This report constitutes the findings of a study on the potential of market pull instruments for promoting innovation in environmental characteristics. The study was conducted by COWI A/S in collaboration with Ecotec Ltd.
The study aims at providing an insight into and an enhanced understanding of the extent to which demand pull instruments promote innovation and to investigate the assumption that greater demand lead to greater innovation.
The study builds on the outcome of an extensive literature review; nearly 40 interviews conducted with industry representatives across a total of six industrial sectors, including business associations; researchers; and a workshop.
This report was commissioned by UNEP in response to the multiple global crises of 2008 – fuel, food and financial. The report proposes a mix of policy actions that would stimulate economic recovery and at the same time improve the sustainability of the world economy. The Global Green New Deal (GGND) calls on governments to allocate a significant share of stimulus funding to green sectors and sets out three objectives: (i) economic recovery; (ii) poverty eradication; and (iii) reduced carbon emissions and ecosystem degradation; and proposed a framework for green stimulus programs as well as supportive domestic and international policies.
National actions proposed for the GGND include:
Launched at Global Roundtable on 19-20 October 2011 in Washington DC, the UNEP FI Guide to Banking and Sustainability provides a clause-by-clause explanation of the UNEP Statement of Commitment by Financial Institutions on Sustainable Development, seeking both to shed further light on the meaning of individual clauses, and to provide guidance on how banking institutions might seek to apply them in their day-to-day operations. The Guide further provides illustrations of current practice within UNEP FI Signatory banks, and references to key resources.
The tool results from consultations with a variety of UNEP FI members from the banking sector, who have identified a range of uses to the Guide, from Board level to operations:
