Sustainable Consumption and Production: An overarching objective of sustainable development

TERI in collaboration with supporting partner DFID organized a special event on 'Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP): An overarching objective of sustainable development' on 5 February 2014 to discuss some of the challenges that arise in operationalizing the concept of SCP and how these can be resolved. The event drew representatives and experts from the fields of multilateral institutions, business innovation, academia and civil society. In the inaugural session, Dr Pachauri underlined the importance of incorporating the concepts of SCP in context of the human welfare by moving beyond the mode of greater production and consumption. Ms Lise Grande, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative highlighted the role of open working group in bringing the concept of SCP at the forefront of the discussions on SGDs. Mr Suresh Prabhu, Chairperson, Council on Energy, Environment and Water elaborated on the expectations and realities of excessive consumption and urged for the inclusion of resources use efficiency into economic models.

The discussions in the event were structured into four sessions that cut across important issues like- examining the role of SCP in the context of SDGs, financing for SCP, attaining efficiency and sustainability in built environment and the importance of communications for SCP. The first session set the context for the day by placing SCP at the heart of green growth debate by making SCP more profitable than unsustainable methods. The role of international cooperation, policy and regulation for achieving SCP were also deliberated by the panellists. The session on financing for SCP discussed how the unconventional concepts of business and profitability can be associated with SCP and leveraged to promote private investments for sustainability. The third session on built environment attempted to look at the problems of complementarity between technical, financial and material interfaces. Some perspectives on use of local material to improve resource use efficiency in the build environment were also discussed in this session. The concluding session articulated the linkages between production, consumption and consumer behaviour. It also expounded the role of the corporate world in practicing and communicating the message of SCP.