ACTIONS
- Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage
- Learning and educational opportunities
- Cultural participation/social inclusion
- Sustainable tourism
- Support research
- Employment (recruiting, training, safety)
- Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions
- Waste management and reduction
- Transport (forms of, energy use)
- Commercial activities including copyright and IP
- Governance and management
- Security, disaster preparedness, risk reduction
- External partnerships and collaborations
- Publication/report
Climate Access/USDN Smart Shift: communicating about sustainable consumption
Intended Audience
Cities, businesses, organisations and local government interested in sustainable consumption
- C. Pike, Climate Access on behalf of the Urban Sustainability Directors’ Network
“Cities committed to sustainability and acting on climate change are finding it increasingly important to turn their attention to the issue of consumption and the impact the products that city residents buy have on a range of indicators, including resource and energy use, carbon emissions, and the creation of waste. Given the pervasiveness of consumption in the culture and economy, gaining support within municipal governments to initiate programs can be a challenge as well as with the public. Through the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), cities have come together to foster innovation in sustainable consumption and from that, the Sustainable Consumption Toolkit has been created and is being used to advance programs in dozens of communities. USDN commissioned Climate Access to expand on the strategic communication guidance available in the toolkit by developing framing and engagement approaches that can help generate buy-in and advance programs to shift consumption patterns.” (p.2)
Avaiable in
- English
Actions
SDGs LINKAGES
The resource helps support a number of SDG targets related to sustainable consumption and production.
These include 12.6 (adopt sustainable business practices), 12.7 (green procurement), 13.3 (climate action), 11.B ( integrated policies in town and cities, including for resource use) and 16.B (adopt policies for sustainable development).
Ensuring collections-based organisations are an infrastructure for sustainable development and wellbeing supports SDG 9.1 (develop new infrastructure), and retrofitting organisations to be more efficient supports SDG 9.4 (retrofit existing infrastructure).
The resource supports SDG targets related to education and training for sustainable development, including 4.7 (Education for Sustainable Development), 12.8 (information for lifestyles in harmony with nature) and 13.3. Topics discussed relate to SDGs 12.3 (reduce food waste) and 12.5 (reduce waste). The resource can help reduce the negative impact of high-consumption tourism (8.9 and 12.B).
More broadly, the concept of sustainable consumption is the subject of 8.4 (decouple economic growth from environmental degradation) and 12.2 (use natural resources sustainably).
The concept of tool libraries can contribute to SDG 11.4 as well as 9.1 (protecting and safeguarding cultural and natural heritage, and providing it to people to support their lives and wellbeing).
The recommendations for communicating sustainable consumption may help organisations to communicate ‘beyond GDP’ measures value contributes to SDG 17.19 (develop measures for sustainable development).
The focus on engaging constructively with stakeholders can support SDG 17.17 (cross-sector partnerships and collaborations for sustainable development).
Click on the SDG Target to discover Our Collections Matter indicators
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers of people in each type of programme drawing on collections from different demographic groups.
- Increases in numbers of people in each type of programme from different demographic groups.
- Proportion of people involved in such programmes in relation to overall audience size.
- Evidence that learners have acquired knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans in place to increase resource efficiency, reduce consumption, and to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers of jobs created or supported that relate to sustainable tourism drawing on local products (e.g. craft producers).
- Develop and implement plans to reduce and remove negative impacts of tourism.
- Numbers of activities and/or products drawing on local culture.
- Value to artisans and source communities of activities and products drawing on local culture.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Development of research-useful collections to support reliable, sustainable and resilient use by researchers and others.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that support economic development and human well-being.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that provide affordable and equitable access for all.
- Investment in collections facilities.
- Inclusion of collections information in regional and transborder initiatives, notably via digital access for discoverability.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of collections facilities that make efficient use of resources, with an ongoing drive for efficiencies and reductions in energy use and waste of all forms.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities that use clean and environmentally sound technologies, including climate-friendly energy sources and materials, with an ongoing commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste of all forms.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities that adopt and/or prioritise collections-related processes and practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste of all forms.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Total expenditure (public and private) per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by type of heritage.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the safe use of collections for a variety of purposes, protecting and safeguarding both collections and those who use them.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the identification, safeguarding and protection of cultural and natural heritage at risk.
- Collecting programmes in place to protect, safeguard and make use of cultural and natural heritage, addressing the needs of communities and stakeholders, and ensuring that collections can be an effective resource for sustainable development.
- Number and diversity of educational, awareness-raising, research programmes, and partnerships that aim to strengthen protection of cultural and natural heritage.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030a.
- Disaster Risk Reduction strategies and plans in place, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, to ensure collecting institutions and collections are factored into planning, and contribute effectively to Disaster Risk Reduction.
- Collections-based institutions included in local plans for social inclusion, resource use, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Reduction of material footprint in terms of reductions in consumption of biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and non-metal ores.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Quantities, and reduction in quantities, of food waste, both in terms of waste going for treatment, and waste going to landfill or being otherwise discarded into the environment.
- Policies and plans in place to reduce and eliminate food waste as soon as possible.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Quantity and reductions in quantity of waste of all kinds, including avoidance/prevention of waste production, reuse, and recycling. Quantity of material recycled in comparison with quantity sent to landfill. Increases in recycling rate in comparison with landfill.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Clear visions, strategies and plans in place for all aspects of sustainability – environmental, social and economic (people, planet, prosperity)- across all areas of activity.
- Visions, strategies and plans relating to sustainability to be publicly available and incorporated into planning documents.
- Commitments to be in line with local, regional, national and/or international targets and ambitions.
- Incorporation of sustainability into reporting for funders and other stakeholders, including the public. Reporting to include commitments and progress towards targets.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Incorporation of sustainability considerations into procurement, in terms of advertisement and invitation to tender, contracts, and selection criteria for suppliers.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.
- Extent to which global citizenship education and education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in formal, informal and non-formal education programmes and activities drawing on and related to collections.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Quantitative and qualitative metrics identified, collected and reported for evaluating performance of tourism in terms of social, environmental and economic benefits and impacts for:
-jobs
-promotion of local culture
-local and related products
-positive social and environmental benefits
-reduction of negative impacts of tourism, e.g. climate impacts, negative social and environmental impacts.
- Quantitative and qualitative metrics identified, collected and reported for evaluating performance of tourism in terms of social, environmental and economic benefits and impacts for:
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans in place to enhance positive contributions to addressing climate change through use of collections. Plans in place to ensure collections, collections institutions and broader society can adapt effectively to climate change.
- Plans in place for effective education and awareness raising on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
- Plans in place to reduce negative contributions of collections-related functions, e.g. measuring greenhouse emissions with plans and targets in place to reduce them.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of population [audience/users/non-users] reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law.
- Number and proportion of policies that incorporate sustainable development considerations, in the full sense of recognizing all three of social, economic and environmental considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Amount of United States dollars committed to public-private and civil society partnerships.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of local, national and regional multi-stakeholder (public, public-private and civil society) partnerships that address the SDGs drawing on collections, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Identification and implementation of measures for sustainable development incorporating social and environmental considerations.
- Identification and implementation of both quantitative and qualitative measures of sustainable development.