The SDGs provide a long-term, non-partisan framework for a more sustainable vision of urban development that provides equal opportunities for all inhabitants, promotes healthy living environments with access to green space, and is resilient in the face of everyday disasters and climatic hazards.
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 12 is about ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, which is key to sustain the livelihoods of current and future generations.
Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production are root causes of the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. These crises, and related environmental degradation, threaten human well-being and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Governments and all citizens should work together to improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and pollution, and shape a new circular economy.
Global consumption and production (the driving forces of the world economy) depend on the use of the natural environment and resources in a way that continues to have destructive effects on the planet.
The economic and social progress achieved over the last century has been accompanied by environmental degradation that endangers the very systems on which our future development (and indeed, our survival) depends.
Each year, an estimated one-third of all food produced (the equivalent of 1.3 billion tons worth close to $1 trillion) ends up rotting in consumer and retailer garbage cans, or spoiling due to poor transportation and collection practices.
If everyone replaced their light bulbs with energy-efficient ones, it would save US$120 billion a year.
Should the world's population reach 9.6 billion people in 2050, nearly three planets could be needed to provide the natural resources required to maintain current lifestyles
The COVID-19 pandemic allows countries to develop recovery plans that reverse current trends and shift our consumption and production patterns towards a more sustainable future.
Sustainable consumption and production is about doing more and better with less. It is also about decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency and promoting sustainable lifestyles.
Sustainable consumption and production can also make a substantial contribution to poverty alleviation and the transition to green, low-carbon economies.
València, through its Smart City Office, is working to improve the quality of life in urban environments, following the SDG roadmap for a more balanced and equitable urban development.
