Promoting Green Purchasing, Sustainable Consumption & Production

Informing consumers in Asia about the implications of their consumption decisions and providing sustainable options will help the region maintain quality growth without undermining future development. That’s the clear message from Kaveh Zahedi, Regional Director of the UNEP Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific. Next month, on Thursday 13 August at the Singapore Management University an event will be held to present the report entitled “Sustainable Consumption Guide for Policy Makers: Debunking Myths and Outlining Solutions”. It is also the first public event staged in Singapore for the International Green Purchasing Network. Read More

Ken Hickson reports:

Please keep this important date free:

Thursday 13 August at 5.30pm at the Singapore Management University, level 4 of the Administration Building, Corner Bras Basah and Victoria Street.

This event has been a long time coming. I agreed some time ago to work with the International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN) and promote green purchasing, sustainable supply chains and green procurement in Singapore and the region.

I have attended events with and for IGPN in Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan. But now Singapore gets some attention.

This event is an opportunity to look into the latest UNEP report on Sustainable Consumption and Production and why it is important for a mature market like Singapore – arguably “the centre for the unstoppable consumption” in Asia.

With the support of the Wee Kim Wee Centre of SMU, Direct Green and Sustain Ability Showcase Asia (SASA), we are inviting all interested to attend, including Government agencies, community and civil society, NGOs, as well as businesses.

Along with runaway consumption is the associated very serious waste problem. So we gladly support the Government’s intention to move to a zero waste society and support the work of Eugene Tay with his zero waste efforts.

There will be the opportunity for appropriate businesses – with green or eco-products – and the not for profit sector to display their wares and talk about their work.

Please email me directly if you want to be involved in any way.

Kenhickson@sustain-ability-showcase.com

UNEP report (22 June 2015):

New policy guide offers solutions for Asia’s sustainable consumption and production challenges

Prosperity need not cost the earth – literally – according to a new handbook that was released today, which offers guidance to Asian policy makers on ways to sustainably manage the region’s fast-growing appetite for natural resources without affecting their countries’ ability to meet essential consumption needs.

According to the guide, produced jointly by UNEP and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the region will account for 48 per cent of global consumption by 2030, with consumer spending likely to reach US$32 trillion.

“Informing consumers in Asia about the implications of their consumption decisions and helping provide them with sustainable options will help the region maintain quality growth without undermining future development. This guide provides solutions and policy approaches to make sustainable consumption a reality,” said Kaveh Zahedi, Regional Director of the UNEP Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific.

The new guide offers policy makers an overview of thematic solutions to sustainable production and consumption challenges. It also debunks common myths such as ‘Sustainable Consumption is incompatible with Poverty Eradication’ and ‘Informed Consumers will Consume Sustainably’ and explores how sustainable consumption, traditionally part of Asian culture, is being side-lined.

“Understanding sustainable production and consumption is a vital step to designing policies towards sustainable development. There is a dichotomy in Asian countries where, on the one hand, material consumption by a growing consumer class mirrors patterns in affluent industrialised countries. On the other hand, poverty blights marginalised areas of cities and limits opportunities for well-being in villages,” said Lewis Akenji, Senior IGES Policy Fellow and lead author of the handbook.

Consumption driven by choice as opposed to need is expected to increase substantially in Asia as higher incomes raise demand for material possessions. Pointing out that ‘consumption’ should not be confused with ‘consumerism’, the handbook notes that under-consumption by the poor is as unsustainable as high consumption driven by rapidly growing affluence in the region.

The handbook, Sustainable Consumption Guide for Policy Makers: Debunking Myths and Outlining Solutions (Asia Edition).

Source: www.unep.org/roap/Activities/ResourceEfficiency/SustainableConsumptionGuideforPolicyMakersD/tab