Sustainable Consumption & Production
Cooperation on Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Baltic Sea
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Synopsis
Sustainable production and consumption is, following the Symposium on Sustainable Consumption, Oslo, 1994,
defined as: “the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better qualify of life, while
minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life
cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations”.
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, sustainable consumption and
production was identified as one of the essential objectives of all the concept of sustainable development. The
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted at the Summit called for ten-year framework of programmes
which should be introduced to support sustainable production and consumption activities at all levels – from
local to national. Moreover, as an answer for the WSSD Plan of Implementation and support for elaboration of
the 10 year Framework of Programmes on SCP, a global multi-stakeholder “Marrakesh Process” was initialized.
At the EU level the Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan, was
introduced in 2008. The document supports the integrated approach in EU, and internationally, further
development of sustainable consumption and production and promotion of sustainable industrial policy. It
includes a series of proposals on sustainable consumption and production that will co ntribute to improving the
environmental performance of products and increase the demand for more sustainable goods and production
technologies; projects and actions proposed by the document. The building blocks of the European Union's
policy on sustainable consumption and production include:
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Integrated Product Policy (IPP)
Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
Thematic Strategy on Waste Prevention and Recycling
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
Ecolabel Scheme
Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP)
Green Public Procurement (GPP)
Eco-design of Energy Using Products Directive (EuP)
European Compliance Assistance Programme - Environment & SMEs
Within Baltic 21 the issue of sustainable consumption and production has been mainly linked to work within the
Baltic 21 Industry Sector and two recent Baltic 21 Lighthouse Projects, namely SPIN and Baltic Marine Litter.
SPIN aims to increase the exploitation of the innovation potential from SMEs in order to enhance sustainable
production processes. This will lead to the creation of public benefits and private profits whilst reducing
economic and environmental costs. Company performances can be made substantially more sustainable in
terms of environmental, economical and social performance through technical and organisational innovations.
Baltic Marine Litter works more on the consumer end and seeks to raise awareness and mobilize act ion to deal
with the increasing problem of marine litter in the Baltic Sea. Pollution derived from marine littering is indeed a
problem though many times invisible to the eye. Most of the marine litter ends up on the bottom of the sea or is
floating around in the water while only a small part is washed up along our coasts. The litter causes ecological
damages and has a negative effect on the fishing and shipping industries, coastal municipalities as well as
tourism. Waste that is washed up along our coasts is foremost an economical problem for the tourist industry
and municipalities.
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This paper has been developed by Mia Crawford, CBSS Secretariat, supported by the Ecoregion project.
Sustainable Consumption & Production
Proposed actions for Baltic 21 Strategy 2010-2015
Baltic 21 can have an important role to facilitate networking in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) by (the following list
does not imply any priorities):
1. Identifying and marketing of innovation highlights from the BSR that support sustainable production in SMEs.
2. Supporting the initiative of “Fishing for Litter” to work with the fishing industry to remove marine litter at sea as
well as ghost nets standing on the bottom or floating around in the water and continuing to catch fish for a very
long time.
3. Raise awareness and spreading best practices in the Baltic Sea Region to deal with Marine Litter.
4. Developing a bio-mass waste project.
5. Commissioning a study on the consumer habits towards consumption of bio -energy in the BSR.
6. Setting up a network of Entrepreneur Schools to support new innovations in the field of sustainable
production.
7. Support Corporate Social Responsibility by setting up a good practice data base with examples from all
countries in the BSR and facilitate information sharing and networking among these companies.
8. Promoting sustainable consumptions by using new attractive ways of commun ication such as films and
advertising.
9. Providing policy input to the EU Sustainable Consumption Action Plan.
10. Providing a regional platform for the effective implementation of the UN 10 year Framework of Programmes
on SCP.
11. Identifying inspiring examples of “living within limits” from the Baltic Sea Region from the agriculture,
transportation, tourism and housing sector.
12. Supporting the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan through active participation its
Implementation Group and in particular on the issue of Baltic Marine Litter.
13. Mobilizing Baltic 21 Network to cooperate on fostering synergies with the EU BSR strategy (ex. Flagship projects
relevant to sustainable consumption and production in addition to SPIN).