/SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

SDG 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”, and its sub-goals are positioned at the ecological-economic intersection of sustainability and is highly relevant for achieving the 2030 Agenda, because of its close links to other SDGs. In order to achieve SDG 12 with all its targets, a wide range of instruments must be used, which comprises companies in the manufacturing industry, service and trading companies along the entire value chain, and end consumers as well. The topics that are considered in the context of SDG 12 are the efficient and effective use of natural resources (12.2), the reduction of food waste and the best possible use of unavoidable food waste in order to reduce food losses (12.3), environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes (12.4), the reduction of waste through prevention, reduction, reuse and recycling (12.5), the adoption of sustainable practices as well as reporting on them by companies (12.6), sustainable (public) procurement (12.7) and the promotion of awareness and, above all, action in the sense of a sustainable lifestyle among the population (12.8) through corresponding product, service and infrastructure offers. The concept of circular economy servers here as a conceptual framework for these targets.

SDG 12 ,"Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns", (UN, 2015, p. 24) aims to develop sustainable consumption and production patterns and to ensure their competitiveness, feasibility and practicability. For SDG 12, the circular economy is used as a solution approach with its overriding goal to deal with natural resources in a more efficient way and to achieve a better compatibility of used materials with the natural environment. Austria’s status quo regarding the achievement of SDG 12 is heterogeneous concerning the degree of target achievement and data collection. While material consumption has not decreased since 2010, resource productivity has increased since 2000 (Eurostat, 2020a). There is still great potential for improvement for food waste, in both households and other areas of the value chain (e.g. agriculture, production, trade). For product design (e.g. eliminating hazardous substances, durable product design), suitable indicators to measure progress are missing in Austria. The share of 45 % recycled waste is above EU average. Nevertheless, the Benelux countries show that a significant improvement thereof is still possible (Eurostat, 2020b). Sustainable entrepreneurial practices gain importance due to legal regulations, but the application of corporate environmental management is stagnating (Statistics Austria, 2020). There is an action plan for sustainable public procurement in Austria, but companies are not sufficiently informed about the challenges thereof (Abergel, Dean, Dulac & Hamilton, 2018).

(based on the options report to be published)

The options elaborated by the SDG groups are to serve as a means of communicating to the federal government which concrete options can be set by Austria in order to implement the 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The options report will be published on 02.12.2021.

• Option 12.1: Sustainable use of abiotic resources from extraction to the manufacture of semi-finished products
• Option12.2: Action plan for high-quality recycling: Design for recycling, elimination of harmful substances & use of secondary raw materials
• Option 12.3: Reducing food waste
• Option 12.4 Changing the waste regime (beginning and end of waste status) to strengthen the circular economy
• Option 12.5: Promotion of sustainable companies
• Option 12.6: Integration of life cycle assessments in public building tendering procedures taking into account the pre- and post-procurement phase
• Option 12.7: Consumption of consumer goods in a circular economy: sustainable and transformative

From 2019 to 2022, SDG 12 was ledby Erik Hansen and Susanne Feiel (Montanuniversität Leoben, MUL). Since 2022, Susanne Feiel (MUL) has co-headed the SDG with Ulrich Brand (University of Vienna). Daniela Schrack (Johannes Kepler University Linz, JKU), Patrick Frey (JKU) and Patrick Trummer (MUL) were responsible for coordination from 2019 to 2022. If you have any questions about SDG 12, please contact Alexander Griebler (MUL).