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

DEVELOPMENT OF CP POLICY
MODULE 2: BASICS OF CP POLICY
involved in their planning, and how the technical policy group could monitor activities on any new
policy development—in other words, how to stay informed about new initiatives. Lastly, ask
participants to choose two or three concrete policies and brainstorm on what specifically could be the
insertion points for CP.
SLIDE: How CPCs can be involved in policy-making
• Develop a write-up on CP benefits, including estimates of
macroeconomic savings;
• Identify key players in policy-making, and build alliances to mainstream
CP into sectoral policies;
• Monitor new policy initiatives and participate actively in their
development;
• Lobby with Governments to sign UNEP’s International Declaration on
Cleaner Production;
• Organize CP events with a policy-related component.
This slide offers some ideas on how a CP Centre can get involved in policymaking.
It should be noted that this material is perhaps more relevant for CP
Centres than for the seminar on policy development.
Background
Historically, the main priority of national CP centres has been to implement CP demonstration projects
in enterprises, to build the technical capacity of CP consultants and to carry out dissemination and
promotion activities. To date, most of the work has focused on company personnel and on CP
consultants. Despite some joint activities with policy makers and government, most CP centres have
had little to offer institutions involved in policy-making, and the credibility of CPCs as policy players
still needs to be strengthened.
In fact, the CP centres themselves are not always prepared to take the lead on policy work. The areas
of competence of CPC staff normally include “hard-core” engineering skills or managerial experience,
and the centres have neither the experience nor the comfort level to aggressively promote CP policymaking.
Overall, the general visibility of CP centres is still low among actors involved in policy
development.
On the positive side, a large number of centres are located within an industrial association or chamber
of industry and recently those host institutions have become more active in developing industrial or
environmental policies of their own. In the past year, many centres were consulted on the drafting of
national policies.
The first steps of a CP centre’s involvement in a policy process could include the following activities:
1. Preparation of concise promotional material describing a CP, its importance on a nationwide
level (extensive material exists on microeconomic benefits at the company level), and its
advantages to a country in general and economic competitiveness in particular. It is a good idea
to express in monetary terms the nationwide or sector-specific potential for CP application, based
on demonstration projects that have already been implemented. It is also recommendable to show
how CP can be applied successfully nationally and around the world. The CP policy brief serves
as a powerful promotion tool when dealing with opinion makers.
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