A framework of sustainable consumption and production from the production perspective: Application to Thailand and Vietnam

Abstract

In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN), goal 12 (“ensure sustainable consumption and production [SCP] patterns”) has eight outcome targets (12.1–12.8) and three targets for the means of implementation (MoI) (12.a–12.c). This “SCP-via-SDGs” approach is a much narrower, specific concept based on historical agreements that range from the Stockholm conference (1972) to the 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) (2012–2022). Meanwhile, “the academic SCP” is a highly interdisciplinary and complex approach that pursues an answer to what sustainability is, and it has not explicitly provided the SCP-via-SDGs framework at present. Thus, this study proposes a five-by-five framework for the SCP-via-SDGs approach from the production perspective (i.e., for individual firms), following the literature on corporate environmental management. The five stages (I–V) consider environmental management systems (EMS; I. strategy and process) for target 12.4, environmental management accounting (EMA; II. accounting and disclosure) for 12.6, and environmental management control systems (EMCS; III. financial, IV. environmental, and V. overall performance) for 12.2. Meanwhile, the five factors (1–5) consider the baseline and material flow (MF) factors (total waste, hazardous waste, raw materials used, and recycled waste) for targets 12.3 and 12.5. As an application, this study surveyed non-financial listed firms in Vietnam and compared the results to a previous study on Thailand. The results show that the firms are more likely to be at stage III (financial performance of EMCS) in Thailand and stage I or II (EMS or EMA) in Vietnam, suggesting that each market requires its own SCP policies, depending on the economic growth of each.