GREEN POLICY

DEFINITION

A Green Policy is a written statement that clearly indicates the position and values of
your organisation on environmental and sustainability issues. It will include, or be
accompanied by, an action plan that will contain:

• Measurable objectives that you hope to achieve
• Action Points - the practical steps you will take to meet the objectives
• Identified Indicators that will be used to measure the success of the policy
• A time-table for monitoring and review.
• Being sustainable involves a commitment to balance the economic, social and environmental impact of whatever we do.

Why have a Green Policy?
We all live in a world with finite resources and it is vital that we act in a sustainable way. In other words ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ Bruntland Commission 1987. The Welsh Assembly Government have a legal obligation to promote sustainable development in all they do [see www.wales.gov.uk/themessustainabledev/index.htm] Producing, and putting into action, a Green Policy not only demonstrates publicly that you as an organisation are taking your impact on the environment seriously but internally some measures could also save you money. Having a Green Policy in place may be a requirement for some funding bodies. (1)

MILESTONES

Global policy: The UNFCCC
The Convention and the Protocol

Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty -- the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- to beginto consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the COP, the subsidiary bodies and their Bureau. (2)

Facing and surveying the problem:

• A major accomplishment of the Convention, which is general and flexible in character, is that it recognizes that there is a problem. That was no small thing in 1994, when the treaty took effect and less scientific evidence was available. (And there are still those who dispute that global warming is real and that climate change is a problem.) It is hard to get the nations of the world to agree on anything, let alone a common approach to a difficulty which is complicated, whose consequences aren't entirely clear, and which will have its most severe effects decades and even centuries in the future.
  
• The Convention sets an ultimate objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic(human induced) interference with the climate system." It states that "such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner."
  
• The Convention requires precise and regularly updated inventories of greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized countries. The first step in solving a problem is knowing its dimensions. With a few exceptions, the "base year" for tabulating greenhouse gas emissions has been set as 1990. Developing countries also are encouraged to carry out inventories. * Countries ratifying the treaty -- called "Parties to the Convention" in diplomatic jargon -- agree to take climate change into account in such matters as agriculture, industry, energy, natural resources, and activities involving sea coasts. They agree to develop national programmes to slow climate change.
  
• The Convention recognizes that it is a "framework" document -- something to be amended or augmented over time so that efforts to deal with global warming and climate change can be focused and made more effective. The first addition to the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, was adopted in 1997. (3)

UNFCCC Timeline
2004
December COP 10 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

2003
December COP 9 (Milan, Italy)

2002
October and November COP 8 (New Delhi, India) Delhi Declaration
August and September progress since 1992 reviewed at World Summit on Sustainable Development

2001
October and November COP 7 (Marrakesh, Morocco)
Marrakesh Accords
April, IPCC Third Assessment Report
July, COP 6 resumes (Bonn Germany)
July, Bonn Agreements

2000
November, COP 6 (The Hague, Netherlands)
Talks based on the Plan break down

1998
November, COP 4 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Buenos Aires Plan of Action

1997
December, COP 3 (Kyoto, Japan)
Kyoto Protocol adopted

1995
March and April, COP 1 (Berlin, Germany)
March and April, Berlin Mandate

1994
March, Convention enters into force

1,  2,   Next>