Responsible production and consumption as a requirement for sustainable development

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of responsible consumption and production as a requirement for sustainable development as well as the advances in relation to the achievement of the SDG12 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, then determining potential limiting factors. The analysis is based on the compilation and assessment of secondary data and other documentary evidence, thus providing a useful theoretical-referential framework for future empirical studies. The results suggest that responsible production and consumption appears both a sine qua non requirement and an objective of sustainable development, SDG 12 being a referent in the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Environment Programme, or in relation to the Principles of the Global Compact, among others. The documentary sources also show progress in the procurement of the SDG12, either globally or in the EU, but combining significant achievements with others that are far from being so, in a context characterised by conditions of previous level of development, available information, or drastic influence of supervening circumstances, such as Covid-19 or the war on Ukrainian territory. From all this, the need to continue making efforts in favour of SDG12 is concluded.