On 26-29 June 2019, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is hosting the Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption on the theme of "Transforming Production and Consumption: Bridging Sustainability Research with Policy and Practice".
There is growing alarm and political tensions surrounding the ecological and social challenges reflected in the Paris Climate Agreement, IPCC report, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is a clear need to scale the translation of ‘know-how’ and solutions in order to transform systems of production and consumption towards sustainability.
Given this context, the fourth international conference of the Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption (GRF) takes stock of sustainable production and consumption research, including cutting edge insights, and accelerates the engagement of researchers with knowledge users in business, policy and practice. The Hong Kong 2018 conference builds on many GRF regional meetings and workshops and the three previous international GRF conferences in Rio de Janeiro (2012), Shanghai (2014), and Brighton (2017).
The conference is organized to identify insights and linkages across the SPAC research themes and actively bridge research with policy and practice. The scope covers local and global issues and interconnections across scales, connecting regions, networks of practitioners and researchers.
This conference actively explores the following four themes for research and practice:
Theme #1: Asian Perspectives and Priorities in SCP
Theme #2: Imagining Sustainable Futures and Transforming Cultures
Theme #3: Sustainable Lifestyles and Livelihoods
Theme #4: Smart, Circular, Sustainable Urbanization
These themes will be explored through a number of cross-cutting topics: politics and democracy, civic engagement and knowledge transfer, gender, and social justice.
The GRF brings together individuals and organizations engaged in research and its applications on the transition towards sustainable production/consumption systems from various regions of the world. It builds on more than twenty years of research tradition on sustainable production and consumption by numerous researchers, institutes, and networks around the world, and on many successful attempts to apply research findings into policy, civil society, and business.
The forum represents a key opportunity to strengthen the connection of research institutions with the SWITCH Programmes (in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Mediterranean), particularly European and SWITCH partner countries’ knowledge transfer that can benefit and support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The conerence is co-organized by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the National Institute for Environmental Studies and the SWITCH to Green Initiative.