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The regular annual report, the Sustainable Development in Government report, covering the whole of central government on environmental and sustainable development issues, is seen as a success in the "greening government" initiative since 1997, along with the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. Reporting by individual departments is less satisfactory. The Framework contains targets for departments on public reporting of their sustainable development impacts, but they are neither demanding nor specific. Some significant areas of departmental activity fall outside the parameters for sustainable development reporting, for example involvement in PFI contracts, and the Committee wants departments to be able to report on these matters. The UK Sustainable Development Strategy required all departments and executive agencies to produce an annual Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP) by December 2005. The Committee is disappointed that 14 departments and agencies did not meet this deadline. The Committee would like SDAPs to be published alongside the departmental annual reports in the spring. This report also includes, as an annex (p. 11-41), the National Audit Office briefing, detailing the findings of its review of annual sustainable development reporting by UK government departments in 2004.
Contains insights on current issues in research on sustainable development, featuring the SDG Index and Dashboards.
The World Public Sector Report will be published every two years with the intention of reviewing major trends and issues concerning public administration and governance. This inaugural issue of the report considers the process of globalisation and the challenges and opportunities it offers for the role of the public sector in countries around the world. It is increasingly being acknowledged that the State is a key actor in the development process and has a major role to play in making globalisation work for all, for example in alleviating poverty and income inequality, advancing human rights, promoting sustainable development and combating international crime. Issues discussed in the report include: the many facets of globalisation; its impact on the State; reinforcing state institutions and social policies; defining and measuring the size of the State.
Sustainable development can be defined as the improvement of economic efficiency, the protection and restoration of the environment and the enhancement of the social well-being of people (IISD, 1995). The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IIDS) further argues that sustainable development is an integrated process for decision-making that requires information for it to be accomplished. Inherent in the idea of sustainable development are aspects such as democratic values, community participation, international collaboration and strong leadership. A wide diversity of information is required to reflect an integrated approach to sustainable development. Agenda 21 is the foundational document of sustainable development and sets out a global action plan. The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) similarly embraces the need for sustainable development and has formulated actions that have to be taken on the African continent. This paper proposes the development of an information framework for sustainable development in South Africa and discusses the country's ability to provide the information required to address actions stipulated in Agenda 21. As part of this framework, indicators needed to implement and monitor sustainable development are discussed and the inherent value of spatial information for the implementation of sustainable development is touched on.
Funding of the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) will cease at the end of March 2011, and Defra's capability and presence to improve the sustainability of Government will be increased. Whilst regretting the Government's decision to stop funding the SDC, the Committee sees an opportunity to reassess and revitalise the architecture for delivering sustainable development. The experience of SDC's work within Government departments to improve their sustainability skills and performance is at risk of being lost, so the Government must ensure that this knowledge and expertise is absorbed by departments. Sustainable development needs to be driven from the centre of Government by a Minister and department with Whitehall-wide influence. They must be capable of holding all departments to account for their sustainable development performance. The Committee does not think Defra is best placed to lead this drive, and recommends that the Cabinet Office assume this role. And the Treasury could use its position to continue to develop 'sustainability reporting' by departments, strengthen the system of impact assessments and the 'Green Book' investment appraisal methodology for policy-making, and embed the results of the Government Economic Service review of the economics of sustainability and environmental valuation into those impact assessments and appraisals. Greater political leadership from the top should be brought to bear. The Government must introduce a full set of indicators to measure sustainable development that can be used to develop policy and must provide a new strategic underpinning for its commitment to sustainable development as an overarching goal of Government policy-making.
Greening Government operations is important in its own right, because of the size and range of their environmental impacts. Each year central Government offices produce approximately 2.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions (around 0.4 per cent of the UK total) and 309,000 tonnes of waste. Central Government spends £60 billion on goods and services each year and through sustainable procurement it could accelerate the take-up of environmentally friendly products. This report examines progress relating to: carbon emissions; renewable energy; carbon neutrality; energy consumption; Government response to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC); the role of the Sustainable Development Commission. The record is poor on carbon emissions. Excellent progress has been made on increasing the use of green electricity, but progress on generating its own electricity from on-site or district renewables has been very disappointing. The target of making the Government Estate carbon neutral by 2012 will depend very heavily on buying offsets. It is important the Government does as much as possible to reduce its own emissions. The newly-announced Greening Government IT programme is encouraging, given that increased use of IT would appear to be the biggest single factor in the upward trend in emissions from civil departments. The Government has, encouragingly, announced significant reforms in its response to the SDC's report. The Commission is having a significant influence in galvanising Government to improve its structures.
Sustainable Development in Hong Kong provides a unique and pioneering examination of what the application of the ideas of sustainable development implies for Hong Kong with all its exceptional characteristics, political, social, ecological, and especially its very high urban density. The book brings together, for the first time, a broad cross-section of 21 public and private sector specialists in the many and varied aspects of sustainable development. In so doing, it demonstrates the breadth and depth of local knowledge and expertise in the subject, as well as the wide range of concepts and issues that will have to be considered and interests reconciled, for the concept to be fully implemented in Hong Kong. Sustainable development has been defined as: "development that meets the needs of today whilst not affecting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Implementing this concept requires that decision-makers from all stakeholder groups (government, business and the public) not only commit to sustainable development, but also incorporate it at every level of decision-making regardless of the political, economic, social, technological, cultural and legal frameworks within which their decisions are made. It also requires that, before doing so, they hear, respect and utilize the input from each other in these decisions. Sustainable development was placed squarely on the political agenda in Hong Kong through the Chief Executive's commitment to it in his Policy Address in 1999. This was followed by the adoption of it as an overriding objective in Hong Kong 2030: Planning Vision and Strategy (2001) and the establishment of the Sustainable Development Unit (2001) and the Council for Sustainable Development (2003). This is a book for all who are concerned about Hong Kong's environment and about its future development. The exceptional nature of Hong Kong means that this book also provides a valuable extreme case study for all who work in the sustainable development field.
This is a follow-up to the Committees report (HCP 98, session 2002-03, ISBN 021501328X) which looked at the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which took place in Johannesburg in 2002. This report examines the UK implementation of the WDC commitments. A briefing by the National Audit Office (included in this report) reviews the co-operation between the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the UN Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The WSSD Table of Commitments should be regarded as a delivery mechanism, even though it was not drafted clearly enough. UK Government departments should incorporate WSSD commitments more vigorously into their departmental activities, and there should be more comprehensive and frequent progress reports for the benefit of Parliament, the general public, and the SDC.
The field of sustainability continues to evolve as a discipline. The world is facing multiple sustainability challenges such as climate change, water depletion, ecosystem loss, and environmental racism. The Handbook of Sustainability will provide a comprehensive reference for the field that examines in depth the major themes within what are known as the three E’s of sustainability: environment, equity, and economics. These three themes will serve as the main organizing body of the work. In addition, the work will include sections on history and sustainability, major figures in the development of sustainability as a discipline, and important organizations that contributed or that continue to contribute to sustainability as a field. The work is explicitly global in scope as it considers the very different issues associated with sustainability in the global north and south