Representatives of business, NGOs, the EU and its member states gathered on 24 April for a roundtable discussison of the relationship between economic and sustainability crises. Some argued that despite being linked, the two are not the same, while others believe they are "two sides of the same coin".
All participants agreed that the current economic crisis presented a "one-time opportunity" to change consumption and production patterns which should in no case be missed. "If we miss the boat, it will be awful," commented one representative of a multistakeholder platform.
"It is easier to undertake big systemic changes" in a crisis situation, whereas it will be difficult to change anything at all once things are back to normal, agreed a government representative. But at the moment, as the world finds itself in the middle of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, a "sense of urgency" to address the sustainability challenge is still missing, deplored one consultant.
Participants also debated the issue of who should take the lead in moving towards more sustainable consumption and production (SCP). Overall, while business insists that government should do this, politicians return the ball to business's court.
One think-tank representative argued that even if businesses were aware of their CO2 footprint, they had "limited awareness" of other sustainability issues, like resource constraints. Meanwhile, business argued that it cannot take the lead if consumers opt not to buy revamped ecological products, and suggested that the price and performance of new products need to stay the same to maintain demand.
However, "government-level cooperation cannot do it alone either," argued a multinational representative.
For example, the Commission's SCP policy was developed well before the economic crisis and it would be difficult to suddenly speed up its implementation, noted a chemical company representative. "There are no mature policies in place, and we are not in a situation to have comprehensive enough policies to deal with this yet," he argued, predicting that the 'one-time opportunity' might well be missed.
An EU official said that a recent Commission analysis of national economic recovery plans from a sustainability perspective had shown that the plans concentrate mainly on the energy efficiency of new and old buildings, sustainable transport and renewable energy. Less attention is given to both the use of innovation and financial issues, such as internalisation of the external costs of products, the official continued.
