Oslo Rountable on Sustainable Production and Consumption
2.4 - Governments
2.4.3 International Cooperation

The globalisation of consumption and production patterns makes close cooperation between governments essential for the effectiveness and equitableness of national efforts to shift towards sustainable consumption. Intergovernmental work carried out by OECD countries should include representation from developing countries and economies in transition so that the implications for these can be understood and acted upon. It is vitally important that key agencies and organizations, such as OECD, CSD, UNEP and UNCTAD should collaborate closely on sustainable consumption matters. International organisations and governments should work together to:

International Organisations as Consumers

• - Introduce for all international organisations, particularly the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions, environmental criteria and goals for procurement, service provision and administration.

Improving Understanding and Awareness

• - Establish a shared understanding of the conceptual and methodological foundations for sustainable consumption, including, for example, eco- efficiency and life cycle analysis.
• - Coordinate the collection of data to provide baseline information on existing patterns of consumption and production, including analysis of the social, economic and environmental consequences of current and projected trends (ie by the use of quantitative models and scenarios). Potential winners and losers should be identified and follow-up policies devised to counteract adverse effects.
• - Promote the production of regular national reports on progress towards sustainable production and consumption patterns.
• - Undertake analyses and share experiences of the role which cultural differences play in establishing patterns of consumption and production, and the significance that these may have for the perception of quality of life.
• - Accelerate work to develop international environmental management and auditing standards and common product certification procedures.
• - Prepare international guidelines for the use of life cycle assessment in policymaking (eg eco-labelling), and exchange the results of assessments of key product categories.

Applying Tools for Modifying Behaviour

• - Support the shift to sustainable production and consumption patterns in developing countries and economies in transition through financial and technical assistance, the transfer of environmentally sound technology and the lowering of trade barriers.
• - Assist developing countries and economies in transition to introduce criteria for eco-products and expand their share of growing environmental markets.
• - Encourage international cooperation on the introduction of economic instruments so that the market prices of traded goods and services reflect environmental costs.
• - Support the adoption of cleaner production techniques and tools by producers in developing countries and economies in transition, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises.
• - Consider adjustments to existing trade agreements to incorporate sustainable production and consumption requirements and offer new forms of trade preference for socially and environmentally superior goods and services.
• - Ensure that existing technology cooperation programmes in both the public and private sector incorporate goals in support of more sustainable patterns of consumption and production in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

DOCUMENT WINDOW - ECO-LABELLING AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Monitoring, Evaluating and Reviewing Performance

• - Work towards a comparable set of indicators for measuring progress towards more sustainable production and consumption, leading to the adoption of an internationally agreed framework.
• - Promote research collaboration on sustainable production and consumption issues of shared concern, in particular on environmental accounting.
• - Examine the environmental, economic and social impacts of policy measures used to change consumption and production patterns, including on developing countries.

DOCUMENT WINDOW - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - A THIRD WORLD NGO PERSPECTIVE

DOCUMENT WINDOW - GREEN ECONOMIC POLICIES [Go to start of Document]