Perspectives on Radical Changes to Sustainable Consumption and Production

Citation

(2008), "Perspectives on Radical Changes to Sustainable Consumption and Production", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 9 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2008.24909cae.001

Perspectives on Radical Changes to Sustainable Consumption and Production

Article Type: Books and resources From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 9, Issue 3

Edited by Arnold Tukker, Martin Charter, Carlo Vezzoli, Eivind Stø and Maj Munch Andersen,Greenleaf Publishing,Sheffield,March 2008,470 pp.,ISBN 978-1-906093-03-7,£50.00

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) was adopted as a priority area during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and has since become one of the main vehicles for targeting international sustainability policy. Sustainable consumption focuses on formulating equitable strategies that foster the highest quality of life, the efficient use of natural resources, and the effective satisfaction of human needs while simultaneously promoting equitable social development, economic competitiveness, and technological innovation. But this is a complex topic and, as the challenges of sustainability grow larger, there is a need to re-imagine how SCP policies can be formulated, governed and implemented.

This book is the first in the “System innovation for sustainability” series, a key output from the EU-funded Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges (SCORE!) project. Experts in business development, sustainable solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy have been brought together to explore the concept and nature of sustainable consumption and production (SCP), to review the governance of change in SCP policy and to consider the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. Whilst the primary focus lies on the consumer economies of the West, the book also comments on the contrasting needs in rapidly emerging economies, such as China, as well as base-of-pyramid economies.