trends in sustainable consumption and production

8/8/2019 Trends in Sustainable Consumption and Production

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TRENDSINSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

E c o n o m i c &

S

o

c

ia

lA

ffa

irs

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE

CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION


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[blank, inside cover]


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Department o Economic and Social AairsDivision or Sustainable Development

TRENDSIN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Towards Sustainable Consumption

and Production

United Nations

New York, 2010


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DESA

The Department o Economic and Social Aairs o the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interace between global policies in the

economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it com-

piles, generates and analyses a wide range o economic, social and environmental data and inormation on which Member States

o the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock o policy options; (ii) it acilitates the negotiations o

Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses o action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges;and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means o translating policy rameworks developed in United Nations

conerences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities.

Note

The designations employed and the presentation o the material in this publication do not imply the expression o any opin-

ion whatsoever on the part o the Secretariat o the United Nations concerning the legal status o any country or territory or

o its authorities, or concerning the delimitations o its rontiers. The term country as used in the text o the present report

also reers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. The designations o country groups in the text and the tables are intended

solely or statistical or analytical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a par-ticular country or area in the development process. Mention o the names o rms and commercial products does not imply

the endorsement o the United Nations.

United Nations publication

Copyright United Nations, 2010

All rights reserved


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INTRODUCTION

FOREWORD

The Johannesburg Plan o Implementation reers to sustainable consumption and production (SCP), along with poverty eradica-tion and conservation o the natural resource base, as essential precondition or sustainable development. The idea o sustainable

development contains within it the completion o three transitions: demographic, development, and decoupling. The demo-

graphic transition is at a mature stage and global population will level o around 9 billion later this century, and the share o urban

population will expand briskly, especially in developing countries.

The development transition is ar rom complete. It reers to the time when the gains rom development would reach all coun-

tries, and the consequent prosperity would be shared broadly. Currently, while the 15 per cent o the worlds population that lives

in developed countries has an average per capita income above $40,000, the 80 per cent in developing countries average income

o less than $2,000 per capita. This is also refected in the wide dispersion o human development indicators as well as per capita

energy consumption.The decoupling transition is also problematic. Already, the consumption patterns o the developed countries have imposed

severe stresses on the earths natural resources and largely lled its natural sinks. I the development transition were to ollow the

same consumption and production patterns, pressures on critical ecosystems and lie-support systems would become intolerable.

Thus, a key challenge acing the international community is how to sustain and even accelerate the development transition while

also realizing the decoupling transition. An energy transition is also crucial, combining energy access or the poor with diusion

o renewable energy.

In short, we must nd pathways which simultaneously achieve upward convergence o living standards (completing the devel-

opment transition) and downward convergence o resource use and environmental impacts (the decoupling transition).

This volume reviews progress towards achieving these interlinked challenges, ocusing rst on broad trends in resource use,then turning to drivers o resource depletion and environmental degradation, and nally examining the major initiatives o gov-

ernments, business and civil society to shit towards sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Tariq Banuri, Director

Division for Sustainable Development

Department of Economic and Social Affairs

April 2010


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PAGE

CONTENTS

FOREWORD iii

I. TRENDS IN RESOURCE USE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. STRESSES ON ECOSYSTEMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

III. DRIVERS OF CHANGING PRODUCTION

AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

IV. POLICY AND VOLUNTARY RESPONSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

V. NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

REFERENCES AND ENDNOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35


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TRENDS IN RESOURCE USE

The accelerating materials and ossil energy demand o the past decade-

and-a-hal has begun to be refected in commodity prices. Beore the

recent recession, most were spiraling upward. While a boon or resource-

rich economies, the prices rises have been a bane or many resource- poor

countries, which have been particularly hard it by high ood prices.

Source: IMF, 2010

World commodity price index

2005 = 100

0

50

100

150

200

250

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Commodity Food Price Index includes Cereal, Vegetable Oils, Meat, Seafood, Sugar, Bananas,and Oranges Price Indices

Commodity Cereals Price Index includes Wheat, Maize (Corn), Rice, and Barley

Commodity Agricultural Raw Materials Index includes Timber, Cotton, Wool, Rubber, and Hides Price Indices

Commodity Metals Price Index includes Copper, Aluminum, Iron Ore, Tin, Nickel, Zinc, Lead,and Uranium Price Indices

Fundamental changes inthe way societies produce and consume

are indispensable or achieving globalsustainable developmentGovernments,

relevant international organizations,

the private sector and all major groupsshould play an active role in changing

unsustainable consumption andproduction patterns.

Johannesburg Plan of Implementation 2002, III


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GENERAL TRENDS

Recent research published in the journal Nature denes, or eight earth bio-

physical subsystems or processes, sae threshold boundaries that should

not be exceeded to avoid major environmental disruptions. Already several

thresholds appear to have been exceeded, including: climate change (as

measured by excess CO2 concentration in the atmosphere); the rate o bio-

diversity loss (terrestrial and marine); and intererence with the nitrogen cycle

(N2 is removed rom the atmosphere and converted to reactive nitrogen or

human use mainly or agriculture). Intererence with the global phosphorous

cycle, ocean acidication, global reshwater use, and change in land use are

approaching their thresholds. No boundaries have yet been established or

chemical pollution and atmospheric aerosol loading. Stratospheric ozonedepletion is a noteworthy exception, where international environmental

cooperation has yielded progress in reversing a negative trend.

Earths biophysical subsystems or processesand their safe threshold boundaries

II. STRESSES ON

ECOSYSTEMS

STRESSES ON ECOSYSTEMS

CLIMATE CHANGE

CO2 emissions have been rising steadily: Since 1751 approximately 329

billion tons o carbon have been released to the atmosphere rom the con-

sumption o ossil uels and cement production. Hal o these emissions

have occurred since the mid 1970s.

Source: Rockstrom J. et al., 2009. Source: Boden et al, 2009.

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,0008,000

9,000

1751

1760

1769

1778

1787

1796

1805

1814

1823

1832

1841

1850

1859

1868

1877

1886

1895

1904

1913

1922

1931

1940

1949

1958

1967

1976

1985

1994

2003

Total carbon emissions from fossil-fuels Carbon emissions from gas fuel consumption

Carbon emissions from liquid fuel consumption Carbon emissions from solid fuel consumptionCarbon emissions from cement production

millionmetrictonsofC

Carbon emissions from fossil-fuels, 17512006


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Numberofthreate

nedspecies

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

1996/1998 2000 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Vertebrates Invertebrates Plants Fungi & Protists

Numbers of threatened species bymajor groups of organisms

Thousandsoftonnes

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

1961

1963

1965

1967

1969

1971

1973

1975

1977

1979

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

Consumption of nitrogenous fertilizers(N total nutrients)

Biodiversity is highly correlated to the number and health o ecosystems.

Vertebrates have been the most aected, with 10% o species threatened,

ollowed by plant species with 3%.

INTERFERENCE WITH NITROGEN CYCLE

Nitrogen is needed to grow ood but because o the ineciencies o nitro-

gen uptake by plants and animals, only about 10 to 15 percent o reactive

nitrogen is taken up. The rest is lost to the environment and injected into

the atmosphere by combustion. This nitrogen pollutes water sources and

the worlds oceans, harming marine ecosystems, and contributes to global

warming. Agricultural runo and the burning o ossil uels have boosted

the supply o reactive nitrogen in the open oceans 50 percent above the

normal range.3

Roughly our times more nitrogen ertilizer was applied in 2000 than in

1960, and applications have increased steadily since then. This has led toincreased deposition and change in the N cycle in various ecosystems. Evi-

dence suggests very high application rates contribute to soil degradation. 4

THE RATE OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment evaluated the ability o ecosys-

tems to provide ecosystem services such as the provision o goods (e.g.

ood, water, bre and uel), the regulation o natural systems (e.g. climate,

water and disease), cultural benets (e.g. aesthetics, spiritual, recreation

and education), and other supporting benets (e.g. primary production

and soil ormation). The assessment concludes that humans have changed

ecosystems in unprecedented ways over the last 50 years. Sixty percent o

the world ecosystem services have been degraded, which is putting such

strain on the natural unctions o Earth that the ability o the planets eco-

systems to sustain uture generations can no longer be taken or granted.2The International Assessment on Agricultural Knowledge, Science and

Technology or Development (IAASTD) nds that inappropriate ertilizer

application has led to eutrophication and large dead zones in a number

o coastal areas and some lakes, and inappropriate use o pesticides has

led to groundwater pollution and loss o biodiversity. In addition, 1.9 bil-

lion hectares (and 2.6 billion people) are aected by signicant levels o

land degradation. The area o drylands has been growing steeply since

the 1980s as a share o total land area. Very degraded soils are ound espe-

cially in semi-arid areas, areas with high population pressure and in regions

that are undergoing deorestation.

Source: IUCN, 2010.

Source: FAO, 2010.


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Estimated total reactive nitrogen deposition rom theatmosphere (wet and dry) in 1860, early 1990s,

and projected or 2050

Source: UNEP/GRID-

Arendal, 2005

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

Ecological Footprint analysis which compares humanitys ecological

impacts to the amount o biologically productive land and sea available

to supply key ecosystem services (ood supply, bre, habitat, carbon stor-

age, etc.) nds that the global economy started exceeding the planets

biocapacity in the 1980s, and overconsumption o resources has increased

since then.

The single largest demand humanity puts on the biosphere is its carbon

ootprint, which has increased tenold since 1961. The Ecological Footprint

exceeds the earth capacity to regenerate by 30%. Alternatively, 1.3 plan-

ets would be needed to stay within the planets carrying capacity.5 This is

another, simplied way o picturing planetary boundaries and ecosystem

thresholds.

Under a business-as-usual scenario, 2 planets would be required by 2030 to

support the worlds population. This assumes a continued unequal world

with 15% o the population using 50% o the resources. World WildlieFund (WWF) estimates that three planets would be needed now i every

citizen adopted the UK liestyle, and ve planets i they adopted the aver-

age North American liestyle.


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9.2

4.7

3.5

2.4 2.3

1.6 1.4

6.5

2.3

5.8

4.8

1.30.8

1.8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

NORTHAMERICA

EUROPE(EU)

EUROPE(NON-EU)

LATIN AMERICAAND THE

CARIBBEAN

MIDDLE EASTAND CENTRAL

ASIA

ASIA-PACIFIC AFRICA

Ecological footprint

Biocapacity

Globalhectares

perperso

n

Biocapacity and ecological footprint per capita,by region in 2005

Regional dierences are driven by dierences in geography and climate,

liestyle, afuence, population and technological sophistication. At the

regional and national level, a comparison o ecological ootprints with bio-

capacity indicates whether countries and regions live within their biologi-

cal carrying capacity (or import such capacity rom the rest o the world).

The net balance o a countrys ootprint depends on its consumption com-

pared to its biocapacity per capita.5 Russia, Canada, the United States,

Brazil, Australia, India, and Argentina have the largest biocapacity. Three

o these have ecological ootprints that exceed their biocapacity because

o large population (China and India) or high consumption per capita (theUS). Countries exceeding their biocapacity went rom none in 1960 to

24 countries at present. North America, with the largest biocapacity per

capita, still exceeds its biocapacity, while Arica with a relatively small bio-

capacity per capita and 902 million people has a biocapacity reserve.

Source: WWF, 2008.

As ecological reserves becomeincreasingly rare, it will become critical... to orge new relationships and move

toward policies that protect natural assetswhile improving health and well-being. Inthis game, everyone can win. Every single

person will benet rom early action.

Mathis Wackernagel,

Executive Director of Global Footprint Network.


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0

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Nitratespollutioninrivers2004(mgN/L)

Consumption of nitrogenous fertilizers per hectare of arable land (Kg per ha)

Netherlands

Korea

Belgium

Luxembourg

FranceUK

Denmark

Germany

Ireland

Czech Republic

Norway

Switzerland

Canada

SwedenMexico

SpainItaly

Poland

Austria

The intensity of nutrient used and the pollutionof rivers in OECD countries

(annual mean concentrations, 19802004)

Average national water ootprint per capita (2007)

Source: Hoekstra, A.Y. & Chapagain, A.K., 2007. Source: OECD, 2010

You cant have sustainability i youare eating capital. Today we are

consuming our natural capital.

Pavan Sukhdev, study leader for the project onThe Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity and the

UNEP Green Economy Initiative

o the internal and external water ootprint. Internal ootprint reers to the

appropriation o domestic water resources and external ootprint to the

appropriation o water resources in other countries.

Worldwide, 27 countries have an external water ootprint which accounts

or more than 50 per cent o their total water consumption, that is, they

depend heavily on water-embodied trade (or virtual water trade).

Major rivers and lakes, which serve as sources o drinking water, are increas-

ingly polluted rom both industrial and agricultural sources, including nitro-

gen. Generally, river pollution increases with nitrogen use intensity, though

with considerable dispersion.


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> DRIVERS OF CHANGING PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

III. DRIVERS OF

CHANGING

PRODUCTION AND

CONSUMPTIONPATTERNS

Though there are controversies around the way pressures on the planets

resources are measured, the message that consistently emerges is that the

global economy is consuming resources at increasing and unsustainablerates. While substitution and new technologies can temporarily relieve

resource pressures, the scale o use o nite resources continues to rise.

Delinking, or decoupling, reers to weakening or breaking the link between

growth o economic activity and growth o consumption o materials, ossil

uels or energy and waste.

Delinking has occurred or some local environmental indicators, as rising

incomes have been accompanied by improvements in access to clean

drinking water and sanitation and some improvement in local and regional

air quality. This has not been the case or other measures like waste gen-eration, resource extraction and emissions o greenhouse gases. Even

where delinking occurs it is in part the result o shiting resource extrac-

tion and production to other countries, including developing countries, as

opposed to changes in patterns o consumption.

Growth in population, income and wealth over the next 40 years is

expected to put increasing pressure on resources. Even i energy intensi-

ties o GDP continue to all, the absolute levels o energy consumption are

expected to continue rising and, without a major shit towards low-carbon

energy, so too are CO2 emissions.

Countries would appear to ace a dilemma, as progress in human develop-

ment (as measured by UNDPs HDI) is positively correlated with a countrysecological ootprint. Few countries all into the sustainable development

quadrant o gure on the next page. The diagram illustrates well the

notion o a dual convergence: in living standards (as those countries in the

lower let quadrant would rapidly move to the lower right), and in environ-

mental impacts (as those countries in the upper right quadrant would also

move rapidly to the lower right).

The essential challenge acing humankind is to raise living standards and

human development everywhere and or all while keeping within ecosys-

tems carrying capacities.


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EcologicalFootprint(globalhectaares

perperson)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 0.1 0.2 0 .3 0.4 0 .5 0.6 0 .7 0.8 0 .9 1.0Human Development Index

1.8 global hectares per personGlobal average availablebiocapacity per person with noarea set aside for wild species

Threshold for highhuman development

SustainableDevelopmentquadrant

Human Development Index andEcological footprint of nations

AFFLUENCE

High-income countries have been characterized by a steady increase in

the average per-person Ecological Footprint, rom 3.5 global hectares in

the early 1960s to roughly 6 global hectares at present.

As emerging economies become more afuent, the size o the global mid-

dle class is expected to increase, rom ewer than hal a million in 1960 to

4 billion in 2030. The largest number will live in China and India. Residentialwater and energy use, car ownership, personal travel, ood notably meat

and dairy consumption, and waste generation all increase with income.6

Moreover, consumption o some goods e.g. consumer durables like

automobiles can increase very rapidly once middle class incomes pass a

certain threshold. Car ownership plotted against per capita income shows

a non-linear relationship. Ownership rates are usually minimal in the low-

est income countries (clustered near the origin), but increase rapidly as

per capita incomes rise above a threshold (around $10,000 per capita at

purchasing power parity exchange rates).

Both energy consumption in general and oil consumption in particular rise

with incomes. A number o the countries with the astest GDP growth since

1980 also experienced rapid growth in energy use. This is not always the

case, however. A ew countries (or example Philippines, Bangladesh and

Austria) had GDP growth per capita which was much aster than growth in

per capita energy consumption.

Source: Global Footprint Network, 2008 and UNDP, 2008.

0

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

1961

1963

1965

1967

1969

1971

1973

1975

1977

1979

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

Globalhectaresperperson

Built Up Land

Forest

Fishing Ground

Grazing Land

Cropland

Carbon Uptake Land

High income countries ecological footprintper person, 19612006

Source: Global ootprint network, 2009.

Without a undamental shit in the way goodsand resources are consumed, the world

aces the prospect o multiple, interlockingglobal crises or the environment, prosperity

and security. Sustainable consumption is aprerequisite or a more prosperous, sae and

equitable global uture.

World Economic Forum


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1,000

10,000

100,000

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700GDPpercapita,

PPPs(c

onstant2005intl$s)

Passenger cars per 1000

Luxembourg

Iceland

Italy

New Zealand

Brunei

Estonia

United States

MaltaSolvenia

Singapore

Botswana

Slovak Republic

Macao

Passenger cars and GDP (2004)

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500

GDPpercapita(20

00constant$)

Oil consumption per capita (toe)

Norway

U.S.Iceland

Canada

Cyprus

Japan

Brazil

China

Finland

Germany

India

Italy

South Africa

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Relationship between per capita incomeand oil consumption (2005)

Millions of people

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

World

World (excluding China and India)

China

India

People with Incomes between$6,000 and $30,000 2008

Projected population that enters the middle classes

Source: Goldman Sachs, 2008.

Source: IEA, 2007.

Source: World Bank, 2009.

Also noteworthy is that or higher income levels there is a very wide range

in car ownership per 1000 inhabitants, rom the very high rates o Italy

and New Zealand to the very low rate o Singapore. Size matters (to some

degree) but so does government transport policy. Singapore, or exam-

ple, invests heavily in public transport and uses a combination o regula-

tion and economic incentives to limit private car ownership.

URBANIZATION

The planets population is projected to rise above 9 billion in the second

hal o the century beore leveling o. Between now and then, virtually all

population growth will be in developing countries, with a very high pro-

portion in cities.

As many o the countries where population is projected to rise have large

numbers o people still living in poverty, levels o consumption will need


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to rise as well. As more join the ranks o the middle class, this will place

additional pressure on planetary resources and ecosystems.

Hence the need or changing patterns o consumption and production,

notably in developed countries, to relieve global resource pressures.

Hence also the urgent need or diusion across the globe o resource-

ecient and energy-ecient technologies as well as renewable energy.

GLOBALIZATION

The globalization o production (and consumption) has brought oppor-

tunities to developing countries to raise their citizens out o poverty by

participating in global production networks.

Yet, the growth in world trade and the global economy over the past sev-

eral decades has not been matched by a growth in the capacity o nation-

states and other actors to manage the consequences o growth or the

global environment. Nor have the benets o growth yet reached all.

Moreover, the (relative i not oten absolute) decoupling o economic

activity rom resource use and pollution which has occurred in some devel-

oped countries has beneted rom globalization, as resource- and energy-

intensive activities are more and more concentrated in developing coun-

tries. On the other hand, the resource-intensity and pollution-intensity o

consumption, considering entire product lie cycles, is little changed.

This is illustrated by the dierence between production-based emissions

(all emissions produced within a nations border) and consumption-based

emissions (all emissions resulting rom consumption within a nation) or

the 13 highest emitting countries. Globalization has allowed productionto be outsourced to rapidly developing countries, shiting the associated

emissions to production activities in those countries, oten or export back

to developed countries.

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

1958

-196

2

1963

-196

7

1968

-197

2

1973

-197

7

1978

-198

2

1983

-198

7

1988

-199

2

1993

-199

7

1998

-200

2

2003

-200

7

Population(

1000

inh

ab)

Rural Population Urban Population

Rural and urban population

Source: Population Division, UN-DESA, 2010.

Source: Herwich and Peters, 2009.

1.3

1.2

1.1

1

0.9

0.8

0.7

Russian

Federation

Production-basedemissionsnorm

alizedto1

China

Brazil

Canada

India

Mexico

UnitedStates

ofAmerica

France

RepublicofKorea

Germany

United

Kingdom

Italy

Japan

The percentage difference between production-basedand consumption-based CO2 emissions for the

13 highest emitting countries


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POLICY AND VOLUNTARY RESPONSES

IV. POLICY AND

VOLUNTARY

RESPONSES

With ew exceptions, trends observed in earlier sections show resource use per

capita rising with income albeit at dierent rates. Though the rate o increase

may slow somewhat as countries become more developed and their markets

or material-intensive products become saturated, in very ew instances has

there been a bending o the curve to the point where resource use, emis-

sions and waste actually begin to decline while incomes continue to rise.

To make that happen requires more determined eort by all stakeholders.

Increasingly, governments, companies, and various groups o civil societyare working to nd eective measures to delink resource use, waste, and

harmul emissions rom economic activity.

Governments have been using a number o measures: sustainable pro-

curement; tighter eciency standards or automobiles, appliances and

new buildings; renewable energy portolio standards and eed-in taris or

electricity; various subsidies to promote greener products and services;

and, in response to the economic crisis, green stimulus spending. Local

authorities are both active and innovative in devising measures to pro-

mote sustainable cities and communities. In many cases, they are ahead

o national governments.

The business sector is increasingly taking into account environmental

and social issues, driven by a combination o government regulation,

shareholder demands and consumer preerences and civil society pres-

sure. Leading companies have set sustainability targets with timelines and

regular reporting on progress, have signed on to voluntary pacts like the

Global Compact and the Carbon Disclosure Project, and have engaged

in a variety o partnerships with NGOs, academia and the public sector

to bring their scientic, technical and managerial expertise and nancial

resources to bear on societal sustainability challenges.

Civil society organizations have numerous local, regional, and national initi-atives to raise consumer and citizen awareness, improve access to inorma-

tion, pioneer new market approaches (such as air trade), and combine

public pressure with constructive engagement with the private sector to

change business practices.

GOVERNMENTS AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES

As governments are large consumers o certain products, their purchasing

preerences can shape whole markets. Examples include: ood, clothing,

paper, electronic equipment, motor vehicles, electricity, and buildings.

States shall enact eective environmentallegislation. Environmental standards,

management objectives and priorities should refect

the environmental and developmental contextto which they apply. Standards applied by some

countries may be inappropriate and ounwarranted economic and social cost to other

countries, in particular developing countries.

Principle 11, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992.


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Canada

A Policy on Green Procurement issued in April 2006requires that environmental perormance considerations

be embedded into the procurement decision-making

process in the same manner as price, perormance, quality

and availability. Guidelines, toolkits and training have been

made available to acilitate this process. It is estimated that

three quarters o government departments or agencies

had green purchasing policies in place as o 2006/2007.

United StatesA 2007 Executive Order integrates and updates prior

practices and requirements with the goal o increasing

ederal purchasing o energy ecient, recycled con-

tent, bio-based, and environmentally preerable prod-

ucts and services. Federal agencies must also ensure

that: at least hal o renewable energy comes rom new

renewable sources; water consumption is reduced by

2% annually through 2015; feet total petroleum con-

sumption is reduced by 2% annually, use o alternative

uels is increased by 10% a year, and plug-in hybrid (PIH)

vehicles are used when available at reasonable costs.

Mexico

The 2007-2012 National Development Plan created

the scope or changes in procurement policy that allow

or the incorporation o sustainability criteria. Recent

changes in procurement law in Mexico include the

requirement that all wood and urniture purchased by

public agencies possess a certicate demonstrating its

legal origin (since September 2007) and paper should

have at least 50% recycled content.

Argentina

Argentina has developed an action plan to implement

sustainable public procurement (SPP), and carried out

research and training activities or procurement ocials

and policy-makers with the support o the Marrakech

Task Force on SPP.

China

From January 2007, the central government and provincial governments

are asked to give priority to environment-riendly products listed in a

green product inventory. The list, released in late 2006, includes prod-

ucts ranging rom cars to construction materials that have been approved

by the China Certication Committee or Environmental Labelling. Prod-

ucts are required to meet the environmental protection and energy sav-

ing standards set by the State Environmental Protection Administration in

order to obtain the environmental label.

Republic o Korea

The Act on the Promotion o the Purchase

o Environment-Friendly Products, passed

in 2005, requires public agencies at national

and local levels to publish green procure-

ment policies and implementation plans,

carry out the latter, and report results. The

Environment Ministry is asked to publish

guidelines, designated items and evaluation

criteria. Although green public procurement

is still relatively small (roughly 6% o total

public procurement in 2003), it has been

growing very rapidly during the last years.

Japan

The 2000 Law on Promoting Green Purchasing makes it

compulsory or government institutions to implement green

procurement, while encouraging local authorities, private

companies and individuals to make eorts or purchasing envi-

ronmentally sound products and services. All state ministries,

departments and agencies have to dene procurement tar-

gets every scal year and make the results o green procure-

ment eorts publicly available. 90% o central government

agencies implement green procurement. Although by 2005 all

sub-national governments had developed procurement poli-

cies, implementation has been slower.

European Union

By early 2007, 9 out o 26 EU member-states had adoptednational SPP or Green action plans, 5 had drated a

national action plan but it had not yet been adopted, and

2 were in the process o preparing one. In Austria, Denmark,

Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, 40 to

70% o all tenders published on Tenders Electronic Daily incor-

porated some environmental criteria, although in the remain-

ing 18 countries, this gure was below 30%.

Sustainable Public Procurement
http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/ecologisation-greening/achats-procurement/politique-policy-eng.htmlhttp://www.unitedbiolube.us/UBL_Executive_Orders.htmlhttp://www.sela.org/DB/ricsela/EDOCS/SRed/2008/11/T023600003149-0-Plan_Nacional_de_Desarrollo_2007-2012_%28M%E9xico%29.pdfhttp://www.unepie.org/scp/marrakech/taskforces/pdf/Procurement2.pdfhttp://www.public-procurement.cn/http://eng.me.go.kr/content.do?method=moveContent&menuCode=pol_pol_pro_enforcinghttp://www.env.go.jp/en/laws/policy/green/index.htmlhttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/index_en.htmhttp://www.unitedbiolube.us/UBL_Executive_Orders.htmlhttp://www.sela.org/DB/ricsela/EDOCS/SRed/2008/11/T023600003149-0-Plan_Nacional_de_Desarrollo_2007-2012_%28M%E9xico%29.pdfhttp://www.unepie.org/scp/marrakech/taskforces/pdf/Procurement2.pdfhttp://www.public-procurement.cn/http://eng.me.go.kr/content.do?method=moveContent&menuCode=pol_pol_pro_enforcinghttp://www.env.go.jp/en/laws/policy/green/index.htmlhttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/index_en.htmhttp://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/ecologisation-greening/achats-procurement/politique-policy-eng.html


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Water or Everyone (Peru)

Water or Everyone program includes 270 projects

in the water and sanitation sector. The upgrading

o water and wastewater plants in many parts o the

country will ensure the provision o clean water and

reduce the time spent in etching water. The program

will deliver potable water to some 49,000 beneciary

amilies, and sewer service to some 57,000 amilies.

Energy Efcient Public Buildings (France)

The goal o the French government is to reduce the

energy consumption o existing buildings by at least

38 percent by 2020. To reach this goal France will

start by 2012 the renovation o existing public build-

ings to reduce their energy consumption by 40 per-

cent and their GHG emissions by 50 percent. As o

2010 the norm or new oces and public buildings

will become 50 kWh/m/year.

Sustainable Public Transport and Sport (South Arica)

The South Arican government is building a new sustainable

public transport system or the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The

project is being implemented by UNDP, unded by GEF and

executed by the South Arican Department o Transport,

and aims to produce measurable environmental benets

including an estimated 423,000 tCO2 reduction in direct

GHG emissions over a ten-year liespan, air quality improve-

ment and reductions in ambient noise levels.

GRIHA (India)

GRIHA, Green Rating or Integrated Habitat Assessment, is a build-

ing design evaluation system which aims to minimize the demand

or renewable and non-renewable resources by ocusing on reducing

water and energy consumption, limiting waste generation through recy-

cling, and reducing pollution. GRIHA emphasizes cost eectiveness

and the integration o traditional heritage with scientic tools. GRIHA

has 40 registered projects and recently the Government o India has

announced that all government buildings must be at a minimum 3-star

GRIHA compliant. In addition, the Energy Conservation Building Code

(ECBC) has been made mandatory in eight States o India.

Sustainable Inrastructure and Buildings

PromisE Sustainable housing (Finland)

The Finnish Government has been working since the mid 1990s to make construction more ecologically sus-

tainable. PromisE is an internet-based environmental classication system that has been developed to acilitateevaluations o the environmental properties o buildings in Finnish conditions. The system has two main ver-

sions: one or evaluating existing buildings and properties, and the other or use in the construction o new

buildings. The PromisE system grades properties or individual buildings, and dierent versions can be applied

to assess shops or commercial buildings as opposed to housing. Whole properties are assessed, including areas

not built over. Environmental actors are divided into our main groups: health, use o natural resources, eco-

logical impacts and environmental risk management. Each o these main areas includes a total o 35-40 indica-

tors that can be measured numerically or otherwise evaluated. Both the private and public sector use PromisE.

Green construction (South Korea)

In 2009 South Korea announced a green macr-

oeconomic stimulus plan. At a cost o aroundU$36 billion over 2009 to 2012, the initiative

aims to create 960,000 jobs, with 149,000 jobs

expected to be created in 2009, mainly in con-

struction. These low-carbon projects include

developing railroads and mass transit, uel e-

cient vehicles and clean uels, energy conserva-

tion and environmentally riendly buildings. These

measures alone will account or over 1.2 per cent

o GDP, whereas the ull stimulus plan involves

investments o around 3 per cent o GDP.
http://www.iadb.org/projects/project.cfm?id=PE-L1020&lang=enhttp://www.invest-in-france.org/Medias/Publications/152/Argumentaire%20Grenelle_UK.pdfhttp://www.greening2010.co.za/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=532http://www.grihaindia.org/index.phphttp://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?node=4779&lan=enhttp://www.unep.ch/etb/publications/Green%20Economy/G%2020%20policy%20brief%20FINAL.pdfhttp://www.unep.ch/etb/publications/Green%20Economy/G%2020%20policy%20brief%20FINAL.pdfhttp://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?node=4779&lan=enhttp://www.grihaindia.org/index.phphttp://www.greening2010.co.za/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=532http://www.iadb.org/projects/project.cfm?id=PE-L1020&lang=enhttp://www.invest-in-france.org/Medias/Publications/152/Argumentaire%20Grenelle_UK.pdf


22/43


Mexico

In 2002 the Mexican government introduced reormsto reduce residential electricity subsidies. Households

consuming between 280 and 500 kWh bimonthly

ace a gradual and dierentiated reduction in their

electricity rate subsidy, while households that con-

sume more than 500 kWh will have the subsidy elimi-

nated. The subsidy is retained or low-consumption

households (less than 280 kWh), representing 75%

o the population. The reduction in residential elec-

tricity subsidies is expected to generate revenues o

5 billion pesos. At the same time, a nancial support

programme will encourage the acquisition o more

ecient rerigerators, air conditioners and insulationor consumers who live in hot regions.

Ireland

In March o 2002, Republic o Ireland became the rst country to

introduce a plastic bag tax, or PlasTax. Designed to rein in rampant

consumption o 1.2 billion plastic shopping bags per year, the tax

resulted in a 90% drop in consumption. To complete the win-win

scenario, approximately $9.6 million was raised rom the tax in the

rst year, which is earmarked or a green und established to benet

the environment. Approximately 18,000,000 liters o oil have been

saved due to reduced production o bags. Plastic bags are also taxed

or example in Italy and Belgium, Taiwan and several Indian cities.

Finland

Finland was the rst country to implement a CO2 tax in 1990,

which today is among the highest in Europe. Without theimpact o energy taxation, emissions would have been 7%

higher than the 57 million tonnes recorded in 2000. The

share o the carbon tax revenue is circa 500 million annually.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands, in 2001, through its Environ-

mental Action Plan, increased energy prices or

small-scale consumers by more than one-third

by means o a tax levied on gas and electric-

ity. Most o the tax revenues are redistributed

to taxpayers through reductions in wage and

income taxes, but a portion covers the cost o

tax incentives or energy conservation meas-

ures. With the introduction o this tax, the price

o household electricity has gone up by 15%.

Eco-tax Measures

Germany

In 1999, Germany initiated its Ecological Tax Reorm,

gradually raising taxes on ossil uels and electricity

without increasing the overall tax burden. Electric-

ity generated rom renewable energy sources is

exempt rom the eco-tax, and electricity used by

local public transport enjoys a 50% tax reduction.

Some o the revenue is used to provide advice to

homeowners on reducing energy consumption and

or grants to schools or solar heating, photovoltaic

panels and biomass energy systems.

China

China assesses levies on 29 pollutants in waste-

water, 13 industrial waste gases, and various orms

o industrial solid and radioactive waste. Regulated

substances include SO2, NOx, CO2, hydrogensulde, dust, mercury, and lead. Plants pay a ee or

emissions greater than the regulatory standard or

each substance, but when more than one pollutant

exceeds the standard, plants pay only or the single

pollutant which will result in the largest ee. These

efuent charges appear to have helped reduce both

water and air pollution intensity during the period o

rapid industrial growth in China since 1979. The efu-

ent ees are also a major source o revenue or envi-

ronmental projects. O the ees collected, 80 percent

are used or grants and low-interest loans or pollu-

tion control projects, and the remaining 20 percent

reund local administration and monitoring activities.

MalaysiaMalaysia was one o the rst countries to use efuent charges, having

introduced efuent ees, paired with licensing, to control pollution rom

the palm oil industry as early as 1977. Prior to the introduction o the reg-

ulation, crude palm oil was the single worst pollution source in the coun-

try. Daily discharge increased by more than 300% rom 1965 to 1977.

The regulation aims to reduce pollution in 42 rivers that were heavily

polluted due to disposal o untreated efuents. A year ater the imposi-

tion o the regulation, the pollution load ell more than hal. Reduction

in the pollution load decreased as well in the succeeding years. From

1977 to 1994, organic pollution load in the rivers decreased signicantly

by about 91%. As o 2006, o 1,064 water quality monitoring stations

located within 146 river basins, almost 60% reported clean water while

only 8% reported water that was categorized as very polluted.

Chicago (The United States o America)

In 2007 Chicago set a tax on bottled water, becoming the rst major U.S. city to impose

such a surcharge. The Bottled Water Tax applies to the retail sale o bottled water in

the City at a rate o $0.05 per bottle (i.e. all brands o non carbonated bottled water

intended or human consumption). In addition to producing revenue that can be used

to maintain the citys water inrastructure, the tax is designed to encourage citizens

to shit their hydration habits rom bottled to tap water, which is essentially the same

thing you get when you buy most bottled water brands. The tax also helps in reduc-

ing the number o plastic containers that wind up in landlls (less than 20% o plastic

water bottles in the United States o America are ever recycled) and reducing the

greenhouse gas and other pollution created by trucking all that water to retail sites.
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/household_consumption.pdfhttp://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Waste/PlasticBags/http://www.environment.fi/default.asp?contentid=147208&lan=enhttp://wms-soros.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/NR/rdonlyres/ei6yfl7vfpcx2dmjqnkz6roqp6ctzzxoqazaqukjp4r6bqbyj6bn4zxhnypc7lyv46m7kh5jsb7lussmipzf5hntiuh/EuropeET.dochttp://www.sbjum.de/english/html/taxcriteria.htmlhttp://www.tesisenxarxa.net/TESIS_UAB/AVAILABLE/TDX-0212109-102048/ll1de1.pdfhttp://www.aecen.org/use-effluent-charges-malaysias-palm-oil-industryhttp://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/rev/supp_info/tax_list/bottled_water_tax.htmlhttp://www.sbjum.de/english/html/taxcriteria.htmlhttp://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/rev/supp_info/tax_list/bottled_water_tax.htmlhttp://www.aecen.org/use-effluent-charges-malaysias-palm-oil-industryhttp://www.tesisenxarxa.net/TESIS_UAB/AVAILABLE/TDX-0212109-102048/ll1de1.pdfhttp://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Waste/PlasticBags/http://www.environment.fi/default.asp?contentid=147208&lan=enhttp://wms-soros.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/NR/rdonlyres/ei6yfl7vfpcx2dmjqnkz6roqp6ctzzxoqazaqukjp4r6bqbyj6bn4zxhnypc7lyv46m7kh5jsb7lussmipzf5hntiuh/EuropeET.dochttp://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/household_consumption.pdf


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Ecolabel (EU)

The European Ecolabel is a voluntary scheme, estab-

lished in 1992 to encourage businesses to market

products and services that are less damaging to theenvironment. Products and services awarded the

Ecolabel carry the fower logo, allowing consumers

including public and private purchasers to iden-

tiy them easily. Today the EU Ecolabel covers a wide

range o products and services, with urther groups

being continuously added. Product groups include

cleaning products, appliances, paper products, textile

and home and garden products, lubricants and serv-

ices such as tourist accommodation.

Environmental Choice (New Zealand)

The New Zealand Ecolabeling Trust is a multiple

specications based environmental labelling pro-

gramme, which operates to international stand-

ards and principles. It was initiated and endorsed

by the New Zealand Government in 1990. Cur-

rently there are 14 product categories or prod-

ucts such as paints, oce paper and stationery

and thermal insulants amongst others. Environ-

mental Choice New Zealand has over 1500 prod-

ucts that are registered as using the label.

Energy Star (United States)

Energy Star is a joint voluntary program o the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.

Department o Energy which was started in 1992 to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy

eciency. Energ Star is estimated to have saved

enough energy in 2009 alone to avoid greenhouse

gas emissions equivalent to 30 million cars while

saving nearly $17 billion in utility bills.To date, more

than 30,000 commercial and industrial buildings havetargeted energy eciency improvements and more

than 3,200 o these buildings have earned the Energy

Star. Natural Resources Canada has also adopted the

US Energy Star program or Canada.

Good Environmental Choice (Australia)

The Good Environmental Choice Label is the only environmental labelling

program in Australia which indicates the environmental perormance o a

product rom a whole-o-product-lie perspective or consumer goods. The

label is awarded to products that meet voluntary environmental perormance

standards which have been created and assessed in conormance to interna-tional environmental labelling standards.

Voluntary Standards and Labels

Eco-Label (South-Korea)

The Korea Eco-labeling Program is a voluntarycertication program designed to encourage

rms to provide consumers with a choice o envi-

ronmentally sound products by displaying the

designated logo (Eco-Label) and brie descrip-

tion. The purpose is to reduce consumption o

energy and resources and to minimize generation

o polluting substances in each production step.

The Eco-labeling Program has been in place since

1992, and currently the scheme has 767 dierent

categories o products such as batteries, wood

products, beds and air-conditioners. In 2008 some

5,450 products o 1,179 companies had the label.

The GreenLabel (Singapore)

Singapores GreenLabel programme was launched in May

1992 by the Ministry o the Environment as part o the coun-

trys national environmental management plan. It is a voluntary

ISO Type I programme that is open to local and oreign compa-

nies conorming to the specied product criteria. As o January

2002, the programme applied to 29 product categories, cover-

ing a broad range o products, but excluding ood, drinks and

pharmaceuticals, as well as services and processes. More than

700 products currently have the GreenLabel, involving over 130

dierent manuacturers.

Energy Label (Taipei, China)

To promote deployment o energy eciency technologies and application o market incen-

tive mechanisms, as well as to encourage manuacturers to invest in research and devel-

opment o high energy eciency products, the Bureau o Energy, Ministry o EconomicAairs, initiated the voluntary Energy Label program in 1992. The basis or determining

the energy eciency criteria o energy labeled products is to evaluate the energy per-

ormance o products on the market and select the middle to top perormers on the e-

ciency distribution curve. The eciency criteria are then periodically reviewed and revised

to refect the market conditions. These measures ensure creditability o energy label in

denoting high energy eciency products. The energy label is issued to individual product

models only, not to the manuacturing system or corporation as a whole, and currently the

label program covers 28 product categories and 4336 products with 258 brand names.

EcoLogo (Canada)

Founded in 1988 by the Government o Canada

and then transerred to a science-based environ-mental consultancy (TerraChoice) EcoLogoTM is

North Americas largest environmental standard

and certication mark. EcoLogo provides cus-

tomers with assurance that the products and serv-

ices bearing the logo meet stringent standards o

environmental leadership. There are thousands

o EcoLogo Certied products covering a large

variety o products and services ranging rom

carpets to car washed to motel categories. EcoL-

ogo and GreenSeal are the two North American

eco-labelling programs approved by the Global

EcoLabelling Network as meeting internationally

recognized ISO 14024 requirements.
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/http://www.enviro-choice.org.nz/http://www.energystar.gov/http://www.geca.org.au/http://www.koeco.or.kr/eng/index.asphttp://www.sec.org.sg/awards/greenlabelhttp://www.energylabel.org.tw/index_en.asphttp://www.environmentalchoice.com/en/index.asphttp://www.environmentalchoice.com/en/index.asphttp://www.energylabel.org.tw/index_en.asphttp://www.enviro-choice.org.nz/http://www.koeco.or.kr/eng/index.asphttp://www.energystar.gov/http://www.sec.org.sg/awards/greenlabelhttp://www.geca.org.au/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/


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By the end o 2008, there were 746 certied Fairtrade producers world-

wide, and over 2,700 companies are licensed to use the Fairtrade Mark

on products. The estimated retail value o Fairtrade products rose 22%

to almost 2.9 billion while airtrade sales grew by 50% or more in seven

countries, despite the recession, and no markets ell back. Tea saw the

largest 2008 growth rate (112% rom 2007), albeit rom a very small base.

In addition to products illustrated in the gure, over 27 million items made

o Fairtrade certied cotton were sold, almost double the sales o 2007.

Sales o bananas grew by 28% to almost 300,000 metric tons and those o

honey by 22%. Almost nine million litres o Fairtrade wine were consumed

an increase o 57%. Standards have now been established or olives

and olive oil, soybean, haricot beans, chickpeas and lentils. Several revised

standards allow more armers o mangoes, bananas, pineapple and vanilla

to enter the market as well. These growth rates are expected to continue.

The rst ever global consumer survey on Fairtrade was conducted in 2008

and ound that hal o the public are now amiliar with the Fairtrade Mark.

The survey ound that active ethical consumers make up more than halthe population (55%) in the countries surveyed.7

ThousandsMT

Fairtrade products (volume in 2007 andpercentage increase in 2008)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Conventional Organic28%

14%

1% 11%

22% 11%112%

N/A

N/A

Banan

a

Cocoa

beans

Coffee

roaste

d

Fresh

fruit

Fruitju

iceHo

ney Rice

Sugar Tea

Source: FLO, 2009. Note: N/A change in calculation

does not allow to method compare rom previous year.

The needs o small armers, whether they growcoee [in the South] or produce [in the North],may be quite similar. Both groups need better

access to and more control over the market. Thatcan only happen i consumers use their marketpower to vote or air prices to the grower, better

access to nancing or small armers, and moreenvironmentally sustainable production.

Rink Dickinson, Co-Director, Equal Exchange


25/43


Energy Perormance Certifcate(England and Wales)

The Energy Perormance Certicate (EPC) was rst

introduced or the sale o existing homes, as part o theHome Inormation Pack. Since 1 October 2008, when

buildings are built, sold or rented, an EPC has been

required. From April 2008 this was extended to newly

built homes and large commercial properties. The certi-

icate provides energy eciency A-G ratings and recom-

mendations or improvement. The ratings similar to

those ound on products such as ridges are standard

so the energy eciency o one building can easily be

compared with another building o a similar type.

Mandatory Standards and Labels

Energy efciency light bulbs (Australia)

In February 2007 Australia announced a plan to establish energy eciency stand-

ards or light bulbs that would ban incandescent bulbs by 2010, with both regulatory

and persuasive measures used to induce a shit to compact fuorescent bulbs (CFLs).

According to the Federal Government, up to 95 per cent o the energy each standard

light bulb uses is wasted, while compact fuorescents use only 20 per cent as much

electricity to produce the same amount o light. It is estimated that household lighting

costs will be reduced by up to 66% and that CO2 emissions will be reduced by 800,000

tonnes per year or the 2008-2012 period. Cuba and Venezuela also have national pro-

grammes to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fuorescents. Similar measures

were taken in the European Union in 2009.

Regulating greenhouse gas emissions romcars (United States o America)

In 2010 the White House nalized rules on the rst

U.S. greenhouse gas emission standard or auto-

mobiles, which would raise average uel economy42 percent by 2016 in a bid to slash oil imports and

ght climate change. The higher mileage require-

ments will reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions

by 900 million metric tons and save 1.8 billion bar-

rels o oil over the lie o vehicles built during the

2012-2016 model years, according to the Environ-

mental Protection Agency. The vehicle emissions

standards will be phased in starting with the 2012

model year, raising uel economy to an average

35.5 miles per gallon by the time the 2016 models

are ready compared with the current 25 pg.

Eco-Labeling (India)

To increase consumer awareness, the Government o India launched the eco-labeling scheme known as

`Ecomark in 1991 or easy identication o environment-riendly products. Any product which is made, used

or disposed o in a way that signicantly reduces the harm it would otherwise cause the environment could

be considered as Environment-Friendly Product. The criteria ollow a cradle-to-grave approach, i.e. rom raw

material extraction, to manuacturing, and to disposal. The Ecomark label is awarded to consumer goods

which meet the specied environmental criteria and the quality requirements o Indian Standards. As a con-

tinuation to Ecomark, starting in January 2010, it will become mandatory or certain products to carry eco-

labeling in India. Firstly our products rerigerators, air conditioners, distribution transorms and forescent

lamps will be covered. By summer 2010 three more product lines (color TVs, LPG stoves and electric

motors) will need to carry the mandatory eco labeling.

Energy labels (EU)

According to several dierent EU Directives most domestic appliances, light bulb packag-

ing and cars must have an EU Energy Label clearly on display when it is oered or sale oror rent. The Energy Rating label enables consumers to compare the energy eciency o

appliances. It is also an incentive or manuacturers to improve the energy perormance o

their products. The energy eciency o the appliance is rated in terms o a set o energy

eciency classes rom A to G on the label, A being the most energy ecient, G the least

ecient. Recently A+ and A++ grades were introduced or rerigeration products.

Energy Label (China)

China is now one o the worlds largest producers

and consumers o household appliances, light-

ing, and other residential and commercial equip-

ment. In 2005 China started a mandatory energy

inormation label, the Energy Label. It includes

ve categories o eciency, rom 100% (meeting

the minimum standard) to 55% o the minimum

standard. The label initially covered two products

and in 2007 was extended to cover our products

including air conditioners, household rerigera-

tors, clothes washers, and unitary air conditioners.

Phosphate reductions in laundrydetergents (Sweden)

Phosphorus emissions rom sources such as

detergents and cleaning agents contribute toeutrophication in lakes and seas. In 2008 the Gov-

ernment o Sweden introduced a ban on retail

sales o laundry detergents containing phos-

phates. The Government intends to introduce a

ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergents or

private use rom 1 July 2011. The ban means that

it will not be permitted to manuacture or market

dishwasher detergents with a phosphorus con-

tent o more than 0.5 per cent by weight.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/theenvironment/energyperformance/overview/http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/theenvironment/energyperformance/overview/http://www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/energyefficiency/lighting/index.htmlhttp://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/41093http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/41093http://envfor.nic.in/cpcb/ecomark/http://www.energy.eu/#energy-focushttp://en.cnis.gov.cn/zyyhj/nxbs/http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/11459/nocache/true/a/121557/dictionary/truehttp://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/11459/nocache/true/a/121557/dictionary/truehttp://en.cnis.gov.cn/zyyhj/nxbs/http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/41093http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/theenvironment/energyperformance/overview/http://envfor.nic.in/cpcb/ecomark/http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/11459/nocache/true/a/121557/dictionary/truehttp://www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/energyefficiency/lighting/index.htmlhttp://www.energy.eu/#energy-focus


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Sustainable Communities and Cities

China (Panyu Jinshan, Guangzhou)

This will be a community o 8,000 homes along with a com-munity centre and some retail units. The aim is to achieve

65% reductions in energy demand and 50% reduction in

water demand. The plans or Panyu Jinshan include develop-

ing a cultural street and space or local Cantonese Opera,

and solar hot water panels on all the possible roo areas in

the development.

United States o America (Portland, Oregon)

Rated as the greenest city in America, hal o

Portlands power comes rom renewable sources,

a quarter o the workorce commutes by bike,

carpool or public transportation, and the city has

35 buildings certied by the U.S. Green Building

Council. Portland aims to be a 20 Minute City

where residents spend 20 minutes or less traveling

rom home to work, shop or play.

Green Building in US and the world

The foor area registered and certied to the

LEED green building rating system in 2009 isestimated to grow by over 40 percent com-

pared to last years totals, or a cumulative

total o over 7 billion square eet worldwide

since the standard was launched in 2000.

Non-U.S. green buildings reached nearly 800

million square eet o registered projects in

2009, representing more than a ourth o

all project square ootage. Non-U.S. LEED

projects could show a 30% increase in regis-

tration this year, thanks in large part to green

building booms in China, India, and the

Middle East. Green building is also growing

quickly in Europe, notably Germany and Italy.

United States o America (Sonoma Mountain Village,Caliornia)

Full construction started on site in 2009 with rst residents

moving in during 2010. This 200 acre (81 ha) site will accom-

modate 1,892 homes, and 825,000 square eet (76,645 m2)

o oce, retail and commercial space. An 83% reduction in

total household direct carbon emissions is targeted.

Barangaroo (Australia)

Barangaroo is a 22 ha site in the heart o

Sydney whose construction towards a

sustainable community is due to start inDecember 2010, with 350,000m2 o com-

mercial space and 500 residential units

planned or development. The aim is to

reach a 75% reduction in energy demand

compared to business as usual, a 20%

reduction in embodied energy, 87% diver-

sion rom landll o operational waste, with

a 100% reduction in greenhouse gases and

a 4% car use modal split

Portugal (Mata de Sesimbra)

An integrated sustainable building, tourism, nature conservation and

reorestation programme. The 5,300 hectare site will contain a 4,800

hectare nature reserve and native pine, cork and oak orest restoration

project, alongside a 500 hectare tourism development comprising around

5,000 units. The development will go on to meet zero waste targets,

while 50 per cent o ood will be sourced rom local sources. The site will

use 100% renewable energy and the transport network is designed virtu-

ally to eliminate private cars.

United Arab Emirates (Masdar city)

This will be the worlds rst zero-carbon, zero-

waste, car-ree city. The citys electricity and

cooling will be provided by renewable energy

generated on site. Water consumption will

be reduced by over 50% compared to the

Abu Dhabi baseline. Masdar City will cover

6 km2 and house 50,000 people and 1,500

businesses. An expected 40,000 workers will

commute to the city daily. The rst phase is

scheduled to be complete and habitable in

2009, with ull completion due around 2016.

United Kingdom (Beddington Zero Energy Development)

Beddington Zero Energy Development is the UKs largest mixed

use sustainable community o 100 households. It was com-pleted and occupied in 2002. 86% o BedZED residents buy

organic ood and 39% grow some o their own ood. The resi-

dents only use 72 litres o mains water per day, topped up by

15 litres o recycled or rainwater.
http://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/China/index.htmlhttp://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/cities/portlandhttp://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/GreenBuildlingImpactReport2009.pdfhttp://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/Sonoma/index.htmlhttp://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/Sonoma/index.htmlhttp://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/communities/barangaroo/http://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/Sesimbra/http://www.masdar.ae/en/home/index.aspxhttp://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/GreenBuildlingImpactReport2009.pdfhttp://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/Sesimbra/http://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/China/index.htmlhttp://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/Sonoma/index.htmlhttp://www.masdar.ae/en/home/index.aspxhttp://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/cities/portlandhttp://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/communities/barangaroo/


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BUSINESSES

Corporate environmental and social responsibility has become a higher

prole management concern in recent years in many countries. Mem-

bership in a number o global initiatives refects this, including the Glo-

bal Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Carbon Disclosure

Project and ISO14000 certication o corporate environmental manage-

ment systems as well as the development o ISO26000.All these are voluntary initiatives. The rst stresses adherence to common

principles o corporate conduct and regular reporting, the next two empha-

size inormation disclosure, while the last uses international certication to

convey in summary orm inormation about environmental management.

The number o Global Compact signatories and the number o GRI report-

ers have both increased sharply since the middle o the past decade. As o

2008, GC signatories exceeded 6,000 and there were 5,300 active business

participants rom more than 135 countries.

The International Standards Organization (ISO) provides a widely recog-

nized set o standards or products and processes, including environmen-

tal management processes o enterprises. ISO 14001 certication signalspotential customers or partners that a company meets certain standards

with respect to internal controls on materials use, energy use, pollution

and waste, and that it is committed to continuous improvement.

The number o enterprises certied to ISO 14001 has been rising steadily,

rom under 40,000 in 2001 to almost 160,000 in 2007. It is a particularly well

utilized practice or exporters to obtain ISO 14001 certication as a means

o inorming consumers in their export markets o their environmental per-

ormance. This is one reason or the large weight o China and Japan in the

total number o certicates issued.

TotalGlobalCom

pactSignatories

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Business Non-Business

Global Compact signatories

WorldwidetotalofISO

14001

certificates

0

20,000

40,000

60000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Worldwide total of ISO 14001 certificates

Source: Global Compact, 2009.

Source: ISO, 2008.

Companies that take the lead onsustainability will be market makers rather

than market takers.

The business case for sustainability, World Economic Forum,January 2009


28/43


As o 2009, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) counted over 1,200 organ-isations worldwide, many private corporations, that issued sustainability

reports based on its GRI G3 Guidelines an increase o 46% over 2007.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a network-based organization that

has development the worlds most widely used sustainability reporting/dis-

closure ramework through a consensus-seeking process with participants

drawn globally rom business, civil society, labor, and proessional institu-

tions. This ramework sets out the principles and indicators that organiza-

tions can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and

social perormance. The aim o the GRI is that disclosure o these perorm-

ance become as commonplace and comparable as nancial reporting,

and as important to organizational success.8

TotalnumberofGRIreporters

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

GRI: Number of firms and other organizations reporting

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000

China

Japan

Spain

Italy

UK

ep of Korea

Germany

USA

Sweden

Romania

Top ten ISO14001 countries in 2007

Source: ISO, 2008

Source: GRI, 2010.

Business is the orce o change.Business is essential to solving theclimate crisis, because this is what

business is best at: innovating,changing, addressing risks, searchingor opportunities. There is no more

vital task.

Richard Branson, Founder, Virginhttp://www.mjcsustainability.com/


29/43


Private Sector eco-design and eco-labels

Electrolux (Sweden)

The biggest environmental impacts rom appliances

occur during the use phase. Developing and selling

energy and water ecient appliances is thereore

the most important contribution Electrolux can make

to meet the climate challenge. Electroluxs 2009 tar-

get to reduce energy use in operations by 15% com-

pared to 2005 was exceeded, and it is now aiming

at more stringent target o reducing energy use by

close to 30% by 2012 compared with 2005.

Philips digital Dictaphone (The Netherlands)

A good example o product eco-design is Philipsnew Digital Pocket Memo 9600/9620. Its lie cycle assessment was

carried out in accordance with ISO 14040, and signicant energy savings were realized due to interaction o state-o-the-art components and an improved rmware and energy management. The new model allows up to 17 hours o dictation

without recharging the batteries. The possibility to charge the rechargeable batteries by connecting the device to a USB

helps to reduce Standby Energy consumption. The LCA shows signicant reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP):

depending on the mode o operation, up to 86.1% reduction is possible in comparison to the previous model.

Voluntary Green Standards (US)

The Electric Utility Industry Sustainable Sup-

ply Chain Alliance has developed a set o vol-untary standards which dene best practices

to help non-uel suppliers assess the environ-

mental perormance o their companies and

utilities, and the environmental perormance

o their supply chain operations. The Alliance

is also developing voluntary environmental

standards or products and services pur-

chased by electric utilities, starting with wood

poles, transormers, and wire and cable.

Diageo (Nigeria)Two decades ago, all the grain or Diageos breweries in Arica was

imported. The imports required precious oreign currency and rep-

resented a lost business opportunity or local armers. Diageo joined

a project to develop the cultivation o a beer-riendly variety o sor-

ghum in Nigeria. The project identied a usable sorghum cultivar

and trained armers to grow the crop. Sorghum armers reported

a 35-50% increase in yield rom their land. Today, Diageo brewer-

ies in Nigeria source 95% o their grain rom local arms, sustaining

around 27,000 jobs. Diageo is a signatory to the UNDPs Business

Call to Action (BCtA) which seeks to accelerate progress toward the

achievement o the Millenium Development Goals by encouraging

private sector investment in base o the pyramid markets.

The Green Label Scheme (Thailand)

The Thai Green Label Scheme was initiated by the Thailand Busi-

ness Council or Sustainable Development and ormally launched

in August 1994 by the Thailand Environment Institute and the Min-

istry o Industry. The Green Label certicate is awarded to prod-

ucts that are shown to have minimum detrimental impact on the

environment in comparison with other products serving the same

unction. More than 137 products in 18 categories have received

the Green Label certicate.

AkzoNobel (The Netherlands)

AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and

coatings company. AkzoNobel is now partner-

ing with maritime classication society Lloyds

Register to introduce Chinas largest shipyards

to the Perormance Standard or ProtectiveCoatings (PSPC), oering shipyards step-by-

step advice on how to go about meeting the

requirements o the new standard. They are

advising the shipping industry on, or exam-

ple, antiouling coatings which make shipping

more ecient by preventing organisms such as

barnacles and weed rom building up on the

underwater hull, slowing the ship and decreas-

ing uel eciency. It is estimated that the use

o antiouling coatings saves the shipping

industry around US$30 billion and reduces

CO2 and SO2 emission levels.

Sustainable Palm Oil Roundtable (Indonesia)

The Sustainable Palm Oil Roundtable, a non-or-prot

organization, develops standards or sourcing sustain-

able palm oil in what is both a highly important indus-

try or developing economies and, currently, one that is

highly destructive o tropical orests. Vegetable oil pro-

duction worldwide totals 95 million tonnes per year, o

which over 28 million tonnes is palm oil, the worlds sec-

ond largest oil crop ater soy oil.
http://www.electroluxappliances.com/aboutushttp://www.ecodesign-company.com/documents/EPD-9600-9620.pdfhttp://www.euissca.org/VoluntaryStandards/Forms/AllItems.aspxhttp://www.diageo.com/CSR/Pages/default.aspxhttp://www.tei.or.th/greenlabel/http://www.akzonobel.com/http://www.rspo.org/http://www.diageo.com/CSR/Pages/default.aspxhttp://www.electroluxappliances.com/aboutushttp://www.ecodesign-company.com/documents/EPD-9600-9620.pdfhttp://www.rspo.org/http://www.euissca.org/VoluntaryStandards/Forms/AllItems.aspxhttp://www.tei.or.th/greenlabel/http://www.akzonobel.com/


30/43


Capacity Building and Tools

Responsible Environmental Market-ing Communications (Global)

To help marketers and advertisers avoid the

mistakes o vague, non-specic or mislead-

ing environmental claims, the InternationalChamber o Commerce has produced a glo-

bal Framework or Responsible Environmen-

tal Marketing Communications. The rame-

work includes a practical checklist aimed at

the creators o marketing communications

campaigns, as well as a chart that provides

an easy reerence to relevant provisions o

the global advertising code and oers more

detailed interpretations on current issues

related to environmental marketing.

UNIDO/UNEP Cleaner Production Centers (Global)

UNIDO in cooperation with UNEP started, in 1994, to set upNational Cleaner Production Centers and Programs. Since

then, 43 centers and programs have been established in

developing and transition countries, with others in the plan-

ning stage. The centers and programs train enterprise lead-

ers in cleaner production helping them to adopt and adapt

practices to local conditions. The programs also aim to oster

dialogue between industry and government and enhance

investments or transer and development o environmen-

tally sound technologies to bridge the gap between com-

petitive industrial production and environmental concerns.

With the program, costly end-o-pipe pollution control sys-

tems are gradually replaced with a strategy that reduces and

avoids pollution and waste throughout the entire productioncycle, rom ecient use o raw materials, energy and water

to the nal product. Successul programs have been imple-

mented in, or example, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Costa Rica,

Cuba, India, and Nicaragua.

Education or sustainableconsumption (Global)

Considering the role o education

as a key instrument to achieve sus-

tainable development, Italy set up

an international task orce on edu-

cation or sustainable consumption.

Under the Marrakech Process it has

produced a set o recommenda-

tions and guidelines to introduce

education or sustainable consump-

tion in the ormal education sector.

Education on sustainable small-scale arm-ing (The Netherlands)

Learning AgriCultures is a learning resource

particularly useul or educators seeking sup-port material or explaining about sustainable

agriculture in their courses, at a university or

college level, in special NGO training courses or

elsewhere. The series aims to stimulate learning

about sustainability issues or small-scale armers

through a systems thinking perspective.

E-textile toolbox (Vietnam and India)Partner organizations rom Asia and Europe have joined hands to develop an

on-line toolbox to help make textile production more ecient, reduce pro-

duction costs, improve product quality and achieve a better environmental

perormance. The integrated toolbox consists o an on-line capacity build-

ing module to acquire competitive knowledge, a perormance management

tool and a catalogue o technical solutions and examples o their application.

Sustainable livelihoods(Asia and the Pacifc)

Green Growth is a policy ocus or Asia and thePacic that emphasizes ecologically sustainable

economic progress to oster low-carbon, socially

inclusive development. There has been an increas-

ing number o requests or capacity development

assistance rom governments in the region. To

meet such needs, the UN Economic and Social

Commission or Asia and the Pacic (ESCAP) has

designed a unique training package on Green

Growth policy tools or the area. This tool has

evolved to emphasize the Sustainable Livelihoods

approach (SLA). ESCAPs Training o Trainers (TOT)

Programme works to assist in building individualand organizational capabilities to ensure Green

Growth goals can be dened and realized at the

national level. By engaging internal and external

expertise in trainings, the programme increases its

value-added. Training is targeted towards middle-

level government managers, ministerial ocials,

private-sector decision makers, NGOs, academ-

ics and other actors, i.e. all stakeholders involved

in the countrys transition to green growth. The

method emphasizes new orms o training such as

group exercises, brainstorming, case studies and

role playing amongst others.

Food and Beverage Industry

(Sri Lanka)The SWITCH ASIA programme ocuses on sus-

tainable consumption and production (SCP)

and directly contributes to sustainable growth

and the ght against poverty in Asia. The Food

& Beverage industry is a very important sector

o Sri Lankan economy that contributes around

10% o GDP and generate an annual export rev-

enue o US$1.4 bn. This project, under SWITCH

ASIA, improves the environmental perormance

o the Food & Beverage sector through promo-

tion o best practices o sustainable production

among Small and Medium Enterprises.
http://www.iccwbo.org/policy/marketing/index.html?id=34587http://www.iccwbo.org/policy/marketing/index.html?id=34587http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o5134http://esa.un.org/marrakechprocess/tfedususconsump.shtmlhttp://esa.un.org/marrakechprocess/tfedususconsump.shtmlhttp://ileia.leisa.info/index.php?url=show-blob-html.tpl&p%5bo_id%5d=238709&p%5ba_id%5d=237&p%5ba_seq%5d=0http://ileia.leisa.info/index.php?url=show-blob-html.tpl&p%5bo_id%5d=238709&p%5ba_id%5d=237&p%5ba_seq%5d=0http://www.e-textile.org/http://www.greengrowth.org/capacity_building/Download/GG_capacity_development/Green_Growth_Capacity_Development_Brochure-resized.pdfhttp://www.greengrowth.org/capacity_building/Download/GG_capacity_development/Green_Growth_Capacity_Development_Brochure-resized.pdfhttp://www.chamber.lk/switchasia/http://www.chamber.lk/switchasia/http://www.chamber.lk/switchasia/http://www.iccwbo.org/policy/marketing/index.html?id=34587http://ileia.leisa.info/index.php?url=show-blob-html.tpl&p%5bo_id%5d=238709&p%5ba_id%5d=237&p%5ba_seq%5d=0http://www.e-textile.org/http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o5134http://esa.un.org/marrakechprocess/tfedususconsump.shtmlhttp://www.greengrowth.org/capacity_building/Download/GG_capacity_development/Green_Growth_Capacity_Development_Brochure-resized.pdf


31/43


CONSUMER-CITIZENS

National Geographic and GlobeScan have launched a quantitative con-

sumer study o 17,000 consumers in a total o 17 countries (14 in 2008) ask-

ing questions about such behavior as energy use and conservation, trans-

portation choices, ood sources, the relative use o green products versus

traditional products, attitudes towards the environment and sustainability,

and knowledge o environmental issues. These are the behaviors that weremost critical to investigate based on a group o international experts. A

composite measure o environmentally sustainable consumption called

the Greendex was developed to score each respondent based on the

consumption patterns s/he reports in the survey, and com

trends in sustainable consumption and production

Documents