Sustainable Development Commission report: Making Sustainable Lives Easier

 
The Sustainable Development Commission has published its report Making Sustainable Lives Easier: A Priority for Governments, Business and Society.
 
The report is based on research with over fifty government officials and experts from business, civil society and academia. It concludes that while an increasing number of us recycle, insulate our lofts and choose more ‘green’ products we are far from living lives that are ‘sustainable’ for future generations.  Those who do  try to ‘do the right thing’ often find themselves swimming against the tide – their behaviour doesn’t fit society’s norms. The SDC is calling for UK Government and the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland to develop ambitious Action Plans with business and ‘big society’ organisations to make it easier for people to live more sustainable lives.
 
The report also makes a number of recommendations to build governments’ capabilities, to ensure better evaluation of behaviour change interventions and to develop cross government learning. It also stresses the need for governments to provide the right incentives and infrastructure that make sustainable choices the easy choices.  It concludes that the UK Coalition Government’s favoured approach – nudge – with a reliance on personal choice and responsibility will not be sufficient without these wider structural changes.  Instead it proposes a new approach to underpin policies for more sustainable lives:

• A clear positive vision for sustainable lives that engages all players and is clear about the priorities for action to achieve the goal of sustainable lives.
• Making it easy by providing a framework that uses the full spectrum of levers and incentives to ‘enable’ us to do the ‘right thing’ more easily.
• Working with others through better collaboration and better partnerships between national and local governments, civil society organisations, businesses, communities and people themselves. They all play a vital role in the transition to sustainable lives.
• Building capabilities and using evidence to create better understanding of what works in practice and using this knowledge in policy making.

here.
 
You can send comments and feedback to sue.dibb@sd-commission.gsi.gov.uk