Climate change global challenges and sustainable consumption

Abstract

UN development goals and climate change constitute major challenges for the whole mankind.. In this context the authors consider an issue of sustainable consumption in its complexity and suggest ways of how responsible consumers and business can contribute to climate mitigation (the role of relevant control governmental bodies, i.e. Customs is also discussed). The authors describe the legal base for ecological measures including the UN General Assembly resolution “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and its main goals. The paper also touches upon the issues of renewables as a solution for global warming mitigation. In authors’ opinion, informing consumers on a product through both traditional marks and labels and new types of mark is one of the effective methods to cope with environmental challenges. The authors also study appearance of new regulatory requirements that they call “ecological and social compliance” or “ecological and social traceability”, which means that companies should adopt sustainable practices and integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle. To highlight the main idea the following scientific methods were used: analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, induction, deduction. In conclusion the authors state that there is a need for a broad international cooperation, search of optimal and adapted decisions, exchange of information and for an open debate between governments together with an active participation of business and consumers in order to minimize climate changes.