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Responsible Consumption and Production
Introduction (English)
The objective of this publication is to present current monthly economic and social statistics for most of the countries and territories of the world. In addition each month a selection of tables shows annual and/or quarterly data on subjects illustrating important socio-economic trends and developments.
Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, February 2023
Each issue of the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics (MBS) presents current economic and social statistics for more than 200 countries and territories of the world. Written in French and English it contains over 50 tables of monthly and/or annual and quarterly data on a variety of subjects illustrating important economic trends and developments including population prices employment and earnings energy manufacturing transport construction international merchandise trade and finance. The annual subscription rate for the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics in print includes access to the MBS Online.
United Nations Resource Management System
The multifaceted requirements of sustainable development depend on optimal and responsible production and use of natural resources. The United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS) provides the framework for integrated and sustainable management of natural resources to promote good social environmental and economic outcomes in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UNRMS is based on the United Nations Framework Classification of Resources (UNFC) and provides a sustainable transition pathway for producing using and reusing natural resources to become engines of sustainable development.
Voluntary Sustainability Standards in International Trade
This handbook provides an introduction to Voluntary Sustainability Standards as instruments to make international trade more sustainable. Chapter 1 sets out to describe what VSS are how they have emerged and how they have evolved. Chapter 2 delves deeper into how VSS work to achieve sustainability goals. Chapter 3 takes stock of the current literature and evidence on the effectiveness of VSS. Chapter 4 turns attention to the use of VSS by other trade-related policy instruments.
Voluntary sustainability standards
VSS have emerged as important tools for governing global value chains (GVCs) and addressing related sustainability concerns (Marx and Depoorter 2022). They are increasingly seen as key transnational governance instruments to pursue sustainable development as they aim to ensure that products and production processes comply with a set of social economic and/or environmental requirements in order to make global production more sustainable. VSS are actively engaged in a wide range of sectors from agriculture and forestry to minerals and electronics. However they are most widely used in tropical agricultural commodity sectors including bananas cocoa coffee cotton palm oil soy sugarcane and tea which are mostly produced in and exported from developing countries.
How do VSS work?
VSS schemes differ in the standards they develop how they set and enforce those standards and how they track the path of certified products along GVCs. But there are also some similarities in how they operate in these respects.
Conclusions
The SDGs highlight the many dimensions of sustainability and stress the importance of international trade and trade policy to achieve their goals. International trade brings several benefits to people and countries but it can also pose significant challenges. This report has discussed the importance of VSS as an instrument to make trade more sustainable. Besides explaining VSS and discussing their achievements and challenges it has identified how they relate to other policy instruments. Each of the chapters provides some key takeaway messages.
Effectiveness of VSS
Given that VSS have become important governance instruments to foster sustainability along GVCs it is important to understand whether these systems are effective in achieving positive sustainability impacts. Many factors determine the effectiveness of VSS including their institutional design the content of their standards and the socioeconomic and political context in which the standards are implemented. In general the effectiveness of VSS can be analysed along two dimensions: their impacts on the ground based on various sustainability parameters and their adoption.
Acknowledgements
This report has been prepared by Dr. Axel Marx Deputy Director Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies University of Leuven and Ms. Charline Depoorter also of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies in collaboration with Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba and Niematallah E.A. Elamin UNCTAD. The report is based on the University of Leuven’s online edX course “Sustainable Trade”.
VSS and public policy
As explored in chapter II one factor that has led to the proliferation of VSS is their increased recognition by governments and their integration into public policy. This chapter explores the different types of public policies into which VSS have been (or could be) integrated. These include market access regulations trade policy public procurement policy due diligence and export promotion measures.
Introduction: Trade and sustainable development
International trade has expanded significantly over the past few decades powered by the rise of global supply or value chains. In particular it rose rapidly after 1990 reaching a record level of $28.5 trillion in 2021 (UNCTAD 2022). Moreover trade has truly transnationalized economic activities (Hoekman 2014). In addition and more fundamentally – the nature of international trade has changed with the emergence of global value chains (GVCs) whereby parts and components are exchanged across countries before being incorporated into final products (Hoekman 2014). Indeed today around 70 per cent of international trade involves GVCs (OECD 2020) which can enhance countries’ ability to exploit their comparative advantages (UNCTAD 2021a).
Smart Sustainable Cities Profile: Grodno, Belarus
The Smart Sustainable Cities Profile for Grodno Belarus presents the outcomes of the city evaluation against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC) and proposes actions for the city to make progress towards achieving the SDGs. It provides guidance for Grodno city and regional governments for the development review and implementation of urban policies programmes and projects and for building partnerships with a view to reinforcing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDG11 at city level.
The Utilization of Trade Preferences by COMESA Member States
The publication is an analysis of the trade data and utilization rates of COMESA Member States on the QUAD countries’ (i.e. Canada the European Union Japan and the United States) GSP preferences as well as the intra-COMESA trade data and their utilization of different REC schemes. The findings should guide the planning and implementation of the necessary reforms and actions to address underutilization; this is especially true when COMESA Member States engage in the AfCFTA.
Overall Perspective of Utilization Rates of COMESA Member States of Unilateral and Contractual Trade Preferences - South-North Direction of Trade
This section provides a general overview of COMESA utilization rates as a region of major preferential unilateral trading arrangement such as the Generalized System of preferences (GSP) and Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and reciprocal preferences under the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that some COMESA Member States have entered with the European Union (EU). Under the GSP schemes special treatment is provided for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). With respect to other beneficiary developing countries additional preferences for LDCs are granted in the form of deeper tariff cuts expanded product coverage and more lenient rules of origin.
Analysis of Utilization Rates of Individual COMESA Member States
This chapter analyzes the utilization rates of individual COMESA Member States to the respective PTAs/FTAs according to their beneficiaries status or membership to a FTA.
Executive Summary
This publication is part of a series of studies on the utilization of trade preferences granted under unilateral and contractual Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to monitor the utilization rates of trade preferences. The objective of the series is to draw policy reccomendations and reforms.