Consumers are key to a sustainable future for Earth, according to experts, who told the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) annual global forum on consumer issues in Geneva recently that a consumer with accurate information, effective protection and solid rights–online and offline–is a powerful force to achieve sustainable development goals.
“In the face of the climate crisis threatening the survival of humanity, and growing inequalities that undermine social peace, consumers have a decisive power to weigh in and set a new course for development,” UNCTAD deputy secretary general Isabelle Durant said.Consumers are key to a sustainable future for Earth, according to experts, who told the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development annual global forum on consumer issues in Geneva recently that a consumer with accurate information, effective protection and solid rights-online and offline-is a powerful force to achieve sustainable development goals.#
She said consumption accounts for 60 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), and so consumers are not just passive buyers and their choices determine the sustainability of economic development.
Sustainable consumption is not only about middle-class consumers who buy in large supermarkets, as it affects all populations in developed and developing countries.
“We don’t have time. We need to act now and shift the centre of gravity. In doing so, we need to adopt a future-sensitive posture and actively nurture sustainably minded consumers,” said Laura Best, deputy chair of the Consumer Protection Tribunal of South Africa.
Consumers already recognize their responsibility for adopting sustainable lifestyles, said Consumers International’s director general, Helena Leurent.
“We all feel an urgency to address sustainable consumption. Consumer attitudes are changing and more people want companies to design products that are sustainable,” Leurent said.
“It would be both useless and unfair to require consumers to be more responsible and change their behaviour if the production pattern itself remains unchanged and unsustainable,” said Thierry Bourgoignie, professor of law at Quebec University in Canada. He said sustainable development and consumer protection policy were closely interrelated. The digital era has spawned challenges to existing national consumer protection regulatory frameworks, experts said.
“Enforcement agencies are facing problems with social media, data protection, digital contracts and new kinds of cross-border fraudulent schemes,” said Claudia Lima Marques, professor of law at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. According to her, traditional consumer law and national laws are not enough to deal with the sweeping power wielded by the digital giants. (DS)
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