SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Published on :- October 6th, 2022

The UN ranks India 31st in the world for Responsible Consumption and Production, making it one of the nations highest rankings among all 17 SDGs.

    To continue our progress towards this goal, the country has identified 8 key goals:
  • Implement the 10‑Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries
  • By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
  • By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
  • By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimise their adverse impacts on human health and the environment
  • By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
  • Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
  • Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities
  • By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
    1. Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
    2. Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
    3. Rationalise inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimising the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities.

Consumption and Waste

Domestic material consumption has been on the rise in India, reaching 5.5 tonnes per capita in 2017, an almost 2-tonne increase since 2000.

One of the key sources of waste comes from households, where approx. 50 kg of food is wasted per person per year in India; this number is below the world average of 73kg.

Despite a general increase in consumption across the country, hazardous waste has declined, dropping by 22% in the last two decades.

Data from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change data shows that only 45% of hazardous waste is treated in India. Out of this, 93% of the hazardous waste is treated through landfilling and recycling.

Fossil Fuels

There is a global movement towards rationalising inefficient fossil fuels that encourage wasteful consumption by 2023. In India, fossil fuel subsidies have been reduced by 13% from 2015 to 2019. The world average for fossil fuel subsidies is 55.6 dollars per capita. India is well below the average, at 16 dollars.

India’s per capita consumption of fossil fuels also remains below the world average of 17,730 kWh despite an over increase in per capita fossil fuel consumption, which has more than doubled from 1990 to 2018.

Renewable energy also provides the country's energy requirement, with 21% of India’s total energy supply coming from renewable sources, out of which wind and solar energy are harnessed the most.

Corporate Contributions

A total of 538 INR crores have been contributed through CSR investments in projects that achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse. This is one of the targets for SDG-12 for corporates to achieve. This has been done through funding of programmes in conservation of natural resources.

Nearly 42 per cent of the contribution in this space has been from two companies - Power Finance Corporation and ONGC, who have contributed 224 INR crores between 2014 and 2020. The top funding industries include Oil & Gas, IT and BFSI, while the top states receiving funding are Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.

For more insights on SDG 12, click here

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