Inclusive and sustainable industrialization is essential to achieve sustainable development. None should be left behind in benefiting from industrial development. The gains it generates should be shared inclusively and pro-environmentally. increasing welfare of the poorest, – says the UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2018 “Demand for Manufacturing: Inclusive and sustainable industrial development”.
The Report highlights the role of industrial development in driving sustainable and inclusive development by creating shared prosperity (offering equal opportunities and an equitable distribution of benefits to all), advancing economic competitiveness and safeguarding the environment (decoupling economic growth from the excessive use of natural resources). The Lima Declaration,adopted by UNIDO’s Member States on 2 December 2013, set the foundation for this vision.
The Report explores the demand and consumption dimension of the industrial development, that traditionally has been given little attention in the production theories. The study seeks to mind this gap and answer the following questions: how does industrial development improve living standards? How does demand drive industrialization, nationally and globally? How can consumption be made sustainable? What can governments do to harness shifts in demand patterns?
Shifting the focus towards demand also stresses the important contributions of industrial development towards achieving the SDGs, as defined in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Availability of, and equitable access to consumer goods that are safe to use at reduced, or zero, social and environmental impact is central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.Primarily, achieving SDG 9 (“Industry, innovation and infrastructure”). Examples beyond SDG 9 include poverty alleviation, through the provision of more affordable goods for the “bottom of the pyramid” (SDG 1); increases in food security and health, through the provision of good-quality food and medicines at affordable prices (SDG 2 and 3, respectively); improvements in gender equality, through the creation and diffusion of household consumer durables (SDG 5); and the crosscutting theme of ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12).
According to the Report, governments can create a policy environment that will encourage shifting the benefits of the industrialization to the poorest and support scaling up of the consumption of environmental goods “through regulation, knowledge brokerage (to signal market opportunities or desired directions for industrialization and related consumer behaviour), active promotion of industrial innovation and public procurement of manufactured goods.” The governments can provide direct incentives to consumers in order to motivate manufacturers to engage in cleaner production processes. Examples include subsidies for buying “new-energy vehicles” in China and the Republic of Korea. International policy making and coordination also plays a significant role in driving the consumer preferences and demand. Montreal Protocol of 1987 is one of the successful examples of how changes in the international regulation of production can drive more sustainable consumption patterns. “In its first 30 years the Montreal Protocol achieved the almost total phase-out of five groups of ozone-depleting substances and an almost 40 percent reduction in the consumption and production of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, with a view to phasing them out entirely by 2030”, – says the Report.
