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The Role of SCP in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

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The Role of SCP in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
Type: Briefs
Year: 2017
Language: English
Over the last decades, climate change has emerged as a significant threat, with impacts on human health, ecosystems, biodiversity, food and energy security. Climate change has been fuelled, among others, by unsustainable consumption and production patterns. As societies evolve at a fast pace, demand for products and services reaches unprecedented heights, putting great pressure on natural resources and on the environment as a whole. SCP policies have contributed greatly in minimising those negative effects by following the ‘doing more and better with less’ approach and by adopting a life-cycle perspective which helps to identify those areas where impact on climate is the most significant and where action needs to be taken. Nonetheless, further efforts are required if we are to combat climate change effectively.

For SCP practices that lead to the desired greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions to be introduced successfully, the links between climate change and SCP need to be fully exploited and any potential trade-offs and negative interac- tions minimised. This requires that: a) climate policies be aligned with the main pillars of sustainable development: environmental protection, social development and eco- nomic growth; b) policy coherence at all levels be assured; c) an effective mix of technological and governance options be introduced; d) the necessary socio-economic and institu- tional arrangements be put in place; and e) climate change be recognised as a threat with multiple aspects: social, cul- tural, behavioural, health, scientific, technological, econom- ic, political and legal. Thus far, all of these aspects have been ecognised under the climate change convention. However, insufficient attention has been devoted to them during im- plementation efforts.