Sustainable consumption and production

This article addresses goals 7, 9, 12 and 13 with looking at six scenarios aimed at defossilated sustainable power systems in West Africa with the timeframe of 2015-2050.

High-tech products like batteries and electronics contain a variety of valuable, scarce, and in some cases potentially harmful materials, but in only a few exceptional cases (such as lead-acid batteries) is the material being recovered efficiently. Cotributing to SDGs 7, 9 and 12, this special issue seeks to elucidate the technical and institutional difficulties inherent in recycling these products and provide a forum for sharing potential ways to overcome them. 

This chapter supports SDGs 2, 9 and 12 by discussing the critical role that polymeric materials play in terms of food packaging - increasing responsible consumption and sustainability, supporting transport of food, and reducing food waste. The chapter also highlights the latest developments in bio-based/biodegradable food packaging which offers a more sustainable route than traditional synthetic plastic food packaging.

Some of the greatest challenges for today's architecture are multifunctionality, energy saving and sustainability — problems that insects have partially solved during their evolution. From biomimetics in architecture design and materials, to decomposition of waste management and intelligent algorithms to reduce congestion, insects are an unlimited source of inspiration for innovations to advance SDGs 11 and 12.