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In response to requests by the governments of Burkina Faso and Senegal, the ILO, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO and UNITAR jointly launched PAGE in the two countries in view of supporting national efforts to transition to greener economies

Burkina Faso welcomed a joint inception mission in June 2014 by representatives of all five PAGE organizing partners (ILO, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, UNITAR). Working at the policy and strategic levels, with various government departments, social partners and development agencies, PAGE in Burkina Faso will support government policy objectives under the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development (SCADD) and the National Policy on Sustainable Development. It builds on work already undertaken through the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) and a recently launched SWITCH Africa Green programme, which all address complementary dimensions of stimulating green investments and policy reforms to deliver sustainable growth, job creation and poverty eradication. PAGE actions in Burkina Faso will also seek to pave the way for Burkina Faso to become a United Nations “Delivering as One” country in the coming years. Mr. Salif Ouedraogo, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, stressed the importance of turning the notion of green economy into transformational and operational change in key areas of the economy and society in Burkina Faso.

In Senegal, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr. Mor N’gom officially launched the PAGE partnership on the occasion of the World Environment Day on June 5, in the presence of representatives of PAGE agencies. The partnership will operate within the framework of the “Plan Senegal Emergent” (PSE), the country’s development framework for 2014-2024. PAGE partners aim to contribute to the implementation of a national programme on green jobs, promote green industrialisation and institutional capacity building on green economy through a hub of knowledge institutions as well as the network of SIYB (start and improve your business) trainers in Senegal. The UN Resident Coordinator in Senegal welcomed the initiative as an effective collaborative programme to advance sustainable development in Senegal.

Mongolia, May 2014 - Representatives of some 30 Mongolian education and training institutions met for a one-day workshop to share information and discuss opportunities for advancing a strategic approach to green development learning in Mongolia.

This meeting was held in response to a request by the Government of Mongolia to give particular attention to green awareness-raising and learning in support of Mongolia’s efforts to advance green development.  It also provided input into the National 2014 Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) Implementation Workshop on Mongolia, which followed on 15-16 May.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Sh. Purevsuren, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Environment and Green Development and Chair of the meeting, highlighted that the Government of Mongolia places  great importance on strengthening green awareness raising, education and training.

“Sustainable development is development for all and should reflect the characteristics and local needs. National education and research institutions therefore play a crucial role in overcoming the challenges that Mongolia faces in advancing green development”, Sh. Purevsuren emphasised.

Speaking on behalf of the PAGE partners, Nara Luvsan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Moustapha Kamal Gueye from the International Labour Organization (ILO) introduced PAGE.  They reconfirmed the commitment of PAGE partners to accompany and support Mongolia in advancing green development through a range of services, from policy analysis and policy reform to policy implementation and related capacity development.
 

Ms. A. Tuya, Head of the Division Basic and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education and Science, presented national education policies and ongoing green education projects, with a focus on children education in primary and secondary schools. She indicated that the meeting was timely because green education, learning and skills development is becoming increasingly important for the country. In addition, Ms. Tuya pointed out that national education policies can provide a framework for green development education and highlighted the importance of institutional capacity development, such as curriculum change and teachers education.

Presentations by six institutions provided a snapshot of ongoing and planned green education activities.  The speakers represented the Secretariat of Parliament, the National Development Institute, the Swiss Development Cooperation, the Mongolian National University, UNICEF and Eco Asia University.  The presentations highlighted a range of ongoing green learning activities and initiatives, as well as indicated the importance of scaling up green development learning as one of the foundations for green development in Mongolia. Target groups mentioned ranged from decision-makers in government and the private sector, to students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

The second part of the meeting focused on the development of a National Green Economy Learning Strategy in Mongolia within the framework of PAGE. Participants welcomed and supported the development of the National Strategy and expressed an interest in participating.  The perspectives shared indicated that the National Strategy creates, among others, an opportunity to:
 

• Systemically identify learning needs of a wide range of target groups and stakeholders on various dimensions of green development
• Align education and training efforts of national learning institutions with the principles of green and sustainable development and related Government policies
• Address the gap of understanding about  green economy and development among decision makers in line ministries, parliament, aimags (regional level), etc
• Improve  professional skills needed to shift from brown to green (e.g. in the building sector)
• Scale up public awareness raising, curriculum change, and professional training 
• Facilitate learning and experience sharing and avoid duplication of efforts
• Raise the profile of green learning as foundation for a green transition in Mongolia
• Guide capacity development and training services provided through PAGE
• Scale up resources to support green learning from national and international sources.

The meeting also endorsed the establishment of a working group/task force to oversee and support the creation of the National Green Development Learning Strategy. This group could include representatives from government, education, training institutions, the private sector, civil society and other interested stakeholders.

The Senior Manager of Environment and Green Development at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Achim Halpaap, indicated that PAGE can provide seedfunding, as well as methodological and technical support, for the development of the strategy.  In addition, selected training and skills development activities are included under the priority work streams in the PAGE workplan.

The Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) is a response to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) outcome document, entitled The Future We Want, which recognizes green economy as a vehicle for sustainable development and poverty eradication. The four founding UN agencies of PAGE – UNEP, ILO, UNITAR and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) – aims to provide a comprehensive suite of green economy services that will enable countries to transform their national economic structures to meet the growing demands and challenges of the 21st century.

More specifically, PAGE will facilitate enabling conditions in participating countries by encouraging a shift in investment and policies towards the creation of a new generation of assets, such as clean technologies, resource efficient infrastructure, well-functioning ecosystems, green skilled labour and good governance.

Mongolia was the first country to join PAGE in 2013. Generous support for PAGE activities in 2014 has been provided by the Governments of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Republic of Korea.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 2014 - Representatives of some 30 Mongolian education and training institutions met for a one-day workshop to share information and discuss opportunities for advancing a strategic approach to green development learning in Mongolia.

This meeting was held in response to a request by the Government of Mongolia to give particular attention to green awareness-raising and learning in support of Mongolia’s efforts to advance green development. It also provided input into the National 2014 Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) Implementation Workshop on Mongolia, which followed.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Sh. Purevsuren, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Environment and Green Development and Chair of the meeting, highlighted that the Government of Mongolia places great importance on strengthening green awareness raising, education and training. “Sustainable development is development for all and should reflect the characteristics and local needs. National education and research institutions therefore play a crucial role in overcoming the challenges that Mongolia faces in advancing green development”, Sh. Purevsuren emphasised.

Speaking on behalf of the PAGE partners, Nara Luvsan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Moustapha Kamal Gueye from the International Labour Organization (ILO) introduced PAGE. They reconfirmed the commitment of PAGE partners to accompany and support Mongolia in advancing green development through a range of services, from policy analysis and policy reform to policy implementation and related capacity development.

Ms. A. Tuya, Head of the Division Basic and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education and Science, presented national education policies and ongoing green education projects, with a focus on children education in primary and secondary schools. She indicated that the meeting was timely because green education, learning and skills development is becoming increasingly important for the country. In addition, Ms. Tuya pointed out that national education policies can provide a framework for green development education and highlighted the importance of institutional capacity development, such as curriculum change and teachers education.

Presentations by six institutions provided a snapshot of ongoing and planned green education activities. The speakers represented the Secretariat of Parliament, the National Development Institute, the Swiss Development Cooperation, the Mongolian National University, UNICEF and Eco Asia University. The presentations highlighted a range of ongoing green learning activities and initiatives, as well as indicated the importance of scaling up green development learning as one of the foundations for green development in Mongolia. Target groups mentioned ranged from decision-makers in government and the private sector, to students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

The second part of the meeting focused on the development of a National Green Economy Learning Strategy in Mongolia within the framework of PAGE. Participants welcomed and supported the development of the National Strategy and expressed an interest in participating. The perspectives shared indicated that the National Strategy creates, among others, an opportunity to:

• Systemically identify learning needs of a wide range of target groups and stakeholders on various dimensions of green development;
• Align education and training efforts of national learning institutions with the principles of green and sustainable development and related Government policies;
• Address the gap of understanding about green economy and development among decision makers in line ministries, parliament, aimags (regional level), etc.;
• Improve professional skills needed to shift from brown to green (i.e. in the building sector);
• Scale up public awareness raising, curriculum change and professional training;
• Facilitate learning and sharing experiences, and avoid duplication of efforts;
• Raise the profile of green learning as a foundation for a green transition in Mongolia;
• Guide capacity development and training services provided through PAGE; and,
• Scale up resources to support green learning from national and international sources.

The meeting also endorsed the establishment of a working group/task force to oversee and support the creation of the National Green Development Learning Strategy. This group could include representatives from government, education, training institutions, the private sector, civil society and other interested stakeholders.

The Senior Manager of Environment and Green Development at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Achim Halpaap, indicated that PAGE can provide seedfunding, as well as methodological and technical support, for the development of the strategy. In addition, selected training and skills development activities are included under the priority work streams in the PAGE workplan.

Dubai, 4 March 2014 - United Nations Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Environment and Water, Dr Rashid Ahmed Mohammed Bin Fahad,  signed a wide-ranging agreement to cooperate on urgent environmental issues.

Signed during the first international Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) conference, held in Dubai, the agreement enhances collaboration between UNEP and a nation that has already shown its commitment to environmental issues.

The deal is expected to assist the UAE in implementing its Vision 2021 and Green Growth Strategy.

The agreement covers UNEP's priority areas of Climate Change, Disasters and Conflicts, Ecosystem Management, Governance, Harmful Substances and Hazardous Waste, Resource Efficiency and Environment under Review.

It also brings in other cross-cutting areas such as environmental education, communication and outreach, the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, and environment and sports.

UNEP will, among other actions, provide consultations on the UAE's environmental reports related to the environment, cooperate on capacity building of institutions and local communities, and assist in implementation of collaborative projects and programmes. UNEP's Regional Office for West Asia, headed by Iyad Abumoghli, will manage the cooperation.

Mr. Steiner also signed a funding agreement with the Republic of Korea Deputy Minister of Environment, Mr. Lee Jae-Hyun, on behalf of PAGE. The country was one of the first supporters of PAGE, which aims to assist countries interested in transitioning to a green economy.

At the conference, donors including Finland, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland pledged over $11 million in support of PAGE activities.

The event attracted more than 30 ministers of finance, environment, labour and trade from around the world in addition to high-level UN officials, international experts, representatives from the business community and civil society.

PAGE is currently supporting five countries to shift investment and policies towards a new generation of assets that include clean technologies and resource-efficient infrastructure, green jobs and healthy ecosystems. PAGE aims to extend its support to a total of 30 countries by 2020.

The Partnership for Action on Green Economy, or PAGE, is a direct response to the call made in paragraph 66 of the Rio+20 Outcome document for cooperation within the UN system to assist countries in their transitions to a green economy.

Your Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai

Your Excellency Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water,

Excellencies,

Esteemed colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the United Nations PAGE partners, I would like to first express my deep appreciation to the Government of the United Arab Emirates - and especially to His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Minister Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad - for graciously hosting the inaugural PAGE conference; allowing countries to exchange experiences and create opportunities for a more prosperous and sustainable world.

Almost two years ago, at Rio+20, more than 190 nations gave the green light to an inclusive Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

The Partnership for Action on Green Economy, or PAGE, is a direct response to the call made in paragraph 66 of the Rio+20 Outcome document for cooperation within the UN system to assist countries in their transitions to a green economy. It is an inter-agency initiative founded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). More UN agencies continue to support this effort, and we hope to soon announce the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as a fifth partner.

By taking a country by country approach, PAGE will catalyze up to 30 national economies between now and 2020, and thus contribute to the global transition to a sustainable future for all. The Partnership has the potential to help countries improve human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities in line with their own national development priorities.

In this context, I would like to salute the efforts of the donor community - Finland, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland - who collectively managed to raise well over US $11 million in support of PAGE activities at the national level.

Today, countries such as Burkina Faso, Peru, Mauritius, Mongolia, and Senegal are set to boost their economies through a shift of investment and policies towards a new generation of assets that include clean technologies and resource efficient infrastructure, green skilled labour, well-functioning ecosystems, and good governance. Such a transformation will pay significant dividends in social, environmental and economic terms.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In the wake of the global financial crisis, it has become increasingly evident that generating growth and prosperity can and must be achieved within the ecological boundaries of a resource-constrained world.

Lifting the world's 1.2 billion poorest to a life of dignity will require financing, innovation, technology transfer and capacity building, along with effective governance and mutually beneficial partnerships at all levels.

UNEP research suggests that an investment scenario of allocating 2 per cent of global GDP to greening economic sectors will produce a higher global GDP within 10 years, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.

A package of green investments - coupled with policy reforms that are aimed at making growth socially inclusive - offers economically viable options to reduce poverty and hunger, and address challenges of climate change and degradation of natural resources, while simultaneously providing new and sustainable pathways to economic development and prosperity.

The share of the poor in global GDP is marginal and is reduced with the erosion of natural capital. The share of the bottom 40 per cent of the population in global wealth remains less than 5 per cent. It is this segment of humanity which overwhelmingly lives on small farms, coastal areas and around forests, and depends on natural capital for their livelihoods, nutrition, health, employment, income, wealth creation opportunities as well as a safety net.

Degradation of natural resources creates a poverty trap, which leads to a reinforcing loop of further degradation and worsening poverty.

Natural capital is essential for sustainable economic development and accounts for a quarter of wealth created in low income countries.

Any reduction in natural capital stocks negatively affects the well-being of the poor disproportionately and leads to growing inequalities.

The dominant consumption pattern of affluent societies is a major stress on natural resources. According to a report by the International Resource Panel, total resource use grew eight-fold, from 6 billion tonnes in 1900 to 49 billion tonnes in 2000. By 2050, humanity could devour an estimated 140 billion tonnes of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year - three times its current appetite - unless economic growth is "decoupled" from natural resources consumption.

Financing the Green Economy

Ladies and gentlemen,

The World Economic Forum estimates that an investment in infrastructure of approximately US$6 trillion annually is needed over the next 16 years to deliver a low-carbon economy. Of this, nearly US$1 trillion is over and above the business-as-usual trajectory.

Weeks ago, UNEP launched an Inquiry into policy options for guiding the global financial system to invest in the transition to a green economy.

The inquiry aims to engage, inform and guide policy makers, financial market actors and other stakeholders concerned with the health of the financial system and its potential for shaping the future economy. Ultimately, it will lay out a series of options for advancing a sustainable financial system.

While much of the world's private capital is locked up in carbon-intensive investment across the developed world, developing country investment in a low carbon future is on the rise. Clean energy investment originating from non-OECD countries soared from US $4.9 billion in 2004 to US $72.6 billion last year, peaking at US $257 billion in 2011.

Fiscal Policies

Fiscal policies are of particular importance in a green economy transition and governments have a variety of fiscal instruments at their disposal: taxing fossil fuel use or emissions in different sectors, reforming energy subsidies that promote wasteful and environmentally harmful economic activity, and supporting clean technology and sustainable production with the help of fiscal incentives. .

Constructive fiscal measures can reflect environmental externalities through full cost pricing of energy and transportation services. They can also provide a significant source of new revenue:

• In the United States, for instance, it is estimated that a levy of US $25 per ton of CO2 could bring in about one percent of the country's GDP, or more than US $ 1trillion over a decade.
• In 2010, Vietnam passed its first law on environmental taxation and it is expected to generate between US $757 million and US $3 billion.

Confronted by a fiscally constrained world, fiscal policy reforms might appear to be a daunting challenge to a green economy transition. Yet, it has been observed in the past that external crises - be they fiscal, economic or environmental - may speed up policy reform.

But in order to promote green and more inclusive growth, the design of fiscal policies should consider potential social impact on low income households. Strengthening social safety nets when applying fiscal policy reforms would not only increase social and political acceptability of fiscal reforms but could also contribute to an equitable and fair transition to a green economy.

Energy Subsidies

Globally, the cost of energy subsidization is high and accounts for a significant part of GDP annually. Petroleum subsidies alone, for instance, amounted to US $200 billion in 2011.

It is estimated that removing US $500 billion of fossil fuel subsidies could boost the global economy by around 0.3 per cent. In addition to the potential fiscal benefits, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies in developing and emerging economies could reduce global GHG emissions by 6 per cent in 2050.

When considering that out of the US $409 billion spent on fossil-fuel consumption subsidies in 2010, only US $35 billion, or 8 per cent, reached the poorest income quintile (the bottom 20 per cent), energy subsidies appear to perform poorly as a means of supporting the incomes of poor social groups.

Environmental Taxes

Environmental taxes are an effective and, if appropriately designed, efficient tool for environmental policy. They can also be leveraged to generate private financing. Evidence shows that fiscal instruments have helped increase green investment. Carbon taxes could direct investment towards cleaner technologies and encourage energy efficiency.

Green Trade

The Rio+20 conference identified international trade as an engine for development, sustained economic growth and the transition to a greener economy.

Many developing countries are well positioned to gain from mainstreaming sustainability considerations in their trade-driven growth strategies, including through the export of certified commodities in the fisheries, forests or agriculture sectors, increased investments in sustainable production and supply chains, or the expansion of eco-tourism.

For example, the Bio-trade sector in Peru has grown by 20 per cent in the last five years - generating significant revenue and promoting sustainable development, while simultaneously supporting pro-poor development.

The Green Economy transition opens up new opportunities for regional and global trade. For example, the global market in low-carbon and energy efficient technologies is projected to nearly triple to US $2.2 trillion by 2020.

UNEP is working with partners to provide demand-driven policy advice, technical assistance and capacity-building to countries who wish to use international trade as an engine for a green economy transition.

Opportunities Across Developing Economies

South-South Cooperation can deliver environmental capacity building and technology support to developing countries and regions in the South that wish to make a transition to a green economy.

Drawing on shared economic, environmental and social aspirations, South-South Cooperation helps identify solutions to today's sustainable development challenges, as well as deliver new ideas and resources to advance the global transformation to an inclusive green economy.

Around the world, the Green Economy transformation is already underway:

• In Tunisia, an innovative financial mechanism has provided incentives for households to switch to solar-powered water heaters.
• In Kenya the government's attractive feed-in tariffs have encouraged key industries to become more energy efficient, while delivering energy to rural communities. Africa's largest Geothermal Power Station, Olkaria generates over 150 Megawatts (MW) into the national grid, with Kenya aiming for 1200 MW by 2018.
• In Borneo, where extractive industries and population pressures threaten the largest intact expanse of tropical forest in South-East Asia, a multi-stakeholder initiative supported by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia is helping conserve the island's natural capital as a key component of its development plan, while recognizing its global contribution to reducing CO2 emissions
• The United Arab Emirates' Blue Carbon Demonstration Project connects the local natural coastal ecosystem management with climate change mitigation as part of a global effort to determine the role of coastal habitats in climate change mitigation.
• In Senegal, investment in clean energy will increase the use of renewable sources for power generation by 30 per cent in the next 20 years and create between 7000 to 30,000 green jobs in the construction and renewable energy sectors.
• In Ghana, organic farming could yield a 30 per cent increase in jobs per hectare. Policies and strategies are being developed towards that end. At the same time, conservation agriculture is helping reduce land disturbance and deforestation, which would lead to emissions reduction.
• In 2012, the African Development Bank raised US $2.2 billion to address climate change, a 50 per cent increase to the previous year. More than 90 per cent of the approved projects were green. The Bank's inaugural "green bond" raised US $550 million in global investment within 24 hours.
• In 2008, British Columbia adopted a carbon tax covering all fossil fuels (including gasoline, diesel, propane, natural gas and coal. Since the tax was introduced, fossil fuel consumption per capita declined by 17.4% between the 2007-2008 base year and 2011/2012 and British Columbia now has the lowest per capita fuel use of any province in Canada. Moreover, the carbon tax was designed to be revenue neutral - revenue generated from the tax has been used to reduce income taxes and to offer tax credits to the poor. In fact, the government of British Columbia was able to provide $500 million more in income tax cuts than it collected in carbon tax to date.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Around the world, we are seeing a multiplicity of approaches and pathways to design and build greener economies.

To support such efforts, we need to remove barriers and to enable poor and vulnerable groups to participate in, contribute to and benefit from the transition.

For a credible and systematic transformation to take place, supportive policies, institutional and governance reforms and targeted investment at the local, national and global levels need to be put in place and scaled up as part of national development planning, based on national priorities.

The first ever UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) will take place in Nairobi this June as the highest level global platform for policy making feeding directly into the UN General Assembly, with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including sustainable production and consumption.

I would like to invite you to engage with UNEA and use the platform to further action on the Green Economy.

With civil society, policy makers, government and the business sector under one roof, there is no better forum to build on the momentum created by the Dubai inaugural PAGE conference.

Once again, I thank the Government of the UAE for hosting this important event at this critical moment in time. I would also like to seize the opportunity to congratulate the UAE for its efforts to implement the UAE's Vision 2021 and the Green Growth Strategy, which it launched two years ago following the Rio+20 conference.

This first PAGE conference is a timely event and one that I hope will foster greater understanding and cooperation, expand the PAGE partnership and set a Green Economy pathway towards sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

Thank you.

Four UN Agencies to Assist 30 Countries in Transition to a Green Economy

13 february 2014 - A new partnership launched today by four UN agencies aims to support 30 countries over the next seven years in building national green economy strategies that will generate new jobs and skills, promote clean technologies, and reduce environmental risks and poverty.

The new Partnership for Action on Green Economy, or PAGE, is a response to theoutcomedocument of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), entitledThe Future We Want, which recognizes the green economy as a vehicle for sustainable development and poverty eradication.

Governments at Rio+20 called on UN agencies to support countries interested in accelerating their transition to an inclusive green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

The four UN agencies – the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) – will provide a comprehensive suite of green economy services that will enable countries to transform their national economic structures to meet the growing demands and challenges of the 21st century.

“This is yet another example of how UNEP with partners is implementing the outcomes of Rio+20. The Partnership for Action on Green Economy will work with countries to catalyze change at the national level, assisting  them with targeted economic and policy instruments and training that will accelerate their green economy transition across sectors ranging from clean energy to sustainable agriculture,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. “With the support of PAGE, developing countries in particular can put in place the policies needed to reap the economic and environmental benefits of an inclusive, resource-efficient, low-carbon pathway, and avoid the risks and shocks of carbon-intensive infrastructures.”

From Barbados to Mexico and Nepal to South Africa, many countries are already advancing green initiatives that will contribute to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Germany, Kenya and the Republic of Korea, among other states, have set out radical changes in their energy policies to harness the power of renewables, and reinvest in their natural capital. Lebanon and Madagascar are working to rebuild their agro-industries, while other countries – like Peru and Senegal – are focused on developing more capacity and green jobs.  

As The Future We Want recommends, PAGE will encourage “the implementation of green economy policies by countries that seek to apply them for the transition towards sustainable development as a common undertaking.” 

More specifically, PAGE will build enabling conditions in participating countries by shifting investment and policies towards the creation of a new generation of assets, such as clean technologies, resource efficient infrastructure, well-functioning ecosystems, green skilled labour and good governance.

“ILO estimates that at least half of the global workforce – or 1.5 billion people – could be affected in some way by the transition to a green economy,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.  “PAGE aims to embed the right policies and opportunities at the national level as countries move forward with their inclusive green economy plans, and thus ensure this transition creates more and better jobs and benefits all of society”. 

“Promoting green and clean new industries, and helping existing industries become more resource-efficient, will be a key focus of the partnership,” said Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO.  “While business and industry should be aligned with national green economy efforts, governments need to set the parameters in order for business to thrive.”

“Advancing green economies in the context of poverty eradication creates unprecedented needs and opportunities for learning and skills development,’ said Sally Fegan-Wyles, Director ad Interim of UNITAR.  “PAGE addresses this challenge, by offering a suite of learning programmes and by strengthening capacities of national research and training institutions to ensure sustainability.”

The four agencies have previously undertaken joint green initiatives. However, this is the first time that all four partners have come together to coordinate their support, expertise and resources at the national level. During the first two years of the partnership, PAGE will focus on seven pilot countries, yet to be named, and scale up this support to a total of 30 countries by 2020.  

The concept of a green economy enjoys increasing international attention, as countries explore new patterns of development taking into account economic, social and environmental sustainability considerations. To address this challenge, UNITAR is working closely with UNEP, ILO and UNIDO in a new Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), focusing on national capacity development. Together with PAGE partners, UNITAR is delivering the e-learning course “Introduction to a Green Economy: Concepts and Applications”, from 21 October to 13 December 2013.

Environmental managers, academics, private sector representatives and interested citizens. It aims at enhancing participants’ knowledge of different concepts and facets of the green economy, as well as global, national and sector-specific challenges and opportunities to advance low-carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive development. Additionally, the future e-students will begin to develop basic skills for applying the green economy concept in a real world economic, policy and/or personal context.

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the economic, environmental and social benefits of transitioning to a green  economy
• Identify enabling conditions for greening national economies
• Provide examples of successful green economy investments, initiatives and projects
• Identify principal challenges and opportunities for greening key economic sectors
• Describe national planning processes in support of a green transformation
• Recognize the range of international and regional green initiatives and support  services to foster green development            

Registration is open until 13 October 2013. To facilitate the participation of individuals from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and non-profit organizations, a number of fellowships will be awarded.

Comprehensive information and registration details are available on the UNITAR Online Catalogue.

For more information, please contact:

The UNITAR Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) at envgov@unitar.org.