Necessity to promote Sustainable Consumption and Production

In 2017, The Earth Overshoot Day has fallen on the of 2 August and until 31st of December humanity used resources that have not been replenished by the Earth. Since the era of the First Industrial Revolution, people started to consume more and more with every year and humanity four times in history has crossed the line when the whole humankind used more resources than our planet can renew within one year. Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is focused on the ability to produce and use goods without harming the environment. To ensure promotion of SCP, the United Nations (UN) included SCP in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG 12, which is related to the promotion of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency, targets to reduce waste generation through recycling and reuse. In XXI century, progress of information and communications technology represents another challenge towards SCP promotion and as is stated in the report of the Information and Telecommunication Union “A New Circular Vision for Electronics – Time for a Global Reboot”, 50 million metric tons (MT) of e-waste were produced in 2018. Although international community already outlined within the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development Principles 15 and 16 that causing harm to the environment directly affects industrial and economic development, this issue is still not being addressed by Member States properly. Nevertheless, some initiatives of the international community had already proved their efficiency. For instance, in 1994, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in cooperation with the UN Environment Programme established an “International Programme of National Cleaner Production Centres” to consult businesses on the principles of cleaner production and why it is crucial for small- and medium sized enterprises to be important actors in promotion of SCP around the world. Moreover, with the assistance of the European Union (EU) and the Regional Action Centre for SCP, UNIDO launched in 2014 the project Switchmed with the main goal to provide help to companies in the Mediterranean region on solving current issues towards SCP. Personally, I do believe humanity still did not introduce universal means on how to combat further environment pollution by debris and e-waste. That is why, cooperation between Member States, private sector and ordinary citizens should be placed on the first position to ensure smooth and proper promotion of SCP around the world. Humanity tends to forget that only by collective means it is possible to slow down the process of climate change, to combat other issues which directly pose a threat to our common future.