Understandably, not everyone is keen on agreeing measures on sustainable consumption, in Rio or elsewhere.

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Just so we are clear about this particular waste let me explain directly from the European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production: CND waste includes soils, concrete, bricks, glass, wood, plasterboard, asbestos, metals and plastic.

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Mainstream Chinese will continue to focus on aspirational purchases in the short to midterm, and will not begin focusing on green and sustainable consumption for many years to come.

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Swartz is coming from a radically different place in the universe of corporate America: Timberland is known for emphasizing policies on socially and environmentally sustainable consumption and production.

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Noda has also signaled that he will honor the previously-reached agreement with the opposition parties on restructuring government finances and putting welfare state programs on a sustainable financing footing, specifically raising the consumption tax from the current five percent to 10 percent by yearend 2015.

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To achieve sustainable growth from now on, the World Bank thinks the consumption share needs to rise to about 66% - and investment to fall by a similar amount.

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