Section Menu

Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)

Sustainable Consumption and Production is about achieving more with less.

Increasing prosperity in the UK and across the world has allowed many people to enjoy the benefits of goods and services which were once available to just a few.

However, environmental impacts from our consumption and production patterns remain severe, and inefficient use of resources is a drag on the UK's economy and business. We need a major shift to deliver new products and services with lower environmental impacts across their life cycle, while at the same time boosting competitiveness. And we need to build on people's growing awareness of social and environmental concerns, and the importance of their roles as citizens and consumers.

At the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, the UK Government committed themselves to "encourage and promote the development of a ten year framework of programmes to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production".

The first major statement from a Government since WSSD, Changing Patterns provides a framework to take forward a very broad, ambitious and challenging agenda which affects us all at the local, national and global level. Key proposals include:

• Breaking the link between economic growth and environmental pollution.
  
• Improving resource efficiency
  
• Focusing on areas where environmental damage is greatest.
  
• Examining the whole life-cycle of a product, through design, production, use and disposal, to help reduce its effect on the environment.
  
• Enabling consumers to receive more information on products and services.

These proposals are taken forward in Chapter 3 of Securing the Future government's sustainable development strategy builds on Changing Patterns,  and  looked in detail at the issues around sustainable consumption and production and detailing how these objectives to promote:

• Better products and services, which reduce the environmental impacts from the use of energy, resources, or hazardous substances;
• Cleaner, more efficient production processes, which strengthen competitiveness; and
• Shifts in consumption towards goods and services with lower impacts

Work is currently underway to produce a Sustainable Consumption and Production Action Plan.

Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators

To accompany Changing Patterns, a consultation paper on a set of "de-coupling" indicators was published to assess the progress of breaking the link between economic growth and environmental damage. See the link below

Further information can be found on the  Defra website :  http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/scp/

"Changing Patterns: The UK Government Framework for Sustainable Consumption and Production" sets out the framework for how the government will take forward its commitment to sustainable consumption and production.

At the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, the UK Government committed themselves to "encourage and promote the development of a ten year framework of programmes to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production".

The first major statement from a Government since WSSD, Changing Patterns provides a framework to take forward a very broad, ambitious and challenging agenda which affects us all at the local, national and global level. Key proposals include:

• Breaking the link between economic growth and environmental pollution.
• Improving resource efficiency
• Focusing on areas where environmental damage is greatest.
• Examining the whole life-cycle of a product, through design, production, use and disposal, to help reduce its effect on the environment.
• Enabling consumers to receive more information on products and services.
• Government utilising a range of tools, including taxes, voluntary agreements, subsidies, regulation and information campaigns, to stimulate innovation and investment to provide cleaner technology.

Next Steps

There are a number of actions ongoing to take forward the framework including:

• a joint Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR)/Defra review of business support programmes relating to resource efficiency
• a round table debate on sustainable consumption jointly chaired by the Sustainable Development Commission and the National consumer Council 

Sustainable Consumption and Production Indicators

To accompany Changing Patterns, a consultation paper on a set of "de-coupling" indicators was published to assess the progress of breaking the link between economic growth and environmental damage.