Why have 'Sustainable Product-Service Systems' not been widely implemented?

Abstract

We recognise that the dominant socio-economic development models in industrialised contexts are unsustainable. The pressure of human beings on the environment has profoundly modified natural systems, and today the planet is reaching its limits in the capacity of assimilating environmental effects caused by anthropic activities. In the last few decades the reaction of humankind to sustainability problems has produced a series of approaches that has gone from relying upon end-of-pipe solutions to cleaner production and product eco-design strategies. However, although these types of interventions are fundamental and necessary, the improvements they can provide are usually more than offset by the pace and scale of population growth and increasing consumption levels. For these reasons it is clear that we must not only address products, production processes and provision of services but we must also address the patterns of consumption, lifestyles, and the institutions that underpin them and how all of these must be addressed simultaneously, if we intend to make the transformation to sustainable societal processes. [...]