Group5_D | SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Introduction to SDG
What's
the Goal Here?
The
current Goal calls to ensure responsible consumption and production patterns.
Why is
it essential?
The global population is increasing at an alarming rate. If the global population
reaches 9.6 billion by 2050, then of almost three Earth-like planets could be
required to fulfil the requirements of the natural resources to sustain current
lifestyles.[1]
Sustainable
consumption and production promote energy and resource-efficient
infrastructure, access to essential services, better and cleaner jobs, and
better quality of life for all. [2]Implementation
of SDG 12 facilitates the overall developmental plan by reducing the social,
economic, and environmental costs associates with it. It also helps in
strengthening economic competitiveness and ultimately eradicate poverty to a
great extent.
What are the Targets of this Goal?
The targets associated with the Goal includes:
- Stern measures to reduce wastage of food
- Environmentally sound techniques for management of chemicals
- Sustainable Public Sector procurements
- Enhancing the awareness and knowledge about the benefits of sutainable practices and lifestyle.
- Rationalization of fossil fuels subsidies
- Strengthening the scientific and technological capacity of developing countries to embrace sustainable consumption and production (SCP)
The relevance of SDG to India
Natural resources are critical to the country. India faces a unique challenge of uplifting millions of people out of the vicious cycle of poverty while ensuring the conservation of natural resources to promote sustainable development. It is the second most populated country and home to 18% of the total world population, but it has only 4% of the global water reserves. The increasing waste and pollutants in water pose a threat, with only 20% of India's urban waste being processed and recycled. India is also amongst the top 5 emitters of Carbon-di-oxide and is responsible for nearly 7% of global carbon emissions. However, India has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by a fourth from its 2005 levels by 2020 and by a third by 2030.
On October 2, 2016, India
had formally ratified the historic Paris Climate Accord[3]. Some of the government’s flagship schemes include The National
Policy on Biofuels and the National Clean Energy Fund. These schemes are
implemented to achieve sustainable consumption and production and manage
natural resources' efficient use. Some efforts to adopt and implement the
environmental sustainability measures, which would help reduce the ecological
footprint of economic growth by modifying the patterns and processes of
production and consumption of goods and resources.
Challenges faced by Governments of India while
implementing SDG 12
1. 1. Maintaining a
sustainable supply chain - It is crucial
to retain focus on operating a sustainable supply chain, involving everyone
from producer to the final consumers of the product.
This involves:
- Educating the consumers on sustainable consumption and lifestyles,
- Providing them with adequate information through standards and eco-labels
- Engaging in sustainable public procurement, among others. [4]
2. Solid Waste Management - Ineffective solid waste management needs attention, especially in urban centres. Around 34% of the population lives in urban areas. By 2050, it is expected that about 50 per cent of India’s population will be urban, and waste generation will grow by 5 per cent per year. It is anticipated that by 2021, 2031, and 2050, waste generation will be around 101 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT), 164 MMT, and 436 MMT per year respectively.
3. Food Wastage - According to the FAO, up to 40 per cent of the food produced in India is wasted. This also implies that water, fertilizers, and other resources that go into producing food also are wasted. Food disposed of in landfills produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. India’s ambitious development plans call for better resource efficiency.
4. Hazardous Waste Disposal - Estimates show that nearly 74.6 lakh tonnes of hazardous waste are generated in India annually. Of this, waste which can be disposed of in landfills constitutes for about 46 per cent (34.1 lakh tonnes) of the total[5]. The recyclable hazardous waste consists of 33.5 lakh tonnes or 45 per cent of the total. Since the amount of recyclable hazardous waste is a considerable percentage of the total, efforts must be directed towards upgrading the waste recycling mechanisms.
5. Defining Indicators - Past record indicates
that we have been not very successful in setting relevant indicators to measure
outcomes.
Substantial efforts are being made at the national level that will monitor the progress made by the SDGs. It is imperative to have a transparent monitoring system and improving the quality and availability of data.
Business Implication and Responses
Indian companies are slowly beginning to integrate their business practices to meet UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). One of the 17 goals that companies are cautiously adopting is SDG 12, that focuses on promoting responsible consumption and production, resource and energy efficiency, and development of sustainable infrastructure within the workplace. Some companies are implementing green practices in their daily practices for instance having well-set dry waste management and waste recycling. Serving beverages in ceramic mugs or glass cups to save on paper, limiting the paper printing in offices, recycling and purchasing waste paper purchasing recycled paper, and distributing refillable ink pens. Reports state that the private sector, in particular, is adopting practices that are reducing and recycling the waste produced at a fast pace. These little steps are essential strategies that will have a cumulative impact at the country level as a whole.
Recently
Flipkart in its Bengaluru office decided to replace paper cups with ones made
of ceramic and glass. They also went on to distribute stainless steel water
bottles to their Employees. In an interview, they stated that this small change
has helped them save 4,000 litres of potable water every week. Not only this,
but this has also avoided the dumping of close to 10,000 plastic bottles to landfills
annually. The company has also put waste bins at multiple points on each floor,
which has clear segregation between wet and dry waste. They also ensured that
the employees are given enough awareness to be able to correctly segregate the
waste. Additionally, to minimize the consumption of garbage bags, they removed
waste bins from individual desks. All these actions were the result of employee
surveys and ideas carefully curated over a period of 18 months.
Another example is OLX India. They introduced plastic tables in their cafes with
reusable and recyclable cutlery. Paper waste bins have been placed in its Gurugram
office. Monthly, their collected waste is recycled to make reusable office
stationery.
Persistent
Systems, a tech firm has completely stopped the use of disposable plastic paper
cups and plates and has restricted the use of tissue paper. They also dedicate
10 days in a year and dedicate them to no plastic days or zero food wastage
weeks. They also run numerous environment-friendly programmes like no printer
days to save on paper.
Even
the Public sector has made some substantial progress in the implementation of
SDG 12. Mumbai-based Mahanagar Gas Ltd has adopted several initiatives that aim
towards the conversion of waste paper. They began recycling waste paper into
writing pads and envelopes through collaborating with a waste management
enterprise.
Companies
are also involving non-profit organizations and other social enterprises to
conduct waste audits, design a sustainable waste management system, monitor
their waste generation, and recycle waste paper. Some companies that have
collaborated with such enterprises are Google India, Infosys, Hindustan
Unilever, and Amazon India.
All in all what is helping these firms to drive this change is that firms are finally starting to realize the importance of been publicly viewed as “green company". They have seemed to understand that being consumer-centric now also means catering to the increasingly environmentally-conscious consumer. This growing awareness amongst people, along with the regulatory demand, is definitely positively influencing corporate policies. Sooner or later firms have to understand that in today’s globally connected world there is a close the connection between business economics and sustainability as at the end of the day sustainability leads to saving resources and saving resources ultimately results in cost reduction and efficient production. [6]
Analysis and Suggested Path Ahead
What truly drives decision making in a business? Milton
Friedman’s epochal essay, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is
To Increase Its Profits” was published in the New York Times Magazine. It
postulated as the title makes obvious, that the primary social responsibility
of a business is to make “Profits”. Everything takes lower precedence. However,
this stance is facing a hitherto unforeseen challenge from all the
‘stakeholders’ of a business, each of whom is growing conscious of ‘Sustainable
production and consumption’.
One of the goals for sustainability enshrined under the 17 ‘Sustainable Development’ goals by the United Nations,
“Worldwide consumption and production — a driving the force of the global economy — rest on the use of the natural environment and resources in a way that continues to have destructive impacts on the planet.
Economic and social progress over the last century has been accompanied by environmental degradation that is endangering the very systems on which our future development — indeed, our very survival — depends.“
The crux of this goal is to: “‘Sustainable consumption and production’ is about doing more and better with less. It is also about decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency and promoting sustainable lifestyles.”
The Oslo symposium in 1994 gave a working definition of sustainable consumption and
production.
“The use of goods and services that respond to meet basic needs and improving quality of life while
minimizing:
Use of natural resources & toxic materials and
Emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the product or service.
Organisations can go about doing this by improving resource efficiency, adopting renewable energy
sources across the entire life cycle of the business.”
The world of today is a long way from the Friedmanian thoughts on what a business ought to do. Historically, sustainable consumption and production seemed to be against profitability, hence, most businesses did not participate in sustainable practices. The ones that did, however, participate in sustainability were large corporations who could absorb the costs that came hand in hand with sustainability.
Businesses make their decisions based not only on profitability but also its stakeholders. Profitability is well measurable and monitorable. For the stakeholders, we can analyze them on the basis of their level of priority for a business and the level of involvement with the business. Also known as “Importance/influence Matrix”
Importance/Priority: The priority given to satisfying the
needs and interests of each stakeholder.
Involvement/Influence: The power a stakeholder has to facilitate or impede the achievement of an activity’s objective. The extent to which the stakeholder is able to persuade or coerce others into making decisions, and following a certain course on the action.
·
Low interest and low power – apathetic stakeholders –
those who should be monitored by the project manager in case their interest or
power changes but which require almost no attention at that point in time
·
Low interest and high power – latent stakeholders – those
who need to be satisfied by the outcome of the project but who may not require
regular attention during the project itself
·
High interest and low power – defender stakeholders –
those who will support the project and its aims and should be given regular
updates to keep them included and motivated
·
High interest and high power – promoter stakeholders –
the group of stakeholders on which the project manager must devote their
attention to managing closely. These are the stakeholders with the largest
capacity to promote the project within the business but also have the largest
capacity to derail it if not carefully handled.
This clearly shows that Government/Pan-nation agencies such as the UN, the customers and the shareholders of a company must have their concerns addressed. In recent time, each of these stakeholders has been growing conscious about the importance of sustainable production and consumption, not only for the environmental impact but also as a tool for gauging whether the business is competent or not.
The way forward: ‘Sustainable production and consumption’ is
slowly transforming itself into a competitive
advantage for a
business. It opens up the possibility for new business models such as the
‘asset lite’ model, the ‘cloud business’ model, the ‘shared-economy’ model
among many others are coming up. Businesses are also working in an environment
of stricter regulation and scrutiny from the perspective of the pollution
footprint that is left its daily/occasional activities. Technological
breakthroughs of the past few decades have really enabled businesses to imbibe
sustainability into their operations like never before.
Now is the time for businesses to really move towards sustainability. Never in history has the need for the alignment from key-stakeholders & the technological capabilities and know-how; been so conducive for achieving the best possible resource efficiency and install systems to constantly monitor and improve upon the status quo. Every business must take individual ownership towards the common goal as Robert Swan rightly said, "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it"
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