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Scaling Sustainable Consumption and Resource Efficiency

World Economic Forum,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

How people can ensure that humankind doesn’t destroy the planet.

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Visionary
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

What can people do to ensure that the planet doesn’t run out of resources? Who is responsible for change? This report, written by experts from the World Economic Forum and Accenture, proposes solutions that make sense and seem feasible. Corporate executives pepper the pages with intelligent quotes and statistics, as streamlined graphs drive home points for the visually inclined. You may wish for less white space, fewer irrelevant pictures – like the stock shots of Wall Street and crowded cities – and more information from these extremely knowledgeable writers. getAbstract recommends this well-researched report to anyone concerned about current consumption trends and about how individuals, organizations and government can safeguard the future of the planet and the world economy.

Summary

Dwindling Resources

In the past three decades, the average human life span has increased by six years and global GDP has grown six times over; extreme poverty now affects only half as many people as it did before 1980.

However, the strategies that enabled society to overcome some of the world’s gravest problems are no longer viable. Earth’s resources are limited, but its population continues to grow and to consume resources at an ever-increasing rate. Almost 60% of the global population will move into the economic middle class by 2030, and their numbers will increase the demand for energy by 40%. That is unsustainable growth.

Consumer Intentions

Consumers claim to be environmentally minded and willing to pay a premium for more ecologically friendly products. In practice, however, that is not how most people shop.

In surveys, 72% of European consumers said they would purchase “green products,” but only 17% had done so in the previous 30 days. Half of those who responded in a global survey declared that “they do everything they can to protect the environment,” but fewer than 40% would commit to changing their habits by flying less, buying fair-trade...

About the Authors

Nijma Khan works in sustainability services for Accenture in the United Kingdom. Randall Krantz is a director at the World Economic Forum, where he leads its sustainability initiative.

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