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.

This Series paper supports SDG 3 and 11 by calculating spatial indicators of urban design and transport features that support health and sustainability for 25 diverse cities in 19 countries.
Water resources and climatic conditions are important in maintaining sustainable agricultural production. Clarifying the important role of food linking the water and carbon cycles promotes the development of sustainable agriculture. Different food consumption patterns, especially one involving a high proportion of animal-based foods, indirectly affect water consumption and green house gas (GHG) emissions. A diet with a high proportion of plant-based foods is confirmed to benefit the environment; reducing the current overconsumption of animal-based foods can both benefit human health and alleviate the climate and water crises. Furthermore, the implementation of an environmentally friendly diet requires consideration of nutrients, cost acceptability, and local food production conditions.
Elsevier,

Julia Derx, Rita Linke, Domenico Savio, Monica Emelko, Philip Schmidt, Jack Schijven, Liping Pang, Regina Sommer, Margaret Stevenson, Harold van den Berg, Saskia Rutjes, Andreas H. Farnleitner, Alfred Paul Blaschke, From Groundwater to Drinking Water – Current Approaches for Microbial Monitoring and Risk Assessment in Porous Aquifers, Encyclopedia of Inland Waters (Second Edition), Elsevier, 2022, Pages 580-594, ISBN 9780128220412

This chapter supports SDG 6 by summarizing the current approaches for evaluating pathogen fate and transport in the environment, their removal during subsurface transport in porous aquifers and the needed infection protection to achieve safe drinking water.
Elsevier,

Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, Second Edition, Volume 4, 2022, Pages 47-57

This chapters advances SDG goals 11 and 12 by highlighting the pressures posed by agricultural activities to inland water systems. It discusses each of the pressures considering the trade-offs between productivity and environmental impacts.
A Review on the association between agricultural food production and hunting practices and zoonotic disease outbreaks, in the context of SDGs 3, 12, and 15, highlighting the need to redesign the global food system to reduce the threat of future outbreaks.
Elsevier,

Sanjay Mavinkere Rangappa, Madhu Puttegowda, Jyotishkumar Parameswaranpillai, Suchart Siengchin, Togay Ozbakkaloglu, Hao Wang, Chapter 1 - Introduction to plant fibers and their composites, Editor(s): Sanjay Mavinkere Rangappa, Jyotishkumar Parameswaranpillai, Suchart Siengchin, Togay Ozbakkaloglu, Hao Wang, In The Textile Institute Book Series, Plant Fibers, their Composites, and Applications, Woodhead Publishing, 2022, Pages 1-24, ISBN 9780128245286, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-824528-6.00006-0.

This chapter advances UN SDG goal 12 by ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns
The study presents a new approach to analyzing the relations between sustainability indicators, foods, and macronutrients and establishes that proteins, irrespective of the source of protein, are driving dietary environmental and economic impacts.
Elsevier,

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 115, 1 April 2022

The results in this paper have implications for consumers and policy makers, as well as other food system actors. Consumers following individual strategies can make important contributions towards more sustainable food systems. To facilitate this shift, changes in food environments are needed and a coordinated action plan with coherent policies that targets a thorough redesign of the food system, including several of the proposed strategies, is needed to achieve large systemic effects. This could encompass suitable education measures, incentives, as well as rules for production, processing, retail, gastronomy, transport, and consumption.
The goal of global food security will be achieved only by improving the qualitative and quantitative traits of crops through exploitation of metabolic pathways involving advanced analytical tools and technologies.

On April 22 every year, we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement with Earth Day. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, this day has marked global collaboration and awareness of the need to fight for a cleaner and healthier Earth. It all began in 1962 when Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring hit the New York’s bestseller list selling over 500,000 copies in 24 countries.

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