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Title

More Sustainable Choices: "carbon diet" or green carrots?

Abstract

Should political decision-makers together with experts try to find "scissors" to decrease unsustainable consumption ? In Finland the Government has accepted a programme on sustainable consumption and production prepared by a multi-stakeholder committee. The prioritized actions include setting up a material-efficiency service centre, raising the energy taxes and preparing a dialogue with key sectors on targets.

County Credited

FINLAND

Author Details

AUTHOR
Title of author / Special advisor
Surname / Nikula
First Name / Taina
Name of Institution / Ministry of the Environment
Address of Institution / PO Box 35, FI-00023 Government
E-mail address of author /
Author biography
Taina Nikula is a senior advisor in the Ministry of Environment. She has worked on sustainable consumption and production issues since 2002.

Category

Sustainable Development
Political

Theme

Environment
Sustainable Consumption

Type of Contribution

Discussion Paper

More Sustainable Choices : "carbon diet" or green carrots?

Taina Nikula

Finland is a country of many ambiguities — werank well in international environmental sustainability and competitiveness comparisons, but we have the third largest ecological footprint in the world.

To combat this "inherited character" caused by our cold climate, sparsely populated country and industrial structure, we decided to discuss jointly in international arenas the issue of sustainable consumption and production. We also knew we could not move forward on this alone. Havocs of today like climate change or loss of biodiversity highlight the need to use natural resources sparingly, and to promote more eco-efficient consumption and production. In Johannesburg five and a half years ago the leaders of the states decided on a major action plan aiming at changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. As one of the champions of this strategic step, the Government of Finland decided to draft a national plan on sustainable consumption and production.

Finland’s programme has been drafted by the “KULTU Committee” — a multi-faceted team of representatives of different ministries, various stakeholder groups and experts. The programme Getting more from less was unanimously accepted by the Committee in June 2005. It has also been debated in the Government and the Government stated in its programme that "the Programme for Sustainable Production and Consumption will be put into practice".

In the national strategy work the intention was to find a common understanding on how to fulfil the basic needs of people, and at the same time decouple economic growth from environmental and social destruction. How to secure human well-being without wasting natural and human resources? How do we break the assumed link between economic growth and happiness?

Recipe: Eco-efficiency targets, economic incentives and motivating eco-innovations

The two year long strategy work brought into surface three E's. We need to process on eco-targets, eco-taxation and eco-innovations.

To make a smooth transition to a low carbon future, we need to make structural changes in energy policy and we need to use far less energy. This is common knowledge. Another crucial change needed is to use materials and resources more sparingly — that is, we need to use resources within the carrying capacity of our ecosystems. We cannot just keep producing more and more — we also have to dampen down resource demand in order to reduce energy use and potentially hazardous emissions.

In many cases this means that we need to find more sustainable solutions but also to make together with other stakeholders social innovations in our everyday lives. "Matti Virtanen" can join a car-sharing club and use the car only when needed or pool together with other commuters to work. Housing company can nominate resident "Maija Virtanen" as a voluntary energy expert. She gets training to audit and monitor the energy and water consumption of the building and she also counsels other residents who wish to have their apartments screened for energy and water saving opportunities.

To dampen down resource use seems to be the hardest step to take. Consumers or enterprises cannot make it alone and the environmental legislation either will not provide us with the muscle needed to make profound changes in favour of a more sustainable future. A key element in integrating all sectors into the work is target setting. Some countries have set decoupling targets, while Germany and Japan have set macro-economic efficiency targets. Some sectors such as the Dutch pulp and paper industry has set itself energy efficiency goals for the next twenty years.

Even though scientists have drawn vivid scenarios of the state of ecosystems and economists have calculated what it is going to cost if we do not act, our Committee was not able to come to any concrete agreement on the future. However, we decided that in due time quantitative and qualitative targets must be set for material and energy efficiency. And, these targets need to be set with a view to the international discussion on the medium-term international goal of doubling well-being while halving the rate of natural resource consumption. To set targets and to act as a national help desk and trendsetter in material efficiency matters both for enterprises, public organizations and consumersMotiva Oy, owned by the Finnish state, together with key ministries has set up a material-efficiency service centre.

Besides targets, one actively debated policy tool or action in preparing the Finnish strategy was environmental taxes and an ecological tax shift. Ecological taxation does not necessarily imply an increase in taxes, rather it is about a shift in the source from where governments generate their money. By taxing income and employment less, and pollution, waste and fossil energy sources more, a government can maintain revenues while simultaneously changing behaviour. Even though we have different opinions on environmental taxation, we should be open to exploring sustainable solutions to finance our welfare in the future. In promoting resource efficiency and in changing our patterns of consumption, the question of economic incentives becomes increasingly essential. So far the Finnish Parliament has approved new legislation that will see cars taxed according to the level of CO2 they emit. We have also introduced travel cards as job perks, more funding for public transport as well as economic incentives for energy renovation in buildings.

Life-style change is central to many areas of politics today

Consumption is an important part of our everyday life and it is deeply rooted in our modern lifestyles. Consumption also plays a significant role in shaping our identities. The Finnish strategy process also showed that it is an ambitious task to make changes in production modes, but it is a far more ambitious mission to change our own habits in everyday life. An average consumer makes tens of different choices in one day, but most of these choices are in one way or another limited by the environment and society around us. We cannot just ask consumers to act more wisely and more environmentallyfriendly — we also have to design our societies to favour sustainable choices and lifestyles.

"Transition towards sustainability requires radical changes in the way we produce and consume and, more in general, in the way we live. In fact, we need to learn how to live better (the entire population of the planet) and, at the same time, reduce our ecological footprint and improve the quality of our social fabric."[1] In future we need everyone on board to make changes. But how do we encourage people to limit food miles, choose environmentally friendly products, switch the source of electrical and heating systems of houses to renewables and find more sustainable ways of transport.

An obvious question that rises is that of freedom. What rights have governments to interfere with the lifestyles of their citizens at all? Should political decision-makers together with economists evolve besides ecological taxes carrots like personal carbon allowances which would give a price to our choices. This approach would cut greenhouse gas emissions by charging individuals for the amount of carbon they use. Could we one day carry bank cards that record our personal carbon usage? Those who use more energy – with big cars and foreign holidays – would have to buy more carbon points, while those who consume less – those without cars, or people with solar power – would be able to sell their carbon points.

By adopting far-sighted approaches we can get environmental policies and economic policies to support each other. The old slogan “doing more with less” is taking on a more specific and ambitious meaning of “more units of well-being with less damage to the environment.” I believe that the related economic and cultural transformations in consumption and production patterns have already begun and that it is vital to encourage such welcome trends through well-planned policies.

Some people are talking about eco-efficiency being the next industrial revolution. Whichever metaphor we use to describe how to make this happen, we need to move away from traditional policies. This means we have to leave behind policies with a short-term focus based on step-by-step changes and to adopt ones which encourage improving our quality of life through eco-efficient and pro-active innovations and approaches.Legislation and regulations are, and will continue to be, the foundation on which we build. But on top of these we need economic incentives and innovative policies, which focus on a life-cycle philosophy implemented by all stakeholders. Consumers and enterprises play an important role in shaping a more sustainable future.

References

Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO) - Analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts related to the final consumption of the EU-25. Edited by Eder, P, and Delgado, L. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2006.

Getting more and better from less. Finland's National Programme to promote sustainable consumption and production, 2005.

  • Manzini, E, Creative communities, collaborative networks and distributed economies. Promising signals for a sustainable development, viewed on 8 January 2008,
  • Roberts, S, Thumim, J,A Rough Guide to Individual Carbon Trading. The ideas, the issues and the next steps. Report to Defra, Centre for Sustainable Energy, 2006.
  • Sustainable Consumer Services: Business Solutions for Household Markets, edited by Halme, M, Hrauda, G,Jasch, C, Kortman, J, Jonuschat, H, Scharp M, Velte, D. Earthscan Publications Ltd.,USA, 2008.

1

[1]Manzini, E., Creative communities, collaborative networks and distributed economies. Promising signals for a sustainable development.