The Sustainability of Sustainable Goods: Challenges to Sustainable Manufacturing
Sustainable goods can be defined as those goods, the production and consumption of which, does not directly contribute to environmental degradation and pollution. The global free-market economy, for decades, has promoted mass production practices that yield excessively high rates of pollution. Combined with the negative environmental impacts of many industrial and consumer goods that we see around us, it has led to detrimental levels of global warming and climate change.
The fight against this global calamity is being fought on many ends, and one of the most important of them is producing commodities that are sustainable so that communities can continue their modern lifestyles (which is enabled by the products produced by our global economy) in an environmentally friendly way. However, a pivot as significant as this is not simple and the challenges to sustainable manufacturing often prevent it from being implemented at a large scale or in underdeveloped contexts.
Sustainable manufacturing involves the usage of environmentally friendly fuels and technology (solar energy or wind energy instead of fossil fuels). The initial investment costs tend to be high enough to discourage manufacturers from making a switch. Renewable energy can sometimes prove to be more expensive as well- an increase in costs inadvertently leading to a reduction in profits acts as a natural deterrent to the private sector. Globally, production generally shifts to regions where factors of production are cheaper. Cheap labor is why India and China produce commodities for developed nations. Hence a substantive shift to sustainable manufacturing would imply a shift in the energy policy of these regions, which is unlikely given that these counties are still developing their economy. Other challenges are geographic, as many core industrial regions of the world are in areas that cannot produce substantial levels of clean energy. Beyond economics, cultural and social factors that affect the consumers of a commodity tend to restrict demand to its current form and create a resistance to change, even if it is for the sake of the environment.
The challenge of making production possible hence necessitates efforts at a global level. Governments can cover the losses due to the shift to sustainable processes by offering incentives including tax breaks and even using legislation and mandates. Particular attention needs to be diverted to the business practices in developing economies, which often escape government oversight but continue to worsen both local and global environmental conditions. This should be combined with general awareness campaigns that educate small scale producers and consumers about the benefits of sustainable production.
