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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. This report stems from a review which was commissioned to inform the production of the Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy and plans for its implementation. The review provides an overview of recent and contemporary academic and 'expert' literature and prevailing debates surrounding sustainable development for a number of selected areas of policy delivery, and relates these to the principles and priorities for sustainable development in Scotland. It has concentrated on English language texts published since 1999, the year in which the last UK-wide sustainable development strategy was produced.

2. The topics covered in the review were food, sustainable procurement, sustainable consumption, green jobs and business enterprise, the built environment, environmental protection, education for sustainable development and environmental justice. These were selected on the basis that they are important issues for sustainable development policy in Scotland and up-to-date synthesis reviews have not already been undertaken in these areas.

3. The key objectives for the review were to:

• reflect upon the various conceptual and theoretical aspects of sustainable development;
• consider the different methods and practices that have been employed to promote sustainable development as a policy ideal;
• identify good practices and transferable lessons in relation to Scotland's devolved responsibilities and commitments, within the UK, Europe, and globally.

4. A critical evaluation of the review material allowed the identification of three main areas, in the evidence or in policy, in which challenges and past deficiencies in the delivery of sustainable development were apparent, whether at one or more of the different national and international levels addressed in the review.

• There are manifest gaps in the knowledge base:
• There is insufficient evidence of the problem, or insufficient knowledge about whether or how a policy or action could contribute to more sustainable forms of development.
• The problem for sustainable development is recognised and policies are in place, but there is a lack of evaluation.
• There is a reasonable body of evidence about the nature of a problem and what works to alleviate it outside of Scotland, but little or no evidence or understanding of how this might be adapted to the Scottish context.
• There are inconsistencies in the delivery pathways:
• Institutional inconsistencies have led to fragmentation and a failure to integrate sustainable development with governance.
• Vertical inconsistencies exist between Scottish, UK, European and/or international policy intentions, or actual practices.
• Horizontal inconsistencies exist between aspects of policy delivery, either between or within different sectors.
• There are no policies in place, or policies exist but no action is being taken.
• For example, there is ample evidence of the environmental impacts of air transport emissions, but airport expansion is high on the agendas of almost all developed societies and governments are promoting rather than regulating air travel.

5. The report identifies some key messages emerging from the reviewed literature and policy which could be used to inform thinking on sustainable development and the formulation of relevant policy for Scotland. Some of the main themes emerging from the study are summarised below.

Theories and Concepts

6. Since the conclusion of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1985), in itself something of a political compromise, the two competing notions of strong and weak sustainability have dominated the theoretical debate on sustainable development. Loosely speaking, strong sustainability argues that we must live within the environmental and ecological limits that the planet clearly has. Weak sustainability argues that humanity will replace the natural capital we have use, and that we depend on, with human-made capital. Theorists virtually unanimously agree that the latter has formed the conceptual basis for sustainable development. The all-pervasive nature of neo-classical economics has also come to permeate throughout thinking on sustainable development, with a broad acceptance that intra-generational and inter-generational equity can only be achieved within the confines of economic growth.

7. The dream of a 'win-win-win' scenario - of achieving progress within the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development, the three supposedly being mutually beneficial - is increasingly being seen as unrealistic. The argument that perhaps the developed world is overly preoccupied with environmental protection, at the expense of social and economic improvement in the developing world, remains prominent, as it has done since the early debates on environmental protection and international development since the 1950s and sixties.

8. The need for policy integration, spreading sustainable development concerns into non-environmental policy areas, has become more salient since 1998, with the trend for more holistic approaches to policy-making. The human rights agenda has also come to influence approaches to sustainable development, along with continuing debates around institutional legitimacy.

Food

9. The review looks at the larger policy picture ( CAP, WTO and global food-related challenges), and makes links with Scottish food-production, consumption, procurement and distribution, and with health and education. Changes in international trade have had significant affects on agriculture and food production in recent years. However, there has been little change to subsidies and the 'dumping' of subsidised goods. Food aid, genetically modified food, and fair trade and its relative merits versus free trade, are all currently being debated at a global level.

10. CAP reform remains the primary, European-level issue. Localisation, diversification and the organic sector have been highlighted for the potential future of farming in Europe, beyond the core agricultural areas. An encouragement of countryside stewardship and sustainable farming practices, shifting the emphasis away from production, has marked a considerable development in policy at the European level. Issues around eco-labelling and food security are also salient.

11. There is a concerted push for more organic and small-scale farming in Britain and the issue of 'food-miles' is being reassessed. Safety has remained high on the UK-level agenda, with calls for the entire food chain to be better monitored and effectively regulated. Information campaigns and awareness-raising are seen as key in this process.

12. In Scotland, the principal driver of food policy is the need for higher nutritional standards to improve health, which includes the need to improve the affordability and accessibility of high-quality food in low-income areas. There is considerable support for organic farming, with 55% of the UK's organically managed land being in Scotland and other agri-environment measures are supportive of more sustainable approaches to agriculture. Thinking and policy on GMOs are similar to overall UK policy and a cautious approach is being taken. There is considerable interest in public procurement measures as a means to promote healthier local produce, fair trade and shortened food chains. Nevertheless, overall potential is somewhat limited by the tight EU regulatory regime that applies to public procurement. Awareness-raising to enable consumers to understand the implications of their purchasing decisions and the way goods and services are used after purchase should be key in moving individuals towards more sustainable dietary habits.

Sustainable Procurement

13. The procurement literature and policy landscape are summarised, mainly looking at the public sector; the mechanisms to encourage more 'ethical', 'green' or 'social' procurement; the barriers to these mechanisms and potential conflicts between them. 'Green Procurement' and 'Social Procurement' are used to link the whole procurement process within business to more environmentally sustainable or more socially equitable practices.

14. A new international system of procurement is currently evolving, at the global level, with the growing role of green and social procurement. Policy responses from institutions such as the World Bank, the UN and the WTO suggest an internationalisation of procurement, accelerated by economic liberalisation and increased global trade.

15. In Europe there is concern that procurement is being used as a stand-alone policy instrument, given the erosion of state-level powers as a result of international agreements and conventions. The procurement process is currently being pulled in different directions by the drive for continued market integration in the EU, on one hand, and the need for increased environmental policy integration and regulation on the other. There is a raft of legislation, which shapes procurement in member-states.

16. A more strategic approach to public procurement is evident in the UK, with inter-departmental co-ordination and long-term partnership relations with suppliers. The effects of the global economy on the public sector and public procurement are increasingly felt in Britain, with large institutions like the NHS reforming their procurement policies in line with more sustainable practice.

17. A notable feature of procurement in Scotland is that the ability of the public sector to lead by example has been taken up positively by the Scottish Executive, with guidelines for purchasers and suppliers in place. Other public bodies have also taken up the challenge of sustainable procurement, but systematic monitoring and evaluation of such initiatives seem, so far, to be missing.

18. Overall and at all levels, there needs to be better integration of social procurement and Green Procurement to create a more holistic, sustainable approach. There is a pressing need to introduce mechanisms for the assessment and evaluation of sustainable procurement and to harmonize sustainable public procurement with trade policies.

Sustainable Consumption

19. Building on a review undertaken for the Sustainable Development Research Network in 2004, the chapter on sustainable consumption looks at a range of issues, from social, economic and geographical trends affecting consumption levels to individual behaviour and the role of the government. The efficacy of a range of policy responses are assessed and current debates about the current state of consumption and possible remedies are outlined. Central players in the consumption process are the state and the consumer. The review examines 'consumer sovereignty', where the state practices a 'hands-off' approach to consumer behaviour, allowing the market to dictate the nature and levels of consumption.

20. Global consumption has risen markedly in recent years as global wealth increases. This wealth, however, is distributed disproportionately. Inevitably, oil is a principle issue for the literature and actual policy, and the urbanization of the world's population is significant, begging a reassessment of consumption patterns and issues. There is also a theoretical debate concerning the role of government in controlling consumption levels, which is clearly pertinent to the search for effective policy responses, and raises more general philosophical questions about the very role of the state.

21. In Europe, notable attention is being paid to a reassessment of the relationship between economic growth and consumption with different theoretical perspectives towards consumption and the approach governments should take being presented based on notions of a pluralist, individualist or an egalitarian Europe. The question of how to turn seemingly niche markets into mainstream ones for green and sustainable produce recurs in debates about consumption levels in Europe.

22. There is considerable concern about the rate at which consumption levels are increasing in Britain, raising fundamental questions about the robustness of previous policy interventions and the need for a more rounded approach. Information and communication are seen as undervalued policy tools in efforts to move individuals towards more sustainable consumption behaviours. Scotland reflects the concerns that are being engaged in at the 'higher' international levels. Progress towards a less carbon intense economy is a priority, and reducing unnecessary car use has been seen as central to this.

23. Stressing the links between obesity, nutrition and the sustainability of people's daily lifestyle is likely to be one of the most effective ways of promoting more sustainable levels of consumption and encouraging people to consume and waste less. In tandem with such information campaigns, people need to be offered the opportunity to buy more eco-friendly products and to adopt less environmentally damaging lifestyles.

Green Jobs and Enterprise

24. Unlike other sectors that seem more comfortable with looser definitions of sustainable development, business often expresses a need for a clearer definition in order to understand what sustainable development means for enterprise in practical terms. There is widespread variation as to what can be included within 'green jobs and enterprise' and important academic debate about whether 'green growth' and reliance on market forces can be relied upon to deliver sustainability.

25. In the developing world, there is concern over the erosion of local and community-based production as a result of engagement in global employment markets. The contentious nature of the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services embodies this debate. In relation to green enterprise, heavy emphasis has been laid on efficiency and innovation at the global level, seemingly at the expense of ignoring deeper structural problems.

26. A reassessment of the classical economic doctrine that more growth is the answer to high unemployment is underway in Europe. This is evident when analysing the various policy initiatives coming from the EU, with questions being raised as to how to harmonize the Sustainable Development Strategy, or Cardiff Process, with the Lisbon Agenda on increasing competition. Enlargement of the EU has accentuated these tensions.

27. Lifecycle or whole-life thinking is becoming increasingly popular at the UK national level and there has been a push to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation by improving resource productivity and efficiency. The lack of a clear definition of sustainable development has hampered business practice changes and impeded the spread of corporate social responsibility. A move away from the weaker, trade-off perception of sustainable development would help to address this.

28. In Scotland, the benefits of more efficient resource use are also not always evident to businesses, although the Executive has been reviewing how it supports resource efficiency initiatives. There has been some uncertainty about the extent to which initiatives under the Green Jobs Strategy can help to create more entry-level jobs, particularly given the skilled nature of many jobs in industry. Other Scottish business priorities include the need to address the peripherality of Scotland from national and European markets, especially given the country's greater reliance on exports compared the UK as a whole; and the need to simplify funding mechanisms.

The Built Environment

29. The review examines a number of environmental issues that come under the broad umbrella of 'the built environment', such as regeneration, planning, rural development, sustainable communities and environmental inequalities. It points to tensions and synergies between these diverse, but often complementary, areas of policy delivery and describes the key policy responses at the different national levels.

30. The uneven socio-economic effects of globalisation and the continuing urbanisation of the global population are key areas and new ideas like 'creative destruction' (the transformation ensuing from radical industrial innovations) and 'mixed communities' have emerged as a response to this. Procurement, subsidies, minimum standards and information are all seen as central to adding a sustainable dimension to the way urban environments are being developed and managed.

31. Greater energy conservation and moving away from a reliance on fossil fuel-derived energy, in both the construction and lifetime use of housing and other buildings, are seen as critical within the European-level literature. Eco-efficiency is currently being touted as the most appropriate policy response in this respect, while the future of the social rented sector has become a topic of debate, given the trend in Europe towards more home ownership and the growing role of housing associations and corporations. The future of urban policy across Europe generally is also being reassessed more generally.

32. In the UK, the last five years has seen a challenge to neo-liberal, market-based approaches to planning and housing issues, with the importance of sustainable development gaining increasing recognition in the built environment policy literature. There is, however, considerable friction between a trend for more sustainable development in the built environment and the current legislative and regulatory framework. The use of public space is a prominent theme of debate at the UK level, not least of all because of its links to crime prevention strategies, community harmony and social justice.

33. Just as at the other levels, there is a very strong focus on improving energy efficiency in the context of the built environment, with particular emphasis in Scotland on addressing fuel poverty issues, to positively align social justice and environmental concerns. There is a strong commitment to improved design as essential to successful communities. Reforms to the planning system, which are underway, have adopted a more systematic, spatial approach to nationally significant infrastructure and will lead to greater opportunities for public participation. Planning policy is also focussing on reducing resource-consumption, notably in the context of travel, and by encouraging high quality, sustainable design. Community planning could more directly recognise sustainable development and proactively aim to promote this through planning decisions. Strategic Environmental Assessment in relation to plans and programmes and Environmental Impact Assessment in relation to particular development applications may be suitable mechanisms.

Environmental Protection

34. A major issue at the international level is the lack of an institutional framework or international body to address concerns about global threats to the natural environment. This is coupled by legitimacy concerns and the conflicting demands of nation-states. There is a critical divide between international community members who accept the need to reduce carbon emissions and those emphasizing technological innovation as responses to global warming, reflected in policy responses from different groups of nations and the lack of authority from international institutions. There is a distinct division between the developed world's demand for environmental protection and the needs of developing countries to exploit natural resources in an attempt to secure the funds to promote social justice.

35. At the European level, the need for renewable energy and cleaner technologies has long been recognised, as has the need to remove or decrease subsidies to fossil fuels, but a debate still rages within the literature as to how best to achieve these transitions. The 'value-action gap', between the views of individuals and their actual behaviour, is a considerable problem, increasing an emphasis on the need for participative decision-making. The need to integrate policy to achieve optimum effect has been highlighted, alongside the need for a concerted information campaign that best utilises educational opportunities.

36. The effects of neo-liberal policy-making have had a considerable impact, particularly on the way the UK government approaches industry and the business community. Various policy responses have been implemented, from mandatory measures to awareness-raising, with an emphasis on education. There is a growing realisation at a UK level also of the need for coordination between local authorities and central government, and the relationship between environmental protection and areas such as housing and social mobility is also becoming more salient.

37. Considerable efforts have been made in Scotland to implement EU Directives in effective ways, the approach taken sometimes differing from that in England and Wales. Notable attention has been paid to enhancing the enforcement of environmental law to increase its effectiveness and public confidence in the regulatory system. A strong emphasis on the law to address environmental justice issues has developed and provides a new focus for regulation in addition to environmental risk. A range of measures to implement the Aarhus Convention (1998) obligations, on access to environmental information and public participation, have also been introduced. The establishment of evaluative structures to measure the success of information and participation mechanisms against stated objectives would be a welcome step forward, as would the evaluation of successes or otherwise of recent developments in enforcement.

Education for Sustainable Development

38. Approaches to education for sustainable development are increasingly trans-disciplinary, with a view beyond formal education, to informal and non-formal contexts and to the engagement of the media. The review, therefore, explores the literature on the integration of sustainable development in the formal education curriculum, alongside life-long learning and training and skills for sustainable development.

39. Globally, the primary concerns are improving basic education, re-orienting education and improving public understanding, as embodied by the UN Millennium Development Goals.

40. The principal problem at the European level is the differing concerns of member states towards sustainable development and how this is reflected in their respective syllabuses. 'Campus greening' also has some prominence.

41. The latest UK focus is on the lack of 'earth-literacy' or 'eco-awareness' amongst both the generation of current leaders and the new generation, which reflects an anxiety that is felt also at 'higher', national levels. There is also concern that the citizenship syllabus has given sustainable development a tokenistic place on the curriculum.

42. There is, in Scotland, a strong focus on the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development in education, in terms of enhancing productivity and closing skills and opportunity gaps. Integration of sustainable development throughout the curriculum is limited, however, with much more attention being given to schools (particularly 5-14 education) than to the further or higher education sectors. School campus 'greening' also needs to be better explored for FE and HE than it has to date.

Environmental Justice

43. Environmental justice ( EJ) is based on the human right to a healthy and safe environment, a fair share to natural resources, the right not to suffer disproportionately from environmental policies, regulations or laws, and reasonable access to environmental information, alongside fair opportunities to participate in environmental decision-making. Environmental justice movements have commonly campaigned around six main issues: poverty, race, institutional change, law and policy, land tenure and management of natural resources, health and pollution. The chapter on environmental justice takes a different approach from the chapters based on policy themes, given its cross-cutting nature and because examples of relevant thinking and policy are most easily found in US experience, due to the long-term nature of both federal involvement in the delivery of EJ and grassroots activist movements and campaigns.

44. In a speech in 2002, the First Minister acknowledged that there had been far too little research in Scotland into the social effects of environmental degradation. References to EJ have followed in key policy and consultation documents and there have been a small number of significant research projects undertaken with the purpose of informing environmental justice policy. Awareness of the concept and how to address it in policy terms has grown. For instance, the Scottish Ministers have provided SEPA with guidance on the contribution it can make to sustainable development which stresses that the agency should address environmental justice issues insofar as its functions permit. NGO literature has voiced environmental justice concerns and provides research on issues such as good neighbour agreements between communities and business. The planning system has a role in furthering both substantive and distributive elements of environmental justice, but community planning needs to directly recognise the disproportionate negative impacts of planning decisions and their positive potential to address social injustices arising from the environment. Introduction of a social equity audit or community impact assessment as part of SEA and EIA would go some way to address this further.

Conclusions

45. To achieve truly sustainable development in Scotland, for all its communities, economic activity would need to be bent towards social progress and would happen within both Scottish and global environmental limits. A systematic and transparent sustainable development audit of policies and government-funded programmes would help to inform efforts towards pursuing this.

46. Better environmental policy integration and delivery, on the vertical and horizontal planes, although not in themselves representing successful sustainable development, are prerequisites of sustainability. For a policy to be integrated it must be comprehensive, aggregated and consistent, and policy priorities must be decided democratically. Sustainable development strategy should reflect local values and be deliverable through existing national and local decision-making frameworks. Better understanding is needed, therefore, of the scale, level, magnitude and spatial dimensions of both the problem of unsustainable activities in Scotland and their solutions.

47. In the areas of policy that it cannot directly influence, such as reserved matters or global issues, the Executive could, nevertheless, act as a lobbyist to encourage relevant agencies to enact needed change.

48. Sustainable development actions should reflect risk and uncertainty based on the precautionary, polluter- and user-pays principle, intergenerational equity, intra-generational equity, free prior and informed consent and helping (involuntary) risk-bearers to participate in decisions as well as risk-takers.

49. The biggest gains for sustainability are most likely to result from legislative and institutional changes rather than from individual or household behaviour change. The Executive should, therefore, consider separate areas of policy delivery, like waste, transport, energy, and decide whether public behaviour, institutional or legislative change would be the most appropriate and effective route for advancing a given sustainability goal.

50. Where public behaviour change is considered the most fruitful way forward, a step-by-step approach is needed, in which external barriers are removed before psychological or attitudinal factors are addressed. Research has shown that it is easier to influence behaviour in terms of stimulating automatic responses to changes in opportunity than it is to challenge ingrained attitudes and perceptions. The provision of practical information would be a core element in efforts to achieve behaviour change, but campaigns need to be well targeted and co-ordinated with other measures.

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