About #BB4SCP - Building Bridges for Sustainable Consumption & Production
What is #BB4SCP all about?
Sustainable consumption & production is about promoting resource & energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green & decent jobs and a better quality of life for all. Its implementation helps to achieve overall development plans, reduce future economic, environmental & social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and reduce poverty.
​
Sustainable consumption and production aims at “doing more & better with less,” increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation & pollution along the whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life. It involves different stakeholders, including business, consumers, policy makers, researchers, scientists, retailers, media, & development cooperation agencies, among others.
​
It also requires a systemic approach & cooperation among actors operating in the supply chain, from producer to final consumer. It involves engaging consumers through awareness-raising & education on sustainable consumption & lifestyles, providing consumers with adequate information through standards & labels & engaging in sustainable public procurement, among others.
Fun Facts
-
If people worldwide switched to energy efficient lightbulbs the world would save US$120 billion annually
-
One-fifth of the world’s final energy consumption in 2013 was from renewables.
-
Each year, an estimated one third of all food produced – equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes worth around $1 trillion – ends up rotting in the bins of consumers and retailers, or spoiling due to poor transportation & harvesting practices
Under the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Programme, a youth programme called Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Consumption & Production (YESCP) programme supports WWF’ conservation work by encouraging youth to switch to an alternative, more sustainable lifestyle through an examination of their consumption choices.
​
YESCP focuses on carbon emissions from electricity consumptions, Climate Change, & 3 key Commodities:
Four commodities under the YESCP programme
Thus the programme embraces the ECO-LABELS associated with these 3 KEY COMMODITIES to promote sustainable management & practices:
​Goal 12 Targets
​
-
Implement the 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption & production, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries
-
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management & efficient use of natural resources
-
By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail & consumer levels & reduce food losses along production & supply chains, including post-harvest losses
-
By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals & all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, & significantly reduce their release to air, water & soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment
-
By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
-
Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices & to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
-
Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies & priorities
-
By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information & awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
-
Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific & technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
-
Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs & promotes local culture & products
-
Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation & phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs & conditions of developing countries & minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor & the affected communities