an enabling context for sustainable lifestyles Lewis Akenji Senior - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

an enabling context for sustainable lifestyles

Lewis Akenji Senior Policy Fellow, IGES Japan

akenji@iges.or.jp Presented at World Resources Forum 2014, Arequipa, Peru

3 MYTHS

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informed consumers will consume unsustainably (consumer scapegatism)

• knowledge-action gap
• misguided focus on

consumer awareness campaigns/eco labels (instead of addressing drivers)

• the small-action trap:

change light bulb/use eco bag

• lack of (accessible)

sustainable options

• social and physical

drivers of lifestyle patterns

Akenji_World Resources Forum 2014_Arequipa

sustainable consumption is only for industrialised countries

• under-consumption (in

developing countries) is unsustainable consumption

• growing consumer class

in the global south

• rural societies tend to

live in environmentally fragile environments and depend more on nature for their livelihoods

• Resource limits

Akenji_World Resources Forum 2014_Arequipa

economic growth guarantees well-being

• lopsided wealth

distribution (rich getting richer)

• the GDP obsession!
• beyond basic needs,

little or not only marginal increases

• bserved in expressed

happiness as a function

• f increased income

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SHIFTING THE CONTEXT OF LIFESTYLES

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Infrastructu re Facilitat

• rs

Attitude

Values, Knowledge Incentives, Constrains Systems of provision, Physical infrastructure

• Education
• culture
• communication
• Laws/policies
• Administrative

procedure

• Culture
• Market
• Sustainable

material

• Efficient
• Lock-ins

Akenji 2012

Policy framework for SCP

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Protect already sustainable social practices

• Promote less materialistic and less

polluting traditional practices

– e.g. community forestry management – protect rural farmers’ lifestyles – e.g. reserve % floor space in shopping malls for “used goods” & repair shops – e.g. trade by barter shops, incentives and licences

• Protect segments living within

sustainable limits

– tighten credit card & consumer loans schemes – long product warranties and ensure reparability – capacity building for DIY and life skills (e.g. sewing, gardening,

• Protect micro-SMEs

– e.g. limit licenses for competitive corporations – license local/farmers/crafts markets in premium locations

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Shift Social Context around Consumer Behaviour

• Make the sustainable option default

– e.g. charge homes that opt for paper phone bills; – the norm (e.g. show people their neighbours are saving energy!)

• Provide actionable info

– e.g. “non-eco” labels (red stickers!) – feedback mechanisms (e.g. smart meters)

• Highlight positive examples

– Name and shame, reward beacons, – Be an example (sustainable public procurement)

• Encourage collaborative behaviour

– provide function, not product (e.g. car sharing, laundromats; – shared equipment (e.g. farmers tools) – Localise (e.g. time banks, local currencies)

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Address inequality

• Use progressive taxes

– Tax income, property, luxury goods

• and Progressive charges on basic

utilities (e.g. water, energy) – allow free/subsidized minimum for basic services – use exponential unit rates for consumption above set average

• Free/subsidised public goods and

services for low-income

– Health centres, education, public parks,

• Ownership title

– e.g. to small land owners

• Protect micro-enterprises

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MAKING LARGER SYSTEMS CHANGES TO ENABLE LIFESTYLES

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Who’s framing our lifestyle choices?

• engaging the supply chain and marketers -

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Who has the power?

Raw Material Supplier Packaging Producer Brand Owner (Filler) Material Reprocessor Waste/Recycling Collector Distributor (importer) Retailer Consumer Recycled Product Manufacturer Landfill/Incinerator Municipality Dominant significant influence over another stakeholder Less dominant significant influence over another stakeholder Balanced significant influence over each other Balanced less significant influence over each other

Nexus of influence Relationships and stakeholder influence

• n packaging

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Sustainable Supply Chains and Marketing

Brokering …

• Businesses at the nexus of

FMCGs

• Experts from scientific

assessment, standards and labelling, advertising, etc.

• Partner with: WRF, UNEP,

WEF, CI, GRI, etc. …a new pact for businesses

• develop science based guidelines

for choice editing

• minimum health and

sustainability compliance standards

• advertising: e.g. no-ads zones,

limits to children, fact-based

• Product durability, planned
• bsolescence, reparability,

extended warrantees, reusability, recyclability, take-back schemes,

• New products/models for

dematerialisation – servicising, sharing, collb. Consumption

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Where’re we going?

• creating a common vision of the future -

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“We need direction, a vision of what lifestyles would look like in the future, an image of how and what people would eat, move from place to place, live at home, interact with friends, etc. The lack of imagery and destination constraints our ability to move into that future.”

Future scenarios of sustainable living

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• synthesize existing

research,

• modelling,
• back-casting,
• Focus groups
• Delphi process
• Revisiting traditional

lifestyles

• Adaptation in already

constraint societies

• Technologies
• Grassroots innovations

– Transition towns – Voluntary simplicity – One-planet living – Local currencies Building blocks for the future

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Project LIFES

• WG I: Mapping the drivers of (changes in) consumption

patterns in diff. regions and linkages to the environment and societal well-being (see e.g. EEA methodology for Europe)

• WG II: use data and valid scientific methods to develop

different scenarios and possible targets for future sustainable lifestyles (see, e.g. Tim Jackson, SPREAD, and Global Research Forum);

• WG III: options for pathways to sustainable future

(with structural, cultural and macro level change

• ptions for each), and variations for cultural and

economic differences (see e.g. Tellus Institute).

(Lifestyles for the Future Environment and Society)

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How’s Life?

• putting well-being at the centre of progress -

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Integrating quality of life in measures of progress

A strong mandate…:

Agenda 21 (UN 1992, §4.11): “new systems of national accounts and other indicators of sustainable development” … “new concepts of wealth and prosperity which allow higher standards of living through changed lifestyles and are less dependent on the Earth's finite resources and more in harmony with the Earth's carrying capacity”. …with a leadership vacuum

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Scientific groundwork

• Human Development Index

(UNDP);

• Better Life Index (OECD);
• Happy Planet Index (New

Economic Foundation);

• Ecological Footprint (Footprint

Network);

• Genuine Progress Indicator

(Redefining Progress)

• Etc…

Political appetite

• Sustainable Development

Indicators (UK);

• Gross National Happiness

(Bhutan);

• The Commission on the

Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (the “Stiglitz Committee”) (France);

• Happiness Indicators (Japan);

A scientific and political momentum for alternative measures

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• Convene top experts on

existing indicators to consolidate a major framework for quality of development (QoL);

• Link to existing government

“well-being” initiatives;

• set standard indicators and

data sources;

• Methodology for

calculation;

• Capacity building for use

and integration of framework in national planning;

• Comparing QoL to GDP

rates; discount rates of present consumption on future prospects;

• Lodge periodic reporting

within the UN system;

• Link to reporting of QoL

achievements under 10YFP and SDGs Leading the process

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Thank you

Lewis Akenji

Akenji_World Resources Forum 2014_Arequipa

A tale of two footprints

why is the ecological footprint of a poor person in London bigger than that of a wealthy person Lima?

Akenji_World Resources Forum 2014_Arequipa