The “Greening Economies in the European Union’s Eastern Neighbourhood” (EaP GREEN) programme aims to support the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, to move towards a green economy by decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation and resource depletion.
The four year programme, which began in 2013 and will last until 2016, is financed by the European Commission, with additional co-financing from the Government of Slovenia, the Austrian Development Bank and the implementing Organizations, namely the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The programme’s main target group are Governments and the private sector.
EaP GREEN is structured around three components: (1) Governance and financing tools for sustainable production and consumption and green economy; (2) Strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment accompanying the policy implementation of the above mentioned governance and financing tools; and (3) Demonstration projects.
UNIDO and UNEP are responsible for the implementation of the demonstration projects, which show the application of the resource efficient and cleaner production (RECP) methodology in the food, chemical and construction manufacturing sectors. To this end, UNIDO has contracted service units in each country to run the the organizational, logistic and administrative aspects of the programme, including the organization of trainings and events, delivery of demonstration projects, preparation of publications, etc.
The program aims to implement the following activities:
- Identify, train and coach national experts in basic and advanced RECP methods and applications, as well as in supportive management/entrepreneurship topics;
- Raise awareness and improve the understanding of RECP opportunities and benefits at the national and regional levels among enterprises, government and civil society;
- Improve resource productivity and environmental performance through demonstrating RECP in enterprises and other national organizations.
Capacity building and awareness raising activities include:
- Introductory training sessions for potential candidates of RECP experts and representatives of SMEs held in 4 countries in April-May 2014; advanced training is planned for July 2014;
- Final review training sessions for RECP experts;
- Awareness seminar on RECP for businesses in each participating country;
- Launching web pages on the RECP demonstration programme;
- Public seminar for dissemination of results.
RECP assessment of selected enterprises:
Experts trained in the application of the RECP methodology will conduct assessments of SMEs in selected sectors. A number of 8-10 companies are going to be assessed in each country already in 2014.
Expected results:
- Improved capacity of national experts in RECP activities, particularly on best international experience in the field;
- Increased understanding and application of RECP concepts by SMEs, particularly in food processing, chemical and construction materials sectors;
- Raised awareness on RECP concept among national stakeholders through dissemination of information on effective experiences;
- Suitable foundation created for replication of RECP activities along different SMEs in food processing, chemical and constructions materials sectors.
For more information on the EaP GREEN programme, contact:
Rene Van Berkel
Project Manager
Email