Every day, unsustainable patterns of consumption, unsustainable production methods and population growth challenge the resilience of the planet to support human activities. At the same time, inequalities between and within societies remain high leaving billions with unmet basic human needs and a disproportionate vulnerability to global environmental change. To counteract this trend, UNEP and SETAC have worked together to develop the current work Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment. This has been achieved through the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative.
A key objective of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative is to help extend life cycle assessment (LCA) methods and practices. One major achievement has been the development of methods and techniques that can measure sustainability and allow LCA to support decision-making toward more sustainable product and process systems. In this way, life cycle techniques can be used to carry out life cycle sustainability assessments. This guidance document provides a starting point for learning about the methodologies and techniques suitable for life-cycle-based ways of measuring sustainability.
This report was prepared by the UN EMG's Issue Management Group on Green Economy to assess how the United Nations system could coherently support countries in transitioning to a green economy. The report aimes to facilitate a common understanding of the green economy approach and the measures required for the transition. This report was written in the run-up to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), where one of the themes was "green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication".
This report is the first comprehensive study on the emergence of a “green economy” and its impact on the world of work. It includes data that shows a changing pattern of employment in which green jobs are being generated in many sectors and economies around the world as a result of measures to tackle climate change and to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. This has also led to changing patterns of investment flows into areas such as renewable energy and energy efficiency at the household and industrial level. Within current policy frameworks, only a fraction of the potential benefits for jobs and development is forthcoming.
This report highlights key trends in a growing body of research on the links between climate change and development. The purpose of the review is to pull out the main findings from this body of research to inform policymakers and practitioners who are working towards climate compatible development. It draws on a meta-synthesis of hundreds of policy-relevant research papers published between January 2010 and August 2011, and a closer review of almost 100 of those papers. All the papers chosen for inclusion in the review spoke to two key questions: how does climate change affect development and how can development contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation? The review focuses on four themes: decision-making in the face of uncertainty; natural resource management in a changing climate; innovative finance for climate action; and technology transfer and division of effort for the low carbon transition.
This summary was prepared by Eldis.
This guide is aimed primarily at national planners and policy advisors in developing countries, focusing on the role of economic tools in planning for green growth. Some of the questions explored by the guide include: How do decision makers create a vision and strategy for green growth? What skills do planners need to work effectively with the range of green growth tools available? And how to assess which tools are right for them?
The Guide concludes that green growth planning needs to be an iterative process, adapting to local developments over time and responding to the needs of national and local stakeholders. Planners rarely find the process straightforward and rely on economic principles and tools to inform the process. However, conventional tools may not address environmental and social dimensions adequately or look beyond economic metrics. New tools and methods have emerged and existing ones have also evolved. Opening up these tools so that they’re more than a ‘black box’ and using them to obtain stakeholders’ buy-in remain key challenges.