Objectives

To promote commitments towards future generations, integrating their interests into current decision making processes.

To enable patterns of production that minimise the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as of emitted waste and pollutants throughout the life cycle of products and services.

To encourage consumption patterns that prioritise the choice of products and services that use less materials, last longer and generate less waste, and that take these aspects into account in the purchase, use and re-use of products as well as in their sharing.

 

Vision

Sustainability across its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – is a broad concept under which multiple thematic areas can be framed, and constitutes an unavoidable theme to an institution with an intrinsic vocation for long term issues such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, interweaving its statutory fields of science, education and charity and working across its various programmes and departments.

 

Targets / Beneficiaries

The Programme’s target audiences include national organisations and companies, staff of NGOs/Public Administration/Academia, university students, journalists, entrepreneurs, children and youth, entities that raise environmental awareness, civil society and the public at large, as well as any institutions making decisions that impact on future generations.

The end beneficiaries are society as a whole (with a focus on future generations), that shall benefit from a healthier environment and a more sustainable economic model in the long term, as well as greater awareness about how sustainable production and consumption contribute to their quality of life.

 

Strategy for action

The Programme is organised around two strategic axes: Intergenerational Justice and Sustainable Production and Consumption.

The Intergenerational Justice axis is focused on the generations to come and seeks to nurture reflection about the consequences of decisions taken by current generations and their impacts on future generations, improving public perception of this theme and integrating it into public debates and policies.

The Sustainable Production and Consumption axis addresses patterns of consumption and production that are environmentally responsible, economically viable and socially fair, and seeks to deepen knowledge about this theme, foster innovation, promote new individual and organisational practices, and enhance public perception.

The oceans will remain an area of focus for interventions related to sustainable production and consumption, giving continuity to the work started by the Oceans Initiative.

The Programme shall strive to work the two themes in an integrated fashion and through partnerships, linking the impact that our current choices of production and consumption will have on the world we will leave to future generations.