Framework for Programmes for Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Czech Republic (SCP)

The reason for drafting the Framework for Programmes of Sustainable Consumption and Production (the SCP Framework) has been the necessity to tackle the issue of sustainable consumption and production in a systematic and active way, in view of the increasing consumption of natural resources and growing environmental burden. SCP is a basic precondition of sustainable development. Consumption means both the use of products and services and the use of natural resources, energy, water, land, etc. SCP is not an obstacle to economic development; on the contrary, it is a challenge and an opportunity, for the private sector to optimise the production process in terms of energy and material intensity and to make products with a competitive advantage for the increasingly aware consumer market in the European Union – products with an emphasis on quality, health and protection of the environment. It also offers an opportunity to create new jobs and thus considerably contributes to finding a solution to the social problem of highest priority – unemployment.