Limits to Sustainable Development Goals: Discussing Lessons from Case Studies in (Un)sustainable Production

Helen Kopnina ()
Additional contact information
Helen Kopnina: Northumbria University

Chapter Chapter 11 in Towards a Circular Economy, 2022, pp 201-216 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Closed-loop production strategy, which aims to retain the highest utility and value of products, components, and materials at all times, aims to address resource depletion as part of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 12, concerned with “responsible consumption and production.” The circular economy is based on the 9R principles, supporting closed-loop systems, such as the circular economy and Cradle to Cradle (C2C), promising absolute decoupling of resource consumption from economic activity. However, while the SDGs single out “inclusive economic growth” as an overarching aim, economic growth is the cause of unsustainability, and absolute decoupling is impossible. This chapter addresses broader lessons from the critical assessment of products that strive toward or claim full circularity. This chapter discusses some supposedly “circular” or C2C products analyzed by business students. These case studies have taught the students more significant lessons concerning the limitations and paradoxes of production. The discussion section delves into the subject of how applying “ideal” and “realistic” circularity principles can help students to develop critical thinking about the SDGs in general and “responsible production and consumption” in particular.

Keywords: Circular economy; Cradle to Cradle (C2C); Degrowth; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:csrchp:978-3-030-94293-9_11

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783030942939

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-94293-9_11

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().