Our Challenge
With finite resource availability and resilience of the Earth system, current patterns of global development based on continuous extraction of natural resources and people’s exploitation are not sustainable. A fundamental restructuring of current systems of production, distribution, and consumption is indispensable to accommodate world demographic growth and rising consumption while advancing well-being for all in a just and equitable manner on a finite planet.
Meanwhile it is becoming increasingly apparent that focusing largely on science and technology is not sufficient for achieving the types and magnitudes of reductions in material and energy demand that are necessary to prevent social and ecological crises. Equal consideration must be given to end-user consumption and the social structures that drive it upward. Satisfying this more ambitious objective is likely to entail policy measures that limit volumes of production and consumption and raise critical questions about social and economic equity, continued economic growth, and individual and societal well-being.
Our Goals
SSCP KAN works to advance a systems perspective of SCP and to enable a transition to SCP systems.
The KAN aims to contribute to enhancing global equity, reducing unequal access to resources, and enabling all people on the planet to lead flourishing lives within biophysical constraints.
To achieve its lofty aims, the SSCP KAN works to advance a systems perspective of SCP and to encourage and enable an urgent societal transition to SCP systems.
Our Science
Sustainable consumption and production is not just about consuming and producing less but more profoundly about meeting human needs and aspirations in alternative ways of life, which is deeply connected to their cultures and values.
The SSCP KAN will address whole provisioning systems, including consumption practices and production conditions, as well as life-cycle impacts and the economic, political, social, and cultural imperatives that impel consumerist lifestyles.
Our objectives are to gain robust understanding on the systemic nature of the production-consumption system(s) and how systemic social changes could be triggered, accelerated, and implemented. For that, the KAN will move from separate approaches toward more holistic and systemic approaches. We also strive to build an inclusive and collaborative community of researchers and practitioners in policy, civil society, and the private sector. Based on such broad engagement the KAN will facilitate co-design of research, programmatic and policy interventions and advocacy to promote mutual learning and co-production of practice-relevant knowledge.
Research and Engagement Plan
To learn more about the SSCP KAN, download our Research and Engagement Plan that details the field of SCP, the working groups, the history of the KAN, and how we hope the KAN will develop in the future.