Patrick Schroeder and Uwe Weber share some experiences from the European Commission's SWITCHAsia programme.

Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image: joiseyshowaa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

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Already in 2010, the Asia-Pacific region's urban inhabitants amounted to more than 750 million people, about 40% of the region's population. Today, seven of the world's ten most populous cities are located in the Asia-Pacific region: Beijing, Delhi, Dhaka, Kolkata, Mumbai, Shanghai and Tokyo. These mega-cities are generators of wealth and hubs for innovation and cultural activities. On the downside, these cities continue to harbour poverty and environmental disasters. Nevertheless, urbanization enhances productivity, increases gross domestic product per head and has turned into a major source of economic strength, illustrated by the fact that Asian cities contribute about 80% of the region's gross domestic product.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for about 99% of all businesses in Asia and these companies are often concentrated in and around cities. Lacking awareness, finance and often operating with out-dated equipment, they are responsible for a significant share of urban pollution, which poses hazards to the health of citizens. This current concentration of economic activities in Asian cities can only be sustained if industry stakeholders implement essential cleaner production principles.

The SWITCH-Asia programme, the European Union's largest cooperation programme with Asia promoting sustainable consumption and production, supports more than 80 projects to develop innovations that help SMEs reduce their waste, improve their energy intensity or become more resource efficient. One example is the circular economy approach developed by an industrial symbiosis project implemented in the industrial development zone of Binhai New Area in Tianjin, China.

Middle class consumers
In addition to factory-level "end-of-pipe" solutions for SMEs, SWITCH-Asia projects also look downstream the value chain – to retailers and consumers. Asian cities resemble consumption hubs, linked to global supply chains and consumption in these cities is responsible for a significant share of the environmental footprint created elsewhere. They are home to new Asian middle class consumers, who follow global consumption patterns, with everlarger shopping malls and supermarkets. In this respect, and considering their frequently deficient infrastructure, Asian cities are facing severe challenges. The potential solutions are hence similar to those needed in industrialized countries. One such solution lies with retailers. Reducing the millions of plastic bags dispensed at the cash counters of retail stores every day would be a relevant first step.

Beyond this, retailers play a key role as intermediaries between suppliers and consumers. Retailers can influence both upstream and downstream value chains. For instance, through choice editing they can promote greener products or even remove high-impact products from their shelves. They can provide consumers with information about the environmental and health impacts of products in their shops through awareness-raising campaigns. Product labels are important information tools for these initiatives. Close cooperation with suppliers is crucial to make such labels work.

Greening retail and supply
One initiative implemented under the SWITCH-Asia programme in India is the Green Retail India project. Working with retailers in major cities, such as Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, the project has used ambitious sustainability criteria to establish 30 pilot stores from four major Indian retail chains. A first baseline study estimates a 40% reduction in energy consumption in these pilot retail stores is possible through energy efficiency measures, which can often be as simple as putting doors on fridges and freezers and improving airconditioning systems. An estimated reduction in solid waste by 30% in pilot retail stores by the end of the project is considered possible. The project not only looks at retail stores as such, but also works upstream with suppliers to initiate green supply chain measures. Based on the experiences from pilot stores, a roadmap for sustainability for the Indian retail sector is currently being developed.

Another example from China is a project aiming to increase consumer awareness about sustainable lifestyles and green products in the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, which is being implemented in close cooperation with the consumer associations of both cities. Consumer surveys indicate that the main obstacles to greening consumption are that many consumers do not understand what green products are and that available information about green products is considered unreliable. In addition, the price of green products is perceived to be too high. Less than 10% of consumers would be willing to pay 10% more for energy-efficient appliances. For organic vegetables, the case is different, as more than three quarters of consumers are willing to pay up to one third more, reflecting concerns about contaminated food in China. Some of the challenges include Chinese consumers' lack of understanding and lack of trust in product labels. Third-party certification practices and independent product testing, which in other countries have proven successful in providing reliable product information, are still in the early stages.

Consumption habits
In Indonesia, the SWITCH-Asia programme cooperated with the Surabaya and Yogyakarta city governments to develop sustainable lifestyle initiative pilot programmes. The specific approach used to change actual behaviour and habits was to motivate rather than educate the people involved through a co-design process, based on the belief that a self-enhancing movement would gain its own momentum. The goal is that by 2020 sustainable consumption habits will be well established.

In Surabaya, schools compete with each other as part of a campaign on energy and water-saving and other sustainable consumption patterns. Through the schools, these activities reach out to hundreds of households and families. The programme also includes training journalists on sustainable consumption and production, working with bloggers and photographers with competitions, and convening editor roundtables to discuss media policy and strategy on environmental issues. These pilot campaigns provide information and experiences that can be used for further replication and scaling-up. These examples show that sustainable urbanization requires a comprehensive and integrated approach, looking at whole value chains. Improvements in urban infrastructure, such as transport and waste management systems, renewable energy installations, energy-efficient buildings and cleaner production by SMEs, need to be complemented by sustainable consumption and lifestyle initiatives.