Handbook Of Research On Sustainable Consumption And Production For Greener Economies

Over the past 50 years, one of the biggest worldwide concerns has been ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns. Growing interest in the circular economy model provides the chance to create system-wide goals for all societies with economic, financial, and governance decision-making as critical drivers and solutions. The Handbook of Research on Sustainable Consumption and Production for Greener Economies examines the critical factors that can encourage sustainable consumption production patterns and a green economy. The major barriers hindering consumers and producers from moving towards sustainable consumption, sustainable consumption behavior and production patterns, the green economy, and more are explored. Covering topics such as green economy, sustainable consumption, and resource management, this book is ideal for government officials, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and more.

This Handbook compiles the state of the art of current research on sustainable consumption from the world�s leading experts in the field. The implementation of sustainable consumption presents one of the greatest challenges and opportunities we are fac

Handbook of Green Economics reveals the breadth and depth of advanced research on sustainability and growth, also identifying opportunities for future developments. Through its multidimensional examination, it demonstrates how overarching concepts, such as green growth, low carbon economy, circular economy and others work together. Some chapters reflect on different discourses on the green economy, including pro-growth perspectives and transformative approaches that entail de-growth. Others argue that green policies can spark economic innovation, particularly in developing and emerging market economies. Part literature summary, part analysis and part argument, this book shows how the right conditions can stimulate economic growth while achieving environmental sustainability. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students and academic researchers whose focus is on the green economy. With an increasing interest in the topic among researchers and policymakers, users will find different theoretical perspectives and explore policy implications in this growing subject area. Covers the failures of the past, the challenges of the present, and the opportunities of the future Surveys 10 aspects of the green economy, including conceptualization, natural capital, poverty and inequality, welfare, and finance Emphasizes the theoretical and empirical aspects of greening approaches that are policy-relevant

Cities, economies, and societies around the world must address the urgent global challenges such as climate change or the transition towards a greener and digital economy. It is important that economies are transformed into resource-efficient, competitive, and resilient ones. In the context of rapid change, transformative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, or the internet of things (IoT) play a key role in this digital transition across a wide range of areas. The Handbook of Research on Building Greener Economics and Adopting Digital Tools in the Era of Climate Change discusses global challenges like the transition towards a circular, greener, and digital economy. It proposes actions to advance the agenda towards climate-friendly businesses and economies. The book fosters cooperation among researchers, companies, and policymakers to share national initiatives and disseminate relevant knowledge. Covering topics such as cross-cultural communication, green product consumption, and organization performance strategies, this major reference work is an essential resource for business leaders and managers, entrepreneurs, government officials, politicians, policymakers, environmentalist organizations, students and faculty of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Since the 1992 World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, the looming prospect of Earth’s changing climate has inspired a broad movement dedicated to a sustainable future. In this Handbook, the author explains the elements of a sustainable economy, the development of which must be undertaken if we are to retain our civilization. The first section offers a critical analysis of orthodox economical thinking, and the tools used by the conventional economy to solve the “environmental problem.” The author examines the theory and tools of Environmental Economics addressing the commodification of nature, and offers analysis of the theoretical and practical contradictions which arise from attempts to combine environmental protection and free trade. Part II discusses the principles and tools needed to build a sustainable economy, including the concept of biomimicry as a guiding principle of sustainability, a brief description of the adaptive cycle of ecosystems and explains the concept of transformability and the factors that determine it. Discussion includes a broad evaluation of the capacity for transformation of National Sustainable Development Strategies and an analysis of the essential requirements of ecology-based tax reform. Also included is a critical vision of the dominant paradigm of science and technology. The third section explores sustainable production and consumption, discussing energy, transport, the circular economy of materials and sustainable consumption. Included are a detailed analysis of factors that determine the limits of fossil fuels, a description of the peak oil structural effect and its sectoral impacts, an overview of a sustainable electric system and a review of biofuels, electricity and hydrogen. The author concludes that only hydrogen associated to fuel offers a sustainable alternative to oil. Discussion includes a view of the structural causes of the current high-level consumption model through the lens of motivation, provision and access systems and a detailed description of policies that must be adopted as part of a sustainable consumption strategy. The final chapter undertakes the task of analyzing the capability of our societies to transform themselves to reach sustainability. The author broadly evaluates each factor, as a prior step to carrying out an overall evaluation and demonstrates that in order to accomplish a comprehensive analysis, a multidisciplinary group is necessary.

Economies around the world have arrived at a critical juncture: to continue to grow fuelled by fossil fuels and exacerbate climate change, or to move towards more sustainable, greener, growth. Choosing the latter is shown to help address climate change, as well as present new economic opportunities. This Handbook provides a deeper understanding of the concept of green growth, and highlights key lessons from the experience of green transformations across the world following a decade of ambitious stimulus packages and green reforms.

Economic growth and increasing population impose long-term risks to the environment and society. Approaches to address the impact of consumption and production on bio-diversity loss, resource availability, climate change, and mounting waste problems on land and in seas have yet not proven to be successful. This calls for innovative approaches to address the complex environmental, social, and economic interrelationships that have to be addressed in transforming to sustainable development. Sustainable Consumption and Production, Volume I: Challenges and Development aims to explore critical global challenges and addresses how consumers, producers, the private sector, international organizations, and governments can play an active role in innovating businesses to support a transitioning towards sustainable consumption and production. The book explores different approaches and innovations to address sustainable consumption and production. It details multiple social and economic contexts to the challenges and developments towards a sustainable consumption and production. The book is of interest to economists, students, businesses, and policymakers. Chapter 14 and chapter 15 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Circular economy principles are driving to overcome the challenges of today’s linear take-make-dispose production and consumption patterns through keeping the value of products, materials, and resources circulating in the economy as long as possible. Sustainable Consumption and Production, Volume II: Circular Economy and Beyond aims to explore the sustainable consumption and production transition to a circular economy, while addressing critical global challenges by innovating and transforming product and service markets towards sustainable development. This book explores how consumers, private sector, relevant international organizations, and governments can play an active role in innovating businesses to help companies, individuals (consumers and citizens), organizations, and sectors, to remain competitive, while transitioning towards sustainable markets and economies. It is of interest to economists, students, businesses, and policymakers.

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) was adopted as a priority area during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and has since become one of the main vehicles for targeting international sustainability policy. Sustainable consumption focuses on formulating equitable strategies that foster the highest quality of life, the efficient use of natural resources, and the effective satisfaction of human needs while simultaneously promoting equitable social development, economic competitiveness, and technological innovation. But this is a complex topic and, as the challenges of sustainability grow larger, there is a need to re-imagine how SCP policies can be formulated, governed and implemented. The EU-funded project "Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges" (SCORE!) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE! philosophy is that innovation in SCP policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can profitably make the products and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix. System Innovation for Sustainability 1 is the first result of a unique positive confrontation between experts from all four communities. It examines what SCP is and what it could be, provides a state-of-the-art review on the governance of change in SCP policy and looks at the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. The SCORE! experts are working with actors in industry, consumer groups and eco-labelling organisations in the key consumption areas of mobility, food and agriculture, and energy use and housing – responsible for 70% of the life-cycle environmental impacts of Western societies – with the aim of stimulating, fostering or forcing change to SCP theory in practice. The System Innovation for Sustainability series will continue with three further volumes of comprehensive case studies in each of these three critical consumption areas. Each chapter of this book examines problems and suggests solutions from a business, design, consumer and system innovation perspective. It primarily examines the differing solutions necessary in the consumer economies of the West, but also comments on the differing needs in rapidly emerging economies such as China, as well as base-of-the-pyramid economies. The System Innovation for Sustainability series is the fruit of the only major international research network on SCP and will set the standard in this field for some years to come. It will be required reading for all involved in the policy debate on sustainable production and consumption from government, business, academia and NGOs for designers, scientists, businesses and system innovators.