Manual on the Development of Cleaner Production Policies ... - Unido

DEVELOPMENT OF CP POLICY
MODULE 2: BASICS OF CP POLICY
EXERCISE
Keeping in mind the benefits listed above, participants could discuss the objectives and benefits of
introducing a nationwide CP policy in their respective countries. Answers should be listed on a
flipchart and at the end of the exercise participants should rank the benefits in order of importance.
The results could be retained for reference in the following module.
SLIDE: Policy integration
Policy integration means ensuring that the CP policy being developed
harmonizes with the objectives of various sectors of the economy, and that
CP is promoted within sectoral policies (known as mainstreaming). This
requires:
• Good analysis of existing sectoral policies
• Inter-institutional and intersectoral effort
• Strong leadership and broad support for CP
The integration of CP with other sectoral policies (mainstreaming) is necessary
if the concept of Cleaner Production is to enjoy wide application. This slide
explains the concept of policy integration, why it is crucial to CP promotion and
what factors are necessary to achieve successful integration.
Background
Cleaner production programmes are likely to be more effective when there is a legislative framework
for environmental protection, regulation and enforcement in place to support CP. Environmental
policies should take into account economic and environmental realities, and a cleaner production
policy must also reflect the needs and priorities identified in existing sectoral policies.
Efforts should be taken to build the concept of Cleaner Production into the highest level environmental
and other sector-specific policy documents. Prevention must be emphasized as the major principle of
environmental protection. CP and preventive approaches should be included in the development of
new sectoral policies. This is referred to as mainstreaming CP. Mainstreaming CP does not simply
imply making a few provisions (tax rebates, permitting provisions, etc.) in the existing system. Nor
does it mean enacting a brand new, stand-alone Cleaner Production act. It requires including the
concept of preventive strategies in all aspects of the governmental policy framework to make it
uniformly supportive and favourable to Cleaner Production.
Similarly, there is a need for policy integration, which means ensuring that a CP policy is harmonized
or consistent with the various other policies in force or under development. The distorting effects of an
incoherent policy framework can make Cleaner Production less effective. For instance, energy or
water subsidies, the protection of certain industrial sectors from competition, or fragmented and
piecemeal sectoral policies all have a negative effect on the implementation of CP. Insufficient data
and information systems are also a strong impediment to the identification of priority regions or
industrial sectors for action, the formulation of long-term plans and programmes to reduce pollution as
well as to the monitoring of the impact and sustainability of efforts. Policy integration can occur both
within the context of the price mechanism (market-based), or at the institutional level (governmentbased).
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