ABSTRACT
This part on system transitions seeks to highlight systemic aspects of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). That is, to set a focus on eco-innovations that are so radical and systemic in character that they involve complementary changes in production and consumption patterns, often involving considerable institutional change. It is a logical next step in the evolution of the environmental policy agenda, which has shifted from neighbour regulation and end-of-pipe solutions towards process, products, functions and, more recently, systems of consumption and production. With the SCP agenda developing very much internationally, global development issues (rather than a narrow Western European approach) are in focus, and the very different conditions in developed, transition and developing countries must be considered. The term ‘system innovation’ is by now a well-established reference concept for such radical, systemic change.
