This report outlines a range of systemic interrelated measures for a progressive transformation towards low-energy, low-carbon, highly resilient and ultimately climate neutral cities. Its recommendations fall under four main headings, with coordination through a well managed city-level framework being perhaps the most essential ingredient for success.
1) Waste management: Options and criteria for recycling, the production of biofuels and incineration.
2) Low-carbon mobility: Disincentives for using cars, along with the promotion of non-motorised and good public transport, and the introduction of alternative fuels infrastructure.
3) Urban energy infrastructure: Incentives to stimulate increased use of renewable energy, and promote energy-efficient technologies and intelligent electric grid systems for city facilities.
4) Urban form and green spaces: Techniques to reduce and prevent sprawl, while preserving and expanding green and open spaces, mitigating the urban heat island effect.
This report illustrates the multiple environmental, economic and social benefits arising from a transition towards energy-efficient housing. It outlines the required institutional changes and provides some basic principles for successful policies.
The study intends to reach national policymakers, decision-makers and experts and aims to facilitate a sustainable transition to energy efficient housing.
The report includes case studies from Austria, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Bulgaria.
This Action Plan provides a framework for the member States of the region to raise energy efficiency in the housing sector and thus enables them to address environmental and economic challenges and meet social needs. The Action Plan lists a range of measures aimed at removing barriers to energy efficiency and progressively moving towards a low-energy and ultimately zero energy and carbon neutral housing sector.
The Action Plan outlines three policy areas for action:
1) Policy area I: energy efficiency governance and financial infrastructure.
2) Policy area II: energy performance standards and technology integration.
3) Policy area III: access to energy efficiency and public housing.
Fast-growing cities in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region will define the region's energy future and its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Rapid urbanization and growing standards of living offer a major opportunity to EAP cities to become the global engines of green growth by choosing energy efficient solutions to suit their infrastructure needs and by avoiding locking in energy-intensive infrastructure. The underlying studies in three EAP pilot cities show a clear correlation between investments in energy efficient solutions in all major infrastructure sectors and economic growth by improving energy and GHG emissions efficiency, cities not only help the global environment, but they also support local economic development through productivity gains, reduced pollution, and more efficient use of resources. This paper is organized as follows: part one focuses on urban energy use and GHG emissions in EAP; part two presents sustainable urban energy and emissions planning in three pilot cities; and part three gives sustainable urban energy and emissions planning guidebook: a guide for cities in EAP.
This report examines trends in the use of environmental provisions in Regional Trade Agreements and identifies factors which may explain the presence or absence of these provisions. The report builds on work of the OECD Joint Working Party on Trade and Environment (JWPTE) and includes results of an informal survey of delegates.
Analysis of the environmental provisions in RTAs reveals an encouraging upward trend. While basic provisions remain the most common types found in RTAs, the incidence of more substantive provisions has increased significantly in recent years. Among these, environmental co-operation has been the most common type.
Several factors may have contributed to this evolution. These include countries extending their political mandates for RTAs, for example to include provisions for compliance with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), as well as a general accumulation of experience with the use of environmental provisions.
The report includes case studies from Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, United States and Switzerland.
This report reviews the skills available and skills required for the introduction and deployment of green technologies in the steel industry in India. It reviews the existing systems in place for developing a skilled labour force and proposes some specific recommendations on how to adapt to evolving demands. The report provides evidence and new information to contribute to a tripartite dialogue on promoting access to skills for green jobs and the greening of existing jobs in the Indian steel sector to create decent, productive work and to improve the competitiveness and environmental sustainability of the industry.
This report reviews in a systematic manner the skills available and skills required for the introduction and deployment of green technologies in the cement industry in Indonesia. It reviews the existing systems in place for developing a skilled labour force and proposes some specific recommendations on how to adapt to evolving demands. This report builds on continuing efforts made by the International Labour Organization in reviewing the need for skills for green jobs and the development of sector-based analysis for advancing global research work on promoting decent work. The report provides evidence and additional new information to support a tripartite dialogue on the best approach for promoting access to skills for green jobs and the greening of existing jobs in the Indonesian cement industry to create decent, productive work and to improve the environmental sustainability and competitiveness of the sector.
This report highlights the major forces fostering the shift to a resource-efficient green economy in Europe, including the role of EU policies. Currently, the economic and technological changes leading towards green economy objectives across the EU economy are proceeding too slowly; what is required is a much bigger, deeper, and more permanent change in the EU economy and society to create both new opportunities and substitution processes across the economic structure.
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) describes the situation where the user of an environmental service, such as water purification, pays the landowners who provide that service. For PES to exist, there must be a clearly defined user and supplier, as well as a number of other necessary conditions, which are defined in this document using a summary of current sources. Particular attention is paid to how these conditions currently obtain within the UNECE region. The range of forest environment services is explored through fourteen detailed case studies, which examine best practice in promoting PES. Political and public relations implications of PES are discussed at length, and recommendations include the need for clarity about where PES may be a useful tool in moving towards a green economy and where other methods may be more appropriate.
This publication proposes a conceptual framework for the characterisation of green jobs in Malaysia and the selection of technical indicators in the environmental and labour fields to be used for this process. The report brings an initial estimation of direct green jobs at the country level as well as a review of the decent work challenges that may be linked to green jobs. The report provides information and statistical data to assess the economic and employment impacts of a green development strategy and provides information on the sectors which promote environmentally-friendly decent work. It includes policy recommendations for the government and social partners to identify entry points for further green job creation.