Rethinking development: sustainable consumption, production and trade

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) develops consumption-based accounting tools, such as multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models, to reveal environmental costs often ignored by territory-based emissions tracking. SEI argues that while consumers play a role, systemic shifts driven by government and business are essential to overcome infrastructure and business models that lock in unsustainable patterns. Their research also highlights how complex global supply chains can transfer vulnerabilities and environmental risks between producer and consumer regions.

• Current environmental indicators often fail to capture the full cost of consumption because they typically only record domestic emissions, ignoring those generated by the production and transport of imported goods.
• SEI utilizes multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models to track the flow of materials and pollutants across supply chains from producers to final consumers, linking economic flows with physical resource flows.
• Individual consumer habit changes are insufficient for a transition to sustainable consumption; instead, interventions must target systemic drivers such as infrastructure design, social norms, and business models that encourage increased consumption.
• Global supply chains create interdependencies where shocks, environmental disasters, or changes in import patterns in one region can cause price volatility, shortages, and vulnerabilities in another.
• The 'Pixel-to-Consumer' model allows for the tracing of specific commodities from their exact point of extraction or production to their final destination, which can link specific consumption patterns to local environmental damage, such as Amazon deforestation caused by soya bean consumption.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2014). Rethinking development: sustainable consumption, production and trade. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-rsb-sustainable-consumption-production-trade.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Rethinking development: sustainable consumption, production and trade. 2014. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-rsb-sustainable-consumption-production-trade.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Rethinking development: sustainable consumption, production and trade |date=2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-rsb-sustainable-consumption-production-trade.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2014rethinking, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Rethinking development: sustainable consumption, production and trade}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-rsb-sustainable-consumption-production-trade.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }