This chapter analyses China's responsibility for climate change by reference to the concept of ‘sustainable consumption and production’ (SCP). SCP has three main attributes. First, it is an integrative analytical perspective based on ‘life-cycle’ thinking for understanding the complex interrelationship between global economic activity and value chains, and between human wellbeing and global environmental degradation, including climate change. Second, it is an international political process to promote and support policies and actions necessary for systemic transition towards sustainable consumption and production patterns. Third, it is a set of practical solutions or ‘tools’ to be applied by policy makers, the private sector, civil society and individuals to address social, economic and environmental problems arising from unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Sustainable consumption and production as an integrative analytical perspective is based on the realisation that consumption and production are not separated from each other; they are inextricably connected and need to be considered as a coupled system (Lebel and Lorek, 2008).

For conceptual simplification, the SCP perspective is often separated into a production side and a consumption side, with consumption and production referred to as ‘two sides of the same sustainability coin’. SCP is based on life-cycle thinking, for which the most important analytical tool is life-cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is the internationally standardised scientific approach behind modern environmental policies and business decisions. Through LCA, it is possible to consider resource use and pollution occurring during all stages of the life cycle of goods and services, from the resource-extraction phase to the end-of-life phase, or ‘from cradle to cradle’, thereby making the ‘world behind the product’ visible (de Leeuw, 2005). Conceptually, life-cycle thinking offers huge untapped potential for providing comprehensive information and data about products and their associated environmental impacts. That said, there is a wide gap between life-cycle information already generated and comprehensive practical applications that address environmental issues based on life-cycle thinking (Mont and Bleischwitz, 2007).

The SCP concept has been discussed since the early 1990s. However, tools and methodologies for practical implementation are still evolving. SCP as a practical approach developed from the principle of ‘cleaner production’, which, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, Division for Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEPDTIE), ‘is the continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategy towards processes, products and services in order to increase overall efficiency and reduce damage and risks for humans and the environment’ (www.unep.fr).