Miscommunication of harms? A critique of SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production implementation in the food sector in Northern Ireland

Food is an area of concern for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which makes a critical evaluation of the current strategies for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation on that front timely and necessary. Moreover, the role of communication around the SDGs implementation deserves further academic attention. The chapter provides a critique of the communication surrounding the implementation of SDG 12 by looking at a case study of the Northern Irish leading poultry producer, Moy Park. Adopting an original lens of green criminology, the chapter argues that communication of the achievement of the SDGs masks the negative effects on the environment and society produced by those doing the communication. Such ‘miscommunication of harms’ ultimately results in ‘greening’ of the capitalist ethos of capital accumulation that is not sustainable in the long term and contradicts the idea of sustainable development in general and the ethos of the SDGs more specifically.