Everyday products – food, luxury food, clothing and fuel – all these things require raw materials. Global economic progress means that we now need twice as much raw material to manufacture our desired products as we did in 2000. The amount of raw materials a person consumes on average per year is 13 times higher in high-income countries than in low-income countries. High-income countries are often unable to meet their own needs and purchase many resources from countries in the global South. However, global resources are limited. The question, then, is how we can manage scarce resources to preserve them for future generations. But renewable raw materials and resources are also used wastefully:
Each year, an estimated one-third of all food produced is thrown away. That’s 1.3 billion tons of food going to waste worldwide, even though more than 2 billion people worldwide suffer from hunger or malnutrition.

SDG 12 is to be achieved through several fields of action. On the one hand, developing countries are to be supported in making a transition to sustainable production and consumption patterns. To this end, its own scientific and technological capacities are to be expanded.
On the other hand, sustainable tourism is to be established, which creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.
Inefficient fossil fuel subsidies lead to wasteful consumption and should be phased out. To this end, the taxation of fuels is to be restructured and market distortions eliminated. The needs and circumstances of developing countries should be fully taken into account and possible adverse effects on their development from the measures should be minimized.