Milestones & Opportunities Around Sustainable Production & Consumption in North America -- Key Recommendations
Below, you will find a summary of key recommendations that emerged from various conferences and workshops in North America linked to sustainable production and consumption, going back to 2001.
For a much more detailed list of policy recommendations dating back to 2001 in support of sustainable production and consumption, please download the following document:
Draft Synthesis Document: Strategic Opportunities for Sustainable Production and Consumption in North America.
For a much more detailed list of policy recommendations dating back to 2001 in support of sustainable production and consumption, please download the following document:
Draft Synthesis Document: Strategic Opportunities for Sustainable Production and Consumption in North America.
Summary of key recommendations of past conferences/workshops
Process-focused recommendations:
Key insights around sustainable production & consumption:
General
Leverage points
Process-focused recommendations:
- North America needs more multi-stakeholder meetings to discuss sustainable production & consumption, whether civil-society led or government led
- The sharing of best practices, sustainable-production-and-consumption success stories, and lessons learned is a useful way of both collaborating and of helping each other develop roadmaps for our work
- Opportunities around the UN 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption & Production need to be explored further, including influencing the governance and structure through increased stakeholder involvement, providing feeback on the 10YFP on SCP programmes template, and submitting 10YFP proposals for SCP programmes. 10YFP could also benefit from a translation of SCP concepts in order to make the terminology relevant to key groups
- It would be useful to examine the links between NAFTA and sustainable consumption, and engage the ECE in discussions around this issue
- There is a desire to develop a vision and policy framework for North America around sustainable production & consumption (with or without Mexico, depending on how "North America" is defined)
- Building a movement around sustainable production & consumption requires engaging in unexpected alliances
- Collaboration and sharing are key approaches to shifting production & consumption systems
- There are opportunities to advance sustainable production and consumption through participation in the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals
Key insights around sustainable production & consumption:
General
- Sustainable consumption & production is one system; these two spheres cannot be disconnected
- It would seem that relatively little has been accomplished in North America over the past decades in terms of reducing personal consumption, changing lifestyles and shifting institutions and political contexts
- North America has a unique opportunity and responsibility in taking the lead on sustainability
- The impacts of North America's production and consumption patterns are felt around the world
- We need to focus on the quantity of how much we consume (monitoring for absolute reductions in per capita eco-footprints) to complement the current focus on quality (eco-labeling; certification)
- It would be useful to conduct an analysis of how sustainable production & consumption can contribute to overcoming the economic downturn
- Collecting the work and visions of different stakeholder groups on sustainable production & consumption could yield useful insights
- Supporting the development of positive, compelling, integrative narratives on SCP can help to challenge the status quo and redefine ideas of progress
Leverage points
- Affecting social change requires the recognition that individual behaviour is largely shaped by norms, emotions and structures
- Procurement/purchasing policies of institutional consumers are powerful levers to shift demand and policy chains
- Food, as well as wellbeing, are powerful thematic entry points to discuss sustainable production & consumption
- New narratives, messaging, storytelling and ways of framing can help motivate and spur social change
- We need to develop, adopt and use new/smarter metrics, moving beyond GDP and measuring wellbeing
- Increased regulation, coupled with smarter pricing and the elimination of harmful subsidies, are key to reform financial systems
- Innovative ideas like reduced workweeks and new education models need to be developed and spread further
- Developing sectoral commitments to sustainable production & consumption, such as around aluminum production, electricity generation, mining and other resource sectors, would be helpful
- Existing international activities such as Earth Day and World Environment Day can be used to communicate the SCP message and engage people
The UN's 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption & Production
In June 2012 at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, UN-member States adopted the conference’s outcome document, The Future We Want. This document marked an important milestone for the field of sustainable production and consumption, as UN-member States adopted a 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP).
The 10YFP, whose Secretariat is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will support capacity building and the exchange of information, and will provide technical and financial assistance to developing countries for a shift towards sustainable consumption and production. It is a response to the 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and builds on the work undertaken under the Marrakech Process, a multi-stakeholder process led jointly by UNEP and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) since 2003.
The United Nations Environment Programme's Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA), based in Washington, D.C., also features a website dedicated to sustainable consumption and production and the 10YFP, and contains North American-specific resources and conference proceedings:
In May 2013, UNEP launched the Global SCP Clearinghouse, which aims at “bringing together and expanding the sustainable consumption and production (SCP) community worlwide, collecting, disseminating and sharing initiatives, policies, tools and best practices, the latest news and events on SCP as well as cooperation opportunities in order to trigger more innovation and cooperation towards SCP implementation around the world.”
The 10YFP, whose Secretariat is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will support capacity building and the exchange of information, and will provide technical and financial assistance to developing countries for a shift towards sustainable consumption and production. It is a response to the 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and builds on the work undertaken under the Marrakech Process, a multi-stakeholder process led jointly by UNEP and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) since 2003.
- Visit UNEP's official 10YFP website: http://www.unep.org/10yfp/
- For a clear and concise overview of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, click here for UNEP’s 10YFP brochure.
The United Nations Environment Programme's Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA), based in Washington, D.C., also features a website dedicated to sustainable consumption and production and the 10YFP, and contains North American-specific resources and conference proceedings:
- UNEP RONA's sustainable consumption and prodcuction and 10YFP website: http://www.rona.unep.org/about_unep_rona/scp/index.html
In May 2013, UNEP launched the Global SCP Clearinghouse, which aims at “bringing together and expanding the sustainable consumption and production (SCP) community worlwide, collecting, disseminating and sharing initiatives, policies, tools and best practices, the latest news and events on SCP as well as cooperation opportunities in order to trigger more innovation and cooperation towards SCP implementation around the world.”
- To access UNEP’s SCP Clearinghouse, go to http://www.scpclearinghouse.org.