The International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN) Webinar was held on July 12, 2022, members met to discuss survey report of . About 20 participants such as IGPN members from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippine, India, China, China Hong Kong, and UNEP Official, and representative from TCO Development attended the webinar.
The webinar was hosted by the IGPN Secretariat-China Environmental United Certification Center (CEC), chaired by Ms. ZHANG Xiaodan, CEC general manager. Mr. CHEN Yanping, Chair of IGPN, presented his speech in opening remarks, “Green purchasing aims to facilitate sustainable consumption and production, it could be an important tool for carbon reduction and carbon neutrality in the world. I hope with in-depth discussion to provide valuable recommendations on how to synergize SCP and climate change.” Mr. Farid Yaker, the program officer of UNEP Economic Division, introduced the ongoing activities of UNEP for Mitigating Climate Change through Low Carbon Procurement. It has presented recommendations on policy integration, practice as well as public and private collaboration on green procurement to tackle climate change. Mr. Augustine Koh, Chair of GPN Malaysia, affirmed the findings of the survey report and put forward suggestions as how to leverage the role of IGPN platform and extend good practice.
The report of was compiled by IGPN Secretariat based on the survey of practices, measures, and approaches of IGPN Members in advocating green purchasing activities to tackle climate change. In the summary speech, Ms. ZHANG Xiaodan said: “This survey report is the one of the achievements of IGPN Secretariat annual work plan. Next, based on the outcomes of this webinar and further comments and suggestions, the Secretariat will finalize the report and release it in late 2022 in order to give full play of the role of green purchasing in global response to climate change”.
Since 2006, Chinese government issued the policy of Government Procurement on Environmental Labelling Products, it has been implementing 15 years. For summarizing experience and explore GPP contribution for climate change, “The International Symposium on Green Public Procurement under Carbon Neutrality Vision & 15th Anniversary of Government Procurement of Environmental Labelling Products” was held in Beijing on November 30, 2021. This meeting was hosted by the Environmental Development Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (EDC) and organized by China Environmental United Certification Center (CEC). Government officials from Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), Ministry of Finance (MOF) and State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), as well as the representatives from international organizations such as UNEP, Delegation of the European Union to China, ICLEI, GEN and IGPN were invited to attend the meeting.
Mr. Dong Xuhui, Chief Engineer of EDC and Chairman of CEC, addressed at the opening ceremony. He pointed out that with the practice of the past 15 years, government procurement on environmental labeling products has been expanded in scale, greatly supported the development of GPP in China and facilitated local innovative practice on GPP. At the same time, GPP has promoted green innovation and transition of enterprises at the demand side. Government procurement on environmental labeling products has reached 1.3 trillion Yuan RMB over the past decade. In 2020, the total sum of government procurement of environmental labeling products was 81.35 billion Yuan RMB, taking up 85.5% of the same type of products. And the amount of product models has increased from 856 in 2006 to 1 million now, covering over 90 categories of products compared with 14 categories in the beginning.
SPP expert from UNEP, Mr. Farid Yaker shared the contents and progress of the Declaration on Mitigating Climate Change through Low Carbon Procurement launched by COP21 and introduced Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 12.7.1 2021 data collection, analysis and outcome. Mr. Sébastien Paquot, Climate Action and Environment Counsellor of the Delegation of the European Union to China, expounded relevant GPP policies, standards and supporting instruments under EU Green New Deal. Ms. Josefine Hintz, specialist on sustainable economy and procurement from ICLEI, employed specific cases to expound the role of sustainable public procurement in meeting carbon neutrality target and presented the thinking on GPP combined with carbon reduction.
Ms. Xiaodan ZHANG, General Manager of CEC, deeply analyzed positive role of Chinese government green procurement in helping to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality. In addition, the experts from university and research institute had heated discussions and given presentations on GPP and low carbon development from different perspectives.
The experts had reached consensus that as an important approach to regulate micro economy and protect the environment & climate, GPP with strong demonstration effect is conducive to guide and mobilize more policy and financial support to green and low carbon development in China. They presented the following suggestions for next work
1) accelerating the development of GPP policy system to contribute to carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets achievement;
2) comprehensively promoting the development of GPP criteria system, establishing “Carbon Labelling” system;
3) improving supporting measures and encouraging local government and special industries to establish synergy procurement mechanism as well as unified information platform;
4) making more efforts in publicity on GPP and strengthening international cooperation.
The International Law Programme of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research(UNITAR) is calling for registration for the upcoming online course "The International Economic Legal System and Sustainable Development"(7 September-4 October 2015). The course has been developed and will be moderated by Professors Jorge VINUALES from the University of Cambridge and Professor Makane Moïse MBENGUE from the University of Geneva.
The 4-weeks course aims to provide comprehensive knowledge on how to effectively integrate sustainable development objectives into international economic agreements and other legal instruments. The course analyses a wide range of issues, such as the mechanisms and processes for environmental protection developed by the major Doha round, and recent international investment disputes with and environmental component.
Target audience includes government officials, international civil servants, NGO representatives, academics and private sector professional in the field of environmental law, sustainable development , and international investments and trade.
Interested parties please visit the course brochure webpage for detailed information and registration. Please note that the course fee is 600 USD and the deadline for registration is 30 August 2015.
You are invited to enroll for the "Hong Kong Green Awards 2015" (HKGA 2015).
The HKGA 2015 is comprised of the "Green Purchaswi$e Award" (GPA), the "Green Management Award" (GMA), the "Environmental, Health and Safety Award (EHSA)" and the "Corporate Green Governance Award" (CGGA). The awards encourage the entire local business community to consider, pursue, achieve and demonstrate significant efforts and commitment in the areas of sustainable environmental development and corporate social responsibility.
To ensure fair and accurate competition, large corporations and SMEs will be grouped and assessed separately. There will be Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honourable Mention recognition levels under EACH award. Candidates/Award-winning teams will be invited to attend and participate in a prestigious and memorable Awards Presentation Dinner Gala.
The Award Schedule is provided below for your reference:
Start of Enrollment Period: 22 June 2015
Submission Deadline (Enrollment and Assessment Form submission): 11 September 2015
Final Presentation to Judging Panel: Late October 2015
"Hong Kong Green Awards 2015 Presentation Ceremony": 3 December 2015
While companies' impact on the environment remains ignored the question of how society deals with the consequence of this damage will remain unanswered.
A network of university students and Morinaga & Co Ltd are carrying out '1Action for 1Smile' fairtrade purchasing campaign around Valentine's Day this year.
In Japan, Valentine's Day is an opportunity for women to express their feelings by sending chocolates to men. Using Morinaga 'DARS', Japan's first chocolate product to contains fairtrade cacao, during Valentine's Day, the campaign aims to raise awareness of fairtrade products and sustainable cacao farming in Ghana. At the same time, those young students can also express their special feelings to their loved ones.
UNEP launched the International Sustainable Public Procurement Initiative (SPPI) on 18 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.
The SPPI aims at bringing together representatives from governments, local authorities, business sector and civil society interested in collectively promoting the supply and demand of sustainable products through SPP.
IGPN secretariat, together with GPN Japan, held the first workshop on 24 May to study and analyse the trend and practice of ethical / CSR procurement in Japan and abroad. The participants included representatives from research institutes, universities, government sector, industrial sector, environmental NGOs, etc.
More workshops are being planned this year, with a view to develop ethical procurement guidelines as part of the future activities of IGPN.
The economic downturn means organic farmers are less likely to reap rewards of premium prices for their produce
Farmers across the UK have been deserting organic farming, or holding back on plans to convert their land to more environmentally friendly farming methods, as sales of organic products have fallen in the economic downturn.
The rapid decline in interest from farmers is not yet reflected in the amount of land in organic production overall in the UK, which has risen slightly. It takes several years to convert land from conventional production to organic production, in part because of the need to stop using fertilisers and pesticides that may still be present in the soil.
What the figures show is that this is not being replenished by new farmers coming on board. As the decline in farmers entering organic conversion feeds through, the overall figure for organically farmed land is likely to stagnate or fall.
The Green Business Africa Summit & Expo is Africa’s first flagship event that brings to the mainstream issues around sustainability in the business environment as well as green corporate social responsibility (CSR).
"ClimateWire, 21 April 2010 - A decided majority of electricity customers would not sign up for demand management programs that allowed utilities to remotely control home appliances unless they could override the utilities' actions, according to a survey by Accenture, the global management consulting firm."
Buy Smart is a website launched this year and maintained by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), which provides free consultation and information on green purchasing.
[Theatro Naturale] Seven organisations have won the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) Awards for excellence in environmental management.
The awards recognise outstanding achievements in environmental management. The 2009 awards focused on the supply chain including green procurement.
This year 32 organisations from 12 European countries were nominated. The seven winners were selected by a jury of six experts in the field of environmental management and public procurement.
Read the article on Theatro Naturale International.
Titled "Climate Neutral through Procurement" and it aims to exchange ideas, experiences, concepts and opinions on how sustainable procurement can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change.
ICLEI's EcoProcura Conferences is the only European conference to provide a platform to promote exchange and dialogue amongst purchasers from all levels of governments, suppliers, policy-makers and multipliers on strategies and the latest practical solutions for implementing sustainable procurement.
The Eco-products International Fair (EPIF) was initiated by the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) in 2004 and has been held in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore with the number of participating companies increasing every year.
With the remarkable economic growth, the attractive investment opportunities and the concerns expressed by the government and its people for the environmental protection in recent years, Vietnam will play a host country for the fourth Eco-products International Fair in 2008, which is scheduled to take place in Hanoi between the 1st and 4th March 2008.
A series of worldwide concerts are being planned for this summer to highlight the threat of global warming.
The eight Live 8-style gigs were announced by former US Vice President Al Gore, and Johannesburg, London, Shanghai and Sydney are among the host cities. Three other concerts will take place in the US, Brazil and Japan with the cities still to be decided. There will also be a concert in Antarctica.
There is growing awareness in Malaysia that voluntary programmes, such as green purchasing and green procurement, economic instruments and reporting mechanisms, are necessary to influence industry and society in order to reduce the effect on human health and the environment. With the objectives to create awareness concerning the current international trends on green purchasing, procurement and greening the supply chain; to implement green purchasing tool kit, products database and guidelines; and to create awareness and action plans for the implementation of green purchasing and procurement in specific sectors, Green Purchasing Network Malaysia (MGPN) will hold a conference ‘Connecting Green Asia with the Global Market’ on 6th November in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.
EcoDesign 2006 Asia Pacific Symposium will be held at:
National Center of Sciences Building, 2-1-2 Hitotsu-bashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
- Organizer: Union of EcoDesigners
- Secretariat: NPO EcoDesign Promotion Network
- Date: 11-12 December 2006
Workshop on Green Manufacturing and Management for Electronics Industry was held in Pune, India on 7th March 2006. It was organised in cooperation with Center for Electronics Test Engineering, Pune (CETE), Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries And Agriculture (MCCIA) and International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN).
The Second Announcement and Call for Papers of EcoProcura, including IGPN’s 2nd International Green Purchasing Conference and the LEAP Project Results, are now available. http://www.iclei-europe.org/index.php?id=2209
Together with the newly established China Green Purchasing Network (CGPN) and with support from China’s Environmental Development Center of State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), IGPN will hold an international conference in Suzhou, China on 23rd March 2006.
The conference is titled “International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN) Conference in China” and will target business organisations, governments, both domestic and overseas specialists, associations and NPOs/NGOs. The speakers will come from China, Korea and Japan and will cover the following topics:
Concept and significance of green purchasing
Legislation Introduction on overseas governmental green purchasing
International status of green purchasing and its tendency
The role of Environmental-labeling in governmental green purchasing
Case study on green purchasing actualized by enterprises
Effect evaluation on local governmental green purchasing
IGPN, in association with Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, will hold a one-day workshop in Pune, India on 7th March 2006. The workshop is titled "Green Manufacturing & Management in Electronics Industry" and speakers from Canon Inc, Murata Manufacturing Ltd, GPN Japan and IGPN along with Indian implementers of the said activity will guide participants of the workshop. Click here to download the programme for further information
