Sustainable Development Goal 12

Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12 or Global Goal 12), titled "responsible consumption and production", is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording of SDG 12 is "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns". SDG 12 is meant to ensure good use of resources, improve energy efficiency and sustainable infrastructure, provide access to basic services, create green and decent jobs, and ensure a better quality of life for all. SDG 12 has 11 targets to be achieved by at least 2030, and progress towards the targets is measured using 13 indicators.

Sustainable Development Goal 12 has 11 targets. The first 8 are outcome targets, which are: implement the 10‑Year Framework of Programs on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns; achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources; reducing by half the per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and the reduction of food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses; achieving the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle; reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse; encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices; promote public procurement practices that are sustainable; and ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development. The three means of implementation targets are: support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity; develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts; and remove market distortions, like fossil fuel subsidies, that encourage wasteful consumption.

Countries are working towards the implementation of the "10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns".

To ensure that plastic products are more sustainable, thus reducing plastic waste, changes such as decreasing usage and increasing the circularity of the plastic economy are expected to be required. An increase in domestic recycling and a reduced reliance on the global plastic waste trade are other actions that might help meet the goal.

Changes in consumption and production patterns can help to promote the decoupling of economic growth and human well-being from resource use and environmental impact. They can also trigger the transformations envisaged in global commitments on biodiversity, the climate, and sustainable development in general.

SDG 12 has 11 targets. Four of them are to be achieved by the year 2030, one by the year 2020, and six have no target years. The targets address different issues ranging from implementing the 10‑Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (Target 12.1), achieving the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources (Target 12.2), having per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels (Target 12.3), achieving the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle (Target 12.4), substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse (Target 12.5), encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices (Target 12.6), promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities (Target 12.7), ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development (12.8), support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capabilities (Target 12.a), develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable growth (Target 12.b), rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions (Target 12.c).

The full title of Target 12.1 is: "Implement the 10‑Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries". The goal of this SDG is to have all countries taking the action by 2030.

It has one indicator: Indicator 12.1.1 is the "Number of countries with sustainable consumption and production (SCP) national action plans or SCP mainstreamed as a priority or a target into national policies".