Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were agreed upon at the UN General Assembly in 2015, ensuring sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns—the SDG 12 goal—has drawn global attention. Asia is a key region for this movement because its economies have been growing rapidly, and the resulting environmental pressures are large (c.f., IRP, 2019; PECoP-Asia, 2018). To ensure SCP in Asia, many efforts have been made. For example, Thailand (2017) developed its SCP roadmap for the period 2017–2036, and the SWITCH-ASIA program of the European Union has funded approximately 130 SCP projects across the region to date. However, according to the United Nations (UN 2 Inter-disciplinary Studies Center, Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO, 1 Material Cycles Division and Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 1. Introduction Key words: cultural difference, policy design, policy transfer, sustainable consumption and production (SCP), Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns are inevitably based on human endeavors, including business models and lifestyles. Hence, regional and local characteristics are important factors in identifying SCP patterns and formulating SCP policies; however, SCP policies that originated in developed countries have tended to take a cosmopolitan or context-free position and neglect this aspect. In this study, we reviewed literature about cultural and geographical differences as well as the results of two workshops about SCP in Southeast Asia. We then discussed potential factors that affect SCP patterns and policies in Southeast Asia from a societal (context-dependent) approach. Factors identified include climate and nature, the existence and functions of business and infrastructure, economic growth and regional disparity, policy and regulation, religious rules, the relationship between government and industries, international trade, and people’s cultural mindset (e.g., traditional versus secular, acceptance of inequality, self-expression and cultural context). We proposed a model structure to indicate how regional/local characteristics affect the constituents of consumption and production (CP) patterns (CP preferences and CP enablers) and SCP policies (policy needs and policy preferences). We then suggested CP-related regional/local characteristics and policy-related regional/local characteristics in Southeast Asia, presenting four general points regarding regional/local characteristics: that they are relative; that they are dynamic, historical and highly interrelated among each other; that culturalist approaches make meaningful generalizations difficult, necessitating a context-dependent societal approach; and that local characteristics can have a variety of influences on CP patterns. Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12), sustainable lifestyles ESCAP, 2019), progress on SDG 12 in Asia and the Pacific has lagged relative to the other SDGs in the region. Therefore, effective SCP policy is needed. SCP patterns are policies. According inevitably based on human endeavors, including business models and lifestyles. Hence, regional and local characteristics are important factors in identifying SCP patterns and also formulating SCP (2007), contextualization plays a central role in cross-national comparative research, and three research approaches: culturalist (context-bounded: the context cannot be changed and is the object of study), and societal (context-dependent: the context serves as an important explanatory variable and there are (context-free), universalist implementation to Hantrais 2021 AIRIES 31 Global Environmental Research 25/2021: 031–042 printed in Japan 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan 3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545, Japan *E-mail: tasaki.tomohiro@nies.go.jp Abstract The Influence of Regional and Local Characteristics on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns in Southeast Asia: Tomohiro TASAKI1* and Michikazu KOJIMA2 Literature Review and Discussion
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