The concept of 1.5-degree lifestyles involves changes in household consumption for achieving levels of per person carbon footprint compatible with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement (IPCC, 2018). This requires, on average, emitting the equivalent of 2.5 tons of CO₂
per person per year by 2030, and 0.7 tons of CO₂ per person per year by 2050...
Eight of the world's top 20 countries as sources of marine debris are from Asia—China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and India (Jambeck et al., 2015). In other words, the Asia-Pacific region is now recognized as a hotspot of plastic pollution of the oceans. These countries are facing typical challenges...
This report looks at national policies and initiatives related to sustainable consumption and production in Asia, without pretending to offer an exhaustive inventory of such policies and initiatives. It was developed based on literature review, integrating information collected through key regional projects such as SWITCH Asia and SwitchMed. The...
Despite considerable hope and enthusiasm raised by the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), and some quick initial efforts, many
governments and stakeholders are uncertain about how to proceed
concretely. The 2030 development agenda is intended to be transformative,
and the goals seem comprehensive, but they also are very complex - with
17 goals...
Based on a household energy use survey, this paper explores the technical and economic potential of residential energy savings in a Chinese city, Xiamen. The survey adopted a similar questionnaire used by the U.S. EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), covering the end-uses of cooking, water heating, plug-in appliances, lighting and...
Food waste remains a critical issue in Japan, especially in light of the country's low food self-sufficiency rate and shortage of available landfill sites for waste disposal. In order to evaluate options for further preventing and mitigating food waste in Japan, we analyzed food waste trends by estimating the disparity between calorie/protein...
This article proposes a conceptual framework that identified five types of Goals, and explains the complex relationships among them. Means-type goals can be classified into five categories, by function: resources, environment, education, economy, and governance. Approaching the SDGs as a system where different goals play different roles can help to...
This chapter looks at the recent evolution of SCP as a concept, from the perspective of the global United Nations (UN) policy process, with examples of how this has been reflected in Asia. The intention is not to provide a comprehensive history, but to situate SCP in Asia within the larger SD discourse and to highlight some features that could be...
Food waste remains a critical issue in Japan, especially in light of the country's low food self-sufficiency rate and shortage of available landfill sites for waste disposal. In order to evaluate options for further preventing and mitigating food waste in Japan, we analyzed food waste trends by estimating the disparity between calorie/protein...
Drawing from papers in this special volume (SV), this introductory paper on absolute reductions argues that the magnitude, scope and urgency of the sustainability challenge require a drastic change in global civilisation, including a radical transformation of the institutional arrangements and socio-technical systems that facilitate the pursuit of...