News Archives

EcoProcura 2009 to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:31:34 +0900

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and Reykjavik City Council have announced the details of EcoProcura 2009 conference.

Titled "Climate Neutral through Procurement" and it aims to exchange ideas, experiences, concepts and opinions on how sustainable procurement can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change.

ICLEI's EcoProcura Conferences is the only European conference to provide a platform to promote exchange and dialogue amongst purchasers from all levels of governments, suppliers, policy-makers and multipliers on strategies and the latest practical solutions for implementing sustainable procurement.

For further information, visit ICLEI Europe's web site.

Product Carbon Labeling Takes Shape in South Korea

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:08:17 +0900

The South Korean government has decided that certain products will get labels showing the amount of carbon gas emitted during their production.

The ministry said that it has selected 10 items to test the carbon gas labeling system to begin next month. The system will be officially introduced by January 2009.

Food Firms Pledge to Cut Mileage

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:39:38 +0900

Companies behind some of the biggest brands on U.K. supermarket shelves have pledged to slash the environmental impact of transporting their goods.

The European Commission Proposes Legislation Promoting Sustainable Products, Technologies

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:38:30 +0900

The European Commission (EC) has proposed a legislative package aimed at improving the environmental performance and energy efficiency of products in the European Union (EU) and stimulating their market uptake.

Statement for the G8 summit 2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:27:55 +0900

IGPN issues a statement to call on world leaders, including those meeting at the Hokkaido Toyako Summit to immediately implement Green Purchasing around the world.

G8 leaders agree to encourage Green Purchasing

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:25:57 +0900

The G8 leaders gathered at the Hokkaido Toyako Summit agreed to encourage the practice of Green Purchasing by enhancing efforts in the WTO negotiations to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services with a view to disseminating clean technology and skills.

For further information, read the article 34 of the Document of Environment and Climate Change.

Nordic Ecolabel provides pre-requisites for Swan-labeled fuels

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:40:02 +0900

The Nordic Ecolabel, a standard promoted by the Nordic Council for environmentally sustainable products, has provided the pre-requisites for companies to apply for the Swan label for fuels including ethanol, biodiesel, biogas and mixtures of these fuels.
The Nordic Ecolabel has requirements for the entire product lifecycle, from the raw materials to the finished product, in this case the fuel that is available at the petrol stations.

The most essential requirements for Nordic Ecolabelled fuels are reduced emissions that negatively affect global warming and climate change with an absolute threshold value to the amount of CO2 that may be released to the atmosphere during the entire life-cycle of the fuel.

Other pre-requisites include restrictions on the total energy used at the production stage, traceability of crops and certified sustainable farming, and defined limitations on health effects of these fuels.

Within a year, the requirements for Nordic Ecolabelled fuel will be revised to allow for the incorporation of new results from technical research, certifications and European Union directives.

For more information, please visit Nordic Ecolabel.

12.7 TWh through the Swedish electricity certificate system in 2007

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:30:00 +0900

In 2007, 12.7 TWh of renewable electricity was produced under the electricity certificate system in Sweden. This is equivalent to the annual consumption of around half a million electrically heated detached houses. Biofuels are the dominant source of energy for electricity production in the system. But the sharpest increase is for wind power, up 45 per cent on 2006.
For more information, please visit Sweden Energy Agency.

Multilingual version of the Green Purchasing & Green Public Procurement Starter Kit developed

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:06:24 +0900

IGPN and GPN India have completed the development of the Green Purchasing & Green Public Procurement Starter Kit in Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and English.

The CD version will be available from GPN India, China GPN, Thai GPN, Vietnam Productivity Centre (VPC) and IGPN. Web version will soon be uploaded to the web sites of the respective organisations.

Green Purchasing Network to be set up in Vietnam

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:50:28 +0900

At the workshop on Green Purchasing and Greening Supply Chain, held on 3 March 2008 during the EPIF2008 at the National Convention Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, Ms Nguyen Thi Bich Hang, General Director of Vietnam Eco Paradise, announced the plan to set up the Green Purchasing Network in Vietnam.

For further information, please contact the IGPN Secretariat.

More and more public bodies in Sweden have guidelines on green procurement

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:35:40 +0900

Four out of every five public bodies in Sweden have guidelines on consideration of the environment in the procurement of goods and services. This is revealed by a survey commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency among 21 county councils, 290 municipalities and 216 government agencies.

For further information, please visit Swedish EPA web site.

Swedish green car market is growing strongly

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:58:38 +0900

A total of 55,000 new green cars were registered in Sweden in 2007, an increase of 49 per cent on the figure for 2006. This means that green cars accounted for 18 per cent of the total car market in Sweden. At the turn of the year there were 50 different green car models on the Swedish market.

EU commission to help small and medium-sized companies become greener

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:34:57 +0900

Helping small and medium-seized companies use energy and resources efficiently is the aim of a recently published Commission Communication. It does this by providing a legal framework and measures that reinforce existing policies and initiatives in line with the particular characteristics of smaller companies. To this end the Communication proposes to create a programme to help small and medium-sized companies implement European environmental legislation.

Eco-products International Fair 2008 (EPIF2008) to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:45:50 +0900

The Eco-products International Fair (EPIF) was initiated by the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) in 2004 and has been held in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore with the number of participating companies increasing every year.

With the remarkable economic growth, the attractive investment opportunities and the concerns expressed by the government and its people for the environmental protection in recent years, Vietnam will play a host country for the fourth Eco-products International Fair in 2008, which is scheduled to take place in Hanoi between the 1st and 4th March 2008.

Please visit the EPIF 2008 web site for further details.

New toolkit to promote green business travel

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:06:02 +0900

A university research group has created a toolkit to encourage greener business travel.
Omega, a government funded research group comprised of nine universities, government departments and members of the Aviation Environment Federation, released details of the toolkit.