Towards a green economy


Multilateral environmental agreements Multilateral Environmental Agreements tend to focus on regulating unsustainable economic activity with standards or


prohibitions. The negotiating problem, and moves process


usually begins with the collective recognition of an environmental


forward with


discussions to agree on the nature of the issue, shared needs and goals, and finally ends with the development of a draft text. In some cases, the process results in legally binding obligations and mechanisms to encourage compliance, and in others only a declaration of principles or aspirations (UNEP 2006).


Multilateral Environmental Agreements can play a significant role in promoting green economic activity. They can be the only viable solution to the governance of some global common resources and, even when they result in relatively soft commitments, they nonetheless establish important principles and norms, and increase monitoring and information flows. Although many of the major global environmental issues have been tackled already by MEAs, there is still much room for proactive multilateral policy-making, whether in improving existing MEAs or creating new agreements. The Fisheries


chapter, for example, highlights the need to create regional fisheries management organisations that have the “teeth” to properly manage the use of fish stocks, and a recent analysis of the Basel Convention, identified by the Waste chapter as an important regulatory tool, argues that its prior informed consent (PIC) system and compliance committee can and should be strengthened (Andrews 2009).


One MEA with the potential to influence the transition to a green economy is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol has already stimulated growth in a number of economic sectors, such as renewable energy generation and energy efficient technologies, in order to address greenhouse gas emissions. However, the future of the climate regime is still uncertain as negotiations are mired in the difficult process of designing an architecture to come into force after the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period ends in 2012.


As regulatory tools, MEAs can be more or less effective, and more or less difficult to agree, depending on how they are designed and the issue in question. The


Box 9: Voluntary private sector action and corporate social responsibility


Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a reflection of the duty of the private sector “[…] to contribute to the evolution of equitable and sustainable communities and societies”, as outlined in the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (paragraph 27). It requires a voluntary commitment to enhanced accountability for social, environmental and economic impacts


across an organisation’s operations and


products. Such voluntary commitment by leading companies can serve to complement and pave the way for eased introduction of new regulation and market instruments to green national economies. One such example is corporate initiatives on ecological footprinting and related labelling, which can benefit from recognition and incentives by government bodies. CSR initiatives can also serve to boost the policy goal of sustainable consumption and production (SCP), driving improved efficiency in the use of ecosystem services and reducing resource degradation, pollution and waste.


Leading companies are increasingly adopting CSR as an integral element of their business strategies, recognising that CSR can yield tangible business benefits. Such benefits include cost savings, greater


access to capital, enhanced productivity, enhanced product quality (through enhanced employee morale and better working conditions), attraction and retention of human resources, enhanced reputation and brand, and reduced legal liability (Googins et al. 2007).


CSR can also increase the accountability and transparency of organisations to society through the use of a variety of communication instruments, including stakeholder engagement, product information and reporting systems. Reporting trends today are moving towards the development of integrated environmental, social and governance reporting (see, for instance, the revision process by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) of its guidelines for sustainability reporting, available at www. globalreporting.org). In addition, international management standards such as the ISO 14000 series on environmental management and the recently adopted ISO 26000 on social responsibility offer an increasingly referenced framework for action. For example, ISO 26000 provides basic guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility to promote a common understanding and consistent practices.


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