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53 Env't L. Rep. 10133 (2023)
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

handle is hein.journals/elrna53 and id is 137 raw text is: SDG 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION by LeRoy Paddock LeRoy Paddock is a Distinguished Professorial Lecturer of Environmental Law at The George Washington University Law School and Managing Director of the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement. SUMMARY In 2015, the United Nations Member States, including the United States, unanimously approved 17 Sustain- able Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. In a forthcoming book, leading legal scholars examine each of the SDGs and recommend a suite of government, private-sector, and civil society actions to help the United States achieve these goals. This Article is adapted from Chapter 12 of that book, Governing for Sustainability (John C. Dernbach & Scott E. Schang eds., ELI Press, forthcoming 2023). I. Introduction Worldwide consumption and production-a driving force of the global economy-rest on the use of the natural environment and resources in a way that continues to have destructive impacts on the planet, according to the United Nations (U.N.).1 Thus, achieving economic growth and sustainable development requires that we urgently reduce our ecological footprint by changing the way we pro- duce and consume goods.2 Moreover, at every step of the production and consumption process, from extraction through disposal, greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emitted. When a product ends up in a landfill facility, the GHG emissions that went into it-the embedded emissions- like the product itself, become waste.3 The United States leads the world in consumption of natural resources,' sug- gesting that achieving the Goal 12 targets will be very dif- 1. See U.N., Goal 12: Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consump- tion-production/ (last visited June 25, 2022). 2. See U.N. Development Programme Seoul Policy Centre for Knowledge Exchange Through SDG Partnerships, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, https://wwwl.undp.org/content/seoul_policycenter/en/ home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-i2-responsible-consumption- and-production.html (last visited June 25, 2022). 3. Michael Burger, Materials Conservation and Solid Waste, in LEGAL PATHWAYS TO DEEP DECARBONIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES 183 (Michael B. Gerrard & John C. Dernbach eds., ELI Press 2019). 4. See Amit Kapur & Thomas E. Graedel, Materials: From High Consumption to More Sustainable Resource Use, in AGENDA FOR A SUSTAINABLE AMERICA 159, 159 (John C. Dernbach ed., ELI Press 2009). ficult in the absence of major changes in consumption and production in this country. These changes will require new legislation at all levels of government and new private actions focusing on materials conservation and promoting a more circular economy- that is, an economy in which products are designed from the start to be reused or repurposed and that has in place mechanisms to help ensure that these outcomes occur.5 Among the key needed changes are wider adoption of extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, incorpora- tion of materials conservation and the circular economy in procurement programs, and action by the private sector to advance materials conservation and the circular economy. This Article focuses on materials conservation and the circular economy in the United States-issues that most directly address Goal 12 Targets 12.1, 12.2, and 12.5 through 12.8 (see Box 1). It will discuss the status of mate- rials conservation efforts in the United States, note the growing interest in the circular economy, and suggest ways that various levels of government as well as the private sec- tor can significantly enhance materials conservation efforts and implement circular economy approaches in the coun- try to aid in achieving the Goal 12 targets.6 5. The concept of a circular economy is discussed in more detail later in the Article. For more information on a circular economy, see Ellen MacArthur Foundation, WhatIs a CircularEconomy?, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation. org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview (last visited June 25, 2022). 6. The United States reports very little data on Sustainable Development Goal 12. The most prominent reported data show a continuing increase in materials consumption per capita. See U.S. National Statistics for the U.N. Sustainable ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 2-2023 53 ELR 10133