Sustainable consumption policy: recommendations to advance the German Sustainability Development Strategy

The growing global consumption of products and services, along with rising emissions and the use of resources, pose major challenges to national and international sustainability policy. Accordingly, Goal 12 of the Sustainable Development Agenda (SDG 12) calls for sustainable consumption and production patterns as well as the consideration of environmental and social concerns along the entire supply chain. In Germany, the 2030 Agenda became the German Sustainability Development Strategy 2016 (GSDS).

Founded in 2017, the Science Platform Sustainability 2030 aims to offer scientific support for sustainability policy and provide impetus for innovation in politics, society, research and education. In this way, the platform contributes to the implementation of the German Sustainability Strategy in the context of the 2030 Agenda. The three organising institutions are the IASS Potsdam, the German Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN Germany) and the German Committee Future Earth (DKN Future Earth).

On behalf of the Science Platform Sustainability 2030, adelphi is working with the Wuppertal Institute to explore how to take advantage of the German Sustainability Strategy to achieve an even stronger impulse for sustainable consumption in Germany in 2020. To this end, they will first identify key areas of consumption that are critical to sustainability based on the observation period 2016 to 2019. The project will then analyse how to make progress in these areas and which state and non-state actors can provide relevant leverage, as well as seek out examples of best practices from other countries. At the same time, the project will review relevant findings from German and international research over the past three years – especially with regard to the identified sustainable consumption areas – to come up with recommendations to update the German Sustainability Strategy.