The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) commits to promote strategic environmental assessments in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. UNECE will continue supporting Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in their efforts to effectively implement their new legislation on the Strategic environmental assessments. UNECE assisted the development of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) legislation over the past four years under an EU-funded project. The UNECE will also continue assisting the Central Asian countries in the implementation of transboundary environmental impact assessments and in the development of SEA systems. These efforts build on UNECE’s ongoing and past support and development. The support is furthered by an update of the Guidelines on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context for Central Asian Countries.
Uzbekistan commits to develop and adopt a government decision in 2017 on the introduction of an eco-labelling system. The establishment of a national label for environmentally friendly products will allow Uzbekistan to join the Global Ecolabeling network. The commitment aims to stimulate the production of environmentally friendly products and services and increase the share of environmentally friendly goods and services in the internal market. It will also improve the competitiveness of locally produced goods on international export markets.
The commitment falls under focus areas 4, 5, and 6 of the Batumi Initiative to shift consumer behaviours towards sustainable consumption patterns ; develop clean physical capital for sustainable production patterns; and promote green and fair trade.
Implementing partners will include relevant ministries, enterprises, municipalities and non-governmental organisations.
Portugal commits to develop and implement the Single Environmental Permit (SEP) which establishes a set of requirements aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of environmental procedures.The SEP highlights: articulation procedures, allowing them to run simultaneously, based on a single application; information management that benefits transparency and uniformity, in the definition of the requirements, avoiding duplication of the procedures. The SEP includes a solution for the management of procedures using a dynamic simulator and form. The simulator informs the operator of which environmental permits are applied, of the licensing entity, of the deadline for obtaining the license and of the respective fee. The dynamic forms are presented to the operator according to the frameworks applied and contain all the information which is needed by the permitting authority to issue the permit. At the end of the process, a single permit is issued, which contains all the specific decisions (under the several environmental specific regimes) and all the conditions that need to be fulfilled by the installation before its expiry.
Belarus commits to implementation and certification of the Environment Management System and Ecological Standards of products of the International Standardisation Organization (ISO). The commitment will result in the management of ecological aspects of production, the achievement of target environmental indicators, and the improvement of results of environmental activities by enterprises in the Republic of Belarus.
The commitment falls under focus area 5 to develop clean physical capital for sustainable production patterns.
Implementing partners include the State Standardisation Committee of the Republic of Belarus, interested national public governing bodies, the business community, civil society organisations, and the private sector.
The commitment is relevant to SDGs 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16.
Italy commits to setting up a national voluntary scheme through national regulation, with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of Italian eco-products on national and international markets. Such a scheme aims at promoting sustainable patterns of production and consumption; fostering eco-competitiveness of Italian small and medium enterprises; improving the environmental performance of products; reducing environmental impacts generated during their life cycle; enhancing citizens’ awareness; promoting sustainable consumption; and ensuring transparency and comparability of environmental performance of products. The draft regulation applies to products made entirely in Italy, or for which the drawing, design, processing and packaging are made exclusively on the Italian territory, as required by Italian national law.
The commitment falls under focus area 4 of the Batumi Initiative to shift consumer behaviours towards sustainable consumption patterns.
The commitment is relevant to SDG 12.
Croatia commits to improve and promote the voluntary participation of organisations in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) environmental management standards and the eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS). The commitment is expected to inform companies of the benefits of ISO and EMAS participation in reducing environmental footprints. The committment will also educate companies on benefits to ISO and EMAS such as: providing proof of an organisations improvement in environmental performance; and proof of implementation of environmental management systems.
The commitment falls under focus area 5 of the develop physical capital for sustainable production patterns.
Implementing partner includes Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection.
The commitment is relevant to SDG target 12.2.
Belarus commits to developing legal foundations for organic agriculture. This commitment aims to increase the volume of domestically produced organic products. The commitment is tied to the adoption of the Law of the Republic of Belarus on “Manufacturing and Circulating of Organic Products”.
The commitment falls under areas 1 and 5 of the Batumi Initiative to improve the measurement and valuation of natural capital and develop clean physical capital for sustainable production patterns.
Implementing partners include the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus, interested national public governing bodies, the business community, civil society organisations and the private sector.
The commitment is relevant to SDGs 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15 and 16.