CSOCONTRIBUTION2SCP

Partnering to Enhance Civil Society Organisations’ Contribution to Research in Sustainable Consumption & Production

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Some relative decoupling of economic growth from materials and energy consumption has been achieved in many EU countries during the past decade. However, this did not lead to an absolute decrease in environmental pressures, because absolute resource use has been generally remained steady over the past two decades. Moreover, due to the ‘rebound effect’, it is unlikely that resource use can be reduced by technological improvements alone. This leads us to the conclusion that sustainability of current lifestyles and consumption patterns may have to be critically reviewed. In order to reach the goal of shifting towards less environmentally damaging consumption patterns without reductions in the “quality of life”, contributions from and agreement among a variety of economic and societal actors are required. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have the unique position to bring a variety of actors together and convince them to take action for more transformational type of change beyond resource productivity measures. They can encourage concrete set of goals to drive away from currently unsustainable patterns of consumption. This project looks into how CSOs can provide new insights for research in sustainable consumption and production with the goal of reaching absolute decoupling of economic growth from resource use. Incorporating all major priorities of the call, specific objectives of the project are as follows: - Identify gaps (1) in the knowledge of CSO’s how to shape consumption and production patterns in a sustainable way, and (2) in the research agenda for sustainable consumption and production policy strategies, assessment tools and indicators; - Providing new insights for increasing efficiency of policy strategies, assessment tools and indicators for sustainable consumption and production through small-scale exploratory actions; - Create partnerships between CSOs and research organisations to increase involvement of CSOs in research.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A study has been carried out into how European civil society organisations (CSOs) can provide new insights for research into sustainable development. The complete decoupling of economic growth from resource use would reduce pressure on the environment.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

A combined effort is required to help Europe reach its goal of attaining consumption patterns that are less environmentally damaging, without adversely impacting citizens' quality of life. CSOs are uniquely placed to encourage the various actors to take action and move away from the current unsustainable patterns of consumption.

How to enhance the effectiveness of such CSO activities was the core challenge for the CSOCONTRIBUTION2SCP project, funded by the EU. The researchers' overall objective was to make better use of CSOs to solve the problems of sustainable development.

Specific project objectives included taking stock of the current situation on sustainability, identifying gaps in the knowledge of CSOs, and then filling these gaps. Ultimately, CSOCONTRIBUTION2SCP set out to increase the involvement of CSOs in research projects.

During the project's final conference, several CSOs and researchers agreed to establish a smart CSO hub. This network will include CSO leaders, funders and researchers who are committed both to change and a systemic transformation towards sustainability.

Through the initiative's activities, long-term opportunities have been created for further collaboration between the project partners themselves and with additional stakeholders, such as national research bodies.

Now that the project has been successfully completed, the project partners will continue to address scientific institutions in order to integrate, wherever feasible, CSO perspectives in ongoing research projects.