Sustainable consumption and production

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is at the core of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically addressed by SDG 12. This goal aims to "ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns," acting as a cross-cutting theme that feeds into other SDGs such as those related to climate change, poverty, health, and sustainable cities.

SCP involves using services and products in a way that minimizes environmental damage, preserves natural resources, and promotes social equity. The purpose is to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, which means pursuing economic development in a way that can be sustained by the planet over the long term. SCP requires changes at all levels of society, from individuals to businesses to governments.

At the individual level, SCP implies making lifestyle choices that reduce environmental impact. This might include reducing, reusing, and recycling waste, choosing products with less packaging, and opting for more sustainable forms of transport like cycling or public transport.

For businesses, SCP entails adopting sustainable business models and practices. This could include improving resource efficiency, investing in renewable energy, designing products that are durable and recyclable, and ensuring fair labor practices.

At the government level, SCP involves implementing policies that support sustainable business practices and incentivize sustainable consumer behavior. This might involve regulations to reduce pollution, subsidies for renewable energy, and campaigns to raise awareness about sustainable consumption.

SCP also plays a role in several other SDGs. For example, sustainable production practices can help mitigate climate change (SDG 13) by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, by reducing the pressure on natural resources, SCP supports the goals related to life below water (SDG 14) and life on land (SDG 15).

While progress has been made in certain areas, challenges remain in achieving the shift towards SCP. These include existing patterns of overconsumption, limited awareness about the impacts of consumption, and the need for technological innovation to enable more sustainable production.

Over the years, chemical pre-treatments have been used intensively to maintain apple quality and reduce decay during postharvest. This conduct has been reported to have a negative impact on environment and human health. This study aimed to investigate alternative approaches such as hot water (HW) and electrolyzed water (WE) treatments for decay management of ‘Granny Smith’ apples. Two different sets of experiments were set up for this study.
Elsevier,

Trends in Food Science and Technology, Volume 111, May 2021

Background: Coffee is of the most traded commodities in the world and its market has grown regularly over the last 150 years. During production and processing of coffee beans many by-products are generated such as skin, pulp, mucilage, parchment, silverskin, and immature /defective coffee beans. Around 50% of coffee fruit is discard and can contaminate the environment. Scope and approach: The purpose of this review is to raise potential applications for coffee by-products in topical formulations. Besides, to present the main bioactive compounds responsible for their biological activity.

Elsevier,

Food Chemistry, Volume 343, 1 May 2021

Food packaging can be considered as a passive barrier that protects food from environmental factors such as ultraviolet light, oxygen, water vapour, pressure and heat. It also prolongs the shelf-life of food by protecting from chemical and microbiological contaminants and enables foods to be transported and stored safely. Active packaging (AP) provides the opportunity for interaction between the external environment and food, resulting in extended shelf-life of food. Chemoactive packaging has an impact on the chemical composition of the food product.

Elsevier’s new video series features short interviews with research leaders on topical issues for universities. In these episodes, speakers discuss how universities are accelerating progress towards the UN SDGs.
Elsevier,

Samuel M. Gorton, Chapter 41 - Integrated agroecological technology networks for food, bioenergy, and biomaterial production, Editor(s): Anju Dahiya, Bioenergy (Second Edition), Academic Press, 2020, Pages 767-788, ISBN 9780128154977, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815497-7.00041-5.

This book chapter advances SDGs 6, 7 and 11 by discussing how we can create integrated ecological technologies that transform natural resources into anthropocentric goods and services, while restoring the land and reducing pollution by returning beneficial materials or energy to the ecosystem.
Elsevier, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Volume 93, April 2021
An improved understanding of public support is essential to design effective and feasible climate policies for aviation. Our motivation is the contrast between high support for air travel restrictions responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and low support for restrictions to combat climate change. Can the same factors explain individuals’ support for restrictive measures across two different problems? Using a survey, we find that largely the same factors explain support.
Elsevier, Trends in Food Science and Technology, Volume 110, April 2021
Background: In 2020, human society underwent several drastic changes due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which generated an unprecedented global impact. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, various pressing concerns underlying food security, such as transport, production, and maintenance of the supply chain, have been raised.
Elsevier, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Volume 93, April 2021
As more and more people are buying more and more items online, limiting the ecological footprint of e-commerce deliveries is pressing. Research suggests several initiatives for retailers and logistics service providers to take, but consumer-involvement is key. This research investigates how to encourage consumers’ sustainable decision-making in the web-shop's check-out page by using non-financial incentives only.
Background: COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global lockdown that has abruptly shut down core businesses and caused a worldwide recession. The forecast for a smooth transition for the agri-food and drink industry is, at best, alarming. Given that COVID-19 shutdown multiple core services (such as aviation, food services, supply chains, and export and import markets), there is an enormous deficiency in critical information to inform priority decision making for companies where this uncertainly is likely to impact negatively upon recovery.
The EU Parliament voted to fast-track an inclusion of shipping into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) as of 2022. This white paper provides an in-depth analysis of maritime ETS and its impact on the shipping industry, contributing to SDGs 12 and 13.

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