SDG 12 | Responsible Consumption and Production

Goal 12 | Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

The world’s population currently consumes more resources than ecosystems can provide. For social and economic development to remain within the carrying capacity of ecosystems, fundamental changes are necessary in the way societies produce and consume. Goal 12 calls for the implementation of the UN’s ten-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns. It advocates environmentally sound management of chemicals and all waste as well as a substantial reduction in waste generation through measures such as recycling. Goal 12 also aims to halve food waste, encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices, and promote sustainable public procurement practices.

• Target 12.1 | Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries.
• Target 12.2 | By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
• Target 12.3 | By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
• Target 12.4 | By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
• Target 12.5 | By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
• Target 12.6 | Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.
• Target 12.7 | Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.
• Target 12.8 | By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.
• Target 12.a | Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
• Target 12.b | Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
• Target 12.c | Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities.