Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
(N/A)
BERKELEY,CA 94720
Performing Department
Society and Environment
Non Technical Summary
The manufacture, use, and disposal of consumer products - from food to cars, electronics, clothing, toys, personal care products, etc. - are drivers of many of our toughest sustainability challenges. Analysts have estimated there are 4.7 trillion dollars in environmental costs externalized each year from global production systems (Trucost 2013), 6.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted, over 20% of global emissions, through production of traded goods (Davis, Peters, and Caldeira 2011), 567 km3 per year of water associated with global food trade alone (Dalin et al. 2012), and that current levels of global production and consumption are using 50% more natural resources and services than ecosystems regenerate (Seuring 2011, O'Shea, Golden, and Olander 2013). With growth in populations, and even faster growth in consumption levels per capita, expanding consumer classes around the world and the production networks that support them are driving major ecological pressures.Recent advances in the science and technology of global supply chain management offer near-real-time demand-response systems for decision-makers across production networks. Technology is helping propel "fast fashion" and "lean manufacturing," so that companies are better able to deliver products consumers want most. Yet companies know much less about the environmental and social impacts of their production networks. The failure to measure and manage these impacts can be explained in part by limitations in the science of sustainability measurement, as well as by weaknesses in systems to translate data into information that can be used by decision-makers inside corporations and government agencies. There also remain continued disincentives for firms to measure and pay the full costs of their supply chain impacts.This research will analyze the current state of monitoring, measuring, and analyzing information related to supply chain sustainability, as well as progress that has been made in translating this information into governance mechanisms to advance more sustainable practices by corporations and consumers. Better data, decision-support tools, algorithms, and incentives will be needed to move from simply managing supply chains for costs, compliance, and risk reduction to predicting and preventing unsustainable practices.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
40%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
Brands, retailers, and startups are rapidly reinventing systems of production and consumption. Technology changes - including automation, machine learning, IoT, and blockchain - are combining with new applications of data sciences and behavioral sciences to drive new supply chains, platforms, markets, and patterns of consumption. These changes have both positive and negative sustainability impacts. This research project seeks to understand these emerging systems, evaluate their sustainability impacts, analyze successes and limitations of current governance regimes, and examine new strategies to govern sustainability issues more effectively within emerging systems of consumption. This research will assess: when and under what conditions it is possible to advance more sustainable production and consumption through new technologies (e.g., for monitoring), new transparency systems emerging between producers and consumers, and new governance strategies that support sustainability innovations. We will study:The changing organization and technologies driving global production and consumption;The environmental, labor, and health impacts of production and consumption systems;Leading cases of corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives;New metrics and algorithms to advance sustainability.Strategies to mobilize citizen/consumers to consume more sustainably;Innovative governance strategies to advance sustainable consumption and production.
Project Methods
Global production and consumption systems are changing very rapidly. Our research thus seeks to study this moving object. Given the complexities of the consumption process, it is critical to move out of a controlled setting of a laboratory or theoretical model, to study retailers, brands, and consumers "in the wild" as they experience real trade-offs in products, price, sustainability, etc. This project will study the impact of changing systems of manufacturing and retailing on consumer decisions while they shop, and the impacts of these decisions on producers and retailers. This research will study company production decisions, consumer purchasing decisions, and how these vary by issue (health, environment, social responsibility); product category (food vs. personal care vs. paper products vs. electronics); type of consumer; and type of information. Through a series of case studies we will analyze how variations in business, NGO, and government practices influence sustainability outcomes of production and consumption systems. Our research will examine innovative cases of:Governance strategies designed to move beyond "command-and-control" regulation to incentivize or "nudge" changes in production processes. In particular, we are interested in metrics and algorithms that motivate innovation;Governance approaches that use transparency as a key mechanism for identifying solutions and motivating for change;Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, The Sustainability Consortium, the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, etc. that seek to create new problem-solving partnerships;New business models such as "collaborative consumption" (or the "sharing economy"), "closed loop" consumption (the "circular economy") etc. that seek to transform business practices;New sustainability metrics and strategies for integrating these metrics into core business practices.We may also run several field experiments in factories and eCommerce retailers around the world.The research seeks to inform academic debates, public policy, and consumer choices through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, and academic and popular publishing.