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PAGE, in partnership with the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, continues its collaboration with Mauritius to find appropriate solutions to improve the management of industrial waste and promote circular economy and industrial symbiosis practices on the island.

On February 4, 2020, the kick-off meeting of a new project on industrial waste management was held at the National Co-operative College in Terre Rouge. This initiative, jointly developed by PAGE and the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, in collaboration with Business Mauritius, aims to understand better the cost of the management of industrial waste. This activity will be done by assessing, over the first half of 2020, the cost of the management of industrial waste of all the actors involved in the value chain, from companies to local authorities and recyclers. The overall goal is to give the Government of Mauritius a precise picture of the cost of managing industrial waste in order to define and develop tools for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling, which will help reduce the amount of waste going to landfills.

Some 70 participants, representing local and national authorities, and industrial companies of all sizes, attended the workshop. The Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, Mr. Soomilduth Bholah, the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Christine Umutoni, and the Business Mauritius CEO, Mr. Kevin Ramkaloan were also present. Participants discussed existing international best practices for industrial waste management, as well as the scope, methodology and goals of the project. The meeting included a capacity building exercise on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) concept too, a model that the government of Mauritius is closely considering.

The relevance of the costs definition for both the private and public sectors has been in particular debated with all the waste management actors, as has been the need to strengthen the legislative and institutional frameworks. Discussions during the meeting revealed that the industrial sector in Mauritius is well aware of the environmental challenges represented by industrial waste management, and of the need to build more sustainable production processes. All participants, and in particular those representing the companies, expressed their readiness to undertake innovative steps to increase the recovery of materials and of energy from industrial waste. The insular condition of Mauritius and of its economy was also examined, underlining the need to develop tailored technical and organizational schemes.

In 2016 and 2017, PAGE already assisted Mauritius in carrying out a first assessment of the management of industrial waste in the country. This assessment resulted in the identification of new opportunities for the reduction, reuse and recycling of industrial waste. At the same time, it also addressed the effectiveness of Mauritius’ legislative and institutional frameworks for waste management and environment protection. This current activity on the cost assessment of industrial waste, evolved as a follow up to the previous assessment.

To know more about this event, visit the website of the government of Mauritius.

Burkina Faso has been showing a strong interest for sustainable development. The country has recently started the adoption of its strategy to develop over 2000 ecovillages in the country, called "Strategie Nationale de Creation des Écovillages 2018-2027". The project is part of the government's effort to revamp and structurally transform the country's economy. The "Plan national de développement économique et social" (PNDES) aims to achieve sustainable and resilient economic growth, while increasing the number of jobs and the overall welfare of the Burkinese population.

By transforming its villages into ecovillages, the Burkina Faso's government will address several issues that the country has been facing, such as food insecurity, desertification and poverty. This goes in conformity with the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), to which the country has committed itself. To better evaluate the outcomes of the strategy, five strategic goals have been set:

• Strengthening local governance;
• Improving food and nutrition security;
• Preservation of the environment;
• Promotion of local entrepreneurship;
• Improving access to finance. 

Burkina Faso, which has been working closely with PAGE since 2014, drew on years of cooperation with PAGE to prepare its national policy on green villages. In addition, the country has been actively engaging with players at both international and regional levels to help find solutions for the impeding challenges of this century, such as climate change. This can be seen in the several treaties and conventions signed and ratified by the country in the past years.

PAGE provided support to the National Green Economy Strategy, which serves as the backbone of the country's PNDES plan. Throughout the years, several macroeconomic and sectoral assessments were carried out to collaborate with this strategy, especially the Green Economy Assessment that identified key sectors for green investments.

Read more about PAGE's partnership with Burkina Faso

On 7 January, PAGE Indonesia co-organized a kick-off meeting for its new project: "Benchmarking for Dynamic System Model based on the General National Energy Plan" project. Held at the at UNDP Indonesia Office, and attended by representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, the System Dynamics Bandung BootCamp (SDBB), and PAGE (UNDP), the project will ultimately provide support for the Ministry and assist in the development of a benchmarking dynamics system based on the general national agency plan.

During the meeting, an initial workplan was presented by the BLU P3KEBTKE, the centre of research and development for electricity technology, new and renewable energy, and energy conservation within the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Beyond the focus on developing a benchmarking dynamics system, this project will also contribute to strengthening the existing Low Carbon and Development (LCDI) model, particularly in the energy sector. An LCDI sub-model and database for the energy sector will be developed by the BLU P3KEBTKE team and LCDI policies will be translated into sectoral energy policies. The main expected outputs are:

• Analysis of energy modelling parameter and energy policies;
• Development of dynamic system modelling and impact analysis;
• Dynamic system transformation into a web-based simulation.

Subsequently, PAGE organized a follow-up technical discussion on 15 January. Held at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources' office, and attended by representatives of BLU P3KEBTKE, Bappenas and SDBB, the three parties used this forum to share information, detail the workplan, and agree on collaboration and coordination methods for the future. As a result, a more detailed workplan was then submitted to PAGE Indonesia.

Read more about PAGE's partnership with Indonesia.

The education work on sustainable agriculture by Grupo Semente illustrates how small scale farmers can achieve better environmental and health outcomes by adopting modern practices. However, the high cost of certification of organic produce in relation to the farmers’ output presents a challenge to securing a price premium in the marketplace. More institutional support is thus required to address constraints in human and financial resources and upscale sustainable farming practices. “Just as individuals face institutional barriers that prevent them from achieving a greater impact, institutions face systemic barriers that stand in the way of achieving deep, transformative change. When the three levels – individuals, institutions and the overarching system – act in concert, that’s when things are starting to change rapidly” remarks Giuliano Montanari, Green Economy Specialist at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

Specifically, the workshop set out to validate findings and recommended actions for advancing capacity building derived from the Green Economy Learning Assessment (GELA), a study realized by the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). As part of their methodology, the UFMT researchers talked to numerous stakeholders and institutions in civil society, academia, the private and public sector to identify strategic intervention points to advance learning on sustainability in the state. “One of the intervention points aims at enriching curricula of secondary education institutions with basic green economy concepts, to achieve better geographical reach and promote behavioral change over the long term” explains Luciane Durante, Professor and project lead for the study.

In his concluding observations, Olivan Rabelo, Director of the Office of Technological Innovation at UFMT, pointed out an additional skill to learn in order to induce change in the particularly diverse social landscape of Mato Grosso, namely empathy. “With so many different economic, cultural and social interests spread over such vast distances in our state, we need to able to mutually understand each other. And this is why this we’re talking more than economic policy today. Things are already moving here, but we need to take that discussion to more citizens and initiatives.” For this workshop, chief Rony drove nearly five hours to make his pitch. If some of the actions of the GELA get implemented, next time perhaps the green economy discussion may come straight to the public square of his tribe.

Attendees: Rony Paresi, chief of the Wazare tribe, Flora Ferreira Camargo, agronomist at the civil society initiative Grupo Semente, and Suenia Maria Cordeiro, representative of the public agency Sebrae

Visit the UFMT website for more information on programmes and initiatives.

PAGE China Workshop on Green Development was partnered with University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Nanjing University (NJU) and hosted a series of educational events across five days. The events provided a platform for mutual learning, international knowledge sharing and exchange between PAGE international experts and agencies, and local stakeholders, on various aspects of Green Development. 

The gathering was held in Suzhou, a major economic focal point of trade and commerce in China and hosted representatives from Chinese central and local government, partner UN agencies, research institutes, trade unions and enterprises and others.

2 — 4 December

Aworkshop on Eco Industrial Parks (EIP) was conducted by UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in order to better exemplify good practices and to provide training to policy professionals and industrial park managers. Abu Saieed, green industry expert from UNIDO, Ziwei Yang from Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Zhiming Wang, Deputy Director of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, and Tim Scott, member of PAGE management board from UN Development Programme, gave the opening remarks. The 2.5-day workshop brought together policymakers, park administrators, business representatives and scholars, to train, share and discuss practical EIP tools, techniques and industrial symbiosis opportunities in greening the industrial parks in China and aboard.

4 — 6 December

Back to back with the EIP workshop, a learning workshop on Green Jobs led by the International Labor Organization (ILO) took place, including a field trip to Suzhou Industrial Park. Dr. Cristina Martinez, senior expert from ILO, Prof. Libin Zhang from Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MoHRSS), and Professor Yabin Wu, Executive Dean of the Research Institute of Global Value Chain (RIGVC) of UIBE kicked off this workshop. The workshop fostered a ‘Social Dialogue’, a participatory approach with facilitation techniques and tripartite role-plays, among Industrial Park managers, government, employers, workers and academia on the promotion of gender equality, Green Jobs and the application of the Just Transition Guidelines in the management and implementation of the green transition processes. By assessing the need and formulating possible projects or activities, it explored cooperation possibilities to promote Green Jobs for Inclusive Green Economies in not only Jiangsu but possible replication in other provinces throughout China.

The final workshop on 6 December was an expert consultation seminar on Green Economy Progress (GEP) measurement framework of Jiangsu and Fujian Province at provincial and municipal levels, jointly organized by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Nanjing University (NJU). Fulai Sheng, senior economist from UNEP, Prof. Ming Hua, deputy director of Science and Technology Department of NJU and Dr. Yong Wang from Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (PRCEE) of Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) conducted the welcome remarks. After an introduction of GEP project background, original design of GEP methodology, evaluation results, a simple display of the database website, experts from research institutions and government departments elaborated on the preliminary analysis results of GEP in Jiangsu and Fujian, and explored a long-term cooperation among institutions and agencies, e.g. Fujian Normal University, to promote GEP measurement framework.

On 12 November 2019, PAGE Mongolia held a seminar on the social and environmental considerations for greening financial investments.  Participants from the Mongolian Sustainable Finance Association discussed on the Just transition planning for sustainable investments of commercial banks and green jobs promotion for industry lending products. The event contributed to the development of risk assessment methodologies for sustainable investments.

The Mongolian Sustainable Finance Association (MSFA) includes membership of all the commercial banks in Mongolia and aims to increase the sustainability of banking activities in the country, both through upgrading the internal capacities of banks to make their operations sustainable, and externally through their investment activities.

The MSFA has created a series of guidelines for sectors considered high-risk for environmental and social impacts such as mining, construction, manufacturing and agriculture. In addition, a guideline for textiles is being developed. The guidelines discuss and develop a ‘checklist’ of questions about social and environmental risks that banks can ask when assessing potential investments.

The workshop included group work activities to assess and improve these guidelines and ensure they adequately cover social risks, including for labour standards compliance -  environmental risks, including environmental impacts- as well as risks associated with transition to sustainable business models. Presentations included Financial implications of Green Jobs and Just Transition; and Circularity and implications for financial products.

The workshop identified a number of areas where the assessment guidelines could be improved, and also a need to improve the implementation of the guidelines through increased capacity building and training of staff in asking, verifying, and monitoring loan applicants’ responses to the checklists.

The workshop concluded with the formation of a working group of officers from commercial banks, the MFSA, and the ILO to further develop and enhance the guidelines and checklist, including better coverage of labour standards and transition risk.