Connecting Communities of Practiceon Sustainable Production & Consumption

Jeffrey Barber

Copenhagen Climate Exchange5 December 2009

How to transform the fossil-fuel dependentHow to transform the fossil-fuel dependentindustrial-consumer economy?industrial-consumer economy?

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1961 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 2001

Living Planet Report, WWF (2004)

Bill

ion

glob

al h

aGlobal footprint keeps growingGlobal footprint keeps growing

Policy interdependencies

Climatechange

Biodiversityloss

Air & waterpollution

Healththreats

Urbansprawl

Waste-pollution-depletion

Sustainability strategies &

initiatives

Waste-pollution-depletion

Production/consumption cycle

What drives the cycle?

Distribution – product pricing,

marketing/ advertising, packaging,

transport,sales/trade

Investment of resources (money, natural, labor, knowledge)

Values – Root priorities which ultimately shape all other decisions

Production/consumption cycleProduction/consumption cycle

Production

Consumption

DistributionInvestment

Values

Lifecycle assessmentLifecycle assessment

Lifecycle assessmentLifecycle assessment

EmisssionsWasteInequities

Consumption Distribution

Production

Investment

Values

Policy perspectives

Production/consumption sectorsProduction/consumption sectorsgenerating GHG emissionsgenerating GHG emissions

Policies and practices Policies and practices

……and change the production/consumption and change the production/consumption cycle in each sectorcycle in each sector

TransportAutomobiles

Emission sources from automobile Emission sources from automobile production & consumptionproduction & consumption

Automobiles

Changing the system of Changing the system of production and consumptionproduction and consumption

Policies and practices Policies and practices

Communities of Practice

A group that tends to evolve around an issue with its own unique culture. It has its own language (jargon and acronyms), conferences, friendships and journals.

They work at different scales from the local level to the national to the international.

Production-based practices:Sustainable manufacturing

• Competitiveness & profitability

• Green product portfolio

• Low-carbon products

• Carbon offsetting

• Lifecycle approach

• Emissions reduction

• Sustainable supply chain management

• Remanufacturing

Policies and practices Policies and practices

Consumption-based practices and communities

Key Terms:

• Simplicity

• Simple living

• Downshifting

• Frugality

• Sufficiency

• Quality of life

Communities of practice

• Concepts and principles• Literature (key books, papers)• Skills, training, education• Terminology or jargon• Gatherings (conferences, study groups)• Goals or aims• Saints and heroes• Personal friendships• Collective history

There is the footprint we leaveThere is the footprint we leave

And there are the steps we take forward.And there are the steps we take forward.