Achieving Sustainable Production and Consumption:
Establishing a 10-year work programme
Report from the ICSPAC Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption
Waiting for Delivery released
The ICSPAC organized a roundtable discussion on the proposed 10-year work programme at WSSD on August 27th 2002 in order to commemorate the release of the report "Waiting for Delivery". Waiting for Delivery is a civil society assessment of the progress towards sustainable production in different sectors, regions, policies and practices.
Panelists
The Panelists were Mr. Kenneth Ruffing, Acting Director of Environment Directorate at OECD, Mrs. Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, Assistant Executive Director, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, UNEP, Ms Afifa Raihana, President, Striving Towards Environmental Protection, Bangladesh, Ms Edda Mueller: Director, Federation of Consumers Organizations, Mr. Hans Christian Schmidt, the Representative from EU Presidency (TBA). The Panel was moderated by Chee Yoke Ling, of Third World Network and the Co-Chair of the SPAC Caucus of the CSD.
Results of the roundtable
The roundtable resulted in a number of critical points that need to be considered by those responsible for delivering a vehicle for implementing Agenda 21. The event began by acknowledging the Summit's identification of sustainable production and consumption as one of the three main objectives of sustainable development. Panelists and participants agreed that the ten-year work programme on sustainable production and consumption, proposed in the Chair's paper, represented a serious method of implementing that key objective. While this process or framework offers a practical vehicle for delivering on the various promises and commitments still waiting for action since Rio, the main question for everyone remains:
• What is this work programme going to be about?
• Why is possible to achieve?
• What are the targets and timetables?
• What targets and timetables should governments commit to?
• What resources are needed?
• Who will take the lead?
Progress and obstacles since Rio
There has been some progress towards sustainable production and consumption since the Rio conference in 1992; however, it is has not been sufficient to accomplish the agreed-upon goals in Agenda 21 and other processes. Nice words, good intentions; but what has been achieve in the last ten years? While establishing national policy frameworks on sustainable production and consumption was a goal in Agenda 21, few governments have made this a priority. However, such frameworks are needed, as acknowledged by the revision of the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection to include a new emphasis on sustainable consumption. The focus hitherto has been on reducing the impact of unsustainable practices on the environment, rather than changing the type and quality of consumption. Much of the focus has been on improving efficiency in specific sectors, such as energy, transport, and waste management; while paying insufficient attention to changing the quality of demand in these sectors.
Possible elements of the ten year work programme
The work programme needs to clarify its specific goals, players, structure, resources, time-frame, and monitoring processes. As scope is vast, specific sectors, actors and policy approaches should be carefully selected. The work programme should have its basis in an international organization with political status and funding; and build on existing processes. Major stakeholders (mainly governments, international organizations, and major groups) must be substantively involved. However, the main responsibility nevertheless remains that of the nation-state and international organizations. General policy guidelines to promote sustainable consumption should include:
• A consistent set of signals (prices and information);
• Packages of instruments to address different influences on consumption and to balance the strengths of different types of instruments;
• Integrated, cross-sector policies to ensure policy coherence;
• An integrated approach that addresses environmental and social impacts throughout the life of products or services;
• Voluntary initiatives by private sector and civic organizations should be encouraged as well as strong regulatory frameworks, monitoring and enforcement.
• Best practices should be identified which can be replicated elsewhere.
Capacity building elements should include education, training, etc. for governments (e.g., greater awareness and application of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection) and consumers, as well as SMEs. Capacity building elements should differentiate between developed and developing countries. The basis should be in an international organization with political status and funding and build on existing processes.
North-South cooperation
Respecting the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities, the work programme should acknowledge different roles for developing and developed countries. The latter can contribute knowledge, technology, and human and financial resources. For developing countries, poverty alleviation issues are pressing needs (e.g. access to clean water, renewable energy). In the short term, these countries should not be expected to decouple at the same rate as countries in the North. To sum up: "Decoupling in the North; development in the South."
Key components of Sustainable Production and Consumption
Research is needed on both demand and supply. The goal of sustainable consumption has to be incorporated as a priority in political processes at the international, regional, national and community level. The UN Guidelines can help with this, but governments need to build their capacity to apply these Guidelines in both policy and practice. Major changes in the economic international framework (e.g. WTO rules) are required to make sustainable production economically attractive; such as the adoption of economic instruments like eco-taxes that reveal real costs. The problem of consumption is also related to values and culture, a point often forgotten by analysts. In this respect, the role of marketing and advertising needs to be explored. Consumers have both rights and responsibilities. They need access to information and development of indicators and criteria for sustainable production and consumption that will enable them to behave responsibly.