They called for a shift away from labour- and resource-intensive production towards resource-efficient productivity.

Speakers at the Paris Forum 2013, the theme of which was “Towards a sustainable economic paradigm: From labour to resource productivity”, emphasized the fact that the existing economic development model was under unprecedented strain, and lower resource use and fewer negative environmental impacts were needed. They said that a new economic model of growth was urgently required.

The event was organized by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

New forms of agricultural and industrial production were a prerequisite for delivering more goods and services, but with a radically lower “footprint” on the Earth’s resources, said participants.

At the centre of this new growth model was the urgent need to decouple economic growth from an increase in raw material use — “doing more with less”, a key requirement to achieve the shift to a Green Economy, which is defined as an economy that results in improved human well-being and social equity while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. A Green Economy is low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive.

“Resource scarcity calls for a change in model. Green growth will be based on energy efficiency, but also on the new revolution of a circular economy,” said Delphine Batho, France’s Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy.

“In this way we can promote economic growth that is resource-efficient but rich in jobs, and which carries with it environmental as well as social progress.”

The new economic paradigm should be based on a green economy for green growth; regulatory, policy and financing frameworks for a green economy; and a green industry for a strengthened economy.

“This type of conference is essential in the current economic climate, and for the future of this country and its enterprises. It is truly a mix of  public policies contributing to green growth, which at the same time offers a strong political framework for business and promotes eco-innovation,” said Arnaud Montebourg, France’s Minister for Industrial Renewal.

“Rio+20 has set the stage for a fundamental shift in the way our economies produce and consume, and identified the Green Economy as an important pathway towards achieving a sustainable century,” said Achim Steiner, Under Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director.

“The imperative for industry is to internalize what such a transition means and to seize the opportunities it provides in a world of increasing resource scarcity, consumer demands for greater accountability, and the risks to supply chains from impacts like climate change—many are doing this but we need many more to achieve a critical mass—not only large multinationals but small to medium sized enterprises as well,” he added.

The Director General of UNIDO, Kandeh K Yumkella, said: “UNIDO strongly supports the call for a new economic paradigm that no longer revolves around labour productivity, but instead emphasizes resource productivity. As material resources become ever scarcer, and the world’s population continues to grow, achieving resource-efficient, low-carbon growth is more vital than ever to sustain the planet’s ecosystems and protect our natural resources. In this regard, our Green Industry initiative places industrial development in the context of global sustainable development challenges.”

Dov Zerah, CEO of AFD, said: “AFD is strongly committed to fostering economic models that are compatible with limited natural resources. AFD has developed very ambitious strategies regarding climate and energy issues to support developing countries in achieving their transition towards sustainable growth paths”.

To download the latest publication Green Growth, from labour to resource productivity, please go here.

For further information, please contact:

UNEP
Nick Nuttall, Communications Director and UNEP spokesperson
Tel.: +41 79 596 5737
Email

Moira O’Brien-Malone, Communications, UNEP Paris
Tel.: +33 6 82 26 93 73
Email

AFD
Magali Mevellec
Tel.: +33153444031
Email

UNIDO: contact 

The group issued a Manifesto which sets out key priorities for the EU, while a more detailed set of short-term policy recommendations will be issued in June 2013.

Parallel to some objectives of the UNIDO-UNEP Green Industry Platform, the EREP intends to provide a framework for a resource-efficient economy within the EU by combining members’ backgrounds and skills. The Green Industry Platform Secretariat is looking forward to increased interaction with EREP, recognizing that the partnership can contribute inputs on policy and best practices.

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Additional resources and information:

European Resource Efficiency Platform’s webpage.

Manifesto: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-989_en.htm

Read the full interview here.

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by Paul Hohnen

A new United Nations initiative – the Green Industry Platform – has the tough task of cutting manufacturing’s environmental impacts, but has some high-level support

Revolution is in the air. Industrial revolution at least. Two recent statements from two very different sources suggest that changes in the way goods are manufactured may be coming back onto the agenda.

The first statement spoke of the need for a “fundamental change” in the way natural resources are used. A “drastic reduction”, it continued, is needed in ways of using energy, water and land. “We should launch a revolution in energy production and consumption, impose a ceiling on total energy consumption…”.

In themselves, these remarks were not especially remarkable. They might have been made any time over the last couple of decades by Greenpeace or by the German Green party. Nowadays, the speaker might have been the secretary-general of the UN or a savvy CEO worried by rising commodity prices.

What made them most notable, however, was that they were made by outgoing Chinese president Hu Jintao, at the recent 18th Congress of the Communist Party in Beijing. Of course, what the new party leadership does with Hu’s advice remains to be seen.

Economic pillars

And, while there was probably more than a dash of political window-dressing involved, Mr Hu’s recommendations do underline the growing recognition in the world’s most important economy that the four pillars on which its current development model rests are becoming increasingly shaky.

The first of these pillars is the availability of the natural capital, including energy, needed to sustain growth. When China is laying claim to large swathes of maritime areas also adjacent to its neighbours, one senses something of a “race for what’s left” mentality. The geo-strategic price of sharpened competition for finite raw material stocks is rising sharply.

The second is the capacity of economic activity to take place in a way that does not compromise future supplies of water, food and energy. The price of being the workshop of the world is that China is facing unprecedented levels of air, water and land pollution, and has become the world’s biggest CO2 emitter.

The third is the Chinese society’s preparedness to accept the adverse health and other impacts of an increasingly polluted and weather-affected living space. Social cohesion and peace in China, as elsewhere, depend on society’s preparedness to continue paying the price in health and other terms. That protests are becoming more common suggests critical social thresholds are being approached.

Finally, is the “licence to operate” of its resource-, labour- and energy-intensive manufacturing model. This has been the goose that laid the golden egg. For the reasons given above, however, it risks becoming seen as the source of (and not the solution to) China’s problems. Indeed, this is part of the reason why China has moved so quickly to become a world leader in promoting the development and use of renewable energy.

More sustainable growth  

The problems described by Mr Hu are, of course, not limited to China. China is just the symbol of a global industrial growth model whose continued long-term health can no longer be assured.

Which brings us to the second statement, or, rather, series of statements.

At a ministerial level panel convened by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Vienna in November, one after another panellist spoke of the need for governments and industry to work together more effectively to reduce the ecological and social footprint of manufacturing.

Whether the motives were improved technological innovation, economic competitiveness and job creation, the desire to reduce pollution and offset rising operating costs, or the recognition that supply constraints mean that the resource-intensive manufacturing model can not be sustained for much longer, there was common ground that there was now “an urgent need to help the transition to green industry”.

To help in this regard, the director-general of UNIDO, Kandeh K. Yumkella, explained how UNIDO and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) had jointly launched the  Green Industry Platform in June at the Rio+20 conference.

Critical mass?

Over a hundred governments and companies (including Microsoft and China’s Broad Group) have signed on to the platform’s “statement of support” and a high-level governance structure, which includes business, is being established. While more signatories were now being sought, UNIDO assesses it has the critical mass to begin a range of initiatives in 2013 under the platform’s umbrella.

Conceived of as a public/private partnership where members sign on to a set of commonsense principles and engagements, the platform’s goals are to raise awareness about the benefits of green industry, to share experience and information on relevant policies and technologies, to promote networking and the development of concrete road maps for accelerating the uptake of green industry, and to encourage research.

For the purposes of the platform, “green industry” is broadly defined as manufacturing activity that progressively increases the efficiency of use of energy and raw materials (ie getting more from less), and that in so doing decouples economic growth from an increase in the use of raw materials.

When challenged by the evidence of fresh discoveries of oil and gas, one panellist in Vienna acknowledged that while new supplies of some raw materials would continue to be found and exploited, this should not be allowed to mask the overall situation.

Planet overload

The planet was unable to continue delivering commodities and waste processing services at the level being demanded of it.

It was only a matter of when, and not whether, a combination of shortages and the impacts of pollution would force improvements in efficiency or put dependent industries and national economies out of business. The only real question was whether enlightened policies drove those improvements, or whether change was forced upon them.

In short: revolutionary talk and an evolutionary model for delivering it.

While it will be some time before the Green Industry Platform can realistically make proper progress, its mission of sharing more information and catalysing action-based initiatives involving business and government to improve resource efficiency is laudable. The real test will come when concerns about security of supply, competitiveness and ecosystem stability meet limits of finance, technology and political will on the ground.

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Paul Hohnen is an Amsterdam-based consultant who advises, speaks and writes on global sustainable development and CSR issues. Among his affiliations he is an associate fellow of Chatham House and a member of the Ethical Corporation advisory board. He has been advising UNIDO on the Green Industry Platform.

Participants at the Green Industry Platform high-level panel discussion

The membership of the advisory board for the Green Industry Platform – a global, multi-stakeholder initiative launched by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – was announced today during a high-level panel discussion on mainstreaming and scaling up sustainability practices in global manufacturing.

The board is composed of the Governments of Colombia, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines and Poland; the following private sector companies, Broad Group, Microsoft Corporation, Novozymes A/S and Viyellatex Group; and the Environment Directorate-General of the European Commission, the Global Environment Facility, the Global Green Growth Institute, the International Chamber of Commerce and the Turkish Association for Energy Efficiency.

The announcement of the board members was made by Heinz Leuenberger, the Director of UNIDO’s Environmental Management Branch, as around 200 participants gathered for the Green Industry Platform panel discussion. The event was held during the 40^th session of UNIDO’s Industrial Development Board. Participants included representatives of international organizations and other interested parties, as well as Member States of UNIDO.

The discussion was opened by the Director-General of UNIDO, Kandeh K. Yumkella, who outlined the political context in which the Green Industry Initiative was launched, and emphasized the cross-regional and high-level character of the Platform.

The boardroom during the keynote presentation

A lively debate on the shift from labour productivity toward resource productivity in models of economic growth was moderated by sustainability expert, Paul Hohnen, and featured panelists including Ecuador’s Minister of Industry and Productivity, Veronica Sion, and Poland’s Minister of Environment, Marcin Korolec. Further perspectives were provided by Monique Barbut, the former Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility, and Friedrich Hinterberger, the President and Founder of the Sustainable Europe Research Institute.

The event concluded with an appeal to the representatives of Member States and international organizations in attendance to join the Green Industry Platform and to approach UNIDO for advice on strategies to attain green growth.

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Queries can be sent to: info@greenindustryplatform.org

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The original article can be read here.

This is our best hope of delivering, not only the continued development and economic growth needed for poverty alleviation and job creation, but also of preserving and restoring the ecosystems on which our collective future depends.

The full article can be read here.

He wrote:

As a multistakeholder platform, it is also consistent with Rio’s support for public/private partnerships and for greater efforts to help developing countries making the transition to a resource efficient economy.

Being a voluntary initiative, there is a good chance that its membership will comprise largely of countries and organisations that genuinely want to explore the bounds of the possible. Those who aren’t interested in resource efficiency are unlikely to join.

The full article can be read here.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Green Industry Platform in the context of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Platform’s launch event attracted around 200 attendees and included several high-profile speakers such as the Director-General of UNIDO, Kandeh K. Yumkella, the  Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik and the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility, Monique Barbut. High-level representatives from businesses such as Broad Group (China), Microsoft (USA) and Novozymes (Denmark) all took part in the launch event, as well as ministers from partner governments of the initiative such as Poland, Sierra Leone and Sweden.

Addressing the participants of the launch event, UNIDO’s Director-General, Kandeh K. Yumkella, stated that: “The Platform is exemplary for the public-private partnerships that are needed to scale up and mainstream the greening of industrial development and the creation of green industry. It will give impetus to the many inspiring initiatives at national and sector level, that will be united to direct a global transition to low carbon and cleaner industry.”

The European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik, explained the European Commission’s support for the Green Industry Platform as follows: “We are supporting this initiative because we think it is a good one that is quite innovative and is on the global level. It is encouraging not only businesses but  also other stakeholders, from governments to civil society, to join and to push the process. I think it is really something that was needed and that is why we are committed to help both United Nations institutions – environmental and industrial – that are behind this concept…”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility, Monique Barbut, concurred by stating that: “These organizations have a self interest in delivering results, have demonstrated key experience in the target area, and have established critical relationships with local organizations and civil society.”

Following the Green Industry Platform’s launch, the Advisory Board will be selected, and a work plan decided on which will determine the future activities to take place amongst Platform members.