Blog 7

Finland, along with other European countries have made large efforts towards the sustainable consumption and reduction goal set in place by the United Nations. One of the largest contributions they have made thus far is setting up a material efficiency center by the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Employment and Economy. This center will provide services and businesses on ways to improve material efficiency. This education strategy is commonly seen in other countries as educating people on how to solve this problem. What they have planned is to bring experts out to teach this large organizations about energy-efficiency and use of renewable energy. They will also educate them on different environmentally friendly technology and other innovative solutions for transport and food production and consumption. (United Nations 2018)

         Another step Finland has taken is sustainable procurement. The Finnish funding agency for technology and innovation is preparing a model to lower the threshold so that they may invest more in innovative environmental technology. (United Nations 2018) However, this requires commitment and consistency from larger corporations and organizations to implement these newer environmental systems. These new systems will have set targets for energy, water, paper consumption, and reducing environmental impacts of business travel.

         The Finnish Economy and its environmental impacts of material flows have been researched in a three-year project and its effects of natural resources. After this project is concluded, they hope to find some solutions to climate change, identify changeable factors and estimate their impacts. It can also calculate the effects of human activities on other variables such as employment and surplus value. (United Nations 2018) They also plan on using this program as a model frame to provide background information for future programs stakeholders will use.

         Other incentives Finland has made are raising environment and energy taxes by 10% to invest more in this problem. They also have public transport travel cards as a job perks that employers provide their commuting employees. (United Nations 2018) This would reduce the amount of fuel used in their cars as well as reduce the harmful toxins released into the air from these vehicles which is hard to avoid the majority of the time. According to the Energy Information Administration, car pollution is one the biggest contributors to climate change. (2020) Finland has made great efforts towards this sustainable development goal, and other countries will use this as a model in the future.

 

Energy Information Administration. (2020). Gasoline explained. Retrieved from https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/gasoline/gasoline-and-the-environment.php

United Nations. (2018). Sustainable Consumption and Production. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/dsd/dsd_aofw_ni/ni_pdfs/NationalReports/finland/SCP.pdf

Blog 6

Belgium has created a group composed of representatives of federal and regional administrations to prepare and enforce policies on this sustainable goal called the Belgian coordination committee for international environmental policy.

One of the first plans Belgium carried out was The Plan Marshall. It is for the Walloon economy based on training, research, and development and territorial management. This gives energy revolution an appealing look as “green” production is increasing and has positive consequences on the environment. (United Nations 2019)

Another step Belgium has taken is working on the region of Brussels-capital which covers housing, economy, employment, mobility, environment, safety, research, inheritance, tourism, trade, culture, social policy. This plan is one in which they will create projects that “favor sustainable development” in companies, schools, administrations and households.

A number of other policies have earned specific focus. Some of those being people having to pay a polluter-pays principle which is taxes for water pollution, groundwater extraction, waste incineration and landfill. Hopefully motivating people to use or produce less waste. Another one seen in a lot of other countries is using eco-labels. (United Nations 2019)

The Belgian federal Minister for Climate and Energy launched “spring of the environment.” This has helped the country label products, advertise, and supply eco-friendly products. There is also an Air-Climate Plan in which farmers will start using renewable energy and grant an agricultural network of biotmehanisation. (United Nations 2019) Biomethanisation is when methane is turned into carbon dioxide which people and animals need to breathe. This process will help reduce the usage of fossil fuels and reduce CO2 emissions, thusly contributing help to climate change. (Angelidaki, I. 2011) (Picture below)

Some other planned goals in the future are to have better access to sustainable products and services, development of tools for better consumer information, public procurement policies, and more. Housing seems to be the focal point of Belgians concerns. In their next step to complete this goal, they plan on involving more stakeholders from the beginning to involve more cooperation, try to educate more citizens considering it is one of the main reasons this goal is a problem in the first place, and continue creating and enforcing policies. (United Nations 2019)

Angelidaki, I., Karakashev, D., Batstone, D. J., Plugge, C. M., & Stams, A. J. M. (2011). Biomethanation and its potential. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21402222

United Nations. (2019). The ten year framework of programs on sustainable consumption and production patterns. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/dsd/dsd_aofw_ni/ni_pdfs/NationalReports/belgium/The_ten_year_framework_of_programmes_on_sustainable_consumption_and_production_patterns.pdf

Blog 5

Iceland has been making process towards the reducing and sustaining consumerism goal by enforcing policies to advance the education incentives for the authorities and agencies, corporations and society.

The Green Public Procurement (GPP) went into motion in 2009. (United Nations 2019Since then it has promoted protection for the environment and make advances towards sustainable development for the society. This wouldn’t have been as successful without the contributions from two large local Icelandic governments and their goal to integrate considerations at all levels of programs, products, services, and work. They plan on maintaining their support by increasing education and advisory services to both buyers and sellers. 

Eco-labeling is a tool that makes sustainable consumption and production possible. The main tool that Iceland mentioned, Swan, along with many others are jointly owned by other Nordic countries. These eco-labels attempt to label enterprises and promote reliable brands of environmental delivery from a wide variety of goods and services. (United Nations 2019 The eco-friendly labels that the document mentioned varies depending on how and where the goods are sent to. Seeing the different lengths, they have put efforts towards can help settle one’s mind as they are making efforts to help end or prevent the worsening of climate change. 

Climate change is strongly affected by consumption and production, so educating others on how to reduce it is a necessity for every citizen of every country because this is a shared planet between everyone. The United Nations has listed a number of different areas one could improve in order to decline the risk of losing this planet to climate change. Some examples they listed were reducing the amount of hot water you use, buy from eco-friendly brands, and don’t take your car somewhere if you can get there from an ulterior mode of transportation. (United Nations 2007) As Iceland is a country with abundance natural beauty, protecting it should be of upmost importance.

Iceland claims that raising awareness towards environmentally friendly and sustainable choices is another important step they need to take. They have put in a number of programs in hopes to educate citizens such as the Global Action Program and Step-by-Step. (United Nations 2019) They both education on good products to buy, recycling, waste handling, eco-labels, and energy.

The Icelandic government has also introduced policies that promote healthy environmental practices to different enterprises as well as enforcing a criterion a number of working sectors must abide by.

United Nations. (2007). Sustainable Consumption and Production. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/household_consumption.pdf

United Nations. (2019). Sustainable Production and Consumption. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/dsd/dsd_aofw_ni/ni_pdfs/NationalReports/iceland/scp.pdf