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May 19, 2022
The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism（https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/programmes/sustainable-tourism/glasgow-declaration） has been subscribed by more 500 signatories since its launch at COP26, conveying a clear and consistent sector-wide message and approach to climate action in tourism. The second edition of the Glasgow Declaration Newsletter is now available, including information on how to contribute to the development of tools and resources such as guidance on measurement tools and climate action plans.
You can find the Newsletter here and subscribe to receive the future editions.
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category : Topics
May 6, 2022
Carbon emissions are rising. Countries are off track in delivering their climate pledges. Current commitments aren't enough to keep temperatures below critical thresholds. These are some of the findings from the latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
It sounds grim. That's not the only news, though: With this report, we now have a global scientific consensus on the enormous impact nature could have in confronting the climate crisis.
IPCC Report 2022
Here are five takeaways from the IPCC about the critical role nature plays in stabilizing the climate:
1) Nature is the unseen solution
The most significant takeaway from today's IPCC report is how nature can act as a climate solution. The report details 43 cost-effective approaches to limiting global warming to less than 1.5°C (the safetybenchmark for a safe climate set by the Paris Agreement).
First and third on this list are solar and wind energy, respectively. The other top five most effective strategies for mitigating carbon emissions are all natural climate solutions: ecosystem protection, restoration, and the improved management of farmlands.
Our prior research shows that natural climate solutions could provide about a third of the climate mitigation necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This translates to over 10 billion metric tons of reduced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases per year. Today's IPCC report finds that natural climate solutions could, in fact, deliver between 11 to 14 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases per year.
2) Highly cost-effective yet underfunded
The IPCC finds that nature's contributions to solving climate change are also cost-effective. Delivering natural climate solutions to limit warming to less than 2°C would cost up to $400 billion a year by 2050. That's less than current subsidies for carbon-heavy industries like agriculture and forestry.
The IPCC report 2022 finds that investments in natural climate solutions are up to 29-times less than what's needed to stabilise the climate. That is the largest funding gap of any sector, including electric cars and alternative energy sources. In developing countries, especially along the equator, funding gaps are the largest. Here, opportunities for natural climate solutions are also most significant, given forests' rapid growth rates and high risks of deforestation.
3) IPCC report wants the world to make proactive decisions
The IPCC report finds that the right kind of climate action can create a much better future than we imagine. Though climate change is driven by the world's wealthiest nations, its consequences are felt disproportionately by developing countries, who are far less responsible for it. Through proactive decision-taking, millions of people, especially vulnerable communities, can be protected against climate threats.
Nature-based solutions not only protect at-risk communities from the brunt of climate change, they're powerfully aligned with sustainable development goals. These include eliminating hunger and providing access to clean water. When we take action to mitigate climate change by protecting nature, we're also supporting nature-reliant communities. By doing this, we're making the world a healthier and more just place.
Similarly, actions that tackle climate change by conserving ecosystems can also tackle climate change. For example, Conservation International has found that many of Earth's largest and most critical carbon sinks, such as the Amazon rainforest and Congo Basin, overlap with high-biodiversity hotspots. Protecting lands essential for climate stability also conserves habitats for thousands of mammals, birds and reptiles.
4) It's "both/and" not "either/or"
As per the 2022 IPCC report, confronting the climate crisis requires a complete transformation of our energy sources, economic models and land stewardship. Decades ago, we may have been able to reduce fossil fuel emissions or implement natural climate solutions to stabilise our climate. Now, we only have one rational choice: We must rapidly decarbonise our economies and unlock natural climate solutions. The good news is that this great challenge also presents an opportunity to develop a better world.
5) We can do this
We know from earlier IPCC reports that we're falling behind in our climate commitments. Today's report has a bigger message: Nature provides major tools to put us back on track. The future we fear is not inevitable. Oceans, forests and other ecosystems already absorb and store about half of global carbon emissions. The despair we feel from climate projections must turn into action. Solving climate change is an opportunity to tackle problems we have struggled with for generations.
Along with decarbonizing our economies and pursuing carbon-capture technologies, governments must prioritise nature in their policy decisions. The private sector should urgently implement net-zero commitments with strong nature-based considerations.
The 2020s are critical. Change won't be easy, but we have no other choice. Either we allow our planet to be destroyed, or we fight – clear-eyed – for a better world. We can create a climate-resilient world with sustainable food production, clean air and abundant water resources. This IPCC report makes it very clear: Nature is on our side, we can't do this without her.
From: The World Economic Forum, 5 April 2022, By: Bronson Griscom.
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category : Topics
April 21, 2022
You can apply in four categories: Sustainable Procurement of the Year, Innovation Procurement of the Year, Circular Procurement of the Year and Procurement Initiative of the Year.
This years winners and nominees for 2022 will be decided by the following group of experienced procurement experts and policy makers:
· Erika Bozzay, Senior Policy Adviser at the Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division, OECD
· Katharina Knapton-Vierlich, Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
· Mark Hidson, Global Director ICLEI's Sustainable Procurement Centre
· Sarah O'Carroll, Cities Lead: Institutions, Governments & Cities, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Winners of the awards will receive a unique trophy and will have ample opportunities to promote their winning work. Winners will be widely endorsed through a variety of ICLEI publications and communication channels. Furthermore, a case studies will be published and showcased on the Sustainable Procurement Platform and the Innovation Procurement Platform.
Apply here!
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April 20, 2022
The International Green Purchasing Network launch survey to share knowledge, intends to provide implementation suggestions by using climate action and sustainable consumption and production in an integrated and coherent approach.
The International Green Purchasing Network launches the Survey on Environmentally friendly products/services and Green Purchasing to Tackle Climate Change, please submit your response until Apr.30th,2022.
The survey aims to share knowledge among IGPN members and partners, provide implementation suggestions by using climate action and sustainable consumption and production in an integrated and coherent approach. The intention is to achieve this through the collection, comparison, analysis, and evaluation of existing practices of environmentally friendly products/services and green purchasing initiatives in addressing the climate change issue.
Climate change presents the most significant global challenge people face at present. As it directly influences the natural resources and ecological system, pursuing climate action and sustainable development in an integrated and coherent approach have steadily emerged into the implementation, in order to enable countries to achieve their objectives efficiently and quickly. So far, regulations and policies tackling climate change, GHG emission control, low carbon green development and carbon tax etc. are issued in about 20 countries and areas. Along with the development of technology, new materials, production methods, automation and energy generation methods, and other products/services are constantly devised and generated, implicating that the approach to tackle climate change has gradually expanded from energy conversion to all aspects for production and consumption and life styles of human beings.
In order to better understand what role green purchasing will play in tackling climate change, applied scenarios are collected and analyzed taking into account the variations in the private, business, market and public sectors.
The scope of the survey includes, but is not limited to, members of the International Green Purchasing Network-IGPN; however, any actual practical practice is welcome:
Sector: including producing and manufacturing; energy and transportation; planting and breeding; cooling and heating;
Environmentally friendly products/services: including adoption of new energy sources, new materials, new production methods and automation methods;
Green Purchasing: including policies, measures, methods and existing practices favoring green procurement tools to address climate change.
The expected output will be a research report summarizing all best practices.
The Deadline to reply is extended to Apr.30th, 2022 COB for your participation.
Please download the document for more details and to share your practical approach for addressing climate change.
PDF Version Download file
WORD Version Download file
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category : Topics
April 13, 2022
Countries are increasingly taking more strategic approaches to scaling sustainable finance, often in the form of sustainable finance “roadmaps” that help prioritize actions and coordinate activities among stakeholders to transition towards a low-carbon, resilient and inclusive economy.
Since January 2022, the Green Finance Platform, through the Global Environment Facility-funded Aligning the financial system and infrastructure investments with sustainable development - a transformational approach project, is working with six countries – China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia and Nigeria – to progress their sustainable finance roadmaps. The Green Finance Platform is collaborating with country-level stakeholders and the broader sustainable finance community to translate the roadmaps into engagement and implementation. This includes helping to realign financial systems with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop national regulatory actions.
“This year will be marked by climate finance leadership shaped by the Global South, with key meetings taking place in Africa and Indonesia chairing the G20 group” says Camille Andre, Manager of the Green Finance Platform. "The six roadmaps are very timely in calling for ambitious interventions and international coordination to support an orderly and just transition towards a transformational approach to economic and financial policy action”.
Each roadmap has a unique sustainable finance focus, tailored to the country’s financial system priorities and needs.
Learn more at Green finance platform.
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category : Topics
March 14, 2022
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing a new and improved Framework for the Assessment of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing under its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program, and a webpage highlighting ecolabel criteria that address perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These actions are a key step in implementing President Biden’s Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability and the accompanying Federal Sustainability Plan.
The EPP program helps U.S. federal government purchasers utilize private sector standards and ecolabels to identify and procure environmentally preferable products and services via the Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing (Recommendations). The updated Framework released today provides a streamlined, transparent, and consistent approach to assessing marketplace standards and ecolabels for environmental sustainability and for inclusion into the Recommendations.
These updates to the Framework reflect lessons learned during the last five years of implementation and a desire to address a broader range of purchase categories with a more streamlined set of criteria. In addition, eligibility criteria for standards and ecolabels have been updated to further support their implementation across the federal government.
The Biden-Harris Federal Sustainability Plan outlines an ambitious path to achieve net-zero emissions from federal procurement by 2050, increase the sustainability of federal supply chains, and avoid the procurement of products containing PFAS, among other key strategies. Additionally, the Plan requires major federal contractors to disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adopt science-based emissions reduction targets, and mandates that federal purchasers maximize procurement of sustainable products and services, such as those that meet EPA’s Recommendations. EPA will use the Framework to update and expand the Recommendations to support the Administration’s priorities and Federal Sustainability Plan. The Recommendations currently include more than 40 private sector environmental performance standards and ecolabels in 25 purchase categories.
Additionally, the webpage released today highlighting how EPA’s Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels address PFAS is an important step toward providing federal purchasers with tools to avoid procurement of products containing PFAS. The release of the webpage is concurrent with work to identify products and purchase categories which are known to be associated with key PFAS uses as well as outreach to ecolabel and standard organizations regarding addressing PFAS. This action complements EPA’s ongoing efforts under the PFAS Strategic Roadmap, EPA’s whole-of-agency approach to safeguard communities from PFAS contamination.
Learn more about EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program at Here.
Learn more about webpage highlighting ecolabel criteria that address perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances at Here.
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category : Topics
March 11, 2022
This public procurement guidance aims to help procurers adopt sustainable practices and criteria for avoiding and reducing plastics within the procurement of goods and services. It forms part of the joint One Planet Network response to the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly Resolution 6 on ‘Marine plastic litter and microplastics’ and the request to UNEP’s 10-Year Framework of SCP Programmes to develop guidelines for the use and production of plastics and to support governments in promoting the use of information tools and incentives to foster sustainable consumption and production. It is part of the approach to achieve the ambitious 2025 targets to work to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need; innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate everything we use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment.
In 2020 the UN One Planet Network Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) programme committed to underpin this high-level guidance with more detailed and practical guidance for procurers on how to address the plastics issue through public procurement
The guide is aimed at procurement practitioners responsible for embedding and implementing policies to reduce the impact of problematic and unnecessary plastic through their procurement activities. This covers the development and implementation of approaches for identifying where single use plastics occur within procurement spend areas and actions around tendering to help reduce the level of plastics and their impacts within public sector procurement.
The guidance may also be of use for policymakers in understanding the role sustainable public procurement can play in mitigating single use plastic and contributing towards the delivery of a more circular economy and sustainable consumption and production through the closure of plastic materials loops.
Learn more at here.
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category : Topics
March 8, 2022
United for Efficiency has released new publications on Sustainable Procurement of air conditioners, refrigeration equipment, and lighting appliances
The first publication includes a step by step approach on how to apply sustainability and current best technical criteria for air conditioners in accordance with best international regulatory, social and environmental practices, and introduce the rationale to be adopted by procurement practitioners when selecting among a set of products.
The second publication provides a voluntary guidance for developing and emerging economy governments that are considering a regulatory or legislative framework requiring new refrigeration equipment to be energy efficient and use refrigerants that have lower global warming potential compared with typical legacy refrigerants.
Finally, the third publication provides a comprehensive, structured framework for implementing a sustainable public procurement programme, with insights on regulatory, financial and technical considerations.
Download for airconditioners.
Download for refrigeration equipment.
Download for lighting appliances.
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category : Topics
