Insight
Since the very early days of economics, trade and commerce, it has been assumed that economic growth inevitably leads to environmental degradation and unsustainable resource use.
Over recent years, many businesses have benefited from reducing the environmental impacts of their processes or products – by driving cost-efficiencies, to safeguarding or enhancing reputation. But it has proved difficult to translate individual company experience into a critical mass of business action at the sectoral level. There is a vanguard of companies leading the front on action against critical issues, as highlighted in the latest Article 13’s New Product Development Insight research, but this vanguard represents the tip of the iceberg.
Recently however, there has been a concerted effort to buck the trend of individual corporate action to reduce environmental impact. The phrase ‘sustainable consumption and production’ (SCP) has been coined to refer to: “Continuous economic and social progress that respects the limits of the Earth’s ecosystems, and meets the needs and aspirations of everyone for a better quality of life, now and for future generations to come.”
In essence, it captures the flavour and evolves our understanding of sustainable development, focusing particularly on production and consumption, rather than the interplay and dynamics of social, environmental and economic spheres. If sustainable development is about development without destruction, then SCP is about consumption and production without destruction (or, at the very least, getting more by destroying less).
The term SCP was adopted at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, which saw a commitment to develop a 10 year framework of programmes to establish more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
The UK was one of the first countries to take the lead, publishing “Changing Patterns UK Government Framework for Sustainable Consumption and Production” in September 2003 – the first such document produced by a national government. The framework is being led by Defra with significant input from the HM Treasury and the DTI (now known as BERR). Overall, the SCP framework sits within the UK Sustainable Development Strategy, “a Better Quality of Life” which was launched in 1999.
Changing Patterns set out the political, social and economic rationale for SCP and provided a guide for future action at UK, EU and global level
Global rationale
UNEP’s 2002 Global Status Report on SCP highlighted that if consumption patterns continued at their current rates, a catastrophic collapse of the global ecosystem was possible, particularly in the context of the rapid advancement of developing economies such as China and India, and their expected impact on global consumption and production.
Environmental rationale
Some environmental by-products of consumption and production have already been decoupled from economic growth, including air and water quality, but the biggest challenges, such as reducing carbon emissions from transport, the volume of waste and the consumption of water, will require further structural changes to the economy.
Economic rationale
Evidence suggests that up to 7% of manufacturing profit per year is lost due to waste (amounting to over £3 billion). UK competitiveness would be substantially increased through resource efficiency measures encouraged to reduce consumption and production.
Transformation
Innovation, according to the UK government, “will be the driver of success in sustainable consumption and production.” This is not just about cleaner technology – although that will be important. It is about stimulating innovation in its broadest sense – social and institutional, as well as technological - to find smarter and more resource efficient forms of production and consumption.
The government will utilise a range of tools, including taxes, voluntary agreements, subsidies, regulation and information campaigns, to stimulate innovation and investment to provide ‘cleaner’ technology.
Sustainable production policies include:
Fiscal measures such as the Climate Change Levy and landfill tax introduced to reflect external costs of production. Enhanced capital allowances for investing in energy and water efficiency technology Awareness and information programmes, for example Envirowise, Action Energy, and The Carbon Trust. Tax credits for research and development to stimulate investment in resource efficiency. The Sustainable Technologies initiative.
Sustainable consumption policies include:
Measures to address information failures, such as the promotion of labelling. Differential tax rates on Vehicle Excise Duty and Road Fuel Duty. Advice on energy and water efficiency from Local Energy Efficiency Advice Centre and Environment Agency.
Structural change and innovation policies include:
Taking a holistic approach to consider the life cycle of a product, using integrated product policy. System and infrastructure innovations for widespread adoption of renewable and alternative fuels. Producer responsibility initiatives to stimulate new approaches to waste management and resource efficiency. Outcome based policies such as long term environmental and resource use targets.
The role of stakeholder in transformation
The Government recognises that it is not the only actor responsible for solving the SCP dilemma. From individual and community consumer initiatives which promote and implement sustainable lifestyles and choices (for example, Balance for Life, a sustainability and well being community project for residents of Southwark) to environmental NGOs such as WWF and their work on ecological foot-printing - a whole host of stakeholder have become engaged in the agenda.
To this end, Article 13 ran a workshop in conjunction with Defra in June 2004, where more than 50 delegates attended a one-day consultation. The day comprised a range of interactive activities allowing participants to input their views throughout the day, network, and learn from each other and from invited speakers. The objectives were to:
- Build awareness of sustainable consumption and production issues;
- Build understanding of current practice in sustainability focused approaches to new product development;
- Examine the potential of the UK corporate sector to generate competitive advantage through sustainability focused innovations;
- Develop a practical approach for taking forward the debate.
A summary of the day’s output, including the business case for SCP, role of government, barriers and the role of consumers on the UK government's sustainable development website.
End Game
It is hoped that the policy mix outlined in Changing Patterns will influence consumption and production patterns through changing consumer behaviour, supply chain developments, improved infrastructure allowing better ‘access’ and changing social norms and values.
It is also hoped that this policy mix will promote innovation, competitiveness and added value amongst the business community.
A recent announcement by BT captures the spirit of Changing Patterns aspirations – BT has made a commitment to source all of its UK energy needs from environmentally friendly sources. The deal with npower and British Gas, will reduce BT's CO2 emissions by more than 325,000 tonnes a year. Steve Howard, CEO of the Climate Group (see best practice case study on The Climate Group) said “BT is leading the way in showing that good business, cost savings and protecting the climate all go hand in hand."
The ‘end game’ is ultimately the development of Earth’s capacity to cope with the human desire for consumption. Innovations by companies such as BT who are investing in technologies to curb consumption of resources which are damaging to the planet are exactly what the SCP movement is all about – step change over incremental change. The Vanguard of New Product Development also outlines further examples of companies innovating in response to competitive pressure.
Sources:
Also in this feature:
© Article 13
| 
