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THE ROSENDAL WORKSHOP.
SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION: CLARIFYING THE CONCEPTS
UNITED NATIONS
Distr. GENERAL E/CN.17/1996/36 23 April 1996 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fourth session
New York, 18 April-3 May 1996
Agenda item 3
CROSS-SECTORAL ISSUES, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO THE CRITICAL ELEMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Letter dated 19 April 1996 from the Minister of Environment of Norway addressed to the
Secretary-General
As a follow-up to the Norwegian initiative on sustainable production and consumption, and
as a consequence of the decisions taken by the Commission in 1995, Norway has supported
the work of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in this field.
To facilitate the Commission's work with this issue at the 1996 session, Norway would
appreciate that the OECD report from the Rosendal meeting that Norway hosted would be
available as an official document.*
I will refer to this report in my speech to the Commission, and I would very much
appreciate that it is available to delegations.
(Signed) Thorbjorn BERNTSEN
Minister of Environment
Government of Norway
(* The report of the meeting is being made available in the language of submission only.)
Annex
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................ 3
1.1 THE OECD WORK PROGRAMME ........................... 3
1.2 THE ROSENDAL WORKSHOP ............................. 3
2. WORKSHOP REPORT ......................................... 5
2.1 CLARlFYlNG THE CONCEPTS ........................... 5
2.2 MOVING FROM CONCEPTS TO POLICY DEVELOPMENT ........ 10
2.3 POLICY MEASURES: SOME PRACTICAL PROPOSALS ......... 15
2.4 CONCLUSIONS ...................................... 15
ANNEX A: WORKSHOP BACKGROUND PAPER ............................ 23
ANNEX B: WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS ................................ 75
I INTRODUCTI0N
1.1 THE OECD WORK PROGRAMME ON SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
In June 1993, the OECD Ministerial Council requested the OECD to examine the
relationship between consumption and production patterns and sustainable development. The
Environment Directorate has concentrated its efforts on the development of an OECD Work
Programme for l995-96, and on contributing to the development of an international work
programme on sustainable consumption and production, under the aegis of the UN Commission
on Sustainable Development. Recent activities include the organisation of an Experts
Seminar at MIT, Boston, USA (December 1994), supporting the Oslo Ministerial Roundtable on
Sustainable Consumption (February 1995), the facilitation of information exchange through
the OECD Informal Contact Group on sustainable consumption and the Rosendal Workshop which
is reported on in this paper.
The OECD Work Programme involves three elements:
- Clarifying the Conceptual Framework;
- Identifying Policy Options and Tools;
- Monitoring and Evaluating Progress.
1. 2 THE ROSENDAL WORKSHOP
The Rosendal workshop, "Sustainable Consumption and Production: Clarifying the
Concepts" was organised by the OECD and hosted by the Environment Ministry of Norway,
from 2-4 July 1995. It was intended to make a major contribution to the first element of
the OECD Work Programme by providing for detailed discussion among some 25 policy makers
and other experts who attended the event.
The workshop had three key objectives:
- to identify and examine broad concepts that have been advocated within the
international community to effect changes in levels and patterns of consumption and
production;
- to assess the potential utility of these concepts for policy development and
implementation, thereby highlighting those which appear most promising;
- to clarify boundaries between 'sustainable development' and 'sustainable consumption
and production'
More broadly, the workshop aimed at improving the conceptual basis for policy
development in OECD countries and helping to focus the efforts of other international
organisations on the most promising conceptual approaches to developing policies for more
sustainable patterns of production and consumption.
1.2.1 Workshop Discussion Paper
The starting point for workshop discussions was a background paper Sustainable
Consumption and Production: Clarifying the Concepts, presented in Annex A of this report.
The purpose of the paper was to expand and sharpen debate among experts attending the
workshop. It was prepared for the OECD by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) UK: its
views are those of the consultants and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or
workshop participants.
The paper describes a series of concepts and analyses them in terms of their potential
usefulness to policy makers who are interested in developing and implementing measures to
achieve more sustainable consumption and production patterns .
The concepts were selected by the OECD Environment Directorate to represent the lines
of argument that are most often raised in the current discussion about sustainable
consumption and production. They are:
- carrying capacity (a defined environment's maximum persistently supportable load,
usually expressed in terms of population numbers of a defined species);
- the steady state economy (a human economy characterised by constant population,
capital stocks and rate of material/energy throughput);
- environmental utilisation space or ecospace. (the capacity of the biosphere's
environmental functions to support human economic activities, sometimes defined at a
national or per capita level according to a 'global fair shares' principle);
- ecological footprint (the area of land functionally required to support a community
which lies beyond the land occupied by that community 'appropriated carrying capacity');
- ecological rucksack (the total mass of material flow 'carried by' an stem of
consumption in the course of its life cycle);
- natural resource accounting and green GDP (alternative systems of national accounting
and performance measures, which incorporate ecological and human welfare considerations);
- eco-efficiency (more efficient use of materials and energy in order to reduce
economic costs and environmental impacts - 'more from less').
2 WORKSHOP REPORT
2.1 CLARIFYING THE CONCEPTS
Day l of the workshop opened with a plenary session which reviewed the series of
concepts set out in the background paper. In the course of discussion the following key
points were raised.
- The background paper was felt to provide a good and reasonably comprehensive point of
departure for discussions. The additional concepts of industrial ecology and environmental
debt were noted as requiring further attention.
- The concepts under discussion operate at different levels. Carrying capacity was
identified as a science-based 'foundation' concept and guiding principle. Ecospace,
ecological footprints and rucksacks and the steady state economy serve as metaphors for
social change and offer quantitative approaches to assist in objective setting.
Eco-efficiency is a broad strategy, applicable at micro or macro-level, while green
accounting and green GDP are tools for action.
- With the possible exception of eco-efficiency, the concepts rest on the premise that
there are biophysical limits to current economic growth. However, they do not all imply
that economic growth cannot continue two key options for 'expanding' economies were
mentioned:
- society can pursue qualitative economic development, in which the quality of goods
and services is improved through resource efficient processes and social organisation but
output, in terms of physical volume, does not increase; and
- society can pursue selective quantitative economic growth, which remains viable if,
for example, certain sectors expand but their growth is offset by greater resource
efficiency (leading to reduced inputs) and/or contraction in other economic activities.
- There exist assumptions within concepts (particularly ecological footprints and
ecological rucksacks) about the damaging effects of international trade and the likely
benefits of achieving new (reduced or more efficient) patterns of consumption and
production. Two main points were made in relation to this:
- a simplistic view of developing countries supplying the industrialised world with raw
materials and receiving finished goods in return is no longer accurate. Patterns of world
trade are complex and changing rapidly as manufacturing and service industries relocate at
a global level. It is therefore important to recognise the reciprocal nature of
consumption patterns within and between countries. Policies for more sustainable
consumption/production patterns should focus on creating an 'environmental balance of
trade' rather than achieving regional self-sufficiency. The phenomenon of 'appropriated
carrying capacity' may be best addressed by an open trading system which is managed to
bring mutual benefits environmentally and economically.
- It is currently unclear what the consequences for world trade might be of any major
shift in consumption patterns by develoPed countries.
- Sustainable consumption and production, by definition, concern audiences outside the
world of policy making. Whatever the merits of sophisticated new concepts, it should be
remembered that politicians and the public have an intuitive understanding of carrying
capacity and thresholds and the notion of 'living within our means'. This is an important
foundation for policy making.
- Concepts such as ecological footprints and ecospace have particular value as
descriptive ideas. They can be used as a means of picturing the nature and extent of
environmental damage and the forces causing it. They particularly highlight the current
inequity of consumption levels within countries and between rich and poor nations: they
can serve to inspire the kind of changes needed in industrialised countries.
- The implications which flow from the various concepts should never be regarded as
prescriptive. In seeking to realise their objectives, policy makers should beware of
creating a 'sustainable' society in which people do not wish to live.
2.1.1 Discussion Groups
Following the plenary discussion, participants split into a number of break-out
discussion groups and addressed the questions:
- whether greater clarification of concepts is needed;
- whether additional concepts are needed;
- what policies to encourage more sustainable consumption and prod~ion could be pursued
now (even in the absence of consensus on the definition and scope of sustainable
consumption and production)?
The outcome of the group discussions is summarised below.
Is there a Need for Greater Clarification of Concepts?
Concepts are inherently 'fuzzy': their function is to provide a mobilising vision as
much as to analyse and explain. It is not always helpful to seek to turn them into
scientific theories
It is useful to identify the interlinkages between concepts - despite their different
starting points and philosophies there are many common elements which can serve as a basis
for policy thinking.
It is important to recognise explicitly the subjective judgements and assumptions
underpinning concepts, and the objectives they are seeking to achieve.
An important issue requiring further exploration in some concepts is the notion of
social choice. Scientific assessment of the earth's capacity to sustain human activities
influences, but does not determine, policy making. Establishing critical loads, for
example, involves normative judgements as well as scientific study. Concepts can be most
helpful when they explicitly recognise the need for environmental/economic/social
trade-offs and build their 'future visions' around this political process.
Is there a Need for Additional Concepts?
It was noted by workshop participants that industrial ecology might serve as a unifying
concept, linking the ideas of carrying capacity, ecospace, ecoeffficiency and cleaner
production. Industrial ecology is far-reaching in its use of the metaphor of metabolism to
analyse production and consumption by industry, government, organisations and consumers,
and the interactions between them. However, the concept was generally felt to be of
greatest interest to business; it remains unclear how industrial ecology can be applied in
demand side measures, especially at individual or household level.
The concept of Foodmiles, or the distance travelled from production to market by
agricultural products, was noted as another indicator of the international environmental
impacts of rich consumer lifestyles. A report by the UK-based SAFE Alliance, which
developed the concept, shows that UK food imports by air more than doubled during the
198()s, leading to increased energy consumption and air pollution.
Environmental debt - defined in Sweden as the cost of repairing all environmental
damage in the country that is capable of being repaired - was agreed to be a concept of
great potential value. Environmental debt has already been operationalised in the sense
that the Swedish government has made a commitment that the national environmental debt
will not be permitted to rise any further.
Interest was also expressed in whether researchers or policy makers in developing or
newly industrialising countries have proposed concepts relating to sustainable consumption
and production which might differ significantly from those under consideration at the
workshop.
What Policies Could be Pursued Now?
There was agreement that correcting distorted pricing systems, which currently send the
wrong signals to producers and consumers, still represents the most effective course of
government action.
- Eco-taxes on products and materials remain difficult to implement, though it was
suggested that some industries are becoming more receptive to such measures, if they are
introduced with due care for fiscal neutrality and maintaining national competitiveness.
- Reduction/removal of subsidies, especially in the energy, agriculture and transport
sectors, was felt to be under-explored as a policy option in most OECD countries. Much
information relating to the extent and distribution of national subsidies is lacking, and
too little is known of the costs and benefits which might follow from their removal.
Research in this area is urgently needed.
In the short term, increasing information to producers and consumers is as a 'no
regrets' option. Measures include:
- more product information;
- practical guidance (sustainability 'tips') to individuals and households;
- indicators to broadcast the state of the environment and progress towards targets.
Demonstration projects to pilot and publicise alternative products, services and
lifestyles were felt to be a useful and cost efficient way to learn lessons and encourage
change.
2.2 MOVING FROM CONCEPTS TO POLICY DEVELOPMENT
The second session of the workshop identified a number of concepts as being especially
promising for policy development in that they provide:
- a quantitative basis for decision making (carrying capacity);
- a quantitative basis for, and moral guide to, objective setting (ecospace):
- a set of practical ideas to improve economic and environmental performance
(eco-efficiency).
Participants divided into two discussion groups to consider various issues involved in
translating these concepts into policies for more sustainable consumption and production:
- the use of targets and objectives;
- allocation issues;
- appropriate scale of action; and
- scope of government influence.
2.2.1 Carrying Capacity and Ecospace
Carrying capacity is most easily defined at a local level; for practical policy making,
the notion of global carrying capacity is almost meaningless. Carrying capacity was agreed
to be an essential starting point for discussions about sustainable consumption but it
contains inherent problems relating to implementation. These include:
- scientific uncertainty, which is a major constraint on setting and defending long
term goals and targets for reducing resource use/pollution;
- the 'ideological baggage' of the limits-to-growth controversy dating from the l960s,
which remains a political problem.
Target setting can only be handled as an ongoing process, subject to revision in the
light of new knowledge, technical innovation and changing values.
Critical loads represent society's choices about limits; they are based on scientific
estimates of carrying capacity and value judgements about what is important and what
environmental/economic/social trade-offs are acceptable. Critical loads~ not carrying
capacity, are the real operational substance of political/ environmental debate. The
concept of ecospace could be helpful in this debate, for example, in negotiations over
access to resources and to the right to pollute. Such debates and negotiations are already
in evidence, for example, over whether/how much the developed world should pay poorer
countries to undertake biodiversity protection measures.
The concept of 'environmental capacity', or development thresholds defined in terms of
environmental critical loads and social perceptions of acceptable limits, was felt to be
especially useful in guiding planning policy (eg land use and facility developments) at
local and regional level. Demand side measures to control visitor numbers to tourist
attractions have been introduced following environmental capacity studies of National
Parks in the USA and historic cities such as Venice.
The core issue relating to policy development based on scientifically and/or socially
determined 'limits' is that of allocation of access to environmental goods and services.
This is necessarily a political judgement. Key factors include: relative strength of
interested parties in the decision making process, willingness to pay, traditional
ownership ('grandfathering rights') and equity considerations. Ecospace was felt to offer
useful guidance in the form of:
- illustrating present inequities of distribution;
- suggesting long term goals for greater equity;
- providing quantitative indicators of sustainable resource use and waste generation.
Participants expressed doubts about the ability of carrying capacity or critical loads
to provide the guiding principle of policies for sustainable consumption and production.
While a scientific basis for action is necessary, science clearly needs reinforcing by
social, economic, quality of life or other arguments which:
- focus on evident problems; and
- encourage agreement that action is necessary.
Some speakers agreed that the concept of ecospace is well suited to describing
environmental impacts and social inequities but contested the idea that it could be
helpful in pragmatic allocation decisions, especially at international level. A key
objection is that 'global fair shares' is not in fact equitable because it is unlikely to
allow sufficient 'space' for developing countries to achieve the growth levels they need
for real poverty alleviation and social improvement.
2.2.2 Eco-Efficiency
Eco-efficiency is subject to different interpretations. Business tends to regard it as
a strategy for achieving growth more efficiently ie with lower financial and environmental
costs. NGOs tend to see it as a more fundamental means to reduce absolute levels of energy
and material consumption. There is therefore some confusion over goals and targets.
To date, business and some governments have set targets in terms of improved unit
efficiency. For example, many Dutch industry sectors have committed to achieving 20 Per
cent energy efficiency improvements but no absolute reduction in energy use is implied. By
contrast, some environmental experts have suggested targets which utilise efficiency
measures in order to achieve dramatic cuts in consumption levels: the "Factor 10
Club" has proposed an average tenfold increase in current levels of resource
productivity over the next 30 50 years in order to reduce by half current global flows of
non-renewable materials.
Key problems were identified in relation to both approaches:
- progress on efficiency targets set at enterprise level is hard to verify, both in
terms of company performance and environmental outcomes;
- targets requiring absolute reductions in consumption levels are hard to justify: many
resources are not currently perceived to be in short supply and there is no certainty that
reduced consumption will result in 'sustainability'.
Despite these obstacles, eco-efficiency was felt to represent a flexible and pragmatic
approach, suitable for translating into action at national, regional and local level, by
governments, industry, organisations and households.
Government was felt to have a steering role in:
- defining problems;
- researching and communicating the techniques for, and implications of, major
efficiency improvements;
- creating appropriate incentive frameworks;
- developing public sector infrastructure to enable efficient behaviour;
- promoting and implementing international agreements;
- setting an example eg through implementing 'in-house' efficiency programmes (greening
of government);
- monitoring and reporting progress in all sectors.
Steps in the right direction were agreed to be more important than consensus on long
term goals.
Encouraging eco-efficiency was generally supported as a pragmatic strategy with
potential political and economic appeal. Short to medium term efficiency targets are
likely to encourage 'win-win' management and planning choices. Ambitious, long-term goals,
such as the ten-fold increase in resource productivity proposed by the Factor l0 Club,
were felt to represent a very challenging target.
Eco-efficiency was also felt to be applicable to demand side measures aimed at, or
undertaken by, households. However, the term 'eco-efficiency' was felt to be too obscure
for popular communication; a more meaningful phrase is required .
As with carrying capacity, the concept of eco-efficiency was felt to be insufficient on
its own as a basis for policy making. Wider understanding of interlinkages between
economic activities and environmental damage, driving forces of change and the
psychological/ethical motives of producer and consumer behaviour will be essential to
achieving efficiency gains in consumption and production levels or patterns which will
have a measurable impact.
2.3 POLICY MEASURES: SOME PRACTICAL PROPOSALS
The second day of the workshop also involved a brainstorming session during which
participants listed possible policy measures which could take forward the concepts of
carrying capacity/critical loads and eco- efficiency into practical action. These measures
are summarised in Box 2.3a.
Box 2.3 a Approaches to encouraging sustainable consumption and production suggested by
workshop participants ---------------------------------------------------------Economic
Instruments
- Incremental tax shift from labour to resource use and policies
- Progressive reduction of environmentally damaging subsidies
- Zero VAT rating for the top 10 per cent of energy efficient appliances
- Road pricing, congestion charges and petrol price increases above the rate of
inflation
- Tax incentives for small cars
Regulation
- Building regulations to require dual piping systems for domestic water supplies
- EIA required for government procurement
- Environmental specification bands to be drawn up for government procurement (e.g.
allowing lowest cost purchase within bands)
- Empowerment of consumer organizations through increased scope of action and funding
- Explicit requirements for technology sharing to widen choice of environmentally
benign consumer products
- Promotion of life cycle analysis within eco-labelling framework
- Use electronic information systems to inform/promote environmentally beneficial
behaviour
- Environmental education in pre-school education system
Social Instruments
- Reference was made to the wide range of infrastructural and lifestyle changes
proposed in the report of the workshop "Facilities for a Sustainable Household",
hosted by the Ministry of Environment of the Netherlands, Zeist, the Netherlands, January
1995
- Local infrastructure and facilities to enable more sustainable behaviour, coupled
with public awareness campaigns utilising advertising, icons, symbolism
- Environmental product/service information targeted at procurement agents of
government and companies/organizations
Research and development
- Incentives for industry to undertake market research on the psychology of consumer
purchasing behaviour
- Trend analysis of most successful best practice in industry
- Introduction of comparative ranking of multi- nationals' eco-audits
- Local demonstration projects of "sustainable" lifestyles to understand
preconditions for successful behaviour change
- Promote and develop opportunities for environmental job creation
International cooperation
- Stronger internalisation of environmental costs should be pursued in international
trade negotiations
- Globally compatible eco-labelling scheme, covering environmental inputs and outputs,
for products and services
- Promote use of ISO 14000 and develop version for SMEs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4 CONCLUSIONS
On the second day of the workshop, participants re-examined the full array of concepts
under discussion and reached consensus on a number of conclusions. One conclusions
highlighted the importance of international cooperation in working towards more
sustainable consumption and production patterns. In response, a number of participants
outlined relevant work programmes: these are summarised at the end of this section.
Conclusion l
In pursuit of a conceptual framework for work on sustainable consumption and
production, there appears to be a hierarchical relationship flowing from a core concept,
carrying capacity (and related ideas such as critical loads, ecospace and ecological
footprints), through strategic approaches, notably eco-efficiency, to tools for action
(including green accounting, ecological tax/price reform, design for environment).
Conclusion 2
Encouraging eco-efficiency is currently seen as the most promising strategy, not only
for business, but also for Governments and households. It has significant potential as a
basis for addressing a wide range of environmental problems. The value of an
eco-efficiency strategy could be further enhanced by setting targets. Carrying capacity
and ecospace can provide a foundation from which to derive such targets.
Conclusion 3
It was recognised that, in addition to their value for target setting, concepts such as
carrying capacity and critical loads probably have the most intuitive meaning for
politicians and the public.
Conclusion 4
Ecospace, ecological footprints and ecological rucksacks have value as descriptive
concepts that can be used to illustrate environmental damage and the relationships between
economy and environment. They all embrace the notion of ecological limits. It was
recognised that the distributional issues raised by the use of these concepts are
politically very sensitive and that their value for setting normative objectives needs
further exploration.
Conclusion 5
There is a need to develop more effective parameters, in particular environmental
indicators and green accounting systems, which are better able to define, measure and
integrate environmental/economic problems and to measure the effectiveness of policy
implementation.
Conclusion 6
A common position regarding the nature, context and size of environmental problems to
be addressed is a precondition for the effective introduction of policy tools. Even where
scientific uncertainty exists, this should not prevent planning, policy and implementation
initiatives for more sustainable consumption and production.
Conclusion 7
The discussions on concepts indicated a need for rethinking the relationship between
'North' and 'South'. This is especially relevant for trade and international negotiations.
For example, reduced consumption in the 'North' will not automatically lead to increased
consumption in the 'South'. More needs to be done to clarify global interlinkages.
Conclusion 8
Sustainable consumption and production objectives, and policies to achieve them, should
focus on the reduction of energy and material flows and their harmful impacts. These
policies should take into account their potential impacts in the wider economic and social
sphere, both within and beyond OECD countries.
Conclusion 9
International cooperation will be essential in developing policies to encourage more
sustainable consumption and production. Reflecting the need for continued international
initiatives, representatives from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD) then outlined their work programmes and forthcoming events which will
take forward work on sustainable consumption and production.
2.4.1 OECD
The OECD Work Programme on Sustainable Consumption and Production, 1995-96, has been
developed in response to the high priority accorded the subject by the UN CSD and within
the OECD's Environment Policy Committee. The Programme is led by the Environment
Directorate but involves other OECD Directorates and affiliated agencies. The three
elements of the Programme involve:
- clarifying the conceptual framework;
- identifying policy options and tools; and
- monitoring and evaluating progress.
It is expected that the second element will begin with a study of the transport sector,
to determine environmental, economic and social impacts of current sectoral activity,
identify driving forces and trends and to identify potentially efficient and effective
mixes of policy instruments to influence consumption and production patterns in the
sector.
Interim results of the Work Programme as a whole will be presented to the CSD before
the 1996 meeting and a final synthesis report is scheduled for late 1996, in time for the
five-year review of Agenda 21.
2.4.2 UN CSD
The third session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (April 1995) adopted a
work programme on changing consumption and production patterns. The CSD Secretariat is now
building on inputs received from a number of countries and organisations, attempting to
synthesise ideas and coordinate implementing national actions. The work programme involves
five elements:
- development of long term projections (time horizon of 40 years) to illustrate the
consequences of social and economic development trends on consumption and production
patterns and their associated environmental impacts. This element is a synthesis of
existing studies;
- comparison of social, economic and regulatory policy instruments and packages for
achieving change. This element is based on case studies undertaken in developed and
developing countries; forthcoming workshops in Korea and Brazil will also provide
information;
- further study of the impacts of changes in consumption and production in
industrialised countries on development in poorer countries. The focus will be on trade
implications of eg eco-labelling;
- work with national governments to secure commitments to action on sustainable
consumption and production, including quantified objectives and agreements on monitoring;
- revise UN guidelines for consumer protection to incorporate sustainability
considerations.
Sustainable consumption and production is a key area in the CSD's overall work
programme and is expected to become a central policy issue in l996.
2.4.3 WBCSD
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has established a working group
on Sustainable Production and Consumption, which will shortly merge with a WBCSD working
group on eco-efficiency. The working group's programme aims at (1):
- moving the debate from one which may present barriers and pressure for business to
one of opportunities for commercial enterprises;
- identifying strategies and frameworks that satisfy consumer demand and societal needs
while promoting environmental quality;
- guiding the agenda so as to avoid stifling competition, economic growth and
technological innovation - all necessary components in the achievement of sustainable
production and consumption;
- highlighting business accomplishments in moving towards sustainable production and
consumption, thereby providing a vehicle for the business community to shape the policy
direction of changes in production and consumption patterns.
The WBCSD has adopted a 'platform strategy' to forward this agenda: key events over the
next year include:
- an eco-efficiency workshop, hosted by Dow Chemical in Washington DC;
- a workshop on the role of marketing and advertising in promoting more sustainable
consumption patterns (Oslo, August 1995);
- a workshop on sustainable consumption and eco-efficiency (Davos 1996);
- the fourth CSD meeting (New York, April 1996); and
- the Summit of the Americas, where WBCSD will chair one of the events.
2.4.4 UNEP
UNEP Industry and Environment launched its Cleaner Production Programme in 1990 with
the goal of encouraging countries to move away from end-of-pipe solutions and towards a
preventive approach to reducing industry's impact on the environment. The Programme shares
many of the concerns and objectives of the sustainable consumption and production agenda;
for example, a UNEP working group is currently studying and disseminating information on
sustainable product development. Significant UNEP Industry and Environment programmes and
events include:
- ongoing establishment of National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs) in a joint
venture with UNIDO;
- production of a primer on LCA;
- environmental impact assessments of major technology related decisions eg the
transfer of hazardous wastes;
- preparation of a training kit on environmental management systems for SMEs to help
them implement ISO 14000;
- seminar on the inclusion of environmental issues in the curricula of business schools
(September 1995);
- cleaner production seminars in cooperation with the Wuppertal and Stockholm
Institutes:
- seminar to evaluate progress on the Cleaner Production Programme (Oxford. September
l996).
The European Regional Office of UNEP is providing a platform for policy discussion in
cooperation with Friends of the Earth Europe. A seminar will be held in September, 1995 to
discuss the report Towards Sustainable Europe, produced by the Wuppertal Institute and
FoE, and to examine the role of various social actors in achieving change.
Note
1/ WBCSD, "Sustainable Production and Consumption: Phase I: Definition and
Boundaries," draft document, May 1995.
Annex A
OECD Workshop
Sustainable Consumption and Production: Clarifying the Concepts
2-4 July, Rosendal, Norway
Background Paper
CONTENTS
3 INTRODUCTION ......................................... 25
3.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: SOME OBSERVATIONS ...... 26
3.2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE
CONSUMPTION: DRAWING PRELIMINARY BOUNDARIES ..... 28
4 ANALYSIS OF THE KEY CONCEPTS ......................... 32
4.1 CARRYING CAPACITY .............................. 32
4.2 THE STEADY STATE ECONOMY ....................... 36
4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL UTILISATION SPACE (ECOSPACE) ...... 39
4.4 ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS AND ECOLOGICAL RUCKSACKS .. 42
4.5 NATURAL RESOURCE ACCOUNTING ..................... 47
4.6 ECO-EFFICIENCY ................................. 51
4.7 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF KEY CONCEPTS ............ 59
5 SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION CONCEPTS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS 62
5.1 WHAT IS 'UNSUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION'? ............ 62
5.2 WHAT BROAD CHANGES ARE REQUIRED AND WHO NEEDS
TO ACT? ........................................ 63
5.3 WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS OF
SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION? ........................ 64
5.4 POLICY STARTING POINTS: WHAT IS THE ROLE
OF GOVERNMENT? .................................. 65
5.5 CONCEPTS AND POLICY IDEAS ....................... 67
6 CONCLUSIONS AND ISSUES FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION ..... 71
ENDNOTES ............................................. 72
3 INTRODUCTION
Sustainable consumption was launched as a serious policy issue at the Rio Earth Summit.
Agenda 21 stated that "the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global
environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in
industrialised countries... " "' and called on developed countries to take the
lead in promoting and achieving more sustainable consumption patterns.
The OECD has responded to the challenge of Agenda 21, and subsequent calls for action
by the Commission on Sustainable Development, by undertaking a work programme on
Sustainable Production and Consumption. The programme will stress management of the demand
side of economic activity, rather than control over production processes which has
predominated in environmental policy to date. The term sustainable consumption, as used in
this paper, embraces both end-use consumers and producers in their role as consumers of
energy, raw materials, land and biodiversity.
The first element of the OECD work programme, "Clarifying the Concepts", aims
to contribute to debate on the subject by examining concepts which propose future visions
of more sustainable consumption patterns and suggest means of achieving them.
This paper has been prepared on the basis of a literature review of a number of
concepts, identified by the OECD secretariat as those which, to date, have most often been
introduced into the debate surrounding the need to modify consumption patterns. The paper
also draws on interviews with experts associated with the development of the concepts or
related ideas on sustainable consumption. Concepts reviewed are:
- carrying capacity;
- environmental utilisation space or ecospace;
- the steady state economy;
- ecological 'footprints' and ecological 'rucksacks';
- green accounting (including green GDP and indicators);
- eco-efficiency (including the utilisation-focused economy).
The purpose of this paper is to analyse these concepts in terms of their potential
utility in the development and implementation of policies for sustainable consumption. A
key objective is to offer guidance on 'drawing the boundaries' between sustainable
development and sustainable consumption as a policy area.
A further objective is to expand and sharpen the debate by encouraging international
experts in discussion of the various concepts, with a focus on how they might lead to
promising policy approaches which may be of value to the OECD's work programme.
It is important to note that concepts are overarching intellectual frameworks which
shape ideas but cannot tell us what to do. A fundamental problem in seeking to translate
any of the concepts into operational form is that OECD countries have not yet agreed on
what are priority 'unsustainable consumption patterns'.
3.I SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: SOME OBSERVATIONS
The policy and academic debate surrounding sustainable development at global level
revolves essentially around three key issues which have significant implications for
environmental policy:
- Population Growth. Global population has more than doubled since 1950 and is
projected to grow from the present 5.5 billion to about 8.5 billion by 2025. Growth is
occurring disproportionately fast in the developing countries where
institutional/economic/social systems are currently less able to provide for their
population's well-being. The world's population is urbanising faster than it is growing:
between now and 2025, the world's urban population is likely to triple (2).
- Economic Growth. Global economic output has increased five-fold since 1950. World
commercial energy consumption rose by 45 per cent between 1971 and 1991. Total world
consumption of metals, a good indicator of materials demand, rose sharply between 1977 and
1991: aluminium (20%), nickel (37%), zinc (21%)(1). Improvements in energy and materials
efficiency have been more than offset by increases in volume output.
- Poverty and Global Inequity. There is an enormous wealth and income disparity between
developed and developing countries. Average 1991 GDP per capita was $18,988 in OECD
countries, compared with $2,377 for developing countries. Disparities within countries can
be equally great, creating social tension and encouraging dissatisfaction with (sometimes
adequate) living standards. Despite faster percentage economic growth in the developing
countries over recent decades, the global wealth gap has continued to grow. The share of
global income going to the richest 20% of the world's people rose from 70 per cent in 1960
to 83 per cent in 1989 (3).
Projected increases in human population numbers and levels of economic output are often
identified as the key unsustainable trends in modern society; they Constitute the driving
forces behind increased load on the environment. Within these broad trends there is little
clarity over precisely what is, and is not, sustainable. Opinion also divides sharply over
the capacity of technological advance and the operation of the market to overcome
pollution problems and perceived resource scarcities.
Poverty and the wealth gap are similarly identified as one of the key drivers of
unsustainable environmental degradation. According to the Worldwatch Institute,
"people at either end of the income spectrum are far more likely than those in the
middle to damage the earth's ecological health - the rich because of their high
consumption of energy, raw materials and manufactured goods, and the poor because they
must often cut trees, grow crops, or graze cattle in ways harmful to the earth merely to
survive from one day to the next". (4)
The current sustainable development policy 'package', as discussed in fora such as the
CSD and IUCN/IIED, is based on pursuing objectives which integrate economic, social and
environmental policies in order to:
- avoid and repair environmental damage;
- promote economic development; and
- reduce poverty and inequity at national and global level.
These aims are summarised in Table 1.la. The table indicates the complex interlinkages
between problems and policy responses. Two further factors are noted:
- the bulk of national and international policy making, outside the environmental
sphere, aims to promote, not contain, economic growth;
- key 'megatrends' in global society such as technological advance and the spread of
Western consumer culture, profoundly affect (both positively and negatively) the nature
and extent of population and economic growth, consequent environmental impacts and the
options available to tackle them. Yet they remain largely beyond the reach (or
consideration) of current policy making in any government department.
3.2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: DRAWING PRELIMINARY BOUNDARIES
A sustainable world may be defined as one in which human activities do not undermine
the long term productivity of natural systems. It is generally accepted that some loss of
natural capital (resources and environmental services) can be sustainably substituted by
human made capital (knowledge, technology). It is also widely, though not universally,
accepted that some natural resources and services cannot be wholly substituted: topsoil,
fresh water, operation of the major nutrient cycles.
Consumption and production is the essence of economic activity; it involves the
utilisation of natural resources, their transformation into products and services and
their ultimate disposal or dissipation into the environment as wastes. Traditionally, as
economies expand, overall levels of resource use and waste generation rise.
Sustainable consumpbon, as an issue in the 1970s, centred around the belief that
economic growth was inherently limited by the finite nature of fossil fuel energy,
minerals and other non-renewable resources. This 'no-growth' position has since been
largely discredited on the grounds that it failed to give due weight to the ability of
markets to stimulate technological substitutes as scarcities emerge.
Concern has now shifted to other potentially limiting factors, notably:
- the degradation of renewable resources, particularly agricultural land;
- the accelerating rate of species loss;
- the accumulation of emissions and wastes in the environment whose effects,
particularly in combination, represent a largely unknown risk (eg toxification, climate
change).
Much research and policy thinking on sustainable consumption and production therefore
centres on utilising renewable (and non-renewable) resources more efficiently and
developing 'closed loop' production/consumption systems which prevent the escape of wastes
into the environment. Efficiency and closed loop systems play a key role in some of the
concepts reviewed in this paper.
This essentially environmental perspective has been supplemented by concerns over the
inequitable social consequences of modern industrial consumption and production patterns
and the desire for a fundamental change in the value systems which underlie 'Western'
consumer culture. These concerns have been promoted largely by the development community
and environmental pressure groups respectively.
As the ecological, social and ethical elements of the sustainability debate have
developed, certain assumptions about what constitutes sustainable development, or the
conditions obtaining in a sustainable world, have emerged in recent years. Some of these
assumptions now exert a pervasive influence in many discussions about sustainable
consumption and production and they are evident in a number of the concepts discussed in
this paper. Assumptions include the following:
1) A sustainable world is a world in a state of, or approaching, equilibrium. Many of
the concepts examined in this paper favour the pursuit of equilibrium, either literally
(achieving the technical state of dynamic equilibrium between natural and economic
systems) or, more figuratively, through 'restoring lost balance'. The support of some
NGOs, in particular, for achieving sustainable, equilibrium levels of consumption appears
to be based partly on the perceived attractions of slowing the pace of change and living a
simpler life.
2) A sustainable world is likely to involve reduced levels of production and
consumption in the industrialised world. The change is seen variously as requiring an
absolute reduction in resource use and a return to simpler lifestyles (deep ecology), a
maintenance of present standards of living, achieved through greatly increased energy and
materials efficiency (eco-efficiency), and/or a rethinking of the notion of 'quality of
life' to emphasise less materialistic goals.
3) A sustainable world will be a more equitable world. Present inequities are not only
unjust and morally offensive, they are unsustainable because continued poverty will lead
to ecological catastrophe, social unrest and the loss of the resource base and export
markets on which the comfortable North depends (5). An allied assumption is that reduced
consumpbon in the North will lead to increased development in the South.
These assumptions are especially strong in much NGO thinking on sustainable consumpbon
and can also be detected in recent statements arising out of international government/NGO
meetings (see Box l.2a).
Achieving more sustainable levels and/or patterns of consumption and production is
clearly a vital component of the broader sustainable development agenda. However, if
sustainable consumpbon and production is to be successfully pursued as a distinct policy
area, it would seem necessary to draw clear boundaries around the subject, in order to
clarify objectives and develop appropriate policy tools.
This paper takes the position that sustainable consumption should be approached from
the ecological perspective; issues and assumptions about levels and patterns of energy
use, material throughput and use of available land area should be central to the
sustainable consumpbon debate. The policy focus should be to minimise the risk of
irretrievable damage to the earth's life-support functions. This approach is in line with
the environmental policy perspective of the OECD's work programme and is pragmatic in that
'sustainability' as a policy issue is still largely the province of environmental
agencies.
There are additional reasons for taking this position:
- The goal of biophysical equilibrium (assumption 1) is problematic from a governmental
point of view. Equilibrium states can never be defined (or agreed) and are too long-term
for practical policy making. In addition, economic and ecological systems are so complex
that it is hardly sensible to imagine they can be controlled by human institutions.
- The equation of sustainability and equity (assumption 3) is logically dubious. An
equitable world is desirable for its own sake. It is likely that a sustainable world
cannot be achieved without a greater degree of equity. But a more equitable world would
not necessarily be more sustainable. Therefore, it seems important to draw a distinction
between the distributional consequences (equity) of policies for more sustainable
consumpbon, which must be taken into account, and the pursuit of equity as a key objective
and necessary condition of these policies.
The analysis presented in Section 2 will demonstrate that the essence of all the
concepts under review, in their relation to sustainable consumpbon, may be crudely
summarised as "do more with less". The principal task is seen as being the
reduction of quantitative levels of energy and material consumption in rich countries and
the richer sections of developing nations.
From this perspective, the paper explores what the concepts have to offer in terms of
visions, policy starting points and practical tools for implementation. The next step, to
be undertaken in later stages of the OECD work programme, will be to address the policy
questions:
- what specifically are the objectives of sustainable consumption policies ?
- what mechanisms can best encourage various forms of "doing more with less"
?
- who are likely to be the winners and losers in the process ?
- how can he pain and disruption of change best be mitigated ?
Box 1.2a: Sustainable Consumption: the expanding policy agenda
Agenda 21 did not define sustainable consumption patterns but clearly indicated the
need to focus policy attention on "the demand for natural resources ... and ... the
efficient use of those resources consistent with the goal of minimizing depletion and
reducing pollution." The Rio process discussed two key driving forces of
unsustainability: population growth,. occurring mainly in developing countries, and
"overconsumption" on the part of the industrialized world. Agenda 21 established
all countries' common responsibility for sustainability but pointed out that
responsibilities were differentiated. The rich world was given lead responsibility for
examining its own levels of consumption. The issue of global inequity was introduced by
Agenda 21's statement that "Measures to be undertaken at the international level for
the protection and enhancement of the environment must take fully into account the current
imbalances in the global patterns of consumption and production". (Emphasis added).
Thus, a link between unsustainable consumption patterns and current inequities in global
resource use and pollution was established.
The first Oslo Symposium on Sustainable Consumption restated the biological basis of
consumption patterns: "Current material flows induce pollution, resource depletion,
energy consumption and biodiversity and landscape destruction [which] appear unsustainable
by any standard". However, the working definition of sustainable consumption proposed
at the Symposium also emphasized inter- generational equity and introduced the notion of
quality of life, presumably as a pragmatic response to the infeasibility of policy
measures which might appear to threaten western consumers with a reduced standard of
living: "[Sustainable consumption is] the use of services and related products which
respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of
natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants
over the life cycle of the service of product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future
generations". (6) (Emphasis added)
The burgeoning policy agenda was confirmed at the second Oslo meeting where the key
working document stated that "sustainable consumption is an umbrella term, that
brings together a number of key issues, such as meeting needs, enhancing the quality of
life, improving resource efficiency, minimizing waste, taking a life cycle perspective and
taking into account the equity dimension. Integrating these component parts is the central
question of how to provide the same or better services to meet the basic requirements of
life and the aspirations for improvement for both current and future generations:. (7)
(Emphasis added).
4 ANALYSIS OF THE KEY CONCEPTS
This section of the report describes the key characteristics of each of the concepts
under review and provides a summary analysis in tabular format. The concepts are then
briefly evaluated from the perspective of their potential utility to policy makers.
Possibilities for more specific application in policy making are assessed in Section 3.
4.1 CARRYING CAPACITY
Biologists define carrying capacity as the maximum population of a given species that
can be supported indefinitely by a defined habit. It has traditionally been used as a
measure in the management of wildlife, game or agricultural livestock. The notion of
limits is fundamental to carrying capacity: when the maximum population level is exceeded,
the resource base declines and - at some later date - so will the population.
The human "population explosion" of the last two centuries, and the
concurrent growth in industrial output, has not led to consensus regarding human pressure
on the earth's carrying capacity: the earth is an undefined habitat and its capacity to
support human numbers at a global level is unknown. Pessimists, from Thomas Malthus to
Paul Ehrlich, have argued that unchecked population growth will overwhelm the earth's life
support functions, leading to environmental, social and economic disaster. Optimists, such
as Julian Simon, and many mainstream economists, believe that technological progress and
human ingenuity will always overcome biological 'limits'.
A fundamental problem is presented by the uncertainties surrounding the carrying
capacity of ecosystems, even at national or regional level; we do not understand the
operation of complex, non-linear systems and we cannot measure or predict the point at
which population overload (in the sense of significant failure of biological life-support
functions) might occur.
Opposing interpretations of carrying capacity in relation to human activities have led
to four essentially different approaches to sustainable development and environmental
policy making:
- the notion of limits is irrelevant: continued economic growth under free market
conditions, technological innovation and human ingenuity will be capable of overcoming all
problems relating to resource scarcity or pollution;
- there are economic, environmental and social benefits to cleaner and more efficient
use of resources, but reference to limits and targets is not necessary;
- economic development should be based on the concept of maintenance of stocks whereby
the total capital base of our economy (environmental, physical and human) is preserved by
substitution between different forms of capital is possible ('weak sustainability');
- in addition to maintaining the overall capital base, economic development should
preserve substantial parts of environmental capital intact; such capital should be
regarded as 'critical' and non- substitutable ('strong sustainability').
Table 2.1a Carrying Capacity
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Characteristic Comment
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Intellectual The intellectual heritage of the idea as
Origins applied to human beings on the earth can be
traced from the Ancient Greeks and the Bible.
The modern argument centres on the dilemma of
satisfying the objectives of eco-system
preservation and economic growth (especially in
developing countries), given current
projections of population growth and
energy/material intensive
production/consumption patterns (8).
Key Factors Carrying capacity is a quantitative concept:
key factors include population numbers and
density, affluence and technology
(Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology).
Concerns focus on depletion rates of renewable
and non-renewable resources and the build-up of
hazardous wastes in the environment. The point
at which depletion or waste accumulation might
provoke catastrophic break-down in any of the
earth's like supporting functions remains largely
unknown.
Underlying Natural ecosystems and human economic systems
Assumptions are inextricably linked and neither can be
understood in isolation from the other.
There exist definable, though often undefined,
limits to the capacity of natural ecosystems
to support continued economic growth, which
increases human "load" on the earth. Load is a
function of population numbers and per capita
consumption levels; it embraces both resource
consumption and pollution.
Linkage with A belief in limits to growth has been the
Sustainable driving force behind the development of
environmental economics, pioneered by
economists such as Boulding, Daly, Pearce,
Repetto, El Serafy and Maler. Recent years
have seen a major research effort to develop
more systemic (bolistic) models which can
identify and measure the relationships between
the natural environment and the economy. Key
objectives of environmental economics include:
- development replaces growth as primary
economic goal;
- natural capital and ecosystem services valued
and incorporated into economic accounting;
- adjustment of current future discounting
techniques;
- adjustment of national performance measure
(GDP) to account for resource depletion and
pollution;
- use of integrated ecological/economic models
to predict effects of human behaviour;
- use of marked based incentives to internalise
environmental costs.
The work of environmental economists has been
important in translating the largely
unquantified concept of limits into techniques
available to governments and enterprise.
Formidable methodological problems and
disagreements remain, for example over
valuation techniques and substitutability
between stocks.
Measures/ The basic measure of carrying capacity is
Indicators population numbers per unit area. In
ecological growth models, carrying capacity is
a constant that expresses the environmental
limit by which a population is constrained.
In complex eco-systems, this measure involves
complicated inter-relationships between
mutually dependent species. A common criticism
of carrying capacity as applied to humans, is
that it fails to take account of the different
resource requirements of humans at different
levels of economic development or of human
capacity to 'expand' carrying capacity through
technology. (See Ecospace and Ecological
Footprints for conflicting ideas on this
point).
Economic The concept of carrying capacity does not make
Implications recommendations or imply specific changes in
(e.g.wealth, production and consumption patterns. Is guiding
production/ principle is that we operate 'within the earth's
consumption limits'. Determining limits, and means of
patterns, staying within them, is left to the political
competitiveness, process.
employment)
Trade and Some environmental economists argue that
Development international trade is an inefficient means of
exploiting the earth's productive capacity and
the quest for export led growth (or the need to
earn foreign currency to service debt
requirements) often ;leads to, for example,
environmentally damaging agricultural
practices, inappropriate industrial development
and high energy use and pollution associate
with transportation.
Technology No specific recommendations.
Appropriate Scale Carrying capacity is most easily
of Action operationalised at local level, where
'critical loads' can be determined for
specified environments, for example acid
deposition levels that can be tolerated by
individual heathers. Critical loads are thus
determined by science and value judgements
about what should be protected. The
international nature of threats such as climate
change has stimulated efforts to agree (nominal)
global critical loads for e.g. emissions of C02
and ozone deleting substances.
Proposed Policy Carrying capacity, the most purely scientific of
Approaches the concepts under discussion, offers the least
guidance on 'what we should do'. It is a
concept without a firm political or moral
context. Carrying capacity as a metaphor for
limits and thresholds of change has nonetheless
exerted a strong influence on policy makers,
stimulating the use of risk assessment and the
precautionary principle, action on substance
controls and interest in clean technology and
financial instruments. Scepticism over the
reality of limits, however, has tended to
undermine implementation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1.1 The Scope for Government Action
Carrying capacity is undoubtedly the most influential of the concepts under discussion
in environmental policy development. First generation environmental laws (substance bans
and process controls to protect human health), land use planning (to protect valued
habitats and scenery), performance standards and ambient quality objectives are all based,
however vaguely, on the notion that out social and economic activities must be controlled
in the interests of health, safety and quality of life.
National policy objectives based on stricter calculations of critical loads are rate; a
notable exception being the environmental targets established in the National
Environmental Policy Plan of the Netherlands. The report "Concern for Tomorrow"
(RIVM, 1988) set out environmental quality objectives for the Netherlands, based on
critical load analysis, and estimated the load reduction (expressed as percentages of
polluting emissions) necessary to achieve them. Despite this scientific origin, the
'sustainable level' of pollution, i.e. the Netherlands' carrying capacity for economic
activity, was ultimately determined through the political process. Environmental quality
and pollution reduction targets were agreed only after intense political negotiation and
calculation of the likely impact of environmental policies on economic performance (the
environmental goals of the NEPP are intended to be achieved in the context of a doubling
of GNP).
Another significant development of recent years has been the signing of International
Agreements which recognise limits to global carrying capacity for key pollutants. (These
limits are not absolute but represent thresholds beyond which current human activities
would probably be severely disrupted). For example, the Montreal Protocol (most recently
amended in 1992) aims to eliminate emissions of most ozone-depleting substances - the
'sustainable level' of emissions is not known and carrying capacity has effectively been
agreed to be zero. The Climate Change Convention (1992) commits signatory countries to
stabilise their emissions of CO2 at 1990 levels; again sustainable emission limits are not
known but stabilisation would represent an important first step.
A key lesson of these agreements appears to be that precise knowledge of carrying
capacity is less important than the perceived need for action and the ability to agree on
goals that can demonstrate progress in the right direction. As scientific understanding
and technical possibilities advance, these political agreements on carrying capacity will
be continually redefined.
4.2 THE STEADY STATE ECONOMY
The concept of the steady state economy (SSE) was developed as a paradigm of
sustainable development by Herman Daly (see BOX 2.2a). The SSE is defined by four
characteristics:
- a constant population of human bodies;
- a constant population or stock of artifacts (exosomatic capital or extensions of
human bodies);
- the levels at which the two populations are held constant are sufficient for a good
life and sustainable for a long future;
- the rate of throughput of matter-energy by which the two stocks are maintained is
reduced to the lowest feasible level. For the population, this means that birth rates are
equal to death rates at low levels so that life expectancy is high. For artifacts, it
means that production equals deprecation at low levels so that artifacts are long lasting,
and depletion and pollution are kept low.
The SSE assumes that the stock of humans and artifacts remains constant while the
elements of 'cultural capital' - information. wisdom, distribution of wealth and income,
product mix etc - can change.
More recently, Daly has introduced the metaphor of the 'Plimsoll Line' for the
environment. Samuel Plimsoll was a British Member of Parliament who, in 1875, proposed
that a line be painted on the hulls of ships, indicating the depth to which they could
safely be loaded. An environmental Plimsoll line would therefore indicate the 'level' to
which the environment can be burdened by economic activity without unacceptable
consequences. The level of the mark is an overall constraint within which different
economic activities (equivalent to different elements of ship's cargo) can be increased,
decreased or moved around. A steady state economy should operate at, or below, the
Plimsoll line.
Table 2.2a The Steady State Economy
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Characteristic Comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intellectual The concept as applied to sustainable development owes most
Origin to the American environmental economist Herman Daly who set
out his ideas in 1977 in "Steady State Economics" (9). He
notes that the concept is not new (citing John Stuart Mill's
chapter in "Principles of Political Economy") and reminds us
that the notion of growth as the norm is relatively new in
Western thinking.
Key Factors Daly's work rests on the premise that the human made economy
is "an open sub-system of the earth ecosystem, which is
finite, non-growing and materially closed". As the economy
grows, it incorporates an increasing proportion of the total
ecosystem; it must reach a limit at 100% if not before.
Sustainable economic growth is therefore, in Daly's view,
"an impossibility theorem".
A distinction between economic growth, conceived and
measured in quantitative terms, and economic development,
conceived in qualitative terms and measured in terms of
efficiency ratios.
Underlying The steady state economy is a non-growth economy in bio-
Assumptions physical equilibrium with natural systems. A dynamic
element is allowed for in terms of human culture but the
objective of cultural dynamism is to maintain ecological
equilibrium.
The steady state economy is achievable only through "moral
growth" of human society, in which consensus on "objective
values" takes precedence over technical determinism and
enables society consciously to choose a new direction.
Linkage with Ecological viability: The steady state economy depends on
Sustainable the adoption of socio-economic behaviour patterns where
Development a) stocks are satisficed or maintained at a level sufficient
for an abundant life for the present generation and
ecologically sustainable for a long (but not indefinite)
future; b) service is maximised, given the constant stock;
and c) throughput is minimised. The overall goal is
sustainable equilibrium between economic and natural systems
within the earth's carrying capacity.
Equity: Daly summarises the right rules of action as that
which pursues a sufficient per capita income for the
greatest number of people over time: "the basic needs of all
present people take priority over future numbers, but the
existence of more future people takes priority over the
trivial wants of the present". Daly notes the difficulty of
defining "sufficient" (though not "trivial").
Quality of life: Daly assumes that beyond some level of
sufficiency, further increase in per capita goods does not
increase quality of life and may diminish it. Despite the
social and economic control required in the SSE, the point
is made that freedom is to some extent a function of slack,
or the distance between maximum carrying capacity and actual
load. A system operating at its carrying capacity has no
room for error or the freedom that permits error.
Measures/ Key macro-level measures identified in "Steady State
Indicators Economics" are:
- service efficiency, measured in terms of allocative
efficiency ("does the stock consist of artifacts that
people most want to use and are they allocated to the most
important uses?") and distributive efficiency ("is the
distribution of the stock among alternative people such
that the trivial wants of some people do not take
precedence over the basic needs of others?")
- maintenance efficiency, measured in terms of durability
(lifetime of an individual artifact) and replaceability
(how easily can the artifact be replaced ?).
Economic Impli- The concept of SSE is independent of GDP. Alternative
cations (e.g. social accounts proposed are to measure the value of service
wealth, (benefit) and the value of throughput (cost). Economic
production/ development is defined in terms of an increase in efficiency
consumption ratios, with stock constant, or as an increase in service,
patterns, with throughput constant. Daly argues that the likely
competitive- market effects of minimum and maximum income levels, maximum
ness, wealth limits and resource depletion quotas (see "Proposed
employment) Policy Approaches" later in this table) would be the
legitimation of private property and the free market and the
removal of incentives for monopolistic behaviour by
enterprise, for unionised labour and for distorting
subsidies by government. His exposition is too detailed to
be adequately summarised in this paper.
Trade and Resource depletion quotas are also proposed for imported
Development raw materials (but not finished goods), enabling control
over the 'footprint' effect (see Section 2.4). Raw material
exporting countries would suffer from reduced export
opportunities but are expected to benefit from long-term
enforced improvement in the management of their own
resources. Population control and environmental protection
policies are foreseen as possible preconditions for
membership of new free-trade blocs.
Technology A fixed rate of resource depletion (achieved via quotas) is
expected to focus technology development on solar energy and
renewables.
Appropriate National, to be followed by internationally coordinated
Scale of action.
Action
Proposed Policy Daly proposed a centralised 'Distribution Institution' to:
Approaches
- set upper limits to wealth and income and minimum limits
to income (though not to wealth);
- allocate transferable birth licences to achieve population
stability (an idea first proposed by Kenneth Boulding in
1964);
- establish depletion quotas to control resource use.
The allocation of depletion quotas and distribution of
income within upper and lower limits would be governed by the
market. Distribution of birth licences to be on the basis
of equity (one person, one licence) but reallocation via
market exchange would be allowed.
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4.2.l The Scope for Government Action
The steady state economy is proposed as an alternative to the conventional
growth-oriented economic model in which exchange value, abstracted from physical energy
and material flows, circulates between firms and households in a closed loop. It is a
non-growth economy, maintained at some desired, sufficient level by low rates of
maintenance throughput. The concept is intended to reshape our notions of economic growth
and, more fundamentally, of what constitutes human progress.
The steady state economy presents a moral and intellectual framework - a new paradigm
which will attract the interest of policy makers to the extent that it reflects their own
beliefs, values and preferences. The concept's value lies in its possible influence on
decision makers at a personal, ethical level. It is clearly not capable of direct
translation into policy in any conceivable near term political economy. In particular,
achieving and maintaining the steady state economy would require an improbably high level
of centralised and consistent control. Apart from the implications for civil liberties, it
seems likely that economic and ecological systems are too complex to be managed in this
way by human institutions.
However, a key element of the concept is that the final benefit of all economic
activity is service ie "the satisfaction experienced when wants are satisfied".
This is the essence of the 'end-user approach' which seeks to identify and meet consumer
demands through providing more sustainable goods and services. This issue is discussed in
more detail in Section 2.6.2: The Utilisation-Focused Economy.
4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL UTILISATION SPACE (ECOSPACE)
Environmental utilisation involves the use of resources from and discharge of wastes
into the environment. The environment responds by regenerating (renewable) resources and
absorbing wastes: this capacity is the available 'space', the boundaries of which are
determined by the patterns and levels of economic activity (utilisation). As environmental
degradation increases, reducing regenerative and absorptive capacity, the environmental
utilisation space decreases.
Environmental utilisation space (also known as EUS or ecospace) is described by Hans
Opschoor, one of the foremost thinkers on the subject, as a metaphor to capture the notion
of limits and the need for redistribution of access to resources. Academic researchers and
NGOs have developed the concept very much with a view to developing thinking on
sustainable consumption. A key objective in the development of ecospace has been to extend
the notion of carrying capacity by using human economic activities (not population) as the
measure of critical loads and, particularly, by linking regenerative and waste absorptive
processes to one another in order to demonstrate environmental/economic interlinkages.
Environmental utilisation space refines the concept of carrying capacity in other
respects:
- It is a dynamic concept; societies can exist at different intensities of
environmental utilisation. They can live beyond their ecospace by accepting environmental
degradation (but this will reduce the ecospace available to future generations unless the
damage can be repaired), and they can expand their ecospace through efficient technologies
and restructured production/consumption patterns.
- It is not purely science based. The concept favours 'strong' sustainability
(preservation of renewable stocks at levels sufficient to sustain income; quality of
regenerative systems maintained at beyond minimum safe standards). However, it accepts
that societies must determine their own feasible level of environmental utilisation which,
while it must not undermine life support functions, may be less than optimal
environmentally (eg acceptance of some species loss).
- It relates environmental limits to the energy and material demands of economic
processes (who needs, produces and consumes what). The limits can be effectively expanded
where new technologies/behaviour Patterns enable more economic value or utility to be
derived from given environmental inputs with less pollution and waste. The implication is
that economic rowth per se is no constrained by national or global ecospace.
Table 2.3a Environmental Utilisation Space (Ecospace)
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Characteristic Comment
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Intellectual The term EUS was first used by Horst Siebert in 1982 (10).
Origin The concept has been applied to sustainable development and
developed in some detail by Opschoor et al (11), with
particular emphasis on understanding the dynamic interaction
between physical limits and human demands on the
environment. The ecospace concept has been adopted with
enthusiasm by NGOs, notably Friends of the Earth, who see
it as a basis for achieving more equitable distribution of
access to global environmental services (use of resources
and the 'right to pollute').
Key Factors Quantitative limits (carrying capacity and critical loads)
set on the basis of scientific analysis and political
evaluation of the risks associated with exceeding such
limits. Some analysts add a distributional element, and try
to allocate established ecospace at a national, regional or
per capita level (global 'fair shares').
Underlying A complete picture of limits to growth can never be known
Assumptions and, in any case, limits will be subject to constant change.
Determining ecospace and related policy objectives, will be
a continuous, political process.
Greater global equity is necessary for sustainability. The
current example set by the affluent North creates an
irresistible political/social demand in developing countries
to achieve, not simply an equivalent level of comfort, but
the same lifestyle.
Linkage with EUS is defined by the interaction of environmental services
Sustainable (sources and sinks) and human activities; unlike carrying
Development capacity, it has no meaning as a purely biophysical concept.
The concept therefore leads itself to development as a
politically pragmatic tool for thinking about sustainable
development.
Ecospace highlights the interlinkages between human demands
and impacts on environmental services. For example,
industrial pollution of the North Sea affects the fertility
of fish, therefore fishing quotas need to take account of
industrial activity. Trade-offs between environmental costs
and economic benefits are thus made more explicit.
On the issue of equity, ecospace provides a rationale for
dividing (hypothetical) rights to consume and pollute.
Division on a per capita basis is not assumed to be a wholly
workable goal but it provides (a) a yardstick for broad
assessment of current inequities and (b) a starting point
for allocation of rights in any future extension of
marketable rights (e.g. tradeable permits) to global
commons.
Measures/ Measures of environmental utilisation space must somehow
Indicators incorporate its dynamic element - the fact that human
demands and impacts on the environment change over time. A
measure suggested by Musters et al (12) is that of
'functional unit' which measures the size of a resource,
modified according to the (competing) demands made on it and
the quality required accordingly. Environmental performance
indicators based on EUS are under development (13).
Friends of the Earth Europe chose to calculate Europe's EUS
not according to resource availability but on the basis of
environmental impacts of resource use. They propose a set
of indicators based on key resource input levels (which take
account of both resource depletion and pollution levels).
Economic Impli- Opschoor proposes a flexible ecospace, determined by science
cations (e.g. and value judgements, which allows for economic growth
wealth, subject to a precautionary approach to environmental
production/ exploitation. Friends of the Earth interpret ecospace as a
consumption more physical ceiling to economic growth and suggest a
patterns, non-growth economy managed within defined matter-energy
competitive- throughput limits. Certain sectors of the economy may
ness, continue to grow if others shrink correspondingly. However,
employment) FoE emphasise the potential for maintaining comfortable
lifestyles within these limits. Alongside technological
change (see below) FoE propose a 'new model of wealth' that
redefines well-being in less product and service oriented
ways.
FoE see wealth distribution is a critical factor; the North
must accept a much reduced ecospace in order that the South
can achieve acceptable standards of socio-economic
development. FoE propose the overall consumption levels in
the presently industrialised world should be reduced by a
factor of 10. (See also Table 2.6a and endnote 35).
Trade and The ecospace concept presents no serious objections to
Development international trade in principle. Global 'fair shares'
implies that more ecospace (resource and sink capacity) will
be made available for use in developing countries, rather
than being exported to the rich North.
Technology Technology is key to allowing continued economic growth
(Opschoor) by expanding the available ecopace. It is also
critical in FoE's scenario of a sustainable Europe:
increased resource efficiency, reduced material input,
optimised products, new eco-efficient services are proposed
in order to achieve their target input reductions.
Appropriate The appropriate scale is largely a function of time.
Scale of Global calculations of ecospace and agreement on global
Action fair shares would be a continuing process into the
foreseeable future. The concept arguably could have more
immediate application at regional or local level. The
global equity element might be downplayed but national
calculations of ecospace could provide useful guidance in
deciding between development options (for example, more
energy consumption v more land lost).
Proposed Policy An explicit attempt to build a policy approach around
Approaches ecospace has been made by Friends of the Earth (FoE), in
their scenarios for a 'sustainable Netherlands' (14) and
'sustainable Europe' (15). FoE calculated the ecospace of
the Netherlands and of Europe by estimating global or
continental environmental resources and services and
'sharing' them globally on an equal per capita basis. If
calculated national ecospace is regarded as a national
'budget', the political process then becomes one of
determining 'how much the nation can spend' and policy
objectives should be framed in terms of inputs.
This approach represents a departure from traditional
environmental policy which tends to focus on outputs, i.e.
pollution levels. The FoE studies suggested input reduction
targets for energy ad key raw materials. Input targets, FoE
argue, offer the possibility of controlling resource use,
limiting pollution and stimulating efficiency. They also
provide a measure of the 'sustainability gap', i.e. the
difference between our present input (consumption) levels
and sustainable levels.
FoE regards ecological tax reform as crucial. Tradeable
permits are viewed by both Opschoor and FoE as a key
mechanism for making input targets and quotas operational.
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4.3.1 The Scope for Government Action
Environmental utilisation space has generated intense interest among NGOs; 29 national
Friends of the Earth organisations are participating in a joint programme to develop
concrete proposals for sustainability based on the concept. Interest at government level
appears to be largely confined to the Netherlands, encouraged perhaps by the country's
highly visible environmental pressures, the intellectual framework of the NEPP, and a
cultural tradition of shared responsibility.
Ecospace, as defined by Opschoor, offers an ethical point of departure and a framework
for policy making, which explicitly addresses the need for scientific measurement,
subjective judgements on risk and uncertainty and political dialogue on 'fair shares'.
Risk assessment is envisaged as playing a major role in decisions on how much ecospace to
utilise. Since attitudes to risk become more stringent with increasing wealth, disputes
between North and South on the physical boundaries of development are to be expected.
Opschoor foresees a long political process in which risks and standards are constantly
redrawn, with a gradual convergence between countries (in the manner that standards
regarding social and labour conditions are still converging).
Critics of distributional interpretations of ecospace argue that the calculation of
global 'fair shares' is an unnecessary complication. International agreements on
distributional issues are negotiated in a complex web of political and economic clout,
existing rights of use (grandfathering) and current understanding of technical
feasibility, costs and perceived risks. However, it is fair to say that current
international debate regarding, for example, national 'rights' to emit carbon dioxide or
to use the genetic resources of tropical rainforests, represent precisely the blend of
science and political negotiation described above.
A disadvantage of ecospace, especially as espoused by FoE, is that 'living within the
ecospace' has overtones of rationing; a difficult message to sell where most
consumers/producers do not recognise resource scarcity (eg oil) and/or the link between
consumption and ecological damage is not immediately apparent (e.g. species loss).
4.4 ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS AND ECOLOGICAL Rucksacks
The concepts of ecological footprints and ecological rucksacks have been developed in
an attempt to estimate the environmental capital requirements of an economy, based on an
interpretation of carrying capacity that takes into account the impacts of technological
advance and trade.
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