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Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations have issued 17 ambitious goals to try and build a better, fairer, and more sustainable future for the world.

Sustainable Development Goal 12 aims to ensure that the goods and things we make, and how we make them, are as sustainable as possible.

The UN recognises that Worldwide consumption and production — a driving force of the global economy — rest on the use of the natural environment and resources in a way that continues to have destructive impacts on the planet.

It is important for all of us to be aware of just how much we consume and what the cost of this consumption is for our local environments and the wider world.

All the goods in our lives - the clothes on our back, the furniture in our homes, and the mobile phones in our pockets - are products that have had to be manufactured. This uses raw materials and energy in ways that are not always sustainable. Once goods have reached the end of their usefulness they will have to be recycled or disposed of.

It is important that companies producing all these goods do this responsibly. To be sustainable they need to minimise the raw materials they use and the impact they have on the environment.

And it is up to all of us to be responsible consumers, considering the impact of our lifestyles and choices.

Responsible production and consumption facts

• Each year, an estimated 1/3 of all food produced – equivalent to 1.3 billion tons worth around US $1 trillion – ends up rotting in the bins of consumers and retailers
• 93 per cent of the world’s 250 largest companies are now reporting on sustainability
• If people worldwide switched to energy efficient lightbulbs, the world would save US $120 billion annually

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