a) Does top-down transparency/information disclosure contribute or not to addressing the social-ecological challenges emerging from supply chains? (b) Do distinct types of transparency, top-down versus ground-up, differ in the way they can contribute to address these challenges and thereby to the enjoyment of the right to a healthy environment? To assess these questions, we use the mining industry as a case study, which faces increasing social-ecological challenges. First, we build on Ituarte-Lima and Stromberg (2018a), identifying the sustainability challenges of the sector. We then unpack information: from the common focus on accuracy and precision which we hold are necessary but insufficient for reaching positive socio-ecological outcomes, into seven sub-characteristics that we argue are sufficient for contributing to what we qualify as effective transparency. Thereafter we apply these characteristics to contrast how current top-down approaches versus emerging ground-up approaches contribute to effective transparency. This highlights ways in which recent technological advances make ground-up approaches necessary for delivering effective transparency that is conducive to circular and, above all, sustainable commodity chains.

Increased awareness of ‘telecouplings’ between distant producer and consumer systems, through new forms of information exchange, has led to changes in how production systems are governed in relation to sustainability, including through private-sector led and hybrid governance initiatives. This chapter examines the complexities of implementing private-sector-led ‘zero-deforestation’ commitments, which promise to eliminate deforestation from the supply chains of the commodities that companies produce, trade, and/or source. Using the concept of ‘disarticulations,’ this chapter brings an analysis of global production networks into conversation with critical political economy’s emphasis on discourse and knowledge production. We discuss dominant, mainstream discourses prevalent in zero-deforestation governance, including notions that: (i) Implementing zero-deforestation is highly technical and requires the expertise of consultants and third parties; (ii) All supply chain actors have responsibility for zero-deforestation; (iii) The need for data and technologies for governing deforestation; (iv) Jurisdictional approaches provide joined up governance for zero-deforestation. Examining these discourses helps us to understand some of the complexities in the implementation of ‘zero-deforestation’ commitments, how socio-economic processes in global production are linked or delinked, and how people can be connected to or excluded from these chains. Finally, we reflect on opportunities for research and practice in shifting toward sustainable production and consumption of deforestation-risk commodities, and the importance of considering how power relations and knowledge politics shape production networks.

To achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) entails increasing farm productivity to ensure food security and reduce hunger. Systematic use of agricultural innovations (mostly fertilizers, hybrid seeds, and pesticides) and, more importantly, a suitable mix of these technologies is the best way to raised farm productivity. However, adoption of these innovations is still limited in low-income economies, and this remains a constraint to achieving sustainable food production and food diets in those developing countries. This study examines an empirical cross-country analysis, exploring the associations between the adoption of agricultural innovations and child nutrition in rural Uganda. By considering various types of unobserved heterogeneity between households, the study reveals a strong relationship between farm innovations use and child nutrition. The study also reveals that the reduction in child malnutrition is strongly associated with combined innovations rather than single-use technology. The results suggest that efforts aimed at reducing child malnutrition and ensuring sustainable food security should mainly focus on stimulating farm households to adopt various combinations of agricultural innovations through affordable, accessible inputs markets, and adequate extension services.

The increasing pace of urbanization in emerging market economies poses a challenge for agricultural production in these countries. On the one hand, agricultural productivity is not keeping pace with the speed of urbanization and growth in food demand and, on the other, the demand for food is highly skewed making for an inordinate amount of food going for non-human consumption and wastage. This paper reviews the trends in urbanization as well as in agricultural productivity and comes to the conclusion that some parts of the world may well be facing a neo-Malthusian future. Policy measures designed to address this situation are considered. Implications for international trade and domestic agricultural policies are also considered.

Urban areas are often, and not without reason, portrayed as an opportunity to reduce environmental impacts: more effective use of land, better opportunities for the provision of public transport and less need on a per capita basis for investment in physical infrastructure. This is also the message of the literature on urban scaling. The very nature of the agglomeration economies that allow for economising on natural resources may, however, result in higher levels of per capita consumption. A major reason is that high density often translates into higher costs of space, in turn encouraging the concentration of high(er) productivity activities in major cities. As a result, spatial sorting occurs (e.g. with respect to educational attainment and incomes) and with it potentially also a differentiation of consumption patterns. In consequence, not just size and density, but also position in the urban hierarchy may need to be taken into account in assessing sustainability outcomes. To grasp the issue of urban sustainability, however, intra-urban differentiation too, will have to be considered in tandem with the inter-urban issues of boundary drawing for measurement—what we call “ontological cityism”. This is especially so if the focus shifts from the environmental to the social dimensions of sustainability, and if the trade-offs across the three pillars of sustainability are to be understood.

“Sustainable cities” as a singular concept may very well be a utopian vision impossible to realise in a broader sense. In this chapter, we review the literature on urban sustainability highlighting the complexities and trade-offs between and within the 3 Es—ecology, economy and equality. In particular, we focus here on the intra-urban dimensions of density, mobility, the built environment and housing, lifestyle trends and gentrification along with social sustainability issues of crime, homelessness and community. While gains from increased size and density can be had, there are also many outcomes that depend on urban morphology and the consequences of spatial sorting. Positive outcomes generated by density and efficiency may be offset by, for instance, less sustainable construction materials or increased income inequality. In particular, rebound effects are often overlooked. Hence, it often becomes an empirical issue whether the potential for sustainability gains materialise. Furthermore, as assessed from a more holistic 3 Es’ view, where social sustainability is as important as environmental sustainability, the potential of a “sustainable city” may be a victim of trade-offs that are difficult to resolve.

We investigate energy consumption patterns in Africa especially in the area of biomass fuels and fuel use in the transportation sector. Utilizing various data sources for the analysis. We find a broad but significant evidence that fuelwood is the most consumed cooking fuel in Africa and more so in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where more than 80% depend on this fuel for cooking. It also reveals that the predominant cooking technology in SSA is traditional cookstoves. The high dependence on fuelwood usage via traditional cookstoves suggest that the utilization of biomass fuel for cooking is generally inefficient and creates a dependence pattern that is unsustainable.In the area of transportation, the evidence suggests though the motorisation rate in Africa is below the world average, it is still a major consumer of fossil fuel (oil demand) in Africa. This among other things suggest that the transport sector is inefficient in oil consumption, caused by factors that include poor infrastructure such as low paved roads (this create traffic congestion on the few motorable roads), poor maintenance and servicing culture and the high dependence on used cars.

India has made commitments at the global level towards supporting sustainable development goals and is progressing towards achieving them. Its position in the composite sustainable development index improved from 57 in 2018 to 60 in 2019 (Economic Survey 2019–2020, Government of India, in Sustainable development and climate change, Chapter 6, 2:167–192, 2020). This chapter aims at documenting and assessing policy measures adopted by government of India towards sustainable consumption with a special focus on policies towards energy efficiency. Energy consumption in India has been growing at an average growth rate of 5.3 per cent from the last five years, 2013–2017. India’s share in global energy consumption has reached 5.6 per cent in 2017 (BP statistical review of world energy, 2018). With economic growth the energy consumption is expected to increase manifold in future. Energy consumption results in emissions leading to air pollution. Nine out of the ten most polluted cities in the world are in India. Vehicular emissions and industrial pollution are major factors for air pollution. The government of India has undertaken various policy measures towards energy conservation and efficient use of energy. While some of the policy measures target industries, other policy measures aim at sustainable consumption via demand-side policies. Energy consumption labels inform consumers of the relative efficiency of different products and are going to be effective if consumers are willing to pay a higher price for the energy-efficient products once information is provided. The chapter also includes a discrete choice experiment (DCE) conducted to investigate whether car drivers in New Delhi, India, value fuel-efficient cars. The DCE was designed to estimate consumers’ willingness to pay for star labelled cars in New Delhi and estimate the impact of socio-economic characteristics such as income and education in influencing consumers’ willingness to pay. The experiment is conducted in two districts of Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi. The two districts differ in socio-economic characteristics such as affluence, education, occupational structure, etc. These differences have an interesting bearing on the results. We find that the South Delhi respondents have a stronger preference for high star label car and on average, are willing to pay 5050 US Dollars for the five star label car as compared to 1186 US Dollars by East Delhi respondents.

This chapter introduces a comparative assessment of neoclassical, ecological, and feminist economics of consumption and production from the perspectives of sustainability, their conceptions of well-being, and their treatments of institutions and questions of political economy. It seeks to integrate in the ecological model of the economy, which explicitly considers the relationship between the economic and environmental systems, and the feminist analysis of the relationship between social provisioning and the economic system. The resulting framework builds on the work of feminist ecological economists to incorporate care provisioning into a sustainable economywide model.

This chapter explores how markets for menstrual products evolved and its implications for sustainability of menstrual hygiene management. The focus is on low- and middle-income countries where 85 per cent of girls and women of menstruating age live. I draw on a combination of secondary literature and focus group discussions with women from urban slums in India. My findings suggest that a tangled web of traditional taboos, markets, and government policies have merged to create and endorse asymmetric information in menstrual health that has promoted the single product category of disposable pads. This has deeply influenced the beliefs and behavioural practices of menstruating women, which in turn have adverse implications for environmental ecosystems. It also seriously limits women’s agency in the choice of menstrual products as awareness of alternatives is negligible. Analysing women’s responses when they are offered information on other menstrual alternatives suggest that as a policy tool, ‘informed choice’ has the potential to steer the menstrual health market in a more sustainable direction. These findings are even more pertinent now in the light of the supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Climate change is often presented as a super wicked problem, displaced over space and time, requiring constant re-evaluation and without agreed-upon solutions. If climate change is indeed a super wicked problem, then might it also invite an equally difficult set of super wicked dilemmas? Hypocrisy draws attention to the most salient aspect of such a dilemma: we’re all part of the problem but in ways that often render suspect the claim that individual lifestyle actions are the solution. In the context of the need for urgent climate change action, we pose accusations and admissions of hypocrisy as a type of super wicked provocation, equally displaced over time and space, necessitating ongoing self and institutional re-examination without offering clear or salient choices for sustainable consumption, but nevertheless inviting important conversations. Drawing on existing quantitative and qualitative research showing that hypocrisy discourse is not simply a sensationalist PR strategy of conservatives but is rather a broad, significant and multifaceted form of climate change discourse, we engage with the varied modes of hypocrisy language in contemporary English language legacy media. In doing so, we will offer both practical and theoretical tools for environmental communicators, scholars and students to consider if, and how, hypocrisy can act as fertile terrain for pro-climate action.