You are what you sell
Product Roadmapping: Driving Sustainability
What if the products we buy could talk about their journeys to the shelf? Imagine a private detective browsing your shopping bags, or the shelves of your local supermarket. Would we be embarrassed or happy with what they found out?
As consumers, much of our impact on the planet is through the purchase and use of products.
Products are therefore key to reconciling the twin objectives of sustainable development, ‘a strong, healthy and just society’ and ‘living within environmental limits’.
The SDC has published You Are What You Sell to enthuse businesses and government around the potential of products to help realise sustainable development. Businesses taking a products-approach to sustainability can anticipate the future and shape policy, as well as building brand value and minimising supply chain risks.
 “I want to see the day when consumers can expect that environmental responsibility is as fundamental to the products they buy as health and safety is now…” Tony Blair ex. UK Prime Minister |
SDC has produced this guide to follow through the recommendations of the SDC/NCC's Sustainable Consumption Roundtable. The report I will if you will advocated ‘product roadmapping’ as a way to drive continuous reductions in the impacts of products. Product roadmapping: driving sustainability turns that aspriration into practical guidance on how roadmaps can facilitate collaboration between government and business in order to achieve strong and swift improvements in the sustainability of products.
» Press release
» Business: What you can do
» Commissioner Alan Knight - biography and articles
» SDC submission to EAC on environmental labelling
» SDC position on carbon offsetting
Can shopping change the world?
| Part 1: The Global Shop Dr Alan Knight discusses the challenges our planet faces due to our shopping habits. View this video on YouTube | |
| Part 2: Products - Who chooses? Dr Alan Knight explores choice editing - the retailer chooses to only offer the consumer green products. View this video on YouTube | |
| Part 3: Product Roadmaps Dr Alan Knight asks the question: Can we make products that can fit into the needs of a one planet, low carbon and poverty free agenda? View this video on YouTube |
See more on Product Roadmapping in practice:
» Defra Consumer Products
» Sustainable Consumption and Production Business Taskforce
