News Archive
Award for Environmental Governance Standards Project
The project "Environmental Governance Standards for Development Financing Institutions" (EGS) has received honourable mention in the Developing Nation category of the 2008 "Associations Make A Better World" awards by the Washington D.C.-based American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Center for Association Leadership. The "Associations Make A Better World" awards competition recognises outstanding association programmes, projects and activities that make a significant contribution to societies and economies worldwide. The 2008 award will be given at the ASAE & the Center's Annual Meeting in San Diego, California on August 16-19, 2008. < [...] Read more
Saving for a bright future
A Manual for Efficient Lighting Procurement in UN agencies Saving for a Bright Future is a technical manual issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP). The manual provides convincing and factual arguments tailored to UN offices on cost saving options through more efficient lighting. The manual targets building managers, procurement officers, environmental officers and staff. It provides advice and guidance from the most ambitious to the simple and affordable measures as well as case studies based on UN agencies’ experiences (UN Offices in Vienna and Nai [...] Read more
Greenpeace challenges IT companies on consumption issues
With a new "Product Survey" launched at the CeBIT trade exhibition on electronics, Greenpeace International challenges the IT industry on the environmental performance of their products. For its "Product Survey", Greenpeace has assessed 37 best-practice products from 14 companies, among these cell phones, handhelds and laptops. Company participation was voluntary. The rating covers issues like toxicity, recyclability and energy efficiency. A team by CSCP and the Wuppertal Institute has supported Greenpeace in developing the indicators relating to energy. Greenpeace also regularly publishes the "Guide to Greener Electronics", a company rating on product sus [...] Read more
Leadership Programme for Sustainable Entrepreneurship
The Sustainable Entrepreneur Programme aims at developing and implementing a one-year part-time leadership programme on sustainable entrepreneurship. It will promote new enterprises, whose core activities are centered on creating social and/or environmental benefits. Especially due to the rising number of people who focus their lifestyles on health and sustainability (LOHAS) there is a growing market e.g. for organic food or ethical fashion as well as a growing number of business ideas in the field of sustainability. Sustainable Entrepreneurs very often operate apart from mainstream business and therefore are in need of a particular training programme, which accounts for their specific c [...] Read more
Resource Productivity in Global Value Chains
Resource efficiency and resource productivity issues are receiving growing attention worldwide. Reasons include recent resource scarcities and rising prices of certain commodities as well as the contribution of resource consumption to climate change. As value chains become global, resources increasingly flow across national boundaries during the different phases in value chains. Extraction, manufacturing, consumption and end-of-life treatment often happen in different countries or even continents. Strategies and best practices for public and private actors are thus needed that actively consider international perspectives and interdependencies. These could extend national achievements [...] Read more
