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September 19, 2023
The Call for Contributions deadline for the 11th Procura+ Conference has been extended to 6 October 2023! The conference, which takes place 13-14 March 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal, is an ideal opportunity to showcase work on sustainable, innovation and circular procurement to over 250 attendees from across Europe and the world.
The world, cities and public authorities are facing major environmental, economic and social challenges that require a substantial transformation across all aspects of society. Procurement has to play a key role in this transformation. Now more than ever we need to hear from organisations that are making step changes to achieve big impact in sustainable, innovation and circular procurement! It is also a great opportunity to showcase the interdisciplinary nature of procurement e.g. making food and energy systems more sustainable and advancing the just and circular transition.
The call is open to local, regional and national governments; public authorities; businesses, suppliers: policy makers; legal experts; scientific and research organisations; international and European institutions and agencies. Contributions on sustainable, circular and innovation procurement could include:
• Good practice examples of implementation, strategies and lessons learnt
• How procurement addresses societal challenges
• The latest projects, initiatives, research, guidance and tools
• Public and private sector working together
• Sustainable and innovative product or service solutions
Organisations can submit a contribution by completing this form by 6 October.
For any questions send an email to: conference@procuraplus.org.
For more information on the conference, visit the ICLEI conference website: https://conference.procuraplus.org/
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September 18, 2023
Concrete New Zealand (ConcreteNZ) published A Net-Zero Carbon Concrete Industry for Aotearoa New Zealand: Roadmap to 2050 .
The roadmap outlines the New Zealand cement and concrete industry’s commitment to achieve net-zero concrete production by 2050. The roadmap sets targets for a 44% reduction in direct and electricity-related greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, aligning with global standards.
The roadmap also showcases the industry’s efforts and innovations to reduce emissions and enhance the sustainability of concrete, and it aims to support the New Zealand government’s climate change goals and contribute to the global net zero movement.
Learn more at Global Alliance for Building and Construction resources.
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September 13, 2023
To address plastic pollution, the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative provides a common vision for a circular economy of plastics in tourism. On 19 June, the Sustainable Tourism Programme brought its rich repository of resources on Circular Economy & Tourism to the G20 Tourism Working Group under India’s presidency.
UNWTO and UNEP hosted the side event "Towards a circular economy of plastics in tourism – the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative", in association with the Ministry of Tourism of India to provide delegates and participants with practical guidance to address plastic pollution in tourism operations. Participants included country representatives (India, Indonesia), accommodation (ITC Hotels, Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts, The Indian Hotels Company Limited) and aviation (International Air Transport Association, IATA).
The Central Nodal Agency for Sustainable Tourism of India, a technical agency of the Ministry of Tourism, became a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, together with the Government of Punjab and the Responsible Tourism Society of India.
The discussions were in alignment with the Goa Roadmap for Tourism as a Vehicle for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. As tourism bounces back close to pre-pandemic levels, it is essential to ensure that recovery is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient.
Under the G20 Ministerial Declaration “Greening the tourism sector for a sustainable, responsible and resilient sector”, Global Tourism Plastics Initiative as well as the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism were recognized as voluntary global initiatives to accelerate the sustainable transformation of the tourism sector.
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative requires tourism organizations to make a set of concrete and actionable commitments by 2025:
-Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and items;
-Take action to move from single-use to reuse models or reusable alternatives;
-(Engage the value chain to) move towards 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable;
-Take action to increase the amount of recycled content across all plastic packaging and items used;
-Collaborate and invest to increase the recycling and composting rates for plastics;
-Report publicly and annually on progress made towards these targets.
Learn more at one planet network news center.
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September 5, 2023
On August 31, GEN’s Chair and Secretariat were involved at the B2O Summit, participating as speakers in the Sustainable Summit. During this event, GEN proudly launched its new Sustainable Procurement Information Brochure.
Inside, you’ll find a wealth of insights and resources for businesses and governments:
-Sustainable Procurement Solutions
-What is Sustainable Public Procurement?
-Why We Need Sustainable Public Procurement?
-How to Make Better Purchases
-What Is an Ecolabel?
-Inspiring Case Studies
-Fighting the Good Fight Against Greenwashing
-Who is Global Ecolabelling Network and How Do They Support Better Public Procurement
-Examples of Best Practices
-Next Steps
This brochure is your comprehensive guide to sustainable procurement and ecolabelling. Join us in the fight for a greener, more responsible world!
More details at GEN news webpage.
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September 1, 2023
This is the progress report on the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP). This report has been prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme, acting as the Secretariat of the 10YFP. It builds upon an annual reporting mechanism for Member States and stakeholders. The report fulfills the purpose of updating Member States and stakeholders on the progress made in 2022 regarding the implementation of the 10YFP. The progress is based on the official reporting of Member States on SDG 12.1. Furthermore, the report introduces the Global Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) for the years 2023 to 2030. It also highlights updates in the initial implementation of the Strategy during 2023.
KEY MESSAGES
1. Sustainable Consumption and Production can act as a vehicle to address the triple planetary crisis and support a sustainable recovery;
2. The Global Strategy for Sustainable Consumption & Production provides a coordinated, cross-cutting and targeted response to the challenge of shifting patterns of sustainable consumption & production globally and must be embraced;
3. Circular economy principles are increasingly being adopted by countries as a central vehicle to achieve sustainable consumption and production, but levels are too low and further implementation must rapidly accelerate;
4. We must intensify multilateral and multi-stakeholder collaboration to accelerate coordinated action for sustainable consumption and production in the context of the implementation of the SDGs;
5. An inclusive approach focusing on gender equality and uplifting vulnerable communities is key to achieving sustainable consumption and production systems;
6. To accelerate the shift towards SCP we must focus our attention on high impact, industry sectors and ensure they are significantly reducing their negative climate, biodiversity, and pollution footprints;
7. Realizing collective climate, biodiversity and pollution goals requires sustainable consumption and production & circular economy to be embedded within multi-lateral environmental agreements (MEA’s);
8. Harnessing the potential of emerging and tools is key for accelerating the transition to a digital technologies circular economy;
9. It is essential that we ensure that people everywhere have relevant information on sustainable lifestyles that exist in harmony with nature;
10. Policies that can effectively drive behavioural change towards sustainable outcomes need to be prioritized as a matter of urgency.
More detail at One Planet Network Knowledge Center.
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