Sustainable Development Goal 12

Do you ever find yourself sitting at home thinking about all the items you've ever bought, or how much you've ever thrown away? This is your consumption. What about all the consumption and production that's ever occurred across the entire Earth? It's got to be a lot, right? Which is why we have Sustainable Development Goal 12. This target was set by the United Nations (UN), to meet the goal of sustainable consumption and production in 2030. Keep reading this explanation to learn all about Sustainable Development Goal 12.

Sustainable Development Goal 12 Overview

During the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, the UN set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to be met by the year 2030. The goals are to be implemented by every country and also aim to create a global partnership across all countries. The main aim of the Sustainable Development Goals is to improve the quality of life for all, as well as also conserving and protecting the natural environment, all whilst facing extreme issues such as climate change.

Each goal has a different focus, ranging from ending all hunger to protecting all ecosystems on earth. Together they aspire to improve the world, by making all resources sustainably, conserving the planet in every way, and ensuring everyone lives a high standard of life.

The 12th Sustainable development Goal aims for all consumption and production patterns to be sustainable by 2030.¹ This is because current patterns of consumption and production are unsustainable, which is contributing to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.¹ These are all important issues that need to be addressed and prevented.

Fig 1. SDG 12 Logo

Why is SDG 12 Important?

Our global population is on the rise, and this is placing increasing pressure on our natural resources.

Additionally, in today's society, humans use a range of resources from oils, gas, and minerals, to energy, food, and water. The overuse of these resources contribute to unsustainable consumption and production. However, they are vital to societal development and economic development. It is therefore critical that in economic development, the environment is not harmed as a consequence. So, SDG 12 intends to urge sustainable economic growth, especially in developing countries (where it is most needed), whilst simultaneously preventing the degradation of ecosystems.

Fig 2. Map of the Countries With the Highest Amount of Material Consumption.

Sustainable Development Goal 12 Purpose

The main goal of SDG 12 is to "ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns".¹

Sustainability is the key element of this objective. This means exercising sustainability in all aspects of consumption and production.

Consequently, changes to the way society consumes and produces need to be made. This can be through learning how to manage our resources correctly and efficiently, enforcing policies, reducing waste, and utilizing technology. These are tackled through a series of targets within SDG 12 which will be discussed in more detail later.

Targets, Indicators and Progress

Although the main problem SDG 12 tackles are unsustainable consumption and unsustainable production, there are a series of different issues within consumption and production. These are land degradation, declining soil fertility, unsustainable water use, overfishing, marine environment degradation, and the contribution to Greenhouse Gas emissions. These issues all add to the major crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

So, let's take a look at how these difficulties are managed.

The Eleven Targets of SDG 12

Within SDG 12, there are 11 targets that each combat the different problems faced in combatting SDG 12. They include:

• Encouraging All Countries to Act in Sustainable Consumption and Production
• Efficient Use of Resources
• Reducing Food Waste
• Better Management of Chemical Waste
• Reduction in Waste
• Encouraging Companies to Become More Sustainable
• Sustainable Policies
• Education on Living a Sustainable Lifestyle
• Using Technology to Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Occurs
• Sustainable Tourism
• Fossil Fuel Subsidies

All the targets have different dates to be accomplished. One target has a 2020 goal, four have goals of 2030, and six do not have a date set.

Let's examine each of these targets in more detail: ³

SDG 12 Waste Management

Food and energy are two major resources that produce waste and are inefficient. Let's take a look at these significant issues and how SDG 12 attempts to improve them.

Food

Food is imperative to human survival. Despite this, there are multiple challenges in food production regarding waste and the environment.

There are many stages of food production, from harvesting to transportation, production, and consumerism. At each of these stages, there is food waste. The UN has estimated that 1/3 of food is wasted each year.³

Additionally, during the process of food production, from harvesting to consumption, there are many opportunities for environmental damage. SDG 12 is attempting to prevent these issues by ensuring food system efficiency and sustainability, which will also lower production costs. This means less food is made initially and therefore, costs would be lower.

Fig 3. Waste Can Occur During Food Production Stages.

Energy

Energy is another resource that is important to our present society. Therefore, energy usage is on the rise. However, energy is still wasted and used inefficiently. This largely contributes to Greenhouse Gas emissions.

A solution to this issue is the use of green energy. Renewables such as solar or wind-powered energy are classed as green energy. This type of energy is much better for the environment than fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

The management of electronic waste is also essential, and a problem SDG 12 is trying to tackle. This waste is toxic and causes huge environmental harm. By managing this concern through correctly storing electronic waste, this issue can be tackled.

Responsible Consumption and Production

Consumption and production are at the core of the global economy. This means that for economic development to occur, responsible consumption and production need to take place. However, responsible is the keyword here. To guarantee that environmental degradation does not occur during the processes of consumption and production, but also to ensure waste is dramatically reduced and prevented where necessary during these processes.

Heavily relied-upon resources are being over-exploited and are therefore becoming increasingly damaged. Furthermore, the vast majority of these resources are finite, which means they will eventually run out.

The global material footprint measures the environmental damage to economic development. According to the UN: "The global material footprint (…) grew by 17.4% to 85.9 billion metric tons in 2017 as compared to 2010".⁴ This shows how much environmental harm is happening as a consequence of economic development, and why consumption and production must occur responsibly.

Everyone is responsible for consumption and production. This ranges from consumers who can reduce the amount of waste they produce and make responsible and informed decisions regarding purchases that could contribute to waste. To more major players such as manufacturing industries.

So, what are manufacturing industries?

These types of industries are vital in achieving SDG 12 because they are historically one of the main culprits of over-consumption and over-production. Through education and new sustainable solutions that contribute positively to the environment and society, businesses can add to the ambition of SDG 12 to make considerable improvements to unsustainable consumption and production.