0959-6526/$

doi:10.1016

Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 967e969

www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Editorial

Management and policy for sustainableconsumption and production

The complexity and magnitude of the environmentalchallenges are huge. The issues have been on theinternational agenda for decades. Most recently, at theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) inJohannesburg in 2002, all Member States of the UnitedNations reached agreement and agreed to work to fulfilthe Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,1 on povertyalleviation and sustainable consumption and produc-tion, including energy for sustainable development.They confirmed that action must be an integration ofefforts at local and global level.

In order to be successful in making the transition tosustainability these urgent socio-economic and environ-mental challenges must be effectively addressed. Thiswill require understanding of the nature, character, andmagnitude of the challenges, with existing or emergingpolicy, technology and resource management options.This must be done in ways that fulfil sustainabledevelopment criteria for people in all countries of theworld. Within this framework strategies and policiesmust be developed, including the structure of incentivesand disincentives, educational and research efforts thatwill help societies make the urgently needed changes.

A decade ago, as recognition of pioneer work inCleaner Production conducted at Lund University, theSwedish Parliament decided to create the InternationalInstitute for Industrial Environmental Economics(IIIEE). Now, 10 years later, the Institute has estab-lished itself as an important actor in research, educationand training in preventive environmental strategies,policies and management approaches within the frame-work of sustainable development.

Many technological options exist for the design ofsustainable systems of consumption and production.However, a systematic approach is needed to make full,integrated use of these technologies, so as to ensureeconomic, social and environmental equity and sus-tainable performance. The main facets to be addressedin effecting the transition to sustainable societies

1 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, A/Conf.199/20.

- see front matter � 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

/j.jclepro.2004.12.014

include: awareness raising, education, empowerment,and implementation. The IIIEE works on all of thesefacets, with a special focus upon how the knowledgegained from research and practice can be mosteffectively utilised in the formulation of policies andmanagement approaches. The sustainable developmentchallenges are very complex and multidimensional, andrequire advanced level analysis of issues and options.The Institute is working together with many partnerswhen addressing these challenges.

Policies are central to improving local and globalsustainability. The design of the rules and regulations ofthe market place, leading to investments supportingsustainable development, fostering innovation, andensuring sufficient knowledge and capacity in theprofessional groups are key areas for action. Policyanalysis must be based on solid knowledge about thesustainability challenges, technology options, econom-ics, and the systems of provision, product chainsand resource dependency relationships in society andindustry.

IIIEE is engaged in multidisciplinary research activ-ities with the overall ambition to further systems ofproduction and consumption that support sustainabledevelopment. The research has an emphasis on strate-gies that combine safeguarding the environment withsocio-economic development. The research is based onthe conviction that new systems of production andconsumption, capable of decoupling economic develop-ment and quality of life from environmental andcultural deterioration, have to be developed in closecollaboration and interaction with stakeholders fromvarious parts of society and the world.

This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Pro-duction is designed to familiarise the reader with someof the issues that engage the researchers at IIIEE today,as well as researchers working at other researchinstitutions. The objective is to provide the reader withsome interesting and useful results and ideas fromresearch in line with IIIEE’s mission.

The IIIEE research into cleaner product andservice systems has mainly addressed the following

968 Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 967e969

areas: environmental product policies, product servicesystems (PSS), design for environment (DFE), productchain interactions, and sustainable consumption. Theresearch into environmental product policies is investi-gating the use of policy instruments from a governmentalas well as corporate perspective, for example theimplementation of the extended producer responsibility(EPR) principle and the use of informative instruments(eco-labels and environmental product declarations).The studies on product policies are closely linked toproduct service systems, product chain interactions, andsustainable consumption. The articles in this specialissue by Thidell et al., Besch, and Karlsson et al.illustrate work in this area.

One of the major barriers for wide-spread implemen-tation of cleaner production has been the traditionalmedia specific permit system that has been focussedupon ‘end-of-pipe’, pollution control approaches toachieve compliance with emission limits. The EuropeanDirective on Integrated Pollution Prevention andControl (IPPC) is an attempt to address this barrierand in general to promote eco-efficient approaches inindustry. The article by Honkasalo et al. reviews theresults of application of the IPPC to developments inthe dairy industry in three European countries. Theimportant issue of how to sustain cleaner production ina country through appropriate policy measures isaddressed in the article of Siaminwe et al.

The research conducted under the DistributedEconomies heading is rapidly evolving. Althoughseveral research methods are deployed, action researchis the most commonly used. This choice is closelyrelated to the efforts made by the Institute in mergingresearch and education in environment-related studies.Via action research, knowledge is transferred to localactors, so as to foster creativity, innovation andempowerment for effecting changes. Ultimately, thisprocess helps to solve problems faced by enterprisesdinparticular Small and Medium sized Enterprises, SME,associated with agriculture, tourism and selected in-dustrial sectorsdand municipalities, among others. TheDistributed Economies research is closely connectedwith the educational activities at the IIIEE andDoctoral and Masters students take active part indeveloping the case studies that form the foundation forthese research efforts. Through the close interactionwith business entities and local authorities this researchis directly leaving its footprints on the activities in theselected localities, while at the same time the results ofthe case studies feed into the development of generalisedapproaches. The articles by Johansson et al., Mirataet al. and Mirata and Emtairah in this issue illustratethe work in this area.

Energy generation and use are essential for allsocietal activities and are central to a number ofenvironmental issues, including urban and indoor air

pollution, acidification, and climate change. Energyservices are increasingly needed for socio-economicgrowth and poverty alleviation. Major changes arerequired in the world’s energy systems to address thesechallenges. This will involve efforts to bring to themarket, new technologies for more efficient use ofenergy and increased utilisation of renewable sources ofenergy, as well as the next generation of technologies touse fossil fuels. The challenge related to a secure supplyof energy is to identify, develop and implement energystrategies and policies that meet the needs of local andglobal sustainable development.

The main orientation of the energy research at theInstitute is the broad evaluation of alternatives toconventional energy systems in technology terms, andtheir combination into energy systems in scenariobuilding. These scenarios are evaluated in terms ofsustainability, and form a basis for identification ofstrategies for energy for sustainable development.Studies are also conducted on various aspects of policiesfor efficient energy production and use to advancesustainable development. The articles by Farinelli et al.,McCormick and Kaberger, and van den Bosch et al., inthis issue, illustrate the work in this area.

IIIEE offers a three-semester, International Master ofScience programme in Environmental management andpolicy. The programme has now graduated 280 studentsfrom 70 countries. The Alumni Network is very active.The third Network meeting was held in May 2003 andwas attended by 140 participants from 48 countries,complementing regional gatherings of Alumni that havetaken place in the Baltic States, in Belarus, inMalaysia, inthe United States, and at the World Summit on Sustain-able Development in Johannesburg 2002. The AlumniNetwork is planning for its fourth Network meeting inMay 2005 in connection with the 10th anniversarycelebrations of the Institute and this special issue will bedistributed at this occasion as an important milestone ofthe anniversary. The Masters programme is representedin this issue by articles based on research conductedinitially by Masters students as part of their thesis work.This is the case for the articles by Honkasalo et al.,Besch, and Park et al.

Through the Strategic Environmental Developmentprogramme education, research and practical imple-mentation are integrated. In this programme, Mastersand Doctoral candidates work with real-life casestudiesdmunicipalities, business enterprises, industrialclusters and regional development projectsdthat exposethem to the various dimensions of sustainable industrialand regional development. The article of Mirata et al.is partly based on a case study from the StrategicEnvironmental Development programme.

The IIIEE regularly invites guest professors forvarying lengths of time to work with our faculty andstudents. Several articles have been co-authored by our

969Editorial / Journal of Cleaner Production 13 (2005) 967e969

guest professors, for instance: Johansson et al., Farinelliet al., and van den Bosch et al.

The Institute’s international work to advance theobjectives of sustainable development has expanded,particularly in China. The first activities under the twoagreements reached in 2002 have been completed. Onewas the first two-week training of Senior Executivesfrom the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China(ICBC), in Banking for Sustainable Development wasconducted. As a follow-up to that training, two ICBCstaff members enrolled in and completed the Institute’sMasters programme in 2003e2004. Additionally, incooperation with the Chinese State EnvironmentalProtection Agency, SEPA, the Institute conducted twointernet based distance education courses in preventiveenvironmental strategies, policies, and managementthat engaged 400 students aged 16e18 years, fromChina and a comparable number from more than 10other countries. The article by McCormick et al.presents information about this work.

The IIIEE is, due to a generous donation fromSvenska Hus AB (Swedish Buildings Ltd.), in the processof establishing a new professorship. The research areafor the new professorship will focus on analysis anddesign of policies, programmes and technologies to makebuildings much more sustainable, based on systemsanalyses for addressing factors such as technologyoptions, considering their full costs and benefits, andthe dynamics of relationships between actors and withinproduct chains required for the uptake of such options.

The evaluation of candidates will attach special signif-icance to experience of work with the sector, andinteraction with the society outside of the universities.

We are grateful to Prof. Don Huisingh, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cleaner Production (JCP) for thisopportunity to publish a special issue of JCP that focusesupon activities that are critical to sustainable develop-ment and at the centre of the research and educationalactivities at the IIIEE. This is especially so since the JCP,now in its 13th year of publication and which has recentlyexpanded to publishing 15 issues per year, has alwayssought to provide an open forum for dialogue on pre-ventative environmental management strategies, polices,technologies and educational approaches designed toprovide guidance for businesses, governments, academ-ics, Non-Governmental Organisations and others wish-ing to address challenges of sustainable development.

Thomas B. Johansson*Thomas Lindhqvist

International Institute for Industrial,Environmental Economics, Lund University,

P.O. Box 196, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden*Corresponding author. Tel.: C46 46 222 0222;

fax: C46 46 222 0220.E-mail addresses: thomas.b.johansson@iiiee.lu.se

(T.B. Johansson),thomas.lindhqvist@iiiee.lu.se (T. Lindhqvist).

Accepted 22 December 2004