Unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, particularly in the industrialized
countries,
are identified in Agenda 21 as the major cause of continued deterioration of the global environment.
While unsustainable patterns in the industrialized countries continue to aggravate the threats to the
environment, there remain huge difficulties for developing countries in meeting basic needs such as
food, health care, shelter and education for people. All countries should strive to promote
sustainable consumption patterns; developed countries should take the lead in achieving
sustainable consumption patterns; developing countries should seek to achieve sustainable
consumption patterns in the development process, guaranteeing the provision of basic needs to the
poor, while avoiding those unsustainable patterns, particularly in industrialized countries, generally
recognized as unduly hazardous to the environment, inefficient and wasteful, in the development
processes. This requires enhanced technological and other assistance from industrialized
countries. In the follow- up of the implementation of Agenda 21, the review of progress made in
achieving sustainable consumption patterns should be given high priority.10 Consistent with
Agenda 21, the development and further elaboration of national policies and strategies, particularly
in industrialized countries, are needed to encourage changes in unsustainable consumption and
production patterns, while strengthening, as appropriate, international approaches and policies that
promote sustainable consumption patterns on the basis of the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities, applying the polluter pays principle, encouraging producer
responsibility and greater consumer awareness. Eco-efficiency, cost internalization and product
policies are also important tools for making consumption and production patterns more
sustainable. Actions in this area should focus on:
(a) Promoting measures
to internalize environmental costs and benefits in the price of
goods and services, while seeking to avoid potential negative
effects for market access by developing countries, particularly
with a view to encouraging the use of environmentally preferable
products and commodities. Governments should consider shifting
the burden of taxation on to unsustainable patterns of production
and consumption; it is of vital importance to achieve such an
internalization of environmental costs. Such tax reforms should
include a socially responsible process of reduction and
elimination of subsidies to environmentally harmful activities;
(b)
Promoting the role of business in shaping more sustainable
patterns of consumption by encouraging, as appropriate, voluntary
publication of environmental and social assessments of its own
activities, taking into account specific country conditions, and
by acting as an agent of change in the market, and by virtue of
its role as a major consumer of goods and services;
(c)
Developing core indicators to monitor critical trends in
consumption and production patterns, with industrialized
countries taking the lead;
(d)
Identifying best practices through evaluations of policy
measures with respect to their environmental effectiveness,
efficiency and implications for social equity, and disseminating
such evaluations;
(e)
Taking into account the linkages between urbanization and the
environmental and developmental effects of consumption and
production patterns in cities, thus promoting more sustainable
patterns of urbanization;
(f)
Promoting international and national programmes for energy
and material efficiency with timetables for their implementation,
as appropriate. In this regard, attention should be given to
studies that propose to improve the efficiency of resource use,
including consideration of a tenfold improvement in resource
productivity in industrialized countries in the long term and a
possible factor-four increase in industrialized countries in the
next two or three decades. Further research is required to study
the feasibility of these goals and the practical measures needed
for their implementation. Industrialized countries will have a
special responsibility and must take the lead in this respect.
The Commission on Sustainable Development should consider this
initiative in the coming years in exploring policies and measures
necessary to implement eco- efficiency and, for this purpose,
encourage the relevant bodies to adopt measures aimed at
assisting developing countries to improve energy and material
efficiency through the promotion of their endogenous capacity-
building and economic development with enhanced and effective
international support;
(g)
Encouraging Governments to take the lead in changing
consumption patterns by improving their own environmental
performance with action-oriented policies and goals on
procurement, the management of public facilities and the further
integration of environmental concerns into national policy-
making. Governments in developed countries, in particular, should
take the lead in this regard;
(h)
Encouraging the media, advertising and marketing sectors to
help shape sustainable consumption patterns;
(i)
Improving the quality of information regarding the
environmental impact of products and services and, to that end,
encouraging the voluntary and transparent use of eco-labelling;
(j)
Promoting measures favouring eco- efficiency; however,
developed countries should pay special attention to the needs of
developing countries, in particular by encouraging positive
impacts, and the need to avoid negative impacts on export
opportunities and market access for developing countries and, as
appropriate, for countries with economies in transition;
(k)
Encouraging the development and strengthening of educational
programmes to promote sustainable consumption and production
patterns;
(1)
Encouraging business and industry to develop and apply
environmentally sound technology that should aim not only at
increasing competitiveness but also at reducing negative
environmental impacts;
(m)
Giving balanced consideration to both the demand side and the
supply side of the economy in matching environmental concerns and
economic factors, which could encourage changes in the behaviour
of consumers and producers. A number of policy options should be
examined; they include regulatory instruments, economic and
social incentives and disincentives, facilities and
infrastructure, information, education, and technology
development and dissemination.
