Efficiency alone is insufficient for sustainable consumption and production goals

Why It Matters

Designers often focus on improving the efficiency of products and processes. However, this research highlights that without considering the broader system of consumption and production, including the total volume of goods and services, true sustainability cannot be achieved. This necessitates a shift in design thinking towards more holistic and systemic solutions.

Key Finding

Current global goals for sustainable consumption and production heavily favor improving efficiency, but this is not enough. Real sustainability requires reducing the total amount of consumption and production, which involves fundamental changes to our economic and social systems.

Key Findings

• The dominant approach to SCP, as reflected in the SDGs, primarily relies on promoting efficiency through technological improvements and informed consumer choices.
• An efficiency-focused approach alone is unlikely to lead to sustainable outcomes because it does not adequately address overall consumption volumes, distributional issues, or necessary social and institutional changes.
• Reducing overall consumption and production volumes is crucial for environmental sustainability, but this must be done in ways that safeguard social sustainability, requiring significant restructuring of socio-economic systems.

Research Evidence

Aim: How can design practice move beyond efficiency-focused solutions to address the systemic challenges of sustainable consumption and production?

Method: Literature Review and Conceptual Analysis

Procedure: The study analyzed existing research on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and evaluated the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, specifically SDG 12, to understand its approach to SCP.

Context: Global policy frameworks and academic research on sustainable development.

Design Principle

Systemic Sustainability Design: Design solutions must consider their impact within the broader socio-economic and environmental system, aiming to reduce overall resource throughput and promote equitable well-being.

How to Apply

When developing new products or services, consider how to design for reduced ownership, shared use, or extended product life, and explore business models that decouple profit from increased material consumption.

Limitations

The paper's findings are based on a review of existing literature and policy frameworks, and do not present new empirical data on specific design interventions.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Just making things more energy-efficient isn't enough to be truly sustainable. We also need to think about how much stuff we're making and consuming overall, and how our society and economy are set up.

Why This Matters: Understanding that efficiency alone is not sufficient helps you to develop more impactful and truly sustainable design solutions that address the root causes of environmental problems.

Critical Thinking: If efficiency is not enough, what are the key systemic changes required, and how can designers effectively contribute to or influence these changes?

IA-Ready Paragraph: This research highlights that while efficiency improvements are valuable, they are insufficient for achieving true sustainability. A systemic perspective is required, addressing overall consumption volumes and socio-economic structures. Therefore, my design project will focus on [mention your systemic approach, e.g., designing for durability and repair, or a service model that reduces individual ownership] to move beyond mere efficiency.

Project Tips

• When analyzing your design's impact, go beyond just energy or material efficiency and consider the total volume of resources used throughout its lifecycle and beyond.
• Explore alternative business models that don't rely on constant growth and increased consumption, such as product-as-a-service or repair-focused models.

How to Use in IA

• Use this research to justify a design approach that prioritizes reduction, reuse, and systemic change over incremental efficiency improvements.
• Cite this paper when discussing the limitations of purely technological solutions for sustainability.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an understanding that sustainability is a complex, systemic issue, not just a matter of technological optimization.
• Critically evaluate the limitations of efficiency-based solutions in your design process and justification.

Independent Variable: Approach to Sustainable Consumption and Production (Efficiency vs. Systemic)

Dependent Variable: Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 12)

Controlled Variables: ["Global policy frameworks","Scientific evidence on SCP"]

Strengths

• Provides a critical analysis of current global sustainability goals.
• Identifies a key gap in the dominant approach to SCP.

Critical Questions

• What are the practical implications of designing for reduced consumption volumes?
• How can designers effectively advocate for and implement systemic changes within their practice?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the potential for product-as-a-service business models to reduce overall material consumption in a specific industry.
• Analyze the socio-economic barriers to adopting circular economy principles and propose design interventions to overcome them.

Source

Transforming systems of consumption and production for achieving the sustainable development goals: moving beyond efficiency · Sustainability Science · 2018 · 10.1007/s11625-018-0582-1