Draft Annual Progress Report 1 January to 31 December 2016

(version 20 March 2017)

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Table of Contents1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...........................................................................................................4

2. CONTEXT, VISION AND OBJECTIVES OF PAGE..................................................................8

3. PROGRESS MADE TOWARDS PAGE OUTCOMES................................................................8

3.1 Outcome 1 - Countries have reinforced and integrated IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national economic and development planning......................................................................8

3.2 Outcome 2 - Countries are implementing evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms in line with IGE priorities....................................................................................................................11

3.3 Outcome 3 - Individual, institutional and planning capacities for IGE action strengthened at national and global level..................................................................................................................13

3.4 Outcome 4 - Countries have improved their knowledge base for advancing IGE................15

4. SUMMARY OF PROGRESS MADE IN PAGE COUNTRIES..................................................17

4.1 MONGOLIA.......................................................................................................................17

4.2 PERU...................................................................................................................................23

4.3 SENEGAL...........................................................................................................................27

4.4 GHANA...............................................................................................................................29

4.5 MAURITIUS.......................................................................................................................30

4.6 BURKINA FASO................................................................................................................33

4.7 JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA.........................................................................................35

4.8 SOUTH AFRICA................................................................................................................37

4.9 BARBADOS.......................................................................................................................40

4.10 MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL...................................................................................41

4.11 KYRGYZ REPUBLIC........................................................................................................43

5. PROGRESS IN GLOBAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING. .44

5.1 Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacity at Global Level....................44

5.2 Outcome 4 – Countries have Improved their Knowledge Base for Advancing IGE............48

6. PAGE SECRETARIAT...............................................................................................................54

7. MID-TERM EVALUATION......................................................................................................55

8. MULTI PARTNER TRUST FUND (MPTF)..............................................................................56

9. COOPERATION WITH OTHER INITIATIVES........................................................................57

10. SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION.........................................................................................58

11. LESSONS LEARNED AND CHALLENGES........................................................................59

12. FINANCIAL OVERVIEW......................................................................................................62

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Note for the reader: This report summarizes the progress made against the four PAGE outcomes since the beginning of programme with an emphasis on the developments in 2016. Section 3 provides an aggregated progress statement for each of the outcomes together with an overview on the status of the indicators at the end of 2016. An overview report on the PAGE logical framework is provided in Annex 1. The details behind the aggregate reporting on the indicators are provided in the PAGE monitoring framework in Annex 2 (in a separate document). Section 4 provides a summary of activities and results for each of the PAGE countries and Section 5 an overview on the global capacity building and knowledge sharing activities. Sections 6 to 12 provide an overview on the activities of the PAGE Secretariat, mid-term evaluation, main partnerships, south-south cooperation, lessons learned, and risks and challenges. Section 13 provides a financial overview but does not serve as the PAGE financial reporting. Certified financial reporting is provided in addition to this report. The detailed progress report will also be complemented by a shorter more compact version for public distribution.

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARYJoining of three new partner countries, finalisation and launch of the Operational Strategy (2016-2020), PAGE mid-term evaluation, creating a model for keeping sustainability high on agenda during political transitions, participation of 66 countries in the Second Global Academy on Green Economy, and launch of call for new countries to join PAGE while continuing to support 11 partner countries are key highlights of PAGE achievements in 2016.

PAGE welcomed three new partner countries in 2016: Barbados, Brazil (Mato Grosso state) and Kyrgyz Republic at a high level event during the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) on 26 May 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. Call for applications to select additional countries was launched during the Global PAGE Academy in Turin in October 2016. Selected new countries will join PAGE during the 2nd PAGE Ministerial Conference in March 2017 in Berlin.

Building on lessons learned from change of governments in 2014 in Burkina Faso, and in 2015 in Mauritius, PAGE develop a strategy to ensure continuity and high visibility of sustainability agenda during the political transitions in Peru and Mongolia in 2016. In Peru, PAGE helped put green economy on the political agenda by supporting a discussion between the two Peruvian presidential teams on ‘Green Growth for the Peruvian Eonomy’ in May 2016. By engaging with candidates early in the election process, and relying on its position as an impartial provider of technical assistance and policy support, PAGE was able to catalyse affirmation and pledges of support for sustainability agenda from the incoming government. In Mongolia, PAGE delivery continued smoothly after the election of a new government, thanks to a well-established broad coalition of actors across levels of government where inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms remained in place.

Under the guidance of the Management Board and Donor Steering Committee, PAGE finalized the Operational Strategy 2016-2020. The strategy reflects a shared vision of how PAGE will evolve and grow to serve increasing number of countries. The document lays out PAGE theory of change, core principles, alignment with global sustainable development and climate agenda as well as outreach plans for 2016-2020 – with a look beyond to 2030.

Country Delivery

Significant progress was made in advancing green economy transition in partner countries during 2016. In Mongolia, Senegal, China and South Africa, PAGE has been supporting cross-sectoral national plans and strategies that already integrate IGE goals and targets linked to the SDGs. While in Peru, Burkina Faso, Mauritius, and Ghana PAGE assists the respective governments in the development of national policies and plans that incorporate goals and targets related to IGE with the overall objective of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Parliament of Mongolia adopted an Action Plan in January 2016 for implementation of the National Green Development Policy (NGDP) together with a measurement framework to monitor its progress against targets. Mongolia also adopted the Sustainable Development Vision (SDV) 2030 in February 2016 and an Action Plan of the Government of Mongolia 2016-2020 in August 2016, which directly addresses Environment and Green Development. Support for sectoral reforms continued in thematic areas including green buildings with a focus on green schools, sustainable public procurement, green economy learning and mobilising private finance. Specific results in these areas include: i) prototype and design of green school buildings including energy and water efficiency models, ii) a market readiness study and legal review for amendments to law on public procurement and an action plan for sustainable public procurement (SPP), iii) a market study to assess demand for green credit and iv) development of IGE learning strategy.

Senegal advanced the Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) – the national development plan towards 2030 – by implementation of five year priority action plan (2014-2018). PAGE supported the government in preparation of a position paper for the Strategic Guidance Document on Green Economy, which was

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developed earlier with the technical and advisory support of PAGE. Support for implementation of a major national programme on green jobs continued. PAGE efforts are co-financed by the national government, UNDP and GEF. A national green economy week was held in 2016 with participation of more than 70 representatives. A national platform was established bringing together a dozen institutions with the aim to progressively integrate IGE learning content in their research and academic programmes. 

PAGE support to the Jiangsu province of China is linked to the implementation of the 13th Provincial Five Year Plan (2016-2020). A national network of partners has been established in 2016 to provide support for programme planning and implementation including partners at the provincial level. Three cities outside of Jiangsu Province were inspired and have expressed interest in working on IGE by investing their own financial resources with the technical support from the UN Environment.

In South Africa, PAGE support was centred around broad and high-level stakeholder engagement, stocktaking of existing initiatives for improved collaboration, co-ordination and implementation of existing green economy policy frameworks and aims to support the integration of SDG targets in national development planning and policy processes. In this direction, a green economy inventory was completed and validated in 2016. The South Africa Green Industry and Trade Assessment has begun and is due to be completed in mid-2017.

PAGE, in collaboration with the Research Center of the University of the Pacific (CIUP), organized a public debate between teams of Peru’s final two presidential candidates on opportunities for Green Growth in Peru in May 2016. PAGE supported the formulation of a National Green Jobs Strategy which translated in 2016 into a national law on teleworking and regional green employment plans for youth in Arequipa, Piura, La Libertad and Cajamarca. The Green Growth Strategy of Peru was further advanced when the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) approved and published "Guidelines for Green Growth". The Ministerial Resolution announces the finalization and publication of the National Green Growth Strategy plan to be finalised in early 2017. In the context of the T21 modelling concerning the forestry sector, a concept note was developed with the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and National Forest and Soil Conservation Service Entity containing a number of work streams closely linked to UN REDD.

In Burkina Faso, led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, PAGE is supporting the new government programme National Programme for Economic and Social Development (PNDES 2016-2020) to integrate IGE aspects, which can serve as the backbone of the transition to a green economy in the country. PAGE, together with Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) and Switch Africa Green (SAG), organized a three days National Academy on IGE from 14-16 December. The Academy brought together more than 300 participants from the government, the private sector and civil society to learn about and advance the green economy agenda in Burkina Faso.

The Marshal Plan Against Poverty in Mauritius was completed with substantial and financial support from PAGE. The Plan is already included in the Vision 2030 document as one of the action plans for implementation. The Plan was officially launched during the Budget Speech on 29 July 2016 by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development with public sector funds allocations for its implementation. Using the results of the econometric modelling, PAGE is informing the Strategic Policy and Planning Department in the Prime Minister's Office in drafting the Vision 2030 document and integration of green economy and sustainability aspects. Once the document is launched for wider consultations and inputs, PAGE will be involved in development of action plans for specific economic sectors and its implementation. A public environment expenditure review, an industrial waste assessment and fiscal policy study (with earlier support from a UN Enironment project) were completed in 2016.

In Ghana, PAGE is supporting the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II (2014-2017). 2016 was a year of building on existing foundations of support and aligning to priorities following a change in government. Leveraging the momentum of the Green Economy Week in December 2015, four key policy areas were selected for advancing inclusive green economy in the national agenda,

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including agro-industry resource efficiency, green economy public advocacy and social dialogue, training and capacity building, and knowledge sharing.

Mato Grosso State of Brazil celebrated joining PAGE on 10 November 2016 during a high-level event, presided by the Governor of Mato Grosso and attended by over 200 guests from the private sector, civil society and academia. The event was preceded by high level discussions with the Governor and his team regarding the importance attached to PAGE, and its overall fit with the state’s economic development plan and guiding principles of “produce, conserve, include.”

Inception mission to Barbados is planned for early 2017. The mission will explore with the government of Barbados and key stakeholders the kind of support Barbados needs from PAGE. It will define a one-year timeline for the activities to be carried out under the inception phase of PAGE in Barbados running from January 2017 to December 2017.

In Kyrgyz Republic, An inter-ministerial coordination mechanism, chaired by the Ministry of Economy, has already been established for the promotion of sustainable development initiatives, and will champion the cause of IGE across national development efforts. An inception mission to Kyrgyz Republic is planned for February 2017. The mission will include a roundtable with participants from the Ministry of Economics, Finance, Agriculture and Education, as well as from the National Institute of Strategy Studies and the private sector. PAGE is working collaboratively with PEI to plan the inception mission and explore opportunities for synergies.

Capacity Building

In 2016, PAGE continued its global capacity development programme through a combination of on-line trainings and face-to-face learning, advancing further into delivery of advanced courses. Since the inception of PAGE, about 1,600 people have received training through national and global capacity building activities. PAGE also further expanded its library of introductory green economy learning and training materials on IGE that are publicly accessible.

The first interactive edition of the e-learning course on IGE and trade was delivered on from 7 November – 16 December 2016. A total of 46 participants participated in the course, including 38 fellowship recipients (16 from PAGE partner countries). The second edition of the course will take place from 13 March – 21 April. The second global Academy on the Green Economy took place in Turin at the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITCILO) on 3-14 October 2016 and was attended by over 150 participants, including policy makers, technical staff and stakeholders from civil society organizations, trade unions, private sector, in addition to UN agencies and partners.

In addition to the existing introductory courses on green economy learning developed over the past couple of years, materials for three new training courses were finalised in 2016 based on the feedback and demand from the ongoing PAGE support to partner countries.

- learning materials on advanced IGE topics- e-learning materials green economy and trade - e-learning materials green fiscal reform and policy instruments

To build awareness and strengthening capacities of learning institutions and individuals on IGE, PAGE extended its collection of resource materials. Following materials were produced in 2016:

- Drawing on three country examples from Ghana, Mongolia and South Africa, a guidance note on green economy learning strategies and action plans has been completed and released.

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- A resource guide for IGE learning institutions and services to identify, analyse, and profile key initiatives and institutions working in the area of green economy learning has also been completed in 2016.

Knowledge Creation

In 2016, PAGE partners further advanced the knowledge base on IGE in selected areas, including on green industrial policies, green economy indicators and metrics, integrated planning related to SDGs, trade-related policies in a green economy, and the assessment and modelling of green economy policies and green jobs. Following tools and publications that are already released or in a final stage:

- A practitioners guide on green industrial policies has been finalised along with supplementary tools to provide practical advice on strategic green industrial policy for policy practitioners.

- A global synthesis report based on 8 country experiences and lessons learnt on integrated planning and the SDGs has been finalised.

- A green economy measuring framework and dashboard of indicators with results on 98 countries (including empirical results from 6 PAGE countries) is being pilot tested in PAGE partner countries and will be launched during the PAGE ministerial conference.

- An Integrated Green Economy modelling (IGEM) tool combining different modelling approaches is being pilot tested for finalization and launch in early 2017.

- Operational Guidelines for PAGE Implementation including detailed guidance on operational aspects of the partnership has been completed. The manual targets UN staff and consultants working on PAGE at global, regional and national levels, including national PAGE coordinators.

Informing Global and Regional Agenda setting and Outreach

With 2016 being a pivotal year for advancing the international sustainability agenda and forging partnerships and alliances, PAGE communication efforts in 2016 focused on highlighting PAGE as a key partnership to help countries achieve the SDGs. PAGE extended its outreach at the global scale by organising two joint events during the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2)  in Nairobi, Kenya and the Global Green Growth Week 2016 in Jeju, Republic of Korea.

The PAGE Ministerial Conference 2017 will be organized on 27-28 March 2017 in Berlin co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nurture Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. Organized around high level debates and exchanges, thematic sessions and multi-sector engagement, the conference will have a special focus on green investments, sustainable lifestyles, and inclusive and sustainable economic growth, including full employment.

Management and Administration 

Mid-term evaluation of PAGE was initiated in 2016 to provide insight into the programmes’ effectiveness and efficiency, results to date and likelihood of impacts. Preliminary findings of the evaluation were presented to the Donor Steering Committee in Turin on 5 October 2017. In the first quarter of 2017, the full evaluation report and the four country case studies will be validated and finalized after completion of review process.

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In 2016, the PAGE Management Board approved the proposal to designate the Multi Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO) as the administrative agent for the PAGE Trust Fund. Incoming contributions to PAGE in 2017 can be transferred directly into the Trust Fund. The Multi Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) will enhance efficiency in the operation of the trust fund and the transparency of processes by warranting the separation of the decision-making role from the fund administration.

Partnerships and South-South-North Collaboration

The Partnership built and enhanced synergies with other programmes and initiatives at the national and global levels. PAGE continued to strengthen its existing cooperation and collaboration with other initiatives such as the UUN Environment-UNDP Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI), SWITCH Africa and Asia, UN REDD, 10 YFP, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Green Economy Collation (GEC), Green Growth Knowledge Platform and the Environment and Trade Hub. In 2015-2016, PAGE expanded collaboration with other organisations and initiatives such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC), UN Environment Finance Initiative (UN Environment FI), UN Environment Inquiry, Global Footprint Network, African Climate and Development Initiative, Green Fiscal Policy Network, International Organisation of Francophonie, , Korea Environment Institute (KEI), and the University of West Indies, among others.

PAGE has encouraged and supported partner countries to share experiences and lessons learnt for conducting assessments, policy analysis and design, plans and strategies and bringing on board wide ranging stakeholders in the process. A few examples of South-South cooperation and experience sharing include between Mato Grosso state of Brazil and Peru, Burkina Faso and Senegal, Mongolia and Kyrgyz Republic and between China and Mongolia on PAGE country implementation. Other exchanges of information include knowledge fair during the IGE academy at Turin, training of trainers, webinars and information exchange among PAGE partner countries.

2. CONTEXT, VISION AND OBJECTIVES OF PAGEPAGE aims to put sustainability at the heart of economic policymaking and practices to advance the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement on Climate Change through inclusive green economy approaches by bringing together the expertise of five specialized UN agencies (UN Environment, ILO, UNDP, UNIDO and UNITAR). It supports nations and regions to achieve sustainable and green growth, create green jobs, address inequality and climate change, advance green industrial development, and improve skills, knowledge and institutional capacity. PAGE is currently supporting eleven countries and provinces/states: Barbados, Brazil (Mato Grosso State), Burkina Faso, China (Jiangsu Province), Ghana, Kyrgyz Republic, Mauritius, Mongolia, Peru, Senegal and South Africa, and aims to support up to 20 countries over seven years until 2020.

Working closely with policymakers and the private sector, PAGE helps to formulate, adopt, finance and implement economic and sectoral policies and practices. To achieve these objectives, PAGE is delivering results in the following four outcome areas:

1) Outcome 1: Countries have reinforced and integrated inclusive green economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG-aligned national economic and development planning through multi-stakeholder collaboration

2) Outcome 2: Countries are implementing evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms in line with national IGE priorities

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3) Outcome 3: Individual, institutional and planning capacities for IGE action strengthened at the national and global level

4) Outcome 4: Countries have improved their knowledge base for advancing IGE. 1

3. PROGRESS MADE TOWARDS PAGE OUTCOMES

3.1 Outcome 1 - Countries have reinforced and integrated IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national economic and development planning

To achieve the targets under outcome 1, PAGE supports countries with IGE diagnostics, assessments, and policy analysis, prioritization of IGE sectors, as well as mobilization and engagement of public, private and civil society stakeholders. With the joining of Barbados, Brazil (Mato Grosso State) and Kyrgyz Republic, PAGE is now supporting 11 countries and provinces/states2.

In Mongolia, Peru, Mauritius and Burkina Faso, PAGE has supported development and implementation of cross-sectoral national plans and strategies that integrate IGE goals and targets. PAGE support was centred around broad and high-level stakeholder engagement for sustainability of these efforts and building partnerships for effective implementation of these plans and strategies.

The government of Mongolia adopted the Action Plan in January 2016 for implementation of its National Green Development Policy (approved in 2014 with significant PAGE support) together with a measurement framework to monitor its progress against targets. Mongolia also adopted the Sustainable Development Vision 2030 in February 2016 and an Action Plan of the Government of Mongolia 2016-2020 in August 2016, part 4 of which directly addresses Environment and Green Development. PAGE has contributed to the Action Plan of NGDP and the Sustainable Development Vision by initiating a political dialogue, engaging diverse stakeholders and disseminating and sharing the information and knowledge.

Peru’s Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) approved and published "Guidelines for Green Growth" (Ministerial Resolution No. 161-2016-MINAM) which lay the foundations for the adoption of green growth as the axis of articulation and integration of environmental and social policies to economic growth. The document provides management strategies and instruments, promotes coordination among sectors and compliance with international commitments. The Ministerial Resolution announces the finalization and publication of the National Green Growth Strategy. PAGE in collaboration with the Research Center of the University of the Pacific (CIUP) organized a public debate between Peru’s final two presidential candidate teams on opportunities for green growth in Peru. The event also aimed to increase public awareness about this issue.

PAGE provided substantial and financial support for preparation and drafting of the Marshall Plan against poverty in Mauritius. The Marshall Plan is already included in the Vision 2030 document as one of the action plans for implementation. The Plan addresses sustainable development with a cross-sectoral approach and a focus on inclusive economic growth, socioeconomic development of the most vulnerable groups and environmental sustainability. The Marshall Plan was officially launched during the Budget Speech on 29 July 2016 by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development with funding allocations for its implementation. Support to the Vision 2030 continued in 2016 where PAGE is supporting the Strategic Policy and Planning Department, Prime Minister's Office in drafting the Vision 2030 document and integration of green economy and sustainability aspects such as development of inclusive green businesses and sustainable consumption and production practices. Once the document is launched for wider consultations and inputs, PAGE will be involved in the development of action plans in specific areas for its implementation.

1 Annex 1 provides the complete logical framework of the programme and further details on outputs and indicators.2 For ease of reading we will refer to countries in aggregate reporting, which can also include a province or a state in a country.

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Led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, PAGE is supporting the new government programme National Programme for Economic and Social Development (PNDES 2016-2020) to integrate IGE aspects, which can serve as the backbone of the transition to a green economy in Burkina Faso.

Support for the implementation of a five year priority action plan (2014-2018) of the Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) continued in 2016. PAGE is specifically supporting the action plan for pillar 1 on Structural Transformation of the Economy and Growth and pillar 2 around Human Capital, Social Protection and Sustainable Development . In this direction, PAGE supported the government in the preparation of an action plan for the Strategic Guidance Document on Green Economy for Senegal which was developed earlier with the technical advisory support of PAGE. Held on 3-5 May 2016, the national Green Economy academy of Senegal offered space for more than 70 representatives of government, the private sector, leading think-tanks and academic institutions to review the state of knowledge, research and analytical gaps and ways to improve training and human capacity for a successful transition to a green economy. A national platform was established during the academy bringing together a dozen institutions with the aim to progressively integrate green economy learning content in their research and academic programmes. 

PAGE support to the Jiangsu province of China is linked to the implementation of the 13 th provincial five year plan (2016-2020) by i) identifying and exemplifying good practices and ii) identification and analysis of challenges towards IGE policy implementation. In this direction, a national network of partners has been established in 2016 to provide inputs and support for project and programme planning and implementation. At the provincial level, partners include Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, Nanjing Commerce Bureau and Nanjing University as well as international partners such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Green Technology Centre Korea. Through PAGE support and initiatives three cities outside of Jiangsu Province were inspired and have expressed interest in working on green economy by investing their own financial resources with the technical support from the UN Environment.

In South Africa, PAGE country outcome has been structured around supporting improved collaboration, co-ordination and implementation of existing green economy policy frameworks, rather than the formulation of new policies. Moreover, PAGE aims to support the integration of SDG targets (e.g. for SDGs 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 17) in national development planning and policy processes, including through its support for sectoral reform under the auspices of the PAGE National Steering Committee (NSC). In this direction, PAGE held a multi-stakeholder national forum during the Sustainability Week on the theme of ‘Green Economy in South Africa: Promoting Alignment, Collaboration and Cooperation for Greater Impact’, which was attended by more than 50 participants.

PAGE was officially launched in Mato Grosso state of Brazil on 10 November 2016 in Cuiabá during a high-level event, presided by the Governor of Mato Grosso, and attended by members of his cabinet, the press, and over 200 invited guests from the private sector, civil society and academia. The event was preceded by high level discussions with the Governor and his team regarding the importance of PAGE, and its overall fit with the state’s economic development plan and guiding principles of “producer, conserve, include.”

In Ghana, PAGE is supporting the government to incorporate IGE aspects in leading government policies and action plans such as the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II (GSGDAII 2014-2017), the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) and Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). 2016 has largely been a transitional period for PAGE implementation in Ghana with the re-organization of the institutional set up. The lead PAGE coordination role moved from UNIDO to UNDP during the year under review. As a result of the change and a mix of other factors, implementation of planned activities has slowed down during the year. Much of the effort was also concentrated on finalization of the logical framework, work plan and associated budget for full implementation in 2017.

To contribute towards the development of national plans and strategies, PAGE continued its technical support in the form of green economy policy assessments, stocktaking reports and indicators

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development to measure progress towards IGE and SDG related national goals and targets. The results of green economy modelling and policy assessment were presented at a high level meeting in November 2016 in Mongolia. Stocktaking reports for Jiangsu Province (China) and Green Economy Inventory for South Africa were completed in 2016.

In Peru, the results of T21 modelling are well advanced and will be presented to the new Government in 2017 as inputs in devising new strategies and plans. In the context of the T21 modelling concerning the forestry sector, a concept note was developed with the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and National Forest and Soil Conservation Service Entity containing the following work streams closely linked to UN REDD: i) strengthening inclusive governance; ii) increased productivity through business management tools; iii) financial mechanisms to offset carbon capture funding payments; iv) elimination of forced labour; v) empowerment of indigenous communities and interculturality. The concept note suggests a pilot testing in the region of San Martín.

Out of 11 existing partner countries, Mongolia, Peru, Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa have National Steering Committees. The inter-ministerial committee for Burkina Faso is expected to be formed in first quarter of 2017 after the successful organisation of national IGE academy. For the three new PAGE countries (Barbados, Mato Grosso State of Brazil and Kyrgyz Republic) the process for formation of these committees will start after inception missions planned in early 2017.

After the changes in government, a new PAGE Peru Steering Committee and Technical Committee is being established. MINAM recommended to incorporate the National Council for Competitiveness and Formalization (CNCF) into the PAGE Technical Committee and Steering Committee due to its responsibility to coordinate and promote inter-sectoral green growth strategies. Aligned with the programme of new Mongolian administration, a new PAGE Technical Committee has been established, with membership from 11 ministries and two government agencies. The National Steering Committee for South Africa was formed in March 2016 and comprises of the PAGE Agencies and key national partners, including the Economic Development Department, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Science and Technology.

Outcome 1 Indicators; Status end of December 2016

Outcome 1: Countries have reinforced and integrated IGE goals and targets into SDG-aligned national economic and development planning through multi-stakeholder collaboration

Indicator #1: Number of countries or provinces (at sub-national level) that started implementing / have adopted and/or are in process of adopting national development plans or cross-sectoral strategies integrating IGE priorities

Status end 2016: 8 countries have adopted (out of which 3 started implementing) and 3 additional counties are in adoption process in 2016

Output 1.1: IGE diagnostics, assessments, and policy analysis undertaken

Indicator #1.1.1: Number of reports providing national IGE diagnostics, assessments and policy analysis and feeding in to national planning processes

Status end 2016: 13 reports completed (4 additional reports in 2016)

Output 1.2: Public, private and civil society stakeholders mobilized and engaged in cross-sectoral IGE prioritization

Indicator #1.2.1: Number of cross-sectoral national consultations and dialogues organized to mobilize stakeholders, share results of policy analysis and consult priorities

Status end 2016: 36 cross-sectoral consultations (16 additional consultations in 7 countries in 2016)

Indicator #1.2.2: Number of countries with national steering committees (NSC) overseeing IGE work meeting regularly

Status end 2016: 5 countries (3 additional countries in 2016: new committees were formed in Mongolia and Peru after change of governments in both countries)

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3.2 Outcome 2 - Countries are implementing evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms in line with IGE priorities

To achieve the targets under outcome 2, PAGE supports countries and provinces with sectoral and thematic diagnostics, assessments, and policy analysis, and with advisory support integrated into the design and advancement of sectoral and thematic policies, strategies and plans. Mobilization of partners to support IGE transformation is another key area of support including donors, international financial institutions, development banks and private banking sector and UN country teams.

In Mongolia and Peru, the sectoral reform process was further advanced where PAGE supported implementation of sectoral policies.

Mongolia is working towards reforms in five sectors and thematic areas with PAGE support: green buildings with a focus on green schools, sustainable public procurement, waste management, green economy learning and sustainable finance. Prototype and design of green school buildings are finalised and under review including energy efficiency models using computational dynamic thermal modelling. PAGE has initiated its collaboration with the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development to strengthen national policies in the construction sector and improve the national building coding system. To support Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP), a market readiness study has been finalised and legal review for amendments to the law on public procurement and an action plan for SPP are under development. A market study to support green credit in Mongolia is underway. Initial findings of the study were presented at the Sustainable Finance Forum held on 25 November 2016. In 2017, the findings from the market assessment will be disseminated among key stakeholders including the Government, international development agencies, banking institutions and the private sector.

Priority sectors for sectoral or thematic reform for Peru include green industry development, sustainable trade and green jobs. In 2015, PAGE supported the formulation of National Green Jobs Strategy which is now part of the National Employment Policy 2015-2019. Towards its implementation in 2016, PAGE supported implementation of a national law on teleworking. At the provincial level, PAGE assisted the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion and Regional Directorates of Labour and Employment Promotion in incorporating green growth objectives into regional youth employment plans to provide young people with job opportunities that respond to future economic trends. New regional youth employment plans were prepared for the regions of Arequipa, Piura, La Libertad and Cajamarca, each with a planning horizon of five years (2016 – 2021).

To support sectoral and thematic reforms, PAGE supported a number of assessments, policy analysis and other technical reports including i) fiscal policy assessment for Burkina Faso, ii) public environment expenditure review, industrial waste assessment and fiscal policy study (with earlier support from a UN Environment project) for Mauritius, iii) a guide on good practices on forest competitiveness and a study on greener and fairer economy from a trade union perspective for Peru, iv) green industry and trade assessment for South Africa (with earlier support from a UN Environment project), v) market analysis for sustainable public procurement, market assessment and a concept note for establishment of a green credit fund and technical design and energy efficiency models for green school building in Mongolia.

In Mongolia, four assessments and reports to support policy processes are underway: 1) analysis on institutional functional and capacity for the implementation of Sustainable Development Vision (SDV) and the SDGs, 2) mapping of SDV and National Green Development Policy (NGDP) against SDGs, 3) gender mainstreaming of NGDP and 4) localising SDGs and SDV at subnational level ( aimag levels, jointly with a UNDP project). A green economy assessment using T21 modelling is in the final stages to inform Peru’s green growth strategy.

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PAGE has engaged stakeholders and partners from wide ranging sectors and areas for sharing the results of various sectoral and thematic assessments and policy reform processes. Country level PAGE partners organised consultations and dialogues with relevant stakeholder groups including high level meetings on mobilizing partnership for green development of Mongolia, Mongolia's pathway to sustainable and green development along with a sustainable finance forum and an urban development and green city forum in Mongolia, and a green development dialogue and national PAGE forum during sustainability week in South Africa, among others.

Validation and consultation workshops were organised for industrial waste assessment and public environment expenditure review in Mauritius, consultations with trade unions on IGE and sustainable trade in partnership with FAO, ILO and UNESCO and a congress on teleworking and future jobs with partners in Peru and consultation on green trade and industrial policies were concluded in South Africa. A green economy indicators workshop was organized by PAGE partner institution, the Nanjing University, to start discussions on the application of measurement framework for green economy progress in Jiangsu province of China. Consultations and high-level dialogues were held during the national IGE academies in Senegal and Burkina Faso in 2016. A total of 8 sectoral and thematic workshops were held in 2016 (29 in total since 2014).

PAGE has gathered support from a number of partners to align their interests to support all partner countries for achieving their national development goals that contribute towards the SDGs and NDCs. Specific results of partnerships and co-funding that PAGE has leveraged can be seen in four countries. Since 2015, PAGE has already established co-funding in a number of countries: co-funding of activities with GGGI for development of indicators for NGDP and additional support for green buildings in Mongolia, co-funding for communication and advocacy, sustainable finance and high level events with GGGI and SDC-funded project Education for Sustainable Development in Mongolia, joint activities for capacity building in natural resource indicators with UNEP-ROAP and green school building efficiency assessment with UNEP-CTCN, joint funding and alignment of GIZ-UN Environment project with PAGE Peru support by organising a series of policy dialogues, private sector engagement and developing Peru’s green growth strategy with additional support from GGGI, public private partnership with higher education institutions, private sector, and other initiatives such as GEF and UNDP for a larger co-financed national programme on green jobs in Senegal are some concrete examples.

A network of national level partners has been established in China, including the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of National Development and Reform Commission, the China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Centre of Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Tongji University and Beijing Normal University. Through PAGE support and initiatives three cities outside of Jiangsu Province in China were inspired and have expressed interest in working on green economy by investing their own financial resources with the technical support from the UN Environment.

To raise commitment and financial resources for implementing Mongolia’s NGDP and the SDV, two high-level events were convened by high-level events were convened by the Parliament of Mongolia, Prime Minister’s Office, MET and MOF in collaboration with PAGE and other international and national organisations including the International Finance Cooperation (IFC), Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Education for Sustainable Development project (ESD), the Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA) and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Both events brought together over 200 participants from Government, international development partners, embassies, private sector, banks, academia and civil society. A partnership statement was drafted which proposes an independent coordination body to support an integrated and multi-sectoral policy formulation process, ensure policy coherence, establish a national approach for pooling resources, promote cross-sectoral activities, and sustain a public dialogue on inclusive growth, and ensuring monitoring and accountability.

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Outcome 2 Indicators, Status end of December 2015

Outcome 2: Countries are implementing evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms in line with national IGE priorities

Indicator #2: Number of thematic and sectoral policies and instruments supporting IGE priorities that PAGE countries are implementing / have adopted or are in process of adopting

Status End 2016: 10 policies (6 adopted, 4 additional in adoption process in 2016)

Output 2.1.: Sectoral and thematic diagnostics, assessments, and policy analysis undertaken

Indicator #2.1: Number of reports available providing sectoral or thematic IGE diagnostics, assessments, and policy analysis

Status End 2016: 19 reports (8 additional reports in 2016)

Output 2.2.: Advisory support integrated into the design and advancement of sectoral and/or thematic policies, strategies, and plans

Indicator #2.2: Number of sectoral or thematic consultations and dialogues organized, informed by results of sectoral policy analysis

Status End 2016: 29 consultations (8 additional consultations in 2016)

Output 2.3 IGE financing partners mobilized and engaged including UNCT, donors, IFIs, development banks, and private sector

Indicator #2.3: Number of partners formally agreeing to co-financing, complementary follow-up programming, pledges, PPPs, etc.

Status End 2016: 9 partners (1 additional partner in 2016)

3.3 Outcome 3 - Individual, institutional and planning capacities for IGE action strengthened at national and global level

To achieve targets under outcome 3, PAGE is supporting partner countries by designing and implementing nationally tailored training packages and programmes on specific priority areas with the overall objective of capacity building and awareness creation on IGE. Global and regional training packages and events are designed and delivered to individuals and institutions as part of capacity building for a global audience with a focus on PAGE partner countries. These high-quality training, e-learning and other capacity building products and services on IGE are accessible to governments and other stakeholders globally on websites of PAGE and partner agencies.

At the global level, PAGE further extended its reach by organising online and face-to-face trainings for building IGE capacities by delivering trainings in English, Spanish and French. The first interactive edition of the e-learning course on IGE and trade was delivered on 7 November – 16 December 2016. A total of 46 participants from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the course, including 32 fellowship recipients awarded to policy makers and relevant stakeholders from developing countries (16 from PAGE partner countries).

Online training programmes were complemented by the second global PAGE academy held at the ILO-International Training Centre in Turin, Italy from 3-14 October 2016. The two-week intensive capacity building event brought together over 150 participants from 35 countries (114 training participants) including policy makers, technical staff and stakeholders from civil society organizations, trade unions and the private sector, in addition to UN agencies and partners from the 11 PAGE partner countries, as well as experts and practitioners from PAGE partner agencies and collaborating networks.

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Since the inception of PAGE, a total of 669 people have benefited from online and face-to-face training programmes at global level through UNITAR’s e-learning platform and three PAGE academies (227 from PAGE countries). Evaluations show that 89% are satisfied with the course content for its usefulness and relevance to their jobs.

In addition to the existing introductory courses on green economy learning developed over the past couple of years, materials for three new e-learning training courses were finalised in 2016: 1) learning materials on advanced IGE topics, 2) green economy and trade and 3) green fiscal reform and policy instruments based on the feedback and demand from the ongoing PAGE support to partner countries. The advanced learning materials, including slides with speakers notes are accessible to a global audience on PAGE website .

PAGE continued to deliver capacity development activities in the form of nationally-tailored training events, technical workshops, national IGE academies as well as active involvement of ministries and national institutions in conducting technical IGE assessments, developing national plans and strategies and sectoral policy analysis and related activities at country level. In 2016, seven tailored national trainings workshops were organized in Mongolia, Peru, Mauritius and South Africa.

Green Economy Academies represent an important tool for PAGE countries, as it gives policymakers, stakeholders and interested parties an opportunity to learn from one another and develop strategies to coordinate their activities for greater impact. National level IGE academies were held in Burkina Faso and Senegal. A three day national IGE economy in Burkina Faso was held on 14-16 December and brought together more than 300 participants from the government, the private sector and civil society to learn about and advance the green economy agenda in Burkina Faso. The Green Economy Academy included perspectives from representatives from fellow PAGE country Senegal. In this respect, the event was a great opportunity to learn from the experiences of another developing country in the region going through similar processes to green their economy. In Dakar, Senegal, over 70 representatives of policy, research and analysis institutions rallied on the first edition of the IGE academy on 3-5 May 2016. The national IGE academy offered a space for representatives of government, the private sector, leading think-tanks and academic institutions to review the state of knowledge, research and analytical gaps and ways to improve training and human capacity for a successful transition to a green economy.

Since the inception of PAGE, a total of 975 people were trained in nationally organized training workshops including on topics related SDGs and national planning, energy efficiency, industrial waste as well as IGE trainings for media and general public.

National institutions in partner countries are the primary target of capacity building and benefit from training activities as well as through their direct involvement in conducting IGE assessments, policy analysis and designing strategies and action plans. For example, the Policy and Research Centre for Environment and Economy in Jiangsu province of China, Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) in South Africa and Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Economy and Finance in Peru took the lead in conducting assessments and policy analysis on IGE and green industry and trade, which were concluded in these countries.

Outcome 3 Indicators, Status end of December 2016

Outcome 3: Individual, institutional and planning capacities for IGE action strengthened at the national and global level

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Indicator #3.1: Number of people using knowledge and skills acquired from the PAGE training and capacity development activities

Partial data is available for 2016. Remaining data to be collected.

Indicator #3.2: Number of national institutions which deliver IGE policy analysis, IGE training, develop IGE related policies and lead related policy processes and stakeholder consultationsStatus End of 2016: 9 national institutionsOutput 3.1.: Capacity development support delivered to national institutions

Indicator #3.1.1: Number of national institutions having strengthened their capacity to deliver IGE policy analysis or training or to lead policy and stakeholder consultation processes

Status End of 2016: 31national institutions (19 additional institutions in 2016)Output 3.2.: Nationally tailored training programmes developed and deliveredIndicator #3.2.1: Number of people trained through national level training programmes

Status End 2016: 975 people (271 additional people in 2016; 142 female, 129 male)

Indicator #3.2.2: Percentage of participants who report having increased their capacity in IGE related issues through national trainings

Partial data is available for 2016. Remaining data to be collected.Output 3.3.: Global and regional leadership and training programs and packages developed and delivered for individuals and institutions

Indicator #3.3.1: Number of people that have been trained on IGE in globally or regionally offered on-line training programmes and on- campus training programmes

Status End 2016: 669 people (178 additional people in 2016, 90 female, 88 male)

Indicator #3.3.2: Percentage of participants who report having increased their capacity in IGE related issues in global and regional training programmes (with a target of 80% on average)

Status End 2016: 85-94 % (for the different courses)

Indicator #3.3.3: Number of IGE training programmes and specific training modules being offered to countries (at global and national level)

Status End 2016: 9 training packages (2 additional packages in 2016)

3.4 Outcome 4 - Countries have improved their knowledge base for advancing IGE

Improving the knowledge base for advancing IGE and organisation of outreach events are the main focus to achieve targets under outcome 4. PAGE is supporting countries to improve their IGE knowledge base by generating and sharing knowledge products such as manuals, reports, lessons learnt and best practices with the aim to inform and support national policy analysis and formulation. For knowledge sharing, PAGE organizes high level events, conferences, workshops involving current and future PAGE countries to build networks and global platforms to exchange experiences and information. IGE advocacy, outreach and communications efforts of PAGE are part of activities under outcome 4.

After the initial completion of knowledge products on IGE policy analysis and modelling (trilogy of guidance manuals) and indicators, PAGE further expanded the knowledge base from which countries can draw to design IGE assessments, measure progress on IGE and related indicators, conduct policy analysis and planning for achieving their national development goals.

A green economy measuring framework and dashboard of indicators with results on 98 countries (including empirical results from 6 PAGE countries) is being pilot tested in PAGE partner countries and will be finalised in early 2017 for launch at the PAGE ministerial conference. An Integrated Green Economy Modelling (IGEM) tool combining different modelling approaches is being pilot

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tested for finalization and launch in early 2017. IGEM tool also includes integrating trade related elements for which a technical paper and mapping of environment goods and flows are underway. A practitioners guide on green industrial policies has been finalised along with supplementary tools to provide practical advice on strategic green industrial policy for policy practitioners. The guide and toolkit are available on the PAGE website. A g lobal synthesis report on integrated planning and the SDGs has been finalised in 2016. The report outlines 8 country experiences and lessons learnt for transition towards inclusive green economy aligned with the SDG goals.

To build awareness and strengthening capacities of learning institutions and individuals on IGE, PAGE extended its collection of resource materials. A guidance note on green economy learning strategies and action plans has been completed and released. The note provides methodological and organizational guidance to countries interested in taking a systematic approach to education and training drawing on three country examples from Ghana, Mongolia and South Africa. A resource guide for IGE learning institutions and services to identify, analyse, and profile key initiatives and institutions working in the area of green economy learning has also been completed in 2016. The guide is available in PDF format, as well as an interactive online tool. After the first successful PAGE Global Forum on IGE learning held in December in Paris, a concept note for a IGE learning network has been finalized in 2016 as a first step towards implementation of the network. UNITAR has set up an email-based list for this network.

Enhancing visibility at the global level, PAGE continued to successfully organize several high level side events and panels at a number of international events. Three new countries (Barbados, Kyrgyz Republic and Mato Grosso State in Brazil) joined PAGE at a high-level event during the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) on 26 May 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. Additionally, PAGE organized a “Forum on Partnerships for Inclusive Green Economy: Joining up for Delivery on the 2030 Agenda”, during (UNEA-2) on 25 May. The event was organized in partnership with the governments of Finland and the Republic of Korea, and co-branded by GGKP, PEI, 10YFP, UN-REDD Programme. PAGE, GGGI and UN Environment organized a high-level event on 8 September 2016 at the Global Green Growth Week 2016 in Jeju, Republic of Korea. Participants included high level government representative from Colombia, Mongolia, Peru and Senegal, the Executive Director of the UN Environment and the Director General of GGGI. The event showcased the strength of the partnership for IGE delivery at national level, lessons learned and explored how the partnerships can be improved and scaled up.

A monthly PAGE newsletter has been regularly disseminated to more than 2300 subscribers to share PAGE highlights and other IGE initiatives around the world. The PAGE twitter account (@PAGExchange) is growing with 600 followers (increased from 250 in 2015) in addition to a new YouTube channel for sharing IGE and PAGE videos.

Working in 11 partner countries and as a result of global outreach and communication efforts, the network of PAGE partners is expanding with a total of 31 national partners working closely to support countries for IGE transitions and achieving SDG goals in target countries.

Outcome 4 Indicators, Status end December 2016

Outcome 4: Countries have improved their knowledge base for advancing IGEIndicator #4: Number of PAGE stakeholders and countries report having made use of PAGE knowledge products for the implementation of IGE priorities at national level

Not monitored yet.

Output 4.1.: IGE knowledge products generated and shared through North-South-South collaboration

Indicator #4.1.1: Number of IGE knowledge products generated and made available on PAGE website for national level application

Status End 2016: 9 knowledge products (5 additional product in 2016)

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Indicator #4.1.2: Number of global and regional knowledge sharing events / dialogues held in cooperation with other partners

Status End 2016: 18 knowledge sharing events (6 additional events in 2016)Indicator #4.1.3: Number of institutions and initiatives collaborating under a wider PAGE network

Status End of 2016: 30 institutions and initiatives (7 additional in 2016)Output 4.2.: Global IGE advocacy, outreach and communications strategy developed and put in practiceIndicator #4.2.1: Number of users visiting the global PAGE website per quarter

Status End 2016: 11,193 users annual (Q1: 1,983 /Q2: 2,887 / Q3: 2,900 / Q4: 3,423)

Indicator #4.2.2: Number of monthly PAGE newsletter subscribers

Status End 2016: 2,300 Subscribers

Indicator #4.2.3: Number of UN PAGE Twitter followers (@PAGEXchange)

Status End 2016: 600 followers

Indicator #4.2.4: Number of views on PAGE YouTube channel

Status End 2016: 933 views

4. SUMMARY OF PROGRESS MADE IN PAGE COUNTRIES

4.1 MONGOLIAOver the past years Mongolia has experienced significant change. The country’s economy grew by 17% in 2011, benefitting from growing commodity exports, but has since slowed down to 0.7% in 2016.3 The new Government – that took office after a landslide win in June 2016 – faces a substantial budget deficit, combined with high public debts (projected to reach over 90 percent of GDP). 4 The unemployment rate was at 9.4% in the third quarter of 2016, according to the National Statistics Office.5 The percentage of the population living below the national poverty line dropped from 33.7% in 2011 to 21.6% in 2014, but a World Bank Economic Brief for Mongolia (September 2016) warns that many households near the poverty line may be sliding back to poverty. At the same time Mongolia continues to face important environmental challenges, such as land degradation, air and water pollution and increasing carbon dioxide emissions (up from 4.9 metric tons per capita in 2009 to 14.5 metric tons in 2014).

In 2016, the country confirmed its commitment to alternative economic growth based on environmental sustainability and social inclusiveness. In January, the Cabinet approved an Action Plan for implementation of the National Green Development Policy (NGDP) and the State Great Khural, the Mongolian Parliament, adopted the Sustainable Development Vision (SDV) 2030 in February. Under its Nationally Determined Contribution, Mongolia committed to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 14% by 2030, compared to the projected emissions under a business as usual scenario.

PAGE continued supporting Mongolia in advancing its green development agenda with evidence-based policy appraisal using system dynamics modelling, analysis of different options for implementation of the NGDP, and support for policy development and reform in specific sectors and thematic areas, such as green construction, sustainable public procurement, green economy learning and sustainable finance. Highlights of the year included two high-level events on mobilizing

3 http://data.worldbank.org/country/mongolia4 World Bank: Mongolia Economic Brief, September 2016 (http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/539861473145444556/Mongolia-Economic-Briefs-0916.pdf)5 National Statistics Office of Mongolia: http://www.en.nso.mn/

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partnerships for green and sustainable development, one in March with the previous administration and one in November with the incoming Government. Capacity building and training was provided for more than 200 stakeholders across government, civil society and the private sector.

Delivery of all PAGE workstreams continued smoothly after the election of the new Government in June, since a broad coalition of actors across Government had been established over the past three years, with inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms remaining in place. The membership of the PAGE Technical Committee was renewed, including now 11 ministries and two government agencies:

i) Green Development Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET)

ii) Economic Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Finance (MOF)iii) Law and Public Procurement Department, Ministry of Finance (MOF)iv) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfarev) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Construction and Urban Development vi) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sportsvii) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industryviii) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industryix) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Energyx) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Road and Transportationxi) Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of Healthxii) Division of Sectoral Development Policy and Coordination, National Development Agency

(under Prime Minister)xiii) Economic Statistics Department, National Statistics Office

PAGE worked closely with other initiatives in the country, in particular the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), the Education for Sustainable Development Project, as well as the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

Outcome 1- Integration of IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

The Action Plan for the implementation of the National Green Development Policy approved in January 2016 sets out 255 priority activities to be implemented in two phases, up to 2020 and to 2030. The Plan allowed the consolidation of the different PAGE workstreams in a government-owned document. In particular, the Plan includes a series of actions on green development indicators, green jobs, green economy learning, sustainable public procurement, green building, sustainable financing as well as waste management.

To help the Government mainstream its national and global commitments, UNDP supported a mapping of the NGDP and the Sustainable Development Vision 2030 against the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study found that out of the 44 objectives set in the SDV, 39 objectives match SDG targets in terms of content and expected outcomes. That means a significant number of SDG targets are possible to be achieved through the implementation of the SDV. In terms of the NGDP, its strategic objectives are directly linked to the SDGs and the objectives in the SDV; apart from objective 3 on “promoting investment in environmental protection, human development and clean technology and leverage tax, credit and incentive mechanisms to finance green economy”. This objective, which is at the heart of PAGE support, will require more targeted policies and programmes in the medium-term.

To raise commitment and financial resources for implementing the Green Development Policy and the SDV, two high-level events were convened by the Economic Standing Committee of the Parliament, Prime Minister’s Office of Mongolia, MET, MOF in collaboration with PAGE, the International Finance Cooperation (IFC), Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Education for Sustainable

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Development Project (ESD), the Mongolian Bankers’ Association (MBA) and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA); one in March and one in November 2016. Both events brought together over 200 participants from Government, international development partners, embassies, private sector, banks, academia and civil society. A partnership statement was drafted which proposes an independent coordination body which would represent all stakeholders and execute a range of functions: supporting an integrated and multi-sectoral policy formulation process; ensuring policy coherence; establishing a coordinated national approach to pooling and using resources; promoting cross-sectoral and cooperative activities; sustaining a public dialogue on inclusive growth; and ensuring monitoring and accountability.

To further analyze institutional options and structures for coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Vision, an assessment was conducted by UNDP in 2016. A draft report has been prepared by the Consortium of Economics and Business Schools of Mongolia (BEST) and is under review for presentation to the Cabinet. In August 2016, action plan of the Government of Mongolia (2016-2020) was adopted including which includes Environment and Green Development.

Green economy modelling and policy assessment: For advancing the implementation of the NGDP, PAGE is providing capacity building support to MET, MoF and a local policy think tank, the Economic Policy and Competitiveness Research Center (EPCRC), for long-term macro-economic planning and forecasting through system dynamics modelling. In 2016, the EPCRC in collaboration with MET, MOF and PAGE completed a policy assessment report based on T21 modelling. The study shows that under a green investment scenario economic growth in 2030 will be 4.2%, which is significantly higher than the current growth based on a ‘brown’ economy with only 2.4%. Growth under a green scenario will be also more stable than in a business-as-usual scenario. Furthermore, the model signals the following positive effects by 2030, if at least 2% of GDP are invested in green development:

• poverty will be reduced to 10,7 % under green scenario compared to 12.4% under the business as usual (BAU) scenario,

• access to sanitation will be significantly improved to around 59.0% while under the business-as-usual scenario it will be around 32.0%,

• access to clean water will be improved to more than 95% compared to just 64.0% in the business-as-usual scenario,

• building heat loss will be reduced (27.7 % under green scenario and 22.4% under the business as usual scenario),

• job places will be increased (15% higher job creation under green scenario, particularly in the solid waste sector), and

• carbon dioxide emissions per capita will be reduced (3% less per capita emissions compared to the business-as-usual scenario).

Policy measures to incentivize green investments include, for example, the introduction of a sustainable and stable fiscal system, credits to green and environmental friendly industries that meet requirements, i.e. on grey water use, waste management, as well as measures to promote effective utilization of resources/ energy efficiency. In addition, it will be important to focus on increasing foreign direct investment to amplify the effect of local investments in green sectors. The report was discussed at two workshops in March and May 2016 and presented at the high level meeting in November 2016.

In 2017, PAGE, in collaboration with MoF, will update the T21 model by using new national data including data from forestry inventory and material flow accounts. Furthermore, PAGE will contribute to introducing Integrated Green Economy Modelling (IGEM) and support capacity building activities for Government officials and academia.

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Green development indicators and green jobs: The National Statistics Office (NSO) of Mongolia and MET, together with UN Environment, UNITAR and GGGI have been supporting the development and adoption of indicators to measure progress towards green development. Through a consultative process, a set of 108 indicators was identified of which 55 were identified as core indicators to measure progress in the implementation of the National Green Development Policy. In 2016, these indicators were further reviewed with the technical support from GGGI. In 2017 the Government has provided funding for green development indicators and NSO is now working on the methodology of producing green development indicators. With this progress Mongolia will be able to monitor and inform the progress of NGDP implementation.

A particular focus of PAGE Mongolia has been the collection of data on green jobs. NSO with technical guidance by ILO conducted green jobs survey survey in the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2016 using a dedicated module in the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The survey show that in the second quarter of 2016, 33.4% of jobs were in environmental sectors and 10.3% of total jobs were green jobs. This points to considerable room for (1) production of environmental outputs and use of environmental processes in these sectors, as well as (2) improvement in job quality. Given that green jobs indicators are now an integral part of the LFS, information on green jobs will be collected on a quarterly basis allowing for better planning and policy development. The results also allow for employment projection studies thus informing which environmental and/or investment policies have the maximum job creation potential.

In 2017 NSO is taking measures to further review the green jobs methodology in order to integrate it into one of the household-based surveys and start collecting, processing and disseminating data as a part of framework of green development indicators.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

PAGE supported partner ministries in advancing policy development and reform in specific sectors and thematic areas identified by the Government of Mongolia including green construction, sustainable public procurement, waste management, and sustainable finance. PAGE support for sectoral and thematic priority areas directly contribute towards achieving the broader objectives of the NGDP.

Green buildings: The NGDP sets out that the country will introduce appropriate energy efficiency standards and rating system for green buildings to reduce heat loss through buildings by 20 percent by 2020 and by 40 percent in 2030. To achieve this, PAGE is supporting the Government to develop and implement sustainable green school building projects, with the potential to inform a national green building code.

In 2016, the local firm NAP LLC with guidance from UN Environment completed the design for a green school building for a secondary school located in the district of Ulaanbaatar. The design work can be applied to over 220 schools that need to be built over the next 3-4 years in Mongolia (of which 85 need to be built in Ulaanbaatar). It consists of several components: overall architectural planning, architectural structure, building structure, heating and ventilation, water supply and sewage, power equipment, alarm and communication, automation and budget. The green school building will have 640 student capacity covering 0.37 hectares on three floors. The design plan introduces many green technological solutions including energy, water, material selection and waste management. A consulting firm, IT Power UK, was hired to assess energy and water efficiency of the green school building design, which has produced a report on energy modelling and energy efficiency to estimate the building loads. IT Power also developed a green school renewable energy and water management strategy for integrated renewable energy technologies such as solar photovoltaics, solar thermal and wind energy for the buildings. These studies provide estimates for the potential energy savings for each of the proposed actions and a cost benefit analysis of the energy management opportunities. In developing the green school design PAGE has been closely working with GGGI which has been leading a workstream on green kindergarten buildings.

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Discussions have been initiated with the Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the construction of the school using this architectural design. Also, the design work can be applied to construction of other 10 new schools that will be built with the support of ADB in 2017-2019.

In 2017, PAGE will support the formulation of a ‘business case’ for green buildings and conduct a training needs assessment for sector stakeholders (employers, entrepreneurs and workers organizations) followed by capacity-building activities and the set-up of a pool of trainers on green entrepreneurship in the construction and related sectors. Also, PAGE will work with MCUD to renew and develop construction sector policies and building coding system.

Sustainable public procurement: In support of the NGDP goal to ensure that by 2020 at least 20% of public procurement shall be green, PAGE has supported the Ministry of Finance to incorporate sustainability principles into the national public procurement framework. In 2016, a market readiness analysis has been finalized with the support from the UN Environment Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) team. The purpose of the market analysis is to provide initial identification of priority product or commodity areas for SPP and recommendations related to specific sustainability standards or criteria for the priority products. As a result of the prioritization exercise, A4 copy paper, printer ink cartridges and lightweight concrete blocks were selected as priority product categories to be procured via pilot tenders. The legal review and action plan for SPP have been reviewed by stakeholders and are being finalized. In 2017, amendments to the Law on Public Procurement for inclusion of SPP aspects will be drafted and submitted to the Parliament for approval. An Action plan will be submitted to the Government for approval.

Sustainable finance: PAGE and the UN Environment Finance Initiative, in collaboration with other international organisations such as IFC, GGGI, Education for Sustainable Development Project and FMO, are providing support to strategically position Mongolia’s banking sector to unlock private finance for green development. The work is led by the Mongolian Sustainable Finance Initiative (ToC), which is convened by Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA) and guided by the Central Bank of Mongolia, MET, MOF, and the Financial Regulatory Commission. A joint working group was established in May 2016 and has approved a work plan for 2016-2017. As a first step, MBA with the support of PAGE and other international partners, has conducted a market assessment of the demand for green project lending, reviewed the legal, regulatory and tax environment for the fund and developed a concept note for the Mongolian Green Credit Fund. Initial findings of the study were presented at the Sustainable Finance Forum held on 25 November 2016.

In 2017, the findings from the market assessment of the demand for green project lending will be disseminated among key stakeholders including the Government, international development agencies, banking institutions and the private sector. The Prime Minister of Mongolia has recently announced that the government will support the establishment of green credit fund in Mongolia. Furthermore, UN Environment Inquiry started to work with and complement the above initiatives for green financial and capital market development in Mongolia. Specifically, it aims to generate early momentum through the identification and deployment of specific reforms to the policies and practices governing financial markets as well as the capacity and institutional development needs that could consolidate these reforms.

Green economy and trade: Discussions were held with government stakeholders on trade and green economy. An internal mapping was conducted to map out trade and investment related work by different international and national organisations as a basis for PAGE support. PAGE will support the harnessing of trade opportunities in Mongolia based on the discussion and mapping, and the inclusion of trade in several parts of the Action Plan (including Activity 3.2.4 on trade fairs of environmentally friendly technology; Activity 3.5 on promoting trade of low carbon and energy efficient technologies by reflecting the green development principles in international trade agreements and contracts). This work aims to assist government and private sector in identifying and assessing green trade opportunities, tackling barriers and challenges, as well as sharing good practices with other PAGE countries and trading partners.

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Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

Targeted training events on green economy and SDGs, natural resource indicators, and green buildings are key elements contributing towards individual capacity building in Mongolia under the PAGE portfolio. To institutionalize green economy education and training, PAGE has initiated work with Mongolian universities to integrate green economy concepts and approaches in university curricula.

Building capacity of national universities: UNITAR is working with Mongolian universities on integrating green economy concepts and approaches into university programmes and curricula, with a special focus on modelling and sustainable finance. A feasibility study is currently being carried out by a professor from the National University of Mongolia. A first consultative meeting took place on 24 November 2016 with over 30 representatives from the Economics Department and the Business School of the National University of Mongolia, the Institute of Economics and Finance, the State University of Life Science, and the Mongolian University of Science and Technology.

Possible options to be taken forward in 2017 include the integration of green economy concepts in existing courses; the development of two dedicated courses on sustainable finance and green economy modelling as well as the establishment of a certified short course (1-2 weeks) for junior Government staff.

PAGE’s work with tertiary institutions complements a programme by the Education for Sustainable Development Project that focuses on sustainability skills at primary and secondary levels.

Training for policy makers on SDGs, NGDP and GE concepts: A training event was organized by an expert team of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism on 19-20 February 2016 that brought together about 130 representatives from key ministries and the broader environmental sector. The topics included SDGs, NGDP and its action plan, monitoring of NGDP progress and green economy concepts in order to understand the linkages among key national development plans and sectoral policies and highlight the central role of MET for policy coordination. Discussions and training sessions were held on development policies and planning in the context of Sustainable Development Vision of Mongolia, NGDP and indicators, T21 modelling, sustainable finance, green industry, greening of construction sector, sustainable public procurement, ISO 14001 environmental management standard, and green economy learning, media and outreach strategy.

Green building energy and water efficiency training: A 5-day training to 31 Mongolian policy makers and professionals working in the construction sector was completed on 12-16 September 2016 by the consulting firm IT Power in cooperation with UNEP-ROAP under the green buildings support. The first module of the training focused on building energy performance, energy modelling and introduction to the Design Builder energy modelling software and renewable energy. It introduced construction elements, energy efficiency performance indicators, economic assessment, energy modelling simulation software and renewable energy technologies. The second part of the training focused on water management in buildings and introduced water use efficiency solutions including rainwater harvesting.

SDGs and natural resource indicators workshop: The Government has recently approved the State Policy on the Minerals Sector, updated the Law on Investment and amended the Law on Minerals. It was noted that material footprint from the mining industry is high, therefore the indicators to monitor environmental impacts need to be well developed. In this context, the National Statistics Office of Mongolia (NSO), jointly with PAGE and UNEP-ROAP, Ministry of Environment and Tourism and Ministry of Finance, organized a workshop on SDGs and natural resource indicators on 23 May 2016. The workshop brought together 63 participants including senior level representatives of the ministries and agencies, Ulaanbaatar Mayor’s office, and officers from monitoring and evaluation departments of the ministries who are involved in producing data and indicators for policy monitoring. The objectives of the workshop were to exchange views and provide recommendations on the recent

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policy development and coherence between different policies, existing tools, and mechanisms for policy monitoring and review. The participants also discussed strategies and options for practical implementation of a SDG monitoring framework, indicators, methodology, data availability and institutional capacities challenges, and natural resource efficiency indicators.

The indicators on sustainable consumption and production, resource efficiency and green economy and their applicability in Mongolia were also discussed during the workshop. The natural resource indicators include indicators for natural resource use, resource productivity, consumption, trade dependency, eco-efficiency of production and adjusted resource productivity.

Material flow accounts training: Following the SDGs and natural resource indicators workshop, the material flow account training was organized on 24-25 May 2016 for 27 policy-makers and government officers, academia and researchers and practitioners from broad organisations including government, industry and civil society organizations. The training introduced the current state of establishing key physical flow accounts and ways to advance physical flow accounts for Mongolia. Topics included the natural material flow accounts modules, the current status of environmental statistics of Mongolia and national material flow accounts, economy-wide material flow account, natural resource data and indicators, materials footprint and non-materials indicators.

Outlook for PAGE Mongolia: Discussions with the new Government on the possibility of establishing long term institutional support for implementation of the NGDP and the SDV 2030 are ongoing, including the provision of financing to support recurrent policy and analytical work. Opportunities for setting up a coordination mechanism will be further explored based on the study on institutional options conducted by UNDP. A proposal for a financing mechanism will be informed by three studies that are currently under way: 1) Development Finance Assessment (partially funded by ADB, Swiss); 2) Sub-national financing study (partially funded through PEI) in pilot aimags and 3) Public expenditure review and institutional assessment with a focus on biodiversity (supported by Biofin initiative). The finance mechanism would be a public finance complement to the Green Credit Fund which is expected to be launched in 2017.

Beyond the establishment of targeted funds, the potential for scaling up green finance is substantial. Internationally, only a small fraction of bank lending is currently explicitly classified as green according to national definitions. Less than 1% of global bonds are labelled green and less than 1% of the holdings by global institutional investors are green infrastructure assets. In 2017, the UN Environment Inquiry is initiating a strategic roadmap in Mongolia to identify country-specific barriers and opportunities for green finance sector reform, building on existing initiatives and partnerships (e.g. Mongolian Bankers Association).

For the thematic and sectoral workstreams, PAGE will focus on turning analytical work into policy change, including amendments to the public procurement law and translation of the green school building design into the national building code. A new workstream on green trade will be launched with the aim to identify and harnessing trade opportunities arising from the transition to a green economy in key sectors.

4.2 PERUIn recent years, Peru has enjoyed remarkable economic growth but faces major challenges from social inequality and environmental degradation. Addressing these two challenges are key objectives of Peru’s National Strategic Plan for Development “Peru 2021” (Bicentennial Development Plan), which was adopted in 2011. Against this background, PAGE engagement in Peru started in November 2013 with the overall objective to integrate the concept of green growth into national development policies as a means of making it one of the determinants of government policy and investment decisions. Together with Mexico, Chile and Colombia, the country is a member of the Pacific Alliance and it is applying for OECD membership. The integration of environmental sustainability into economic development strategies is an important aspect in the OECD accession process. Peru already became an

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adherent to the OECD Declaration on Green Growth and under the guidance of CEPAL and OECD it underwent an environmental performance review.

PAGE has supported Peru in the development of national and sectoral green growth policies, putting a strong focus on communication and outreach to foster active involvement from a wide range of stakeholders from the public and private sectors and from the civil society. 2016 was a year of presidential elections in Peru resulting in a change in government but also renewed political commitment to the objectives of inclusive green growth. Throughout the electoral year, PAGE was committed to continue the promotion of green growth through a series of joint activities with Ministries and partner institutions.

PAGE multi-stakeholder dialogues include Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion (MTPE), Ministry of Production (PRODUCE), Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI), Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC), Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR), the National Center for Strategic Planning (CEPLAN), the private sector (CONFIEP) and trade unions (CGTP), as well as existing multi-actors platforms such as the National Accord and International Cooperation Agencies like GIZ and GGGI. PAGE will continue to work closely with these stakeholders to advance Peru's objectives for Green Growth. The partnership will extend to the National Council for Competitiveness and Formalization (CNC-F). Placed under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, CNC-F consists of public and private sector representatives and is therefore considered best placed to play a central role in the development of national green growth strategies.

Outcome 1- Integration of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

In June 2016, MINAM approved and published its "Guidelines for Green Growth" (Ministerial Resolution No. 161-2016-MINAM) which lay the foundations for the adoption of green growth as the axis of articulation and integration of environmental and social policies to economic growth. The document provides management strategies and instruments, promotes coordination among sectors and compliance with international commitments. The Ministerial Resolution announces the finalization and publication of the National Green Growth Strategy.

The initial PAGE stocktaking study and the preliminary findings of the PAGE green growth policy impact assessment T21 model have provided evidence of the cross-cutting nature of environmental concerns. Both the guidelines and the elaboration of the national strategy for green growth have benefitted from these and other PAGE studies and activities, including also the green growth strategy roadmap presented at the COP 20 in December 2014 in Lima. A first draft of the national green growth strategy will be available in March 2017.

The new Minister of Environment, in office since August 2016, announced six new priority areas which will be of great relevance for PAGE support in 2017. These are i) sustainable management of the country’s biological diversity, in particular its forest resources, ii) climate change mitigation and adaptation, iii) efficient solid waste management, iv) integrated marine and coastal management, v) prevention, pollution control and eco-efficiency and vi) adequacy of environmental institutions.

Based on an initial scoping study published in 2015, the Research Center of the University of the Pacific (CIUP), with the support of PAGE, developed a green growth policy impact assessment (T21) (20-year prospection). It will result in a comparison between the long-term impact of green growth scenarios and Business as Usual. For this purpose a set of green growth (economic, social and environmental) policies and indicators have been developed for the forestry, agriculture and transport sectors in close consultation with the respective sector representatives. On 8 and 18 February 2016, two workshop were held to present the preliminary findings and to validate, with the sectors, the assumptions used for the model.

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T21 modelling: Considered as a strong decision making tool, the T21 modelling results will be presented to the PAGE National Steering Committee in the first half of 2017. With the changes in government which have taken place in the course of 2016 and with new strategies and priorities under formulation by Ministries, the presentation of the T21 results will be timely. In April 2016, a representative of the CIUP (now advisor to the Minister of Environment) participated in a global T21 modelling workshop to present the advances and findings from Peru. The workshop was held at UN Environment office in Geneva, Switzerland.

In May 2016, PAGE commissioned a study for the design of short-term, fiscal neutral sectorial and trans-sectorial green growth instruments and initiatives which would allow to introduce green growth objectives into the current sector programmes, in agriculture, transport, forestry, production, labour, mining and tourism. The study, closely coordinated with CEPLAN and the MEF, resulted in 12 policy recommendations which were presented to ministry representatives of the new government.

In the meantime, some of the proposed instruments have already been initiated by the respective ministries, such as the creation of the Urban Transport Authority (adoption of law expected in early 2017)6 tax reform on fuel consumption7 law on the promotion of teleworking and increased efficiency in agricultural irrigation techniques8. The above-mentioned study and respective consultations with relevant ministries (like MINAGRI, MTC, PRODUCE, MTPE and SERFOR) have helped shaping these instruments.

National Forum on Green Growth for the Peruvian Economy : On 19 May, CIUP with technical support from PAGE organized the first Public National Forum on Green Growth for the Peruvian Economy. Peru’s final two presidential candidate teams were invited to debate the meaning of and opportunities for green growth in Peru. The event also aimed at strengthening public awareness about this issue. Various activities and strategies to promote and create favourable conditions for green growth were discussed. It was attended by 143 people from business associations, national and international media, private companies, student associations, embassies, municipalities of Metropolitan Lima and UN Agencies.9 A second Public National Forum on Green Growth is expected to take place in the first half of 2017.

CIUP workshops : On February 8 and 18, CIUP organized two workshops to present and validate the policies and assumptions proposed in each sector for the T21 model. MINAM, MTC, MINAGRI, SERFOR and CEPLAN participated in the workshops.

National coordination : The PAGE Peru initiative consists formally of 5 Ministries (MINAM, MTPE, PRODUCE, MINAGRI, MTC). Two committees have been maintained, the National Steering Committee with Vice-Minister representation for overall strategy development was held on July 13th and the Technical Committee with Director representation for direct follow-up on PAGE activities was held on February 24th, and on June 28th and 30th. However, as described above, collaboration was extended to other ministries and also to private sector and civil society representatives.

To coordinate and align green growth related activities, a range of meetings were held throughout the year with organisations like the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) - to jointly support the elaboration of the national green growth strategy, the World Wildlife Fund - to jointly promote the sustainable use of biological diversity, and with the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) and the National Environment Fund (FONAM) to provide PAGE support in the “3rd Workshop on Developing Strategies for a Low Carbon Economy”.

6http://www.leyes.congreso.gob.pe/Documentos/2016_2021/ Proyectos_de_Ley_y_de_Resoluciones_Legislativas/PL0042820161019.pdf7 http://www.elperuano.com.pe/NormasElperuano/2016/11/11/1452399-1.html8http://www.minagri.gob.pe/portal/component/search/?searchword=SISTEMA%20DE %20RIEGO&searchphrase=all&limitstart=09 http://pageperu.org.pe/2016/05/20/peru-representantes-de-partidos-que-disputan-proximo-gobierno-debatieron-propuestas-de-crecimiento-verde

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Currently, after the changes in government, a new PAGE Peru Steering Committee and Technical Committee is being established. MINAM recommended to incorporate the National Council for Competitiveness and Formalization (CNCF) into the PAGE Technical Committee and Steering Committee due to its responsibility to coordinate and promote intersectoral green growth strategies. On December 9, the Steering Committee and Technical Committee met incorporating CNCF and GGGI.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

To promote the application of the national law on teleworking, approved on 3 November 2015, MTPE signed a national pact with regional governments, companies, civil society and business associations in November 2016. The pact establishes a plan of action to generate a favourable environment that allows to implement practices of teleworking in the public and private entities, promoting them as a tool for social inclusion of vulnerable groups and a mechanisms to reduce commuting-related emissions.

PAGE’s support to MPTE’s teleworking strategy dates back to 2015 and its technical assistance in the formulation of a National Strategy for Green Jobs which introduced teleworking as a strategic axis. PAGE supported the organization of the 1st International Seminar on Teleworking Policies, held in Lima on 26 October 2015 (the event was officially announced by MTPE through the Ministerial Resolution No. 205 -2015-TR). Further, PAGE supported also the organization of the International Congress on "Teleworking: The Future Jobs" held on 23 and 24 June 2016 in order to promote the adoption of the teleworking modality as an instrument for improving productivity and working conditions, in particular also for vulnerable groups.

At the provincial level, PAGE assisted MTPE and Regional Directorates of Labour and Employment Promotion in incorporating green growth objectives into regional youth employment plans to provide young people with job opportunities that respond to future economic trends. New regional youth employment plans were prepared for the regions of Arequipa, Piura, La Libertad and Cajamarca, each with a planning horizon of five years, 2016 to 2021. In Piura and Arequipa, these new plans were enacted through regional ordinances. The objectives of these plans are as follows: (i) To promote, increase and improve the productive and formal employment of young people in the region in priority sectors with broad potential for sustainable development; (ii) Promote and increase access to quality technical training for productive employment in the region focusing on the conservation and reuse of natural resources. (iii) To increase and improve the entrepreneurial capacities of the young people and the development of their environmentally-friendly ventures and ensuring their sustainability. In La Libertad and Cajamarca the issuing of ordinances is still pending.

Trade unions consultations: The study "Towards a Greener and Fairer Economy in Peru: A Trade Union Proposal" was completed and presented in March 2016. The study summarizes the results of trade unions consultations held at national and regional level, pointing at the impacts of environmental degradation on employment and decent work. Further it presents trade union proposals for a just transition towards more sustainable economic activities in key sectors. The study was developed by Sustain labour and PAGE.10

Forest management: SERFOR and the ILO Lab project11 partnered with PAGE to elaborate a Guide on "Good Practices for Forest Competitiveness" (also incorporating good practices for the promotion of occupational safety and health) as well as the preparation of a legal Technical Report. Once finalised, SERFOR will use this contribution of PAGE to design and complement its incentive systems to the entities that have concession of forest management.

In the context of the T21 modelling concerning the forestry sector, PAGE engaged in meetings with MINAGRI and SERFOR (National Forest and Soil Conservation Service Entity) to discuss policy

10 http://pageperu.org.pe/2016/05/20/peru-propuestas-sindicales-hacia-una-economia-mas-verde-y-justa/)11 www.ilo.org/thelab

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proposals to reduce deforestation and enhance sustainable forest management at regional levels. These consultations resulted in the development of a concept note for potential action in this area containing the following work streams closely associated with the objectives of UN REDD: i) strengthening inclusive governance; ii) increased productivity through technical assistance focussing on business management tools; iii) financial mechanisms to offset carbon capture funding payments; iv) elimination of forced labour; v) empowerment of indigenous communities and inter-culturality. The concept note suggests a pilot testing in the region of San Martín.

Enhancing National Dialogue: In 2015, PAGE established contact with the “Acuerdo Nacional” (AN), a forum consisting of parties represented in Congress and representative institutions of the civil society that discussed and agrees on State policies. The contact with the AN had two purposes, one to discuss the importance of green growth and two to discuss opportunities for coordinated action among relevant national actors. A follow-up meeting with the AN is planned for 2017, as soon as the new PAGE Steering Committee is formed.

In February 2016, PAGE assisted national consultations and working sessions on the issue of sustainable trade and thereby linked up with the UN project on Andean grains (FAO, ILO and UNESCO) and the Eco Trade Budget Program (MINAM, MINCETUR, PRODUCE). In 2017 PAGE’s efforts will focus on the availability and management of water resources, an issue of high relevance to communities but also to the production of agricultural goods.

Due to the election period, the Green Industry Forum initially scheduled for 2016 has been postponed to early 2017. The event will allow for an exchange of international experiences both in the public and private sectors, to promote the creation of new SMEs in Peru that focus on waste management and waste treatment.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

In October 2015, PAGE Peru launched an important media competition for professional journalists and university students. The contest aimed at promoting and rewarding journalists who, through their dissemination, publicity and publications, seek to raise public awareness about the benefits and importance of green growth in Peru. In this context, 1 university student and 5 journalists were rewarded for their great work (In total, 5 undergraduate students and 37 professional journalists participated). The journalists won a scholarship for capacity building and could travel to Europe to participate in the ITC-ILO Green Economy Academy 2016.

In February 2016, PAGE Peru conducted a training for media and opinion leaders about the adaptation of the T21 Model. The main objective was to train journalists on the content of the 1st Green Growth Forum and to include their perspectives on the subject so they could include their doubts and questions as part of the Forum's agenda. It was attended by 25 journalists and opinion leaders.

4.3 SENEGALFor more than fifty years, Senegal has experienced rates of economic growth close to the rate of population growth. This poor performance has not permitted a sustainable reduction in poverty. The weakness of GDP growth is explained in part by the insufficient level of productivity, inadequate economic infrastructure, difficult access to factors of production (water, quality inputs), the vulnerability of agriculture and tourism to climatic shocks, the weak structure of agro-pastoral value chains, problems with access to land and appropriate finance, and governance issues. Facing these challenges, Senegal has shown an active interest in transitioning to a green economy. This is outlined in the Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE)- the national development plan – adopted in early 2014 which charts the country’s development strategy for the medium to long term up to 2030. Against this background, Senegal’s Ministry of Environment requested support from PAGE in early 2014. PAGE intervention in Senegal is geared towards supporting the implementation of the Plan Senegal Emergent, in particular its five-year Priority Action Plan (PAP 2014-2018) in its Pillar 1 - Structural

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Transformation of the Economy and Growth and Pillar 2- Human Capital, Social Protection and Sustainable Development.

Senegal made important progress in reframing its economic policy around sustainability with the adoption of a National Strategy for Sustainable Development in 2015, considering the green economy as an important pillar of its development process. Beyond the executive branch of government, parliamentarians, local majors and members of the economic, social and environmental council adopted a strategic orientation document on green economy, providing views and perspectives from main elected bodies in the country. These policy developments strengthened the policy architecture and institutional engagement and ownership in process of transition towards a greener economy, informed by further analytical studies and assessment on green industry, green economy best practices and a mapping of existing initiatives.

Outcome 1 - Integration of IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

A Green Economy week, held on 3-5 May 2016, provided a national forum involving more than 70 representatives from government, members of parliament, the economic, social and environmental council as well as civil society and academic institutions. The three day event offered a space for representatives of government, the private sector and leading think-tanks and academic institutions to review the state of knowledge, research and analytical gaps and ways to improve training and human capacity for a successful transition to a green economy. The event addressed critical areas of public policy for inclusive green growth, private sector development, social protection, green industrialization and employment creation, which are in line with the priorities that Senegal has put forward in its Plan Senegal Emergent. A national platform was established during the academy bringing together a dozen institutions including the national statistical agency, the Institute of Environmental Sciences, the Center for Economic Development Policy of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and ENDA Energy, with the aim to progressively integrate green economy learning content in their research and academic programmes. 

Position paper for the Strategic Guidance on IGE: In 2015, a committee of members of parliament, members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) and local mayors, with the technical advisory support of PAGE, produced a National Strategic Orientation Document on Green Economy. This guiding document builds on the analytical findings from the PAGE green economy assessment (completed in 2014) and other studies providing research-based evidence on opportunities and challenges of a transition to a green economy in Senegal. The Orientation Document is intended to serve as a tool for the three institutions of elected representatives to raise awareness and build capacity within their institutions as well as using the document for advocacy vis-à-vis the executive branch of government. The Strategic Guidance document demonstrates the benefits of inclusive green economy for Senegal and outlines actions undertaken by the CESE and the National Assembly to support a green economy transition, including recommended actions for integrating green economy into the national development planning. In 2016, a position paper for the Strategic Guidance Document has been completed with the support of PAGE and other initiatives to assist the government of Senegal. A national workshop will be organized in 2017 to support implementation of the Action Plan of the Strategic Guidance on Green Economy.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

At the sectoral and thematic level PAGE has identified four main areas of action, aligned with the priorities of the PSE and equally consistent with the findings of the green economy assessment: (i) entrepreneurship development for job creation and self-employment (PSE 3.2.8); (ii) waste management (PSE 3.2.6); (iii) energy efficiency and local material development for social housing and construction industry (PSE 3.1.3 and 3.2.6); and (iv) greening industry (PSE 3.1.4 and 3.1.6).

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Activities in 2016 consisted in advancing work in these areas in partnerships with other programmes, making PAGE a convening and catalysing platform for green economy initiatives in Senegal.

The programme of support to the creation of green jobs (PACEV), which constitutes a mechanism to give effect to the national strategy on green jobs formulated through PAGE in 2015, is under implementation. In 2016, PAGE held consultations with PACEV on defining sectoral focuses and budgeting for PAGE’s contribution to PACEV regarding capacity building.

Two priority areas for the national government’s Plan Senegal Emergent define the focus of PAGE support for 2016, (i) waste management and recycling, following a new law banning a category of plastic bags and (ii) energy efficiency and construction. In 2016, PAGE maintained a dialogue with the National Programme on Energy Efficiency and Use of Local Material for Sustainable Construction and the National programme on waste management (PNGD) and the energy efficiency project. A national workshop is planned in 2017 to promote public-private dialogue on green industry. A review of tax measures to promote IGE is under preparation.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

On 3-5 May 2016, 70 representatives from policy, research and analysis institutions participated in the first edition of the Green Economy Academy in Dakar, Senegal. The national academy demonstrated an uptake and ownership of the needed intellectual effort to bridge knowledge gaps and fill training needs. It addressed the critical areas of public policy for inclusive green growth, private sector development, social protection, green industrialization and employment creation, which are in line with the priorities that Senegal has put forward in its Plan Senegal Emergent. The two major outcomes of the Academy were the establishment of a platform for green economy learning and an agreement to work collaboratively to formulate a national strategy on green economy. The experience of Senegal in the organization of the national academy on green economy and its institutional follow-up contributed to help the planning of a similar national academy for Burkina in 2016. In 2017, PAGE plans to support research and training institutions to create a network of learning institutions.

4.4 GHANAGhana has achieved strong economic growth over the past two decades, out-performing regional peers at reducing poverty and improving social indicators, which can be attributed to political stability, good governance and increasing export revenues from cocoa, gold and, more recently, oil production. However, the continuous exploitation of the country’s rich natural resources, the resulting environmental liabilities and the economic crisis from 2006 to 2009, centering on food, fuel and finance, stimulated the Government of Ghana to begin a transition to a more sustainable approach. The Government of Ghana recognizes that sound environmental management and sustaining healthy ecosystems are pivotal to the country’s socio-economic development. Consequently, using science, technology and innovation, the government has put in place policies to reverse environmental deterioration and to increase resilience to climate change. These decisions are embodied in Ghana’s national development policy framework, Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda I and II (GSGDA).

2016 has largely been a transitional period in terms of PAGE implementation in Ghana with the re-organization of the institutional set up. The lead PAGE coordination role moved from UNIDO to UNDP during the year under review. As a result of the change and a change in government in 2016, implementation of planned activities has slowed down during the year. Much of the effort was also concentrated on finalization of the logical framework, work plan and associated budget for full implementation in 2017.

Outcome 1 - Integration of IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

With the successful organization of a Green Economy week in December 2015 coordinated by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), PAGE in Ghana is

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supporting the government to incorporate inclusive green economy aspects in leading government policies and action plans such as the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II (GSGDAII 2014-2017), the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) and Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The GSGDAII aims to attain “a stable, united, inclusive and prosperous country with opportunities for all by levering Ghana's natural resource endowments, agricultural potentials and human resource base for accelerated economic growth and job creation through value addition.” Four key policy priority areas were selected for implementation in 2016 and for further embedding green economy aspects into the national agenda i) resource efficiency in agro-industries, ii) GE public advocacy and social dialogue iii) GE training/capacity building and iv) GE knowledge sharing. The engagement with government, national institutions, private sector and other project stakeholders has allowed the various strands of green economy in the country to be brought together for PAGE to build on in 2017.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

PAGE met with government counterparts in 2016 to discuss options for advancing various evidence-based sectoral reforms. There activities will be initiated in 2017 and include the following: 1) support for the development and promulgation of relevant fiscal, industrial and labour "green" policies; 2) revision, validation and training of he private sector on the national Action Plan on greening of industry; 3); impact assessments of private sector training; 4) support for formulation and validation of a strategy for leveraging additional green financing, including a National Green Finance Roundtable; and 4) training for Ministry of Finance on green economy.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

As part of capacity building efforts, representatives from Ghana – including from the Ministry of Finance, the University of Ghana, Trade Union Congress, Private Enterprise Federation, and the Gomoa East District Assembly – attended the 2nd Global Academy on Green Economy, organized by PAGE and the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy from 3 to 14 October 2016.

4.5 MAURITIUSMauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to a middle-income diversified economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors and a stable political situation since its independence in 1968. Important economic sectors include sugar, tourism, textiles and apparel, and financial services, which are expanding into fish processing, information and communications technology, and hospitality and property development. Despite stable economic growth, environmental circumstances and climate change impacts place the country at great risk. The present government has developed a mid-term strategy ‘Achieving Meaningful Change (2016-2020)’ and has announced the ambitious and long term ‘Second Economic Miracle and the Vision 2030’ with key focus areas on addressing unemployment, alleviating poverty and sustainable development, among others. The new government has placed special focus on inclusive growth and investment in the economy with emphasis on infrastructure development and promoting the “Blue Economy” while at the same time enhancing human capital development to reduce high levels of unemployment which remain in the 8.5-9% range. PAGE is supporting this strategy and Vision 2030 based on IGE assessment of six economic sectors, and assists in developing solid waste and industrial waste strategies, preparing the National Marshall Plan against poverty and social exclusion, advancing green skills and entrepreneurial development, public environment and expenditure review, and catalysing domestic finance.

Outcome 1 – Integration of IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

Vision 2030: The government of Mauritius is preparing the Vision 2030 Blueprint, a comprehensive and coordinated National Economic Development Strategy to achieve a high-income, sustainable and inclusive economy by 2030. The Blueprint is intended to provide an integrated, holistic and coordinated direction towards realizing the national development goals and will include five-year

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Implementation Plans as well as Action Plans by all ministries until 2030. The Vision 2030 is a holistic roadmap with a fifteen-year horizon, and the government aims to support it through sectoral and thematic policies and plans. Support to the Vision 2030 continued in 2016 where PAGE is supporting the Strategic Policy and Planning Department of the Prime Minister's Office in drafting the Vision 2030 document. With the support of the UNDP country office, PAGE provided services of a technical consultant to review the draft document especially proposed policies related to green economy, and sustainability aspects such as development of inclusive green businesses and sustainable consumption and production practices. Once the document is launched for wider consultations and inputs, PAGE will be involved in the development of action plans in specific areas for its implementation. In 2017, PAGE continues to support the Vision 2030 process by preparing action plans and implementation. A mapping exercise for SDGs is ongoing by the government of Mauritius, which will provide avenues for PAGE support in achieving the national targets related to the SDGs.

In the budget speech for 2016-2017, Green Economy is mentioned as a key strategy for developing local renewable energy sources with new high-value green jobs potential while at the same time addressing environmental issues and reducing future oil import bills. This will open up opportunities for SMEs, cooperative societies and small investors to invest in renewable energy sector. The government also plans to increase renewable electricity production through solar panels installed on rooftops by involving 10,000 households.

Marshall Plan against poverty: In close collaboration with the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment, PAGE provided substantial and financial support for preparation and drafting of the Marshall Plan against poverty in 2015. The Marshall Plan is already part of the Vision 2030 document as one of the action plans for implementation. The Marshall Plan addresses sustainable development with a cross-sectoral approach and a focus on inclusive economic growth, socioeconomic development of the most vulnerable groups and environmental sustainability. The Marshall Plan was officially launched during the Budget Speech on 29 July 2016 by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development with funding allocations for its implementation. In 2017, an impact assessment of the National Empowerment Foundation is planned with PAGE support based on the recommendations of the Marshal Plan.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

Public Environment and Expenditure Review: The Public Environment Expenditure Review (PEER) has been completed in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOEFD). The PEER evaluated how environmental expenditures are integrated into the national medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and sector budgetary process. The review took into account six key spheres of policy development, institutional structures and financial management. The review covered the period between 2011 and 2014 and takes into account past and current environmental advancements in Mauritius. The methodology was built on primary and secondary data/information acquired through relevant documents, reports and wide-ranging stakeholder consultations and engagement of public officers. The report reviews and assesses environmental ministries and institutions, their programmes related to climate relevancy and responsibility to areas of environment and climate. It makes recommendations towards a more efficient approach to planning and budgetary processes, a sustainable environmental policy framework and related legislation necessary for the transition to a green economy. The final document has been submitted to the government for endorsement. In 2017, PAGE plans to support tracking of environmental expenditure based on the recommendations of PEER through creating a coding system in the treasury account system with a capacity building component.

Industrial Waste Assessment: PAGE, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Environment Sustainable Development and Beach Management jointly with the private sector initiated work on an Industrial Waste Assessment (IWA) for Mauritius. The aim of the IWA is to stimulate industrial symbiosis through the establishment of recycling activities and a circular economy. The assessment 1) developed a methodology to identify, characterize and quantify different solid waste streams

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generated by industrial activities in Mauritius, thus contributing to the identification of opportunities to set up industrial symbiosis projects and programmes; 2) reviewed the legislative framework to identify gaps in the country’s regulatory framework and propose a set of key policies to facilitate the management of industrial solid waste and the recovery of materials and energy from industrial solid waste; and 3) addressed capacity building gaps by establishing a discussion forum with local experts, and providing training on conditions that promote industrial symbiosis and the building of an integrated waste management framework. The assessment shows that the industrial solid waste generated at industrial sites can be classified into eight categories for which policy recommendations were also prepared to support the recovery of materials and energy.

The IWA covers industrial waste characterisation in 25 enterprises with a view to determining business opportunities such as waste use, reuse, recycling and exchange, and appropriate review of the legislative/institutional framework for the management of industrial waste. A Steering Committee, co-chaired by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection and Business Mauritius, coordinated the entire process of design and implementation of the project. A validation workshop was held on 25 May 2016 to present the results of Industrial Waste Assessment with the aim of establishment of a recycling industry and shift towards an IGE and more competitive economy. The report is in final stages of completion and will be released in early 2017 at a high level event. As part of the project, a training workshop on Industrial Waste Characterization was held on 22-23 February for 31 participants from different sectors and public officials, followed by on-site training at 25 enterprises.

Based on extensive stakeholder mobilization and IWA results and recommendations, Ministry of Industry Commerce and Consumer Protection, Business Mauritius – the main private sector association of the country – PAGE and Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) are planning to join forces for formulation of a Green Industrial Policy, Strategy and Action Plan with a clean technology focus which can directly contribute towards achieving the NDCs of Mauritius agreed under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Green finance: PAGE is working with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and private sector actors such as the Mauritius Bankers Association and Financial Services Commission to mobilise finance and enhance investments in greening the Mauritian economy to achieve the sustainable development goals. A study on Overview of Green Finance is planned to be completed in 2017.

Fiscal Policy study: With the support of a UN Environment project, a new fiscal policy study for Mauritius has been completed. The study identifies options to reform fiscal policies in the energy, transport, waste and water sectors to revise fiscal instruments to better reflect environmental impacts, induce behaviour change and create additional fiscal space for green investments. The report sets out a series of improvements that can be implemented to rationalise the existing structures and mobilise resources for innovation and investment. Based on these insights, the analysis provides suggestions for fiscal policy reform for the next phase of PAGE support in Mauritius. The analysis comes at a key moment of PAGE’s involvement in Mauritius.

Outcome 3 – Strengthening Individual, institutional and planning capacities for IGE action at the national level

Training on IWA: As part of PAGE support for Industrial Waste Assessment, a training workshop on industrial waste characterization was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Consumer protection held on 22-23 February 2016. A total of 31 participants from the textile, chemical, recycling, agro-industry, seafood and printing sectors as well as public officials attended the training. The workshop provided an overview of environmental legislation in Mauritius; opportunities for industrial symbiosis (waste generated by one enterprise sold to another enterprise); waste process flow and its analysis in waste management; assessment of data on waste generated by industrial sectors; and recycling and energy recovery practices in Mauritius. It was followed by a one-day on-site training at each of the 25 enterprises on industrial waste characterization. The Minister of

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Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection, was present at the occasion and emphasised that the project is in line with the Government's vision to promote a green and sustainable Mauritius. The minister underscored that the project will be beneficial for local enterprises, while adding that it is imperative for enterprises to implement clean and ecological means of production . ‘The recycling of waste and utilisation of recycled materials reduce the costs of production and contribute to the reduction of the negative impacts on the environment’, he said.

In 2017, PAGE plans to organize training of trainers events for civil servants on how to develop and deliver training on IGE and a learning needs assessment among civil servants with an IGE component. Additionally, PAGE plans to integrate e-learning courses on IGE into the national on-line platform for civil servants.

Collaboration with other initiatives: PAGE is partnering with SWITCH Africa Green project (SAG) in a number of countries. In Mauritius, SAG is funding six country projects and three multi-country projects that include four sectors identified in the Mauritius Green Economy Assessment produced by UN Environment and PAGE in 2015: agriculture, energy, tourism, waste, and green skills development for employment in a green economy. PAGE is currently collaborating with the SAG project by providing capacity development support for some of these projects through the planned activities for green entrepreneurship and skills development. The SAG national coordinator is supporting PAGE work in Mauritius in the absence of a dedicated PAGE coordinator with the support from the UN Resident Coordinator and the UNDP country team.

4.6 BURKINA FASOBurkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country has limited natural resources and relies heavily on thermal fossil fuels (about 90% of the total power generation capacity). Burkina Faso’s economy is primarily based on agriculture, employing about 80% of the population, where cotton remains the country’s most important cash crop. Despite slow economic growth during 2014-2015, the economy is forecasted to grow at 5.2% in 2016 with positive outlook for the next three years depending on the new democratically elected government’s ability to foster political peace to ensure institutional stability among other factors.

During 2014 and 2015, PAGE supported the integration of IGE goals and targets into the national planning documents such as the updated version of the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development (SCADD2), which was not adopted due to a changing political situation. The uncertain political situation affected the pace of PAGE support to the government during this period. Elections for a new government took place in November 2015 and the Cabinet was appointed in January 2016. The new Minister of Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change, H.E. Batio Bassiere, has confirmed Burkina Faso’s commitment to develop and adopt a National Strategy for Green Economy and accompanying Action Plan. The new government decided to replace SCADD2 by the National Programme for Economic and Social Development (PNDES 2016-2020) led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In this context, PAGE aims to support the implementation of this national programme and to integrate IGE into the PNDES which can serve as the backbone of the transition to a green economy in Burkina Faso.

In the short-term, PAGE will support four priority areas identified by the government: i) support for the design and adoption of the National Strategy for Green Economy and Action Plan; ii) greening of priority sectoral policies; iii) individual and institutional capacity building on IGE; and iv) communication and awareness on IGE. The priority sectors identified through consultative process include agriculture, extractive industries and tourism. To achieve these objectives, PAGE will work closely with the Poverty-Environment Initiative, SWITCH Africa Green and other partners.

Outcome 1 – Integration of IGE goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

PAGE conducted a mission to Burkina Faso in June 2016 to meet the new government and other key stakeholders to discuss key priority areas of PAGE support to the new government. The organisation

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of a national IGE Academy and National Strategy and Action Plan were identified by the government as two key areas for PAGE support for 2016 and early 2017.

The National Academy on Green Economy took place from 14-16 December 2016 in Ouagadougou. The academy was jointly organized by the National Government through the Ministry of Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change (Directorate General of Green Economy) in collaboration with PAGE, Poverty and Environment Initiative, SWITCH-Africa Green, Global Green Growth Institute and in collaboration with the « Institut de la Francophonie pour le développement durable ». The « Institut des sciences de l’environnement » of Senegal was specially invited to present the experience of Senegal – the other PAGE country from the sub-region - in its transition to a green economy.

The academy gathered more than 300 participants from government agencies, governors of provinces, parliamentarians, local authorities, academia, civil society and the private sector. Four minister-level representatives attended the opening session. An exhibition on green economy in practice ran in parallel to the academy where many pilot projects on renewable energy, waste management, and organic-products were presented to the public. A series of nine elective sessions were held on the second day which tackled a variety of themes of national priority including: the greening of industry, fiscal policy reforms, sustainable trade, capacity building, green economy and climate change, green and inclusive growth, forestry policies and green jobs creation through entrepreneurship development. The Minister of Environment and the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Burkina Faso, as well as the Head of the European Commission delegation for West African countries and the Head of Cooperation from the Embassy of Sweden participated in the academy.

The collaboration with bilateral donors has demonstrated the impressive commitment of partners for a green economy transition in Burkina Faso. PAGE is in constant communication with representative of DSC on the ground, namely, the Embassy of Sweden and the European Union Delegation. Coordination is ongoing to align agendas and support on the area of green economy in Burkina Faso.

During the three days of the academy, the UN delegation had the honour to be received by the Prime Minister, Mr. Paul Kaba Thiebai, and members of his cabinet including the Minister of Environment. This was a unique opportunity to reconfirm the support of the UN agencies to Burkina in its efforts for sustainable development and to combat poverty in the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the National Economic and Social Development Plan (2016-2020).

PAGE and the Ministry of Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change (MEEVCC) agreed to support the development of a national green economy strategy, along with a three-year action plan for its implementation in Burkina Faso. The aim of the strategy is to strengthen the integration of green economy in all sectors of development, which are key components of Burkina Faso's National Policy on Sustainable Development (PNDD). An initial draft of the strategy has already been put forward by the government, which highlighted several main axes of operation including action on green jobs, sustainable consumption, production and trade, green finance, combatting climate change, and national capacity building on green economy. The formation of a national steering committee is under way and will be finalised in early 2017.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

A fiscal study is in final stages of completion for Burkina Faso (supported by PEI and UNDP). Proposals for environmental taxation supported by a fiscal study include accessible and realistic instruments in key economic sectors of mining, transport, energy, agriculture, and waste industries to help Burkina Faso’s green economy transition and can provide added revenue to the government. However, due to change of the government and subsequent replacement of SCADD 2 with PNDES, the fiscal study needs to be revised in order to provide relevant policy proposals for the new government programme.

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The findings of the green industry study can be used for inputs to the ongoing PAGE support to integrate IGE into the National Programme for Economic and Social Development and its implementation, notably to the update of the Industrial Policy of the country which is being revisited by the new administration. The study also provides a basis for sectoral work related to sustainable trade, a work stream currently being explored in coordination with representatives from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Handicraft and the Chamber of Commerce. Information on the PAGE E-learning course on Green Economy and Trade was circulated to stakeholders at the National Academy on Green Economy via the session on sustainable trade – the first in-country training on this topic – led by UN Environment’s Environment and Trade Hub. In addition to a work stream on sustainable trade, in 2017 PAGE plans to support the government to develop sectoral policies for green economy, including sustainable consumption and production, and green industry.

Outcome 3 – Strengthening Individual, institutional and planning capacities for IGE action at the national level

PAGE works in close collaboration with the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) and SWITCH-Africa Green initiative in Burkina Faso to provide a coordinated support to the government for capacity building and institutional strengthening. A joint work-plan was developed by the three initiatives for 2015- 2016 period where PAGE national coordinator is also coordinating the SWITCH-Africa green initiative. PAGE provides policy-level technical support at the national and sectoral level where as PEI supports the government at the decentralized level and the associated budgetary mechanisms for integrating poverty and environment linkages. SWITCH-Africa Green initiative is supporting the government in development of green businesses and eco-entrepreneurship and the promotion of sustainable consumption and production practices. In 2017, PAGE will support the promotion of green entrepreneurship and training with a focus on youth in addition to the design of a communication strategy on green economy and sustainable development.

4.7 JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINAChina’s new 13th Five-Year plan (2016-2020) has placed green development as one of the top national priorities, which indicates a clear development direction for provincial governments to implement. The provincial 13th Five-Year Plan in Jiangsu also proposed a green development approach for building a resource-efficient and environment-friendly society that will facilitate building an inclusive and thriving Jiangsu. With PAGE support, Jiangsu Province of China aims to achieve two main objectives: 1) to identify and exemplify successes and good practices at the policy, business, and sub-provincial levels to inspire other provinces and countries; and 2) to identify and analyze major challenges to inclusive green economy policy implementation.

A network of partners has been established to provide inputs and support for project and programme planning and implementation, including national partners such as the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of National Development and Reform Commission, the China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Centre of Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Tongji University and Beijing Normal University. At the provincial level, partners include Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, Nanjing Commerce Bureau and Nanjing University as well as international partners such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Green Technology Centre Korea. Through PAGE support and initiatives three cities outside of Jiangsu Province were inspired and have expressed interest in working on green economy by investing their own financial resources with the technical support from the UN Environment.

Outcome 1- Integration of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

IGE elements are already integrated in the development plans and sectoral strategies of Jiangsu province. PAGE is supporting the implementation of these policies by identifying challenges and opportunities. The stocktaking report highlighted some of these aspects such as the current energy-heavy economic structure, rapid urbanization, unequal economic and technology development at the provincial level and other challenges in the energy, agricultural and industrial sectors. A work plan to

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address some of these challenges have been prepared to guide the next phase of project implementation.

A stocktaking report for China’s Jiangsu province was launched on 17 June 2016. The report maps the development status of the province, current planning and policies under the 13th Five-Year-Plan, (including in environmental protection, energy savings and emission reduction, the promotion of environmental industry, green jobs, poverty reduction etc.). The report also discusses key challenges, priorities and provides recommendations for further action. The stocktaking report has documented good practices in the province at the policy, sub-regional action plans and businesses practices, which can be shared nationally and internationally to catalyse action towards IGE in other provinces and countries. Based on the findings of the report and the discussions with local experts during the launch event, PAGE will work with local government and a national institute to design and conduct in-depth research and programme to assist Jiangsu’s transition to a green economy.

One stakeholder consultation was organized on 17 June 2016 at the launch event of the stocktaking report. Around 60 participants attended the launch event, including the Director-General of the Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB), Deputy Director of Department of International Cooperation of Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Deputy Director of the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Deputy Head of Academy of Macroeconomic Research of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as well as representatives from national and international agencies, such as Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Nanjing Commerce Bureau, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University, WWF, Southeast University, Green Technology Centre Korea (GTCK), and representatives from media. Apart from discussing the result of the report, local stakeholders also discussed priorities for PAGE support for next phase, which include green economy indicators, green trade, sustainable value chains for textiles, energy transition, green jobs training, and organization of a provincial green economy academy.

The province is in the process of establishing inter-departmental steering committee with members from national government and provincial governments and civil society.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

The lack of a commonly agreed green economy indicators framework at the provincial level has been identified as one of the key challenges where PAGE is providing technical support. A Green Economy indicators workshop was organized on 18 June 2016 by the Nanjing University to start discussions on the application of a measurement framework for green economy progress. Based on the IGE Progress Measurement Framework developed by PAGE, the discussions focused on the application of the framework in Jiangsu drawing on inputs from experts from national and provincial research institutes. Around 20 participants, from research institutes, governmental agencies and civil societies, attended the discussion, the lead local partner took note of points discussed and started designing their work plan.

Green Economy and Trade: meetings and discussions were held on green economy and trade with a number of public and private stakeholders, including the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Commerce, Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province, Special Commissioner’s Office of the Ministry of Commerce in Jiangsu Province, R20 (Switzerland based NGO on climate friendly technologies), International Trade Centre, the China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Centre of Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and International Cooperation. Potential areas were identified for policy support, such as trade in renewable energy products (e.g. solar panels), south-south trade in environmental goods and services, and sustainable value chains for textile and dyeing products.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

The Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (PRCEE) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection strengthened their green economy research capacity by conducting the

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stocktaking study for Jiangsu. Apart from PAGE activities, the PRCEEE is also engaged in conducting other green economy related research and has produced a report analyzing China’s Ecological Civilization under a UN Environment-supported project. The report was released at the UNEA 2 by the Executive Director of UN Environmentand the Chinese Environment Minister.

Other national institutes collaborating with PAGE include the International Environmental Development Center of Jiangsu, China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Center of Ministry of Environmental Protection, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning and Academy of Macroeconomic Research of National Development and Reform Commission. A total of 11 Chinese participates attended the 2016 PAGE Academy.

The following areas of support were identified during the inception phase through a consultative process for implementation in 2017: Nanjing University (in collaboration with CAEP) will produce a indicators framework tailored to

sub-regional level to measure green transition progress and provide policy recommendations to areas that could be further improved. This includes macro, meso and micro level indicators to assist the government in planning at the policy level which can also be helpful for the private sector. A workshop was organized in June 2016 to discuss initial ideas and explore potential linkages with IGE monitoring framework developed by PAGE. An expert workshop to discuss the initial result of study is planned to take place in the second quarter of 2017.

Jiangsu is a large industrialized province and has plans to further develop its capacity to increase international competitiveness. Since Jiangsu’s energy consumption is very high (with a large percentage of coal), an assessment on greening Jiangsu’s industrial parks from the energy transition perspective will be conducted by PRCEE. A pilot industrial park will be selected as a case study for which activities are expected to start in the first quarter of 2017.

An assessment will be conducted for Jiangsu’s trade in renewable energy and environmental goods and services with developing countries, including potential opportunities and challenges backed up with case studies and recommendations. Workshops to convene different stakeholders on government support, business and civil society engagement will be organized starting from the first quarter of 2017.

Lack of knowledge and understanding of green economy is one of the main challenges identified during stakeholder consultations. In this regards, a one-week provincial green economy academy will be organized by the provincial government in the second quarter of 2017.

Building on previous projects, training for green entrepreneurship and a training for trainers will be organized to increase the green employability in Jiangsu in 2017.

To balance economic growth and environmental concerns, green industry and business have a leading role to play. The green industry certification scheme will be developed to measure the greenness of business practices and provide a guideline for reform.

4.8 SOUTH AFRICA

In 2015, South Africa (SA) joined the PAGE programme to support and strengthen the implementation of the country’s vision of transitioning to “a low-carbon, resource-efficient and pro-employment” development path. South Africa has made significant strides in adopting green economy strategies, with the hallmark signing of the Green Economy Accord in 2011. PAGE outcomes and priority actions reflect the country’s long term policy vision, the National Development Plan 2030 (2012), which commits to an “environmentally sustainable and equitable transition to a low carbon economy.”

The key country outcomes of PAGE in South Africa are firstly, to contribute to better policy coordination and deepen collaboration of green economy policy, planning and implementation processes. The second is to identify potential and enabling factors for selected green economy sectors and/or industrial segments, with the intent of promoting sector reform. The third outcome relates to

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strengthening capabilities through enhanced green economy learning and training, including support for national learning institutions and the development of a green economy knowledge sharing platform for South Africa. Securing political support and buy-in is a key enabling factor to strengthen the convening power of PAGE. The establishment of the National Steering Committee (NSC) in March 2016, and active engagement of NSC task team members in the PAGE technical working groups has ensured ownership of a broad-range of stakeholders in the planning, implementing and monitoring and evaluation processes of PAGE support.

There has been active engagement with the country offices of five of the PAGE donors (European Commission Delegation, Finland, Germany, Norway and Switzerland) to provide updates on PAGE implementation in South Africa, and to identify synergies and alignment with donor country programmes. Further, regular consultations on joint programming has been initiated with the International Climate Initiative (IKI), GIZ, SWITCH Africa Green as well as the Green Economy Coalition who are delivering green economy technical support programmes in South Africa. The key area for collaboration between development partners in 2017 has been identified as joint delivery of multi-stakeholder dialogues on green economy and sustainable development.

Outcome 1- Integration of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

Given the extensive policy framework which SA has in place to support its vision of transitioning to a greener economy, both at the macro-economic and sectoral level, the PAGE country outcome has been structured around supporting improved collaboration, co-ordination and implementation of existing green economy policy frameworks, rather than the formulation of new policies. PAGE is assessing how it could support the integration of SDG targets in national development planning and policy processes, including through its support for sectoral reform. This discussion currently relates to SDGs 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 17, and is taking place under the auspices of the PAGE National Steering Committee (NSC). The NSC has met three times with an extended NSC in June 2016 where country representatives of PAGE donors and development partners participated. Terms of Reference (ToRs) outlining the function of the NSC were developed and adopted by the NSC. Members of the NSC include Department of Environmental Affairs, Economic Development Department, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, ILO, UN Environment, UNIDO, UNDP and UNITAR. The PAGE national coordinator serves as the Meeting Secretariat.

Green Economy Inventory: The Green Economy Inventory for South Africa (GEISA), compiled and drafted between April – August 2016, takes stock of some of the key initiatives that are being implemented by a wide range of partners in both the public and private sector. The inventory was undertaken by a national service provider, a research consortium led by Green Talent and including Sustainability Institute, Stellenbosch University, Pinpoint Sustainability, Creating Sustainable Value and EnigMatrix. It seeks to establish a baseline and a mechanism for improved collaboration and coordination in support of the country’s green economy transition. It provides a geographical snapshot of the country’s progress towards a green economy transition, points to key funding sources, and gives an overview of the key sectors driving South Africa’s green transition. The GEISA findings can inform prioritisation of future and additional green investments, and point to key gaps and opportunities. The report will be launched in early 2017 and will be disseminated widely in South Africa.

In addition to consultations with the government partners, meetings with eleven key national stakeholders were held to introduce PAGE, mobilise stakeholders and broaden consultations to assist in the identification (and verification) of PAGE priority areas and activities. Two multi-stakeholder national dialogues and workshops have been held thus far:

National PAGE Forum, 1 June 2016, Sustainability Week: The National PAGE Forum sought to raise awareness of the PAGE programme in South Africa, and also hosted a multi-stakeholder panel discussion entitled, ‘Green Economy in South Africa: Promoting Alignment, Collaboration and Cooperation for Greater Impact’. The Forum was attended by 50 participants from government

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(national, provincial and local), private sector and civil society representatives. The Forum introduced the work of PAGE to key stakeholders and invited broader participation in PAGE activities. It also presented the initial findings of the GEISA, and produced a robust discussion on the need for collaboration and partnerships to achieve greater impact of green economy programmes. Further, the importance of PAGE supporting sub-national action was highlighted by participants, and this was subsequently integrated in the PAGE country programme.

National Workshop: Green Economy Inventory for South Africa, Department of Environmental Affairs: 48 participants gathered on 24 June 2016 at the Environment House of the DEA for a workshop to present the key findings of the GEISA. Government, private sector, labour, civil society as well as development partners attended the workshop. Interactive discussions at the workshop provided recommendations for the refinement of the Inventory, and recommended using the Inventory database in the development of the on-line green economy knowledge portal for South Africa.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

In the inception phase, the NSC has identified three key sectors in which South Africa requires support to identify opportunities for greening sectors, and enhancing the implementation of existing sectoral policies and strategies. These areas were also highlighted during national consultations held in 2016. These include (1) an assessment of the trade potential of green products which was already identified during the 2015 scoping phase of PAGE in South Africa; (2) support to the development of a strategy for localised manufacturing for wind energy; and (3) enhanced implementation of water fiscal reform policies. Only Area 1 has started implementation in 2016, while preparations for activities 2 and 3 have been initiated.

The South Africa Green Industry and Trade Assessment (SA-GEITA) has commenced with the appointment of a national service provider, Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) , in July 2016. An inception meeting was held between the task team for this activity (technical working group) and the service provider in August 2016 and an inception report, which presented the scope, methodology and work plan of the assessment was agreed upon. The SA-GEITA seeks to identify and assess economic sectors that offer particular trade opportunities from the perspective of green industrial development, both for import substitution and for exports. Phase 1 of the SA-GEITA is comprised of a scoping study, covering the first three months, and focuses on identifying potential sectors for further analysis. A stakeholder consultation process, attended by 30 stakeholders from government, private and civil society stakeholders, was convened on 22 November 2016 to qualify the findings arising from the policy and trade and industry data analysis, and to raise awareness of the study and the importance of working on green trade and industry issues in South Africa.

Further stakeholder consultation will take place in 2017, with findings anticipated to be presented at the 2017 Sustainability Week and the TIPS Annual Forum. The SA-GEITA lays the groundwork for the forthcoming Action Programme and Implementation Strategy for a priority trade sector. Additional trade-work related to the promotion of organic agriculture is envisioned for 2017, leveraging previous analysis of the sector under the Green Economy and Trade Opportunities Project (GE-TOP), led by the Environment and Trade Hub.

The third activity formulated under Outcome 2, Enhanced Implementation of Water Fiscal Reform Policies, will support fiscal and pricing reforms to deliver SDG 6 on socially inclusive and sustainable water in South Africa. GIZ will provide financial support for starting activities under this activity in 2017.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

The Green Economy Learning Assessment (GELA) for South Africa, supports the development of the PAGE outcome area on capacity development, and was completed by a national institution, Green Skills. The Assessment identifies learning priorities across economic sectors for green economy policy action, reviews existing institutional capacities to provide education and training activities, and

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identifies opportunities for up-scaling the delivery of green economy learning through national institutions. Two national stakeholder events have been convened and the report is being finalized.

Recommendations and findings of the report provided direction for the development of the next PAGE activity under this outcome, i.e. Strengthening the capacity of a national institution to develop and deliver green economy on-line training developed.

National Roundtable: Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa, National Cleaner Production Centre: The main purpose of the roundtable, held on 2 June 2016, was to verify the focus and scope of the learning assessment, and to present the assessment methodology. The initial results of a survey to identify the most important levers and sectors / focus areas for the green economy in South Africa was also presented. A total of 25 participants, primarily from education and training institutions, development partners as well as civil society participated in the roundtable. The key outcome of the roundtable was inputs into the assessment methodology, as well as the identification of key sectors and cases which could inform the green economy learning including flagship public sector-led initiatives in renewable energy (Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme) and ecological rehabilitation (Working for Water).

National Stakeholder Workshop: Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa, 30 August 2016, Development Bank of Southern Africa: The workshop with 19 stakeholders from government, education and training institutions and civil society representatives presented the key findings of the assessment, including a response to the Assessment and group discussions. The ensuing discussion of the assessment findings and recommendations resulted in the endorsement, refinement and expansion of recommendations emerging from GELA.

4.9 BARBADOS

As a small island state of only 431 km2, Barbados is limited in natural resources and is particularly vulnerable to global climate change and natural disasters. Barbados is one of the most prosperous Caribbean islands,  due to successful economic diversification and a transition from an agricultural-based economy to a service-based one. The country has also invested significantly in social development and inclusion, and benefits from high rates of literacy. However, the recent global financial and economic crises have slowed growth, and dependence on imported fossil fuels is putting pressure on both the economy and the environment. 

Barbados’ National Strategic Plan (2006-2025) provides a framework for Barbados becoming a fully developed society that is prosperous, socially just and globally competitive. The National Strategic Plan advances six strategic goals in pursuit of the national vision for 2025. Goal four of the NSP speaks specifically of “Building a Green Economy: Strengthening the Physical Infrastructure and Preserving the Environment”.

In 2012, UN Environment in collaboration with the Government of Barbados, together with  the University of the West Indies, produced a Green Economy Scoping Study (GESS) for Barbados, which consists of identification of key greening opportunities. The GESS produced the Barbados Green Economy Roadmap and a mix of policy and project proposals, which includes sectoral and national opportunities for green and inclusive growth. PAGE support will build on the findings of the scoping study.

An inception mission to Barbados is planned for early 2017. The mission will explore with the government of Barbados and key stakeholders the kind of support Barbados needs from PAGE. The mission will include meetings among relevant UN agencies, key ministries such as the Ministries of Environment and Drainage; Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Finance and Economic Affairs; and Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development; Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development; the National Focal Point on barbados’ NDCs, PAGE partners (donors), along with other key stakeholders from business, labour, academia and civil

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society. The mission will also define priority areas of action and a one-year timeline for the activities to be carried out under the inception phase of PAGE in Barbados running from January 2017 to December 2017. Additionally, the mission will hold with a half-day PAGE planning workshop where PAGE and its Theory of Change will be presented to stakeholders from the Government and the Green Economy Technical Steering Committee.

Outcome 1- Integration of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

Government of Barbados has committed high-level and cross-sectoral support to pursuing a green economy. The Minister of Environment and Drainage, the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, and the Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development are spearheading efforts to green the economy with PAGE support. According to the expression of interest for joining PAGE, the Government has identified following priorities for continued efforts towards green economy transition: 1) to undertake a feasibility study for the establishment of a SIDS-SIDS green economy Knowledge Transfer Platform and 2) establish a set of indicators to support monitoring of green economy policies. These areas would be further elaborated in the inception phase of PAGE support.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

The government of Barbados has identified following sectoral and thematic areas for PAGE support 1) develop a policy framework for greening the manufacturing sector to mainstream resource efficiency and promote eco-innovation and 2) conduct a green and decent jobs assessment and establish a green skills development support programme. These thematic and sectoral areas will be further discussed and elaborated during the inception phase of PAGE support.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

Institutional and individual capacity building is an essential element of PAGE support and is usually incorporated in different workstreams. Capacity building and learning elements would be further elaborated during the inception phase of PAGE support, which are directly linked to the proposed SIDS-SIDS green economy Knowledge Transfer Platform that the government of Barbados has envisaged in their proposal for PAGE support. Moreover, nationally tailored training programs developed and delivered in Barbados will include a communications strategy to promote Green Economy concepts particularly amongst youth.

4.10 MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL

While Brazil has seen significant economic growth in recent times, Mato Grosso’s economy remains dependent on natural resource use with considerable negative environmental impact. Mato Grosso has benefitted economically from the agricultural sector, yet major environmental challenges remain with this growth, including deforestation, and significant social challenges such as precarious working conditions and highly uneven income distribution. Mato Grosso intends to address these challenges with the promotion of new economic activities and technologies, as well as the rehabilitation of natural resources.

Mato Grosso has demonstrated significant and high-level cross-sectoral support, including letters of federal level support from the Cities Minister as well as the Minister of Development, Industry and

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Foreign Trade outlining alignment with federal environmental policies. The state of Mato Grosso has identified key priorities for transforming to an IGE, including capacity building for the state government to design and implement a strategic plan to transition towards an IGE.

Outcome 1- Integration of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

The PAGE launch event for Mato Grosso state was held on 10 November 2016 in Cuiabá, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso and was presided by the Governor of Mato Grosso, members of his cabinet, the press, and over 200 invited guest from the private sector, civil society and academia. The PAGE national coordinator for Peru shared experiences and lessons learnt from PAGE support to Peru. Details about the launch event are available on the PAGE website. The event was preceded by high level discussions with the Governor and his team regarding the importance attached to PAGE, which is repackaged to go by the name of “Ciclos” in Portuguese, and also overall fit with the State’s economic development plan and guiding principles of “producer, conserve, include.” PAGE will be led by the State Secretary for Labour in Mato Grosso and by the ILO team in Brazil.

At the state level, a number of state secretaries have expressed interest in pursuing an IGE with PAGE support, and intend to create a cross-sectoral Steering Committee under the coordination of the State Secretary of Labour and Social Assistance, reporting to the Governor of the State. The Steering Committee would include:

- State Secretary of Labour and Social Assistance- Governor’s Office/International Affairs Advising- State Secretariat of Planning (SEPLAN)- State Secretariat of Environment (SEMA)- State Secretariat for Family Agriculture and Land Affairs (SEAF)- State Secretariat of Cities (SECID)- Secretariat of Justice Human Rights (SEJUDH)- Regional Development Office (GDR)- State Secretary of Culture (SEC)

Additionally, PAGE work and the steering committee will engage civil society, non-profits, academic and research institutions, and the private sector. Support has been expressed by research centres, cooperatives of farmers, fishermen and artisans and other institutes. Mato Grosso has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and the Governors of the states of Mato Grosso and Acre, which outlines policies and activities to end illegal deforestation in the states and to meet Brazil’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution on climate change.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

The government of Mato Grosso is committed to pursuing a green economy in order to increase production, prevent deforestation and preserve natural resources, and to reduce the current deficit of decent work. The government team, led by the Secretary of Labour and the Governor’s Cabinet, convened stakeholders to review and assess the log frame. Over the course of the one day workshop, first with component leads and then with all stakeholders, the government underlined six priority areas for PAGE: (i) family agriculture, (ii) sustainable tourism, (iii) urban planning with emphasis on water and sanitation; (iv) spatial land use planning; (v) extractives; and (vi) renewable energy.

Family agriculture, with a focus on capacity building and serving local demand, could provide a good anchor for PAGE work in 2017. Skills building and outreach for renewables, as well as sustainable tourism, several components central to the state economy, could produce significant impact in the short term, and could complement the larger scale agriculture focus of the “produce, conserve and include” programme, which was just getting off the ground as the PAGE launch occurred.

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Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

The government has identified capacity building for the state government to design and implement a strategic plan to transition towards an IGE, which will be further elaborated during the PAGE inception phase including learning and awareness creation on IGE for state government employees and the general public.

Looking forward, it was mutually recognized that it will be vital to maintain and build on momentum, including identifying key partners and a local PAGE coordinator, as well as adequately resourcing the start-up phase. PAGE is now well positioned to create impact in Mato Grosso and add value to the Governor’s agenda of “Produce, Conserve, Include.”

4.11KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

The Kyrgyz Republic is a landlocked, lower-middle-income Central Asian state. After gaining independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Kyrgyz Republic adopted progressive market-based economic reforms. However, the country still faces widespread poverty with one third of the population living below the poverty line, and high dependence on natural resources, including gold mining as the main contributor to GDP. Environmental degradation threatens to exacerbate existing challenges, particularly as a high percentage of the population lives in rural areas who are largely dependent on the agricultural sector. Increasing levels of air and water pollution, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and threatened water resources present significant obstacles to social progress and durable growth.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic is committed to reversing environmental degradation trends and capturing opportunities for economic growth that is both inclusive and sustainable. The need to transition to more sustainable development pathways through advancement of green economy approaches has been recognized as a national priority in various policy frameworks. The country has prepared a National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS), 2013-2017. The Strategy emphasizes clean technology, resource-efficient infrastructure and sustainably managed ecosystems. The NSDS will be updated through a second NSDS for the 2018-2022 period. In addition, the country is elaborating a long-term sustainable development Vision for 2040.

Outcome 1- Integration of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) goals and targets into SDG aligned national development planning

The Kyrgyz Republic has been engaged with the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) since 2011, which has set the stage for further IGE action through PAGE support. There is good foundation for establishing strong linkages between PAGE, the UNDAF, PEI, as well as BIOFIN, WAVES, and other complementary bilaterally and multilaterally-supported programmes. The current national PEI coordinator is also overseeing PAGE roll-out. The new UNDAF 2018-2022 for Kyrgyzstan states as an Outcome to achieve “By 2022, inclusive and sustainable industrial, agricultural and rural development contribute to economic growth, decent work, improved livelihoods, food security and nutrition, especially among women and vulnerable groups “.

To kick start PAGE engagement with Kyrgyz Republic, on 26 May 26 2016, a high level delegation from the country participated in the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) “Media Roundtable: Getting onto the same PAGE for Sustainable Development” in Nairobi, Kenya. First outreach to stakeholders was possible during the 2nd Green Economy Forum entitled “Assisting the Transition towards Green Economic Development in Kyrgyzstan”, organized by the GIZ in Bishkek on 20 November 2016, to which the PEI coordinator PAGE coordinator from Mongolia were invited to raise awareness about PAGE. The event included participants from government, non-governmental agencies, and international organizations to different experts and private sector representatives.

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Towards the end of 2016, a green economy stocktaking exercise was initiated by PAGE through an inter-ministerial working group. The stock-take to be finalized in early 2017 will outline the country’s macro-economic performance, sectoral reforms, regulatory framework, existing green economy practices and partnership possibilities for PAGE. To complement this effort, three main PAGE guidelines with regards to planning and implementation, green economy indicators and green economy policy assessment were translated from English into Russian and widely distributed.

An inception mission to Kyrgyz Republic is planned for February 2017. The mission will include a roundtable with participants from the Ministry of Economics, Finance, Agriculture and Education, as well as from the National Institute of Strategy Studies and the private sector. PAGE is working collaboratively with PEI to plan the inception mission and explore opportunities for synergies.

Outcome 2 – Evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms

Kyrgyz Republic has provided an overview in their application to PAGE of priority areas for pursuing inclusive economic growth while safeguarding the environment and natural resources. Key sectors include low-carbon energy, organic agriculture, tourism (with a focus on ecotourism), energy-efficient construction, and mining. In addition to these sectors for economic growth, the government has also identified key areas for social development, including education for sustainable development and safe social facilities. Further discussion on the priority areas for sectoral and thematic reform that PAGE could support is planned during the pre-scoping mission in February 2017.

Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacities Strengthened

As part of initial capacity building efforts, representatives from three key agencies – Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, State Agency for Environment and Forestry– along with the national PEI coordinator attended the 2nd Global Academy on Green Economy, organized by PAGE and the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy from 3 to 14 October 2016. After discussions with key government counterparts during the pre-scoping mission, the capacity development component of PAGE support will be further elaborated during the inception phase in 2017.

5. PROGRESS IN GLOBAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

5.1 Outcome 3 – Individual, Institutional and Planning Capacity at Global Level

5.1.1 Second global Green Economy academy

Following the first global Green Economy academy held in 2014 in Turin and the PAGE Regional Forum on Green Economy held in 2015 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, the second global PAGE academy on IGE took place at the ILO-International Training Centre in Turin, Italy from 3-14 October 2016. The two-week capacity building event brought together over 150 participants from 35 countries (114 training participants) including policy makers, technical staff and stakeholders from civil society organizations, trade unions, private sector, in addition to UN agencies and partners from the 11 PAGE partner countries, as well as experts and practitioners from PAGE partner agencies and collaborating networks. The training courses were offered in 3 languages (English, Spanish and French). The academy was aimed at providing a full in-depth overview and understanding of latest global agendas, as well as practical tools and good practices - from assessments, to stakeholder engagement, policy formulation and strategy implementation – that several countries are adopting in their efforts to transition to environmentally viable and socially inclusive economies. Beyond its

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specific learning objectives, the overall purpose of this event was to contribute to enhance institutional capacities for transformative change towards greener economies.

The 2016 Green Economy Academy came at a crucial moment, as nations ready themselves to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Both instruments reaffirmed the centrality of environmental sustainability as the context within which economic and social development will take place, with important implications for the future of work.

A High-Level Policy Dialogue on “The Future of Work in a Greener Economy” was convened, recognising the significance of employment, the distributional impact in the transition to greener economies, and the need to ensure a just transition for enterprises, workers and communities. Researchers from the London School of Economics, McKinsey and Company, the Club of Rome and United Nations agencies shared new findings on major drivers in the future of work: the effects of environmental degradation and climate change on jobs and productivity; the changing landscape of policies and investment; new business models emerging in the circular economy; and the implications of innovation, green technology and changing consumption patterns.

Policy makers from Barbados, China, Finland, Kyrgyz Republic, South Africa, and other PAGE partner countries and funding partners brought policy perspectives that highlighted that clearly, a future of work is only possible if it is enshrined in sustainable development. The conditions of work are already changing: new jobs are being created, whilst others are being eliminated. Income distribution is being altered too, potentially aggravating inequalities and exclusion.

Following the dialogue and knowledge fair, over two weeks, experts and practitioners discussed the latest thinking, national and regional experiences and successful practices in a range of subjects including green fiscal reforms, financing for the green economy, the energy transition, the greening of agriculture, green jobs promotion, economic modelling and green economy indicators, and south-south and triangular cooperation – all important areas shaping policies and strategies for a just transition towards inclusive and climate-resilient green economies. In addition to plenary sessions, the academy offered a series of electives consisting of 5-hour thematic workshops, each spanning over one to three days. This structure and methodology allowed participants to follow all plenary sessions plus a number of thematic electives of their own preference. Field visits and a knowledge sharing fair complemented the training. The learning approach of the academy was designed to be highly interactive, building on global knowledge-sharing, using comprehensive and peer-reviewed training materials, and adopting a variety of innovative learning methodologies.

In the results of overall evaluation through an online questionnaire, participants rated overall quality with 86% satisfaction rate (average).

5.1.2 Delivery of E-learning course

E-learning course on IGE and trade: The first interactive edition of the e-learning course on IGE and trade was delivered from 7 November – 16 December 2016. The participants acquired basic skills for translating sustainable trade principles into a real-world economic, policy and professional context. A total of 46 participants (23 female and 23 male) from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the course, including 38 fellowship recipients awarded to policy makers and other relevant stakeholders from developing countries (16 from PAGE partner countries). Experts from the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ambassadors to the WTO, and officials from international organizations (including UN Environment, OECD, ICTSD) delivered short introductory video messages for each of the modules of the course.

After completing the course, participants are able to:

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Interpret current developments and trends related to Green Economy and Trade Discuss basic principles related to the international governance of trade and the way the

international trade framework can foster sustainability Discuss opportunities, challenges, and enabling conditions for developing countries to benefit

from growing trade in Environmental Goods and Services Identify possibilities for greening trade in specific sectors, foremost renewable energy and

agriculture Apply the green economy approach to a real life trade-related case study

According to the course evaluation results 71% of course participants filled the survey and 95% responded the course was “very” or “mostly” useful for them.

The second delivery of the course is planned for 13 March - 21 April 2017. Stakeholders in PAGE countries have expressed interest in further course delivery in additional languages (e.g. French and Spanish).

5.1.3 Development of a training manual and policy guidance for Green Jobs Assessment

The development of a training manual to guide practitioners in the preparation of green job assessments continued throughout 2016. The assessment of employment effects of different policy scenarios (using e.g. Input-Output tables and analysis, social accounting, and economic models) helps to identify and quantify existing green jobs and to project how effective green economy policies and investment programmes can be in providing new employment. This analysis is an important input for policy formulation and complements other policy assessment tools supported by PAGE.

A key partner providing experts and resource persons is the Green Jobs Assessment Institutions Network (GAIN) – a network of research and policy institutions established in 2012. The GAIN network aims to achieve two goals, to develop a standardized open source methodology for green jobs assessments, and to build capacity in countries in green jobs models for policy planning and analysis. In addition to developing and providing a training package on green jobs assessments, GAIN institutionalizes capacity building through three regional institutional hubs, notably universities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The ILO hosted an international conference of GAIN network12 from 14 to 16 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. More than 60 researchers from the network, policy makers and ILO technical experts participated in this event which provided the opportunity to systematically review and validate a first draft of the green jobs assessment manual and share experiences from countries conducting assessments.

Following a recommendation from the conference, the training manual will be completed by a policy guidance manual that will help to interpret and use the results of the economic analysis to make useful policy recommendations and identify related opportunities and challenges. A meeting of experts was organised in April 2016 in Geneva with lead authors of various training manuals followed by a review meeting as an elective during the PAGE academy in October 2016. The package will be launched during the PAGE ministerial conference in March 2017.

Training of Trainers event: UNITAR delivered a Training of Trainers (ToT) for a Transition to an Inclusive Green Economy to participants from PAGE partner countries in the framework of the Green Economy Academy, held on 3-14 October 2016. The ToT is part of a broader effort of PAGE to develop a global pool of trainers that can support the delivery of inclusive green economy learning activities at national and regional levels. The ToT elective aimed to deepen participants’ competencies in the area of adult learning methods (how to develop and deliver high-grade training programmes) and to develop their expertise in the area of IGE with a special emphasis on green fiscal policies. The training consisted three parts: i) adult learning methodologies, ii) green fiscal policies and iii) designing IGE training programmes and next steps. The training brought together 10 selected learning practitioners from PAGE partner countries with the aim to deepen competencies in the area of adult

12 http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/green-jobs/WCMS_358192/lang--en/index.htm

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learning and to develop substantive expertise in the area of green policies. The event marks the creation of a new global network of trainers to support each other in the formulation and implementation of green economy learning actions. More details on the training event are available on PAGE website.

Training for PAGE National Coordinators: National coordinators play a crucial role in coordinating country delivery and work closely with government and other partners on the ground in PAGE countries. As PAGE has been expanding since its inception, new countries are added and new national coordinators are recruited. For applying the PAGE theory of change and PAGE offer to countries in terms of policy analysis, application of global knowledge products and capacity building, additional training of national coordinators were conducted in 2016. These webinars and face-to-face trainings also serve for exchange of ideas and experience sharing among different PAGE national coordinators to apply successful models and working methodologies with government counterparts and initiatives.

The first training of national coordinators and focal points was held in July 2016 as a preparation in the lead up to the IGE academy in Turin and to share experiences and lessons learnt. The objectives of webinar were to initiate direct experience-sharing among the different PAGE national coordinators and focal points, discuss lessons learned  from the inception phase in different countries and identify key topics for future discussions. The overall goal is to foster a continuous dialogue among national coordinators and focal points and to capture lessons learned and recommendations from national PAGE projects that can complement the Guidance Note for PAGE Partner Countries.

A face-to-face training session for national coordinators was delivered in the second week of the Green Economy Academy. The training aimed to facilitate experience-sharing around operational and substantive aspects of national PAGE projects. Specific objectives included:

Develop a common understanding of PAGE planning, budgeting, reporting and monitoring procedures;

Discuss options for effective PAGE governance and building partnerships; Discuss how to achieve policy impact and sustainability beyond core project period; Explore opportunities for sustaining experience-sharing among PAGE national coordinators.

5.1.4 Development of IGE training programmes and packages

Learning products completed in 2016

Global e-learning course on green economy and trade

Title: "Green Economy and Trade"

Delivery: 4 modules including one elective, 32 learning hours over 6 weeks

Content: Trade and environment nexus, opportunities for greening trade, trade governance and law

Weblink: https://www.unitar.org/event/full-catalog/green-economy-and-trade

The course outline, learning objectives and methodology was designed in 2015, and the e-learning course material was completed in 2016. The course is targeted to groups and individuals from the public, private and civil society sectors interested in learning about how sustainable trade can help to

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“Notwithstanding its importance for reaching an inclusive green economy, at first I thought learning about green fiscal reform would be really dry, but with the right training approach it can actually be a lot of fun!"

Ms. Donna King-Braithwaite, Environmental Education Officer at the Ministry of Environment and Drainage, Barbados

further green economy objectives. The e-course introduces various concepts, policy instruments and enabling conditions to identify, assess and harness benefits of sustainable trade in the context of the 2030 Development Agenda. The course is composed of 4 modules (including a choice of two electives):

Module 1: The trade and environment nexus: key concepts, trends and developments Module 2: Opportunities and enabling conditions for greening trade Module 3: Assessing and seizing sustainable trade opportunities in specific Green Economy

sectors (Elective 1: Agriculture; Elective 2: Energy) Module 4: International trade governance and law: basic concepts and principles

Experts were engaged for the development of the 5 learning journals of the course, which comprise the key reading materials. Based on the learning journals, a set of additional learning materials was finalized, including: integrative lessons, short assessments, additional resources, and exercises.

Learning Materials on Advanced Green Economy Topics

Title: "Learning Materials on Advanced Green Economy Topics "

Delivery: 02 modules, 15 units each consisting of 10-20 slides, speakers’ notes (ppt and PDF)

Content: i) IGE modelling and policy assessment, ii) greening economic sectorsWeblink: http://www.un-page.org/knowledge-resources/advanced-learning-materials-green-economy

The ‘PAGE Learning Materials on Advanced Green Economy Topics’ complement the ‘PAGE Introductory Learning Materials on Inclusive Green Economy’ developed in 2015. The advanced learning materials include 15 learning units, each consisting of 10-20 slides with speakers’ notes and references to background materials, available for download in PowerPoint and PDF format. The main purpose of the learning materials is to support national and international partners when delivering trainings and/or workshops on green economy issues for a general audience. The learning materials are customizable, i.e. slides can be added/replaced to respond to national circumstances and the needs of the target audience.

The topics of the advanced learning materials centre on issues that have emerged as topics of interest in PAGE activities in 2014, as well as results from the mapping of existing training materials. The two areas of focus include: i) IGE modelling and policy assessment and ii) specific sectors relevant for policy assessment. The complete set of PAGE learning materials (introductory and advanced) represent a go-to, comprehensive, and standardized learning tool, allowing PAGE partners to address the learning and awareness raising needs in partner countries in a prompt and systematic manner. In 2015 and 2016, introductory learning materials have supported the delivery of workshops in several PAGE countries, including Ghana and Mongolia.

The set of learning materials on green economy also provides an opportunity for PAGE to reach out to a larger number of countries. The materials can be used by any individual or institution working in the field of green economy. For instance, the Green Growth Institute (GGGI) indicated that the learning materials can effectively support country level capacity building activities.

5.1.5 Learning products under development

Global e-learning Course on Green Fiscal Reform and Policy Instruments: As a result of fiscal policy and assessments completed in some PAGE countries, there is growing demand for learning and training on fiscal policies and reforms for a green economy. The materials for an e-learning course by UNITAR on “Green Fiscal Reform and Policy Instruments” have been finalised. The course platform will be set up for delivery 2017.

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5.2 Outcome 4 – Countries have Improved their Knowledge Base for Advancing IGE

5.2.1 Resource Materials on Strengthening Capacities of Learning Institutions

Guidance note on green economy learning strategies and action plans: PAGE released a Guidance Note for Learning for an IGE, providing methodological and organizational guidance to countries interested taking a systematic approach to education and training for an inclusive green economy that goes beyond ad-hoc trainings drawing on three country examples from Ghana, Mongolia and South Africa. Potential users of the Guidance Note include: 1) decision-makers interested in understanding the process and benefits of a green economy learning assessment and action plan; 2) technical staff in Ministries or other institutions responsible for conducting a green economy learning assessment and developing an action plan and 3) representatives of non-governmental organizations, business associations and trade unions involved in green economy education and training. The note has been shared with stakeholders for application and is available on PAGE website.

Global Forum on Green Economy Learning and Resource guide for learning institutions and services: Following the first successful Global Forum on Green Economy Learning that took place in December 2015 in the Conference Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, PAGE developed a Resource Guide of Green Economy Learning Institutions and Services under UNITAR lead.

Based on a global online survey with 900 responses on green economy learning and inputs received at the 1st Global Forum on Green Economy Learning, PAGE developed a Resource Guide of Green Economy Learning Institutions and Services. The guide profiles existing networks and initiatives already active in the field of green economy learning (e.g. universities, training centers, international organizations, etc.) and help to define the value added of a PAGE-led Green Economy Learning Network. The objective of the Resource Guide of Green Economy Learning Institutions is to identify, analyse, and profile key initiatives and institutions working in the area of green economy learning. It facilitates access to information and promotes collaboration between learning centres, green economy trainers, government agencies and prospective students, on issues related to green economy capacity building in a specific country or region of the world.

The guide is available in PDF format, as well as an interactive online tool. Each of the learning institutions is featured in an individual profile, containing information on the location and type of the learning institution (e.g. university, research centre), the type of activity (e.g. university degree, executive training), format of the activity (e.g. online based, full-time), as well as the regional and thematic focus of the learning activities provided. Additional learning institutions can be added to the guide upon expression of interest and provision of necessary information.

An initial list of more than 50 learning institutions, as well as 10 global and regional initiatives, have been identified. To foster green economy learning and knowledge exchange in/between PAGE partner countries, the Resource Guide puts an emphasize on institutions based in partner states. The Resource Guide is published on PAGE website.

Green Economy learning network: In recent years the number of learning institutions working on green economy learning has grown; and learning and training products on green economy have proliferated. A recent scoping survey conducted by UNITAR yielded more than 900 responses from learning institutions from all over the world. While efforts have been made to organize learning products into a single space (most notably by the Green Growth Knowledge Platform), there is general lack of coordination among practitioners and institutions working in the field. As a result, opportunities for cooperation, exchange of knowledge and experience between institutions are missed and efforts are duplicated. At the same time interested learners (individuals, government institutions, etc.) face difficulties in getting oriented and finding the right training and learning opportunities.

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With the goal of creating more and better opportunities for education and training, and increasing the impact and visibility of learning institutions providing green economy learning, UNITAR is working towards the creation of a network of learning institutions and professionals. The network will enable individuals and institutions (e.g. government officials) to find support from learning professionals, relative to their learning needs; enable information sharing among learning institutions and with the greater public; and provide a platform for collaboration between learning centres and practitioners.

The network will be self-sustained, functioning with minimum engagement on the part of PAGE. It will utilize the power of the social media, on the principle of “crowd-sourcing”. A concept note for a Green Economy Learning Network has been developed, which is being discussed with potential partners such as the GGKP, SCP Clearinghouse and Climate and Development Knowledge Network. As a first step towards implementation of the network, and in view of sustaining the momentum created at PAGE’s Global Forum on Green Economy Learning held in 2015, UNITAR has already set up an email-based list to encourage peer-to-peer information-sharing on green economy learning-related activities and events.

5.2.2 Improvement of assessment and modelling methodologies and tools

The trilogy of guidance manuals published in 2014, including the manual on "Using Models for Green Economy Policymaking"13, the “Guidance Manual for Green Economy Policy Assessment"14 and the “Guidance Manual for Green Economy Indicators”15, remains a key reference for the delivery of the PAGE country work. The guidance manual for green economy indicators and guidance manual for green economy policy assessment has been translated into Spanish and Russian.

Integrated green economy modelling (IGEM) tool: Building on several technical workshops on improving the Threshold 21 (T21) model, PAGE advanced the work on the integration of different modelling approaches with the aim to enable an easier and more comprehensive green economy policy assessment at country level. The IGEM tool presents a methodology on how to integrate three modelling techniques to refine the forecasting of green investments’ impacts on the economy and is designed to serve three purposes: a) to answer increasingly complex requests from governments; b) to support the endowment of countries with solid quantitative tools to inform the design and implementation of green economy policies; and c) to advance the process of implementing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The IGEM tool is the first integrated modelling tool specifically tailored to green economy policy questions. It has been developed to combine the strength of economic modelling of a CGE model with the social and environmental modelling of a system dynamics model, using extensions from IO-SAM, to help better answer green economy policy questions, related to the benefits that new and shifted investments might generate across sectors in terms of economic opportunities, inclusiveness and environmental sustainability.

The generic IGEM tool and first country results were presented to an audience of modelling experts and PAGE country representatives from Peru and Mongolia in a workshop on 22 April 2016 in Geneva with the aim to agree on the best way to apply the IGEM tool at the country level and on the further development of other relevant dimensions to the green economy (e.g. fiscal policy and trade aspects). The workshop also offered a platform to exchange on past experiences with modelling tools at the country level and how these existing modelling tools can be integrated with more complex modelling frameworks in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The methodology to construct the generic IGEM tool and the presentation of how this methodology is applied to test the economic, social and environmental impacts of the implementation of the Climate Change and Energy Transition Laws of Mexico was also presented. The corresponding codes for the CGE and the system dynamics will be made publically available on an online platform. The tool is in 13 http://www.un-page.org/files/public/content-page/unep_models_ge_for_web.pdf14 http://www.un-page.org/files/public/content-page/unep_assessment_ge_policymaking_for_web.pdf15 http://www.un-page.org/files/public/content-page/unep_indicators_ge_for_web.pdf

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final stages of completion and is planned for launch in March 2017 during the PAGE ministerial conference in Berlin.

Green Economy progress measurement framework: Building on the work of an earlier UN Environment project on “Measuring the Green Economy Transformation”, UN Environment has further advanced the work for the development of a Green Economy Progress (GEP) measurement framework. The GEP measurement framework will help countries evaluate their overall progress towards achieving an inclusive green economy and will allow cross-country comparison of efforts among peer groups of countries. It complements UN Environment’s green economy indicators framework developed earlier, which focuses on using different types of indicators at different stages of a stylised policymaking cycle at the national level.

The framework includes an aggregate index, the Green Economy Progress index, and a dashboard of indicators. The index tracks country progress against set targets in different dimensions of an inclusive green economy (e.g. trade in environmental goods and services, reducing gender and income inequality). Progress as measured by the index should be contrasted with the dashboard of indicators. The dashboard includes indicators reflecting planetary boundaries (and their threshold), such as per capita greenhouse gas emissions, and helps policymakers understand whether their progress is sustainable. In other words, the dashboard of indicators helps to put green economy progress in the broader perspective of sustainable development.

The index and dashboard are based on the construction of a database of variables that capture several dimensions of sustainable development, such as reducing income and gender inequality, improving social protection, green innovations, access to basic services, productivity of natural resources and renewable sources of energy, among other aspects. This database is completed by another database on green trade to allow for a comprehensive analysis of the role of trade in environmental goods in creating economic opportunities.

The conceptual framework and a first prototype of the GEP measurement framework have been presented in technical consultative workshops in 2015-2016. Based on expert consultation workshops, a draft for consultation of a working paper on the GEP measurement framework was shared with PAGE partners. The progress measurement framework is in final stages of completion and is planned for launch in March 2017 during the PAGE ministerial conference in Berlin.

The GEP measurement framework covers 98 countries with empirical results for 6 of the PAGE countries (Senegal, Peru, Mongolia, South Africa, China, Brazil, Kyrgyz Republic and Ghana) and includes 13 indicators that integrate the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The measurement framework will help countries evaluate their overall progress towards achieving an inclusive green economy and will allow cross-country comparison of efforts among peer groups. The empirical results will be useful to policy makers (i) to assess the areas in which they have improved compared to a baseline year of 2000 and where they need to invest more resources, and (ii) to give themselves a concise representation of their overall progress through the green economy index. The indicators included in the GEP measurement framework are aligned with the SDG Indicators, and can support policy action towards the achievement of voluntary targets adopted under the SDGs.

5.2.3 Policy analysis and guidance on green industrial policies

Practitioners guide on green industrial policies: The practitioner's guide has been finalised along with a supplement to provide practical advice on strategic green industrial policy for policy practitioners and covers implementation and policy evaluation, as well as outlining the tools and methodologies that are necessary to steer the green economy transition. While also including elements on implementation and policy evaluation, the guide concentrates on the earlier stages of the policy cycle: inclusive and evidence-based identification of issues and aims, selection of intervention areas and appropriate measures, and consensus building and coordination of involved stakeholders. In addition, the mechanisms and dynamics behind green policy tools are discussed to aid practitioners to select

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appropriate assessments (e.g. Cross-Impact Analyses) and measures suited to country circumstance. The guide is released in two Volumes, with Volume 1 providing the approach to green industry policymaking, the main policy tools and recommendations, and Volume 2 composing of background information to the methodologies and assessments. For better communication of the methodology presented in the guide, a training package with key speaking points, expounded content, sources of information and practical case studies to demonstrate GI policy application and effects a green industry policymaking training package is being developed in parallel. The guide draws on tools and methodologies from disciplines such as industrial ecology and ecological economics, with other tools rooted in systems thinking, theory of change, or other fields of research and practice. The guide and supplement are available on PAGE website.

Policy report on industrial policies for IGE: The policy report targets development economists and policymakers in developed and developing countries alike and will provide an up-to-date overview of the debate on the role of green industrial policies in development. It will present why industrial policy could be a critical tool for driving the transition towards a green economy and identify the conditions under which industrial policies works best to support a green economy transition, including a discussion of key policy instruments, co-benefits to be obtained and pitfalls to be avoided in both design and implementation. It will also include a few illustrative examples of industrial policies for a green economy. Overall, the publication is expected to inform policymakers and development economists around the world about the challenges and opportunities of implementing green industrial policies at the national level, unpacking theoretical aspects related to industrial policies and sharing lessons learned from selected countries and sectors.

The report is well advanced and several chapters are available as final versions, including four case studies in the energy, transport and manufacturing sectors (a case study on the German energy transition, a case study on Morocco’s strategy to use renewable energy potential to industrialize and create jobs, a case study on electric vehicles in China, and a case study on greening the leather industry in Bangladesh). The report will be published in the first half of 2017.

5.2.4 Green Economy and Trade

Green Industry and Trade Assessment: This work stream focuses on three main products: (i) a generic methodology for developing national-level Green Industry and Trade Assessments (GITA) to guide the development of a generic structure for assessing green industry and trade opportunities at national level; (ii) a technical paper summarizing models available to assess different facets of the interface of trade, environment and the green economy; and (iii) the integration of trade aspects into green economy modelling.

In 2015, UN Environment and UNIDO completed an outline for the GITA, informed by the lessons learned from the first joint UNIDO-UN Environment Green Industry and Trade Assessment produced for Ghana in 2015, and launched a call for proposal to find the best suited partner institutes with expertise in industry and trade research. Three proposals have been received. The final launch of the study is expected for the second half of 2017.

The Trade and the Integrated Green Economy Modelling Tool integrates trade-related aspects into the existing Integrated Green Economy Modelling (IGEM) tool (described above under section 5.2) and provides i) practical tools to analyze and promote the sustainability of trade, i) assess the implications of trade related policies, ii) analyze the tools and methodologies of different modelling schools and identify their applicability to measure the impacts of trade on social, economic and environmental performance. A draft technical paper is under review. Another technical note for mapping of environmental goods flows was finalised. The objective of this note is to create a globally consistent time series of trade of environmental goods. With this information, a series of tables and maps were created to identify the main stylized facts related to environmental goods using information of trade patterns. An online interface will be created in early 2017 to help users access and navigate the data collected and mapped.

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Partnership with the Environment and Trade Hub: The Environment and Trade Hub, based at the Economics and Trade Branch of UN Environment, is partnering with PAGE to build capacity in partner countries to explore and harness trade and investment opportunities arising from the transition to an inclusive green economy. The Hub also assists countries in using trade and investment policy instruments to accelerate the transition to an inclusive Green Economy through national assessments, policy advisory services, green entrepreneurship promotion, capacity building and training activities. Together with PAGE, the Hub is delivering a number of key objectives in South Africa, Ghana, China, Mongolia, Peru and Burkina Faso. It also led trade related projects at global level, such as an E-learning course on Green Economy and Trade (jointly with UNITAR) as well as modelling tools on green trade.

The Environment and Trade Hub brings to PAGE countries a number of trade tools and resources developed by trade institutions such as the WTO, OECD, International Trade Centre, UNCTAD, and UN Forum of Sustainability Standards (UNFSS). Through the network of the Hub, PAGE news and messages reach a broader audience in the trade community. For example, in 2016, the Hub presented updates on PAGE activities at the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment meetings, OECD meetings of the Joint Working Parties on Trade and Environment, a workshop in ASEAN, UNCTAD meetings, consultations of the Inter-Agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity, and the ISEAL Alliance.

Technical Paper on Trade in Environmental Goods: Mapping work and a technical paper on Trade in Environmental Goods was finalised. The work provides a globally consistent time series of trade of environmental goods to identify the main stylized facts related to environmental goods. By doing this, the paper aims to help countries better understand trade opportunities in environmental goods and its role in a transition to a Green Economy. An online interface has been created to help users access and navigate the data and maps and they can be accessed on the UN Environment green economy website.

5.2.5 Global synthesis of lessons learned on green economy policies

The collection of lessons learned from previous country experiences in advancing green economy aim to provide a better understanding on how to best support transformative IGE work in different country contexts. Under the UNDP lead, eight countries were identified (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Peru, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda) to develop country studies, which have now been completed. These countries include a range of country typologies across several regions, reflecting different GE priorities, challenges and opportunities. In some of the countries GE activities (PAGE and otherwise) are already being supported. The country studies assess how integrated development approaches are supporting the transition to greener, more inclusive economies and achieving broader sustainable development objectives.

The Global Synthesis Report on Integrated Planning and the SDGs-Challenges and Opportunities, based on the 8 country studies has been finalised and printed. The report has been disseminated electronically through the PAGE web-site, email lists, and by each individual PAGE member websites and e-mail networks. The lessons learnt from these studies are being used for PAGE planning in existing and future countries especially on integrated planning for a green economic transitions to achieve national development goals. The findings from the report are informing the ongoing work in existing PAGE countries.

Technical workshop on IGE and SDGs: A technical workshop was jointly organized by the Korea Environment Institute (KEI) and PAGE on 25-26 April, 2016 in Songdo, Republic of Korea. Technical experts, colleagues from partner agencies and initiatives such as GGKP, UNDP, Global Footprint Network, among others, and participants from China, Mongolia and other countries with ongoing IGE related work. The two-day workshop discussed ways of reviewing the contribution of IGE policies for achieving the SDGs in order to set the direction for developing a review methodology that will be applied in select countries where IGE policies have been adopted. The workshop discussed the integration of IGE with SDGs at both conceptual and operational level, compare major policy review methodologies, and set the direction for developing a methodology.

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5.2.6 Communications, visibility and outreach

PAGE celebrated the joining of three new countries to its community: Barbados, Kyrgyz Republic and Brazil (Mato Grosso State) at a high-level event during the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) on 26 May 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. The high-level press event featured the participation of the Minister of Environment of Barbados and high level representatives from Brazil (Mato Grosso State) and Kyrgyz Republic, as well the Director for Sustainable Development, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Nik Sekhran. The event was also attended by Ministers of Environment and high level representatives from South Africa, Germany, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates, Norway and the European Commission.

PAGE organized “Forum on Partnerships for Inclusive Green Economy: Joining up for Delivery on the 2030 Agenda”, during the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) on 25 May in Nairobi, Kenya. The event centered on a high-level panel discussion on how new and innovative partnerships can deliver on the central challenge of the 2030 Agenda: creating the conditions for sustained and sustainable economic growth, with full employment. The event was organized in partnership with the governments of Finland and the Republic of Korea, and co-branded by the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP), the UNDP-UN Environment Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), the Ten Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP), and the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD Programme).

PAGE, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and UN Environment organized a high-level event on 8 September 2016 at the Global Green Growth Week 2016 in Jeju, Republic of Korea. Participants included high level government representative from Colombia, Mongolia, Peru and Senegal, the Executive Director of UN Environment and the Director General of GGGI. In Colombia, Mongolia, Peru and Senegal, PAGE, in partnership with UN Environment and GGGI, is supporting governments in transitioning to a green economy by providing technical support, capacity building, knowledge and forging long-term partnerships by bringing together their complementary expertise. The event showcased the strength of the partnership among PAGE, GGGI and UN Environment for inclusive green economy delivery at national level, discussed lessons learned from the experiences so far, and explored how the partnerships can be improved and scaled up.

PAGE newsletter and website: In 2016 the PAGE website was moved to a new hosting provider with improved features. In 2016, PAGE newsletter switched to a mobile-friendly template since almost 30% of users open the newsletter on mobile devices. Currently, the newsletter is sent to more than 2,300 subscribers. The head of the UN Environment recorded a video message on PAGE, which will be used to promote the partnership's activities through the website and social media. The PAGE twitter account (@PAGExchange) is growing with 600 followers by end of 2016 (increased from 250 in 2015) in addition to a YouTube channel for sharing IGE and PAGE videos.

6. PAGE SECRETARIATThe PAGE Secretariat, serving as the central point of liaison between the PAGE partners, provides services to the Technical Team, the Management Board and the Donor Steering Committee. Under the direction of the Technical Team, the Secretariat ensured smooth inter-agency cooperation in planning and implementing PAGE activities.

In 2016, the Secretariat assisted PAGE partners in organizing the following meetings:

- 2 Donor Steering Committee meetings on 27 January in Geneva and 5 October in Turin alongside the Green Economy Academy;

- 3 Management Board meetings on 26 January, 24 March, and 4 October;

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- 1 Technical Team meeting on 11-12 July in Geneva;- 1 Midterm Evaluation Inception Mission meeting (13-15 July) in Geneva.

In close cooperation with PAGE partners, the Secretariat developed concepts, agendas and background materials, coordinated with partner agency focal points, ensured logistical arrangements and minutes and other follow-up activities, as needed. The Donor Steering Committee meeting held on 26 January in Geneva was hosted by the ILO, and the meeting held on 5 October in Turin was hosted by the ITCILO, which took responsibility for logistics respectively. The Secretariat provided support for the preparation of the agenda, background documents and presentations.

The PAGE Secretariat also played a central role:

- Developing and finalizing the PAGE Operational Strategy 2016-2020, which was launched in May 2016 at UNEA2;

- Developing the 2016/2017 Annual Work Plan which was approved by the Management Board in March 2016;

- Facilitating the mid-term evaluation of PAGE and coordinating inputs from PAGE stakeholders at global and national level;

The Secretariat managed the country selection process for three new countries joining PAGE in 2016, Brazil (Mato Grosso State), Kyrgyz Republic and Barbados, and launched a call for applications for new countries to join in 2017.

The Secretariat also organized the outreach events described in the section on Communications, and initiated planning and preparations for the Ministerial Conference to be held in Berlin on 27-28 March 2017.

6.1 Guidelines for strengthening PAGE country delivery

The Guidance for Implementing a National PAGE Partnership was finalized in 2015 and is publicly available on PAGE website. The document serves as a resource for national governments, and institutions undertaking PAGE-supported analysis and policy reform, as well as international partners engaged in PAGE and green economy action. The note seeks to support sound project planning with the goal that PAGE-supported activities are fully integrated within relevant national processes, owned by national institutions, and effectively coordinated with ongoing and planned national and international activities. In 2016, the manual was translated in Russian for application in new PAGE countries in Central Asian region.

6.2 Operational Guidelines for PAGE implementation

Operational Guidelines for PAGE Implementation including detailed guidance on operational aspects of the partnership considered of direct relevance to the five PAGE partner agencies has been completed. The manual targets UN staff and consultants working on PAGE at global, regional and national levels, including national PAGE coordinators. Information for national governments and stakeholders participating or interested in PAGE is included in the ‘Guidance Note for PAGE Partner Countries: Planning and Implementing a National PAGE Partnership’, which complements the operational manual and was completed in 2015.

The manual builds on relevant UN policies and guidelines, in particular the UN Development Group (UNDG) guidance and Standard Operating Procedures for ‘Delivering as One’. It is a ‘living document’ and will be regularly up-dated, based on collaborative decisions of all partners and operational circumstances.

6.3 Launch of call for new countries

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PAGE launched an open call for applications for new partner countries at the concluding session of the Green Economy Academy in Turin in October 2016. The application deadline for application was set for 31 December 2016. Five countries submitted expressions of interest for partnership, which are under review. Countries join PAGE through a demand-driven and criteria-based selection process.

7. MID-TERM EVALUATION PAGE initiated a mid-term evaluation in 2016 to provide insight into the programmes’ effectiveness and efficiency, results to date and likelihood of impacts. The five key evaluation areas are: 1) assessment of progress towards objectives; 2) evidence of reforms being implemented at the country level; 3) impact of global products; 4) review of governance and operational structure; and 5) meeting country needs, with emphasis on the poor and vulnerable.

The mid-term evaluation is being conducted based on TORs developed collaboratively by PAGE agencies and funding partners. The UN Environment Evaluation Office is leading the evaluation in cooperation with the Evaluation Offices of ILO, UNDP, UNIDO and UNITAR. An external international consultant was hired to conduct the evaluation, with support from national consultants in Mongolia, Peru, China and Senegal responsible for preparing country case studies.

The evaluation began with an Inception Mission held in Geneva 13-15 July to conduct interviews with members of the Secretariat, Technical Team, Management Board, country leads, members of the five agencies, and external partners. An Inception Report, including a Reconstructed Theory of Change, was reviewed by Inception Mission participants and finalized in August 2016.

The lead evaluator collected evidence from PAGE background and planning documents, from interviews with 55 individuals (members of agencies, funding partners, national coordinators, partner initiatives, etc.), questionnaires distributed to four non-case study countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius and South Africa), a mission to Senegal, and consultations conducted during the Green Economy Academy in Turin in October 2016.

Preliminary findings of the evaluation were presented to the Donor Steering Committee by the lead evaluator and a representative of the UN Environment Evaluation Office in Turin on 5 October. The preliminary findings indicated that: 1) PAGE has accomplished a lot in a short time and with limited funding; 2) there is good coordination across the five agencies; 3) governments acknowledge the importance of PAGE and welcome on-going support; 4) communication of PAGE’s core offering should be improved; 5) the PAGE approach aligns well with the SDGs and the Paris agenda, but more could be done to fulfil this potential; and 6) financial disbursements and long term funding issues need to be resolved.

At the end of 2016, the full evaluation report and four country case studies were submitted to the UN Environment Evaluation Office for review, and will subsequently be shared with all PAGE agencies and funding partners for review. In the first quarter of 2017, the full evaluation report and the four case studies will be validated and finalized taking into account comments from the agency and funding partner review progress.

Once finalized, the mid-term evaluation report will provide lessons learned and valuable insight into the first three years of operation of PAGE. In the preliminary findings, the evaluator indicated that PAGE is already taking steps that will address the challenges highlighted by the evaluation.

8. MULTI PARTNER TRUST FUND (MPTF)Since the inception of PAGE, UN Environment has been receiving the PAGE funding and transferring funds to partner agencies through interagency agreements. However, the first years of operation have revealed that the UN Environment standard operating procedures and fiduciary framework is not suitable for this function. This has led to delays and challenges for implementation. In 2016, the

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PAGE Management Board requested a review of the PAGE “business model” to identify a more efficient, transparent and fit for purpose fund management arrangement.

Given the nature of the programme (with five UN agencies working in partnership and several contributors to the programme, currently including 8 donor countries), PAGE partner agencies proposed the utilization of the Multi Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO) for administering the PAGE Trust Fund.

In 2016, this proposal was approved by the PAGE Management Board and the MPTF has been designated the administrative agent for the PAGE Trust Fund. The PAGE agencies approved TORs for the Trust Fund, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the MPTFO. Incoming contributions to PAGE in 2017 can be transferred directly into the Trust Fund. Contributions to the fund are received as un-earmarked contributions allowing for the pooling of funds and consolidated financial reporting.

The MPTFO will enhance efficiency in the operation of the trust fund and the transparency of processes by warranting the separation of the decision-making role from the fund administration. MPTFO costs are covered by the 1% fee charged against each contribution to meet the costs for performing the Administrative Agent’s functions, roles and responsibilities.

The new arrangement will simplify the downstream processes from receiving of contributions to their disbursement to the partner agencies for a timely and efficient delivery of services to countries, while also meeting expectations of partner agencies and donors on effective coordination, reporting and transparency. The MPTFO will serve as an administrative agent that will enhance the efficiency in the operation of the trust fund and the transparency of processes by warranting the separation of the decision-making role from the fund administration, allowing the PAGE Secretariat to focus its attention on the programmatic coordination as well as delivery in countries and at the global level.

9. COOPERATION WITH OTHER INITIATIVESFrom the inception, PAGE has developed models for cooperation, collaboration and synchronisation of activities with other initiatives such as the UN Environment-UNDP Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI), SWITCH Africa and Asia, UN REDD, 10 YFP, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Green Economy Collation (GEC),Green Growth Knowledge Platform and the Environment and Trade Hub in organising joint events, developing joint workplans, and strengthening common platforms for a coordinated country delivery. In 2015 - 2016, PAGE deepened existing cooperation and expanded collaboration with a number of organisations and initiatives such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC), UN Environment Finance Initiative (UN Environment FI), Global Footprint Network, African Climate and Development Initiative, Green Fiscal Policy Network, International Organisation of Francophonie, UN Environment Inquiry, Korea Environment Institute (KEI), and the University of West Indies, among others.

In Mongolia, PAGE continues to coordinate with the GGGI on the green buildings work stream, with SWITCH Asia and 10YFP on sustainable public procurement and with UN Environment Finance Initiative, UN Environment Inquiry, International Finance Corporation and Korean International Agency (KOICA) on Mongolian Sustainable Finance Initiative for mobilising domestic finance. In 2016, collaboration with PEI, UN-REDD and FAO has gained new momentum in Mongolia.

In Kyrgyz Republic, PAGE and PEI have a joint national coordinator and are working towards developing a joint work programme to support the government for a joint delivery. The PEI coordinator will also serve as the national PAGE coordinator for joint implementation of agreed priority areas.

University of West Indies will be a key partner in Barbados especially in establishing a SIDS-SIDS knowledge transfer platform and delivery of PAGE programme to assist the government.

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From the inception of PAGE support, the government of Mato Grosso has committed to engage with wide-ranging institutes, initiatives, and civil society organisations by inviting representatives from these entities at the PAGE launch event. For example, discussion are ongoing with TEEB to coordinate with PAGE to support the government of Mato Grosso.

For establishing a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform, regular consultations and joint stake-holder dialogues on green economy and sustainable development have been initiated in South Africa in partnership with the International Climate Initiative (IKI), GIZ, SWITCH Africa Green as well as the Green Economy Coalition. Activities of a joint GIZ/UN Environment project funded by the International Climate Initiative and SWITCH Africa Green project are being aligned with the PAGE results framework and contribute to the development of financial services and promotion of investment for a green economy.

In Mauritius, PAGE and SWITCH Africa hired a joint coordinator in 2015 and SWITCH has approved six projects in the four sectors analysed in the Green Economy Assessment. Currently, the Switch Africa Green coordinator is supporting PAGE work in Mauritius. PAGE is working in collaboration with the Agence Française de Développement and a UN Environment project that forms part of a regional capacity building initiative on waste management in Africa and receives technical inputs from the International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) of UN Environment.

In Burkina Faso, PAGE, PEI and SWITCH Africa are delivering results under a joint country programme and a joint coordinator for PAGE and SWITCH Africa.

In Peru, UN REDD Programme is supporting the implementation of the National Programme of Forest Conservancy. PAGE, UN REDD and GGGI have agreed on a joint effort to further refine the green policies to be simulated with the T21 model of the PAGE Green Growth Assessment with the aim of better capturing the inter-sectoral connections. In the context of biotrade, PAGE is working with a new UN Joint Programme, focussing on the promotion of social and economic inclusion of small scale farmers, in particular quinoa. PAGE and the Joint Programme are setting up a multi stakeholder public-private partnership to promote organic quinoa and other Andean grains production and export in Peru. Funding from a joint GIZ-UN Environment project has been aligned with Peru’s country results frame for PAGE for organising a series of multi-stakeholder policy dialogues on encouraging green investment and private sector engagement, among others.

In Senegal, PAGE is providing capacity building support and promotion of green entrepreneurship to the national programme for green jobs (PACEV), a joint programme co-financed by the national government, UNDP and GEF. Additionally, PAGE is partnering with the private sector for a public-private partnership for the establishment of an incubator for the green economy and green jobs (ITEV).

In 2015, PAGE held its first Regional Green Economy Forum for Latin America in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia where all PAGE agencies as well as other partners (GIZ, CEPAL, IISD, GGGI, SIDA) contributed with their knowhow and expertise. The first PAGE Global Forum on Green Economy Learning was held in 2015 in Paris and brought together policy-makers, development partners, representatives from education and training institutions, NGOs and business associations to identify opportunities for scaling-up green economy learning. PAGE organized the event in collaboration with the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP), the OECD and the UNESCO-UNEVOC International TVET Centre.

In 2016, the second Global Academy on IGE was organized on at the ILO-International Training Centre in Turin, Italy from 3-14 October 2016. The two-week capacity building event brought together over 150 participants from 35 countries including policy makers, technical staff and stakeholders from civil society organizations, trade unions, private sector, in addition to UN agencies and partners from the 11 PAGE partner countries, as well as experts and practitioners from PAGE partner agencies and collaborating networks. Participants from collaborating networks and initiatives such as GIZ, PEI, SIDA, McKinsey, Grantham Institute London School of Economics, Club of Rome, GAIN (green jobs assessment research) network, among others.

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PAGE, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and UN Environment organized a high-level event on 8 September 2016 at the Global Green Growth Week 2016 in Jeju, Republic of Korea in which high level government representative from Colombia, Mongolia, Peru and Senegal, the Executive Director of UN Environment and the Director General of GGGI participated. PAGE and GGKP actively collaborate by sharing knowledge products, reports, event announcements, IGE learning events, and blogs on GGKP and PAGE websites and social media channels to promote IGE knowledge and events.

A technical workshop on IGE and SDGs was jointly organized by the Korea Environment Institute (KEI) and PAGE in 2016 where technical experts and colleagues from partner agencies and initiatives such as GGKP, UNDP, and Global Footprint Network, among others participated.

PAGE is directly benefiting from a number of projects and initiatives of PAGE partner agencies. For example, a number of e-learning courses have been developed through technical inputs by colleagues from CCLearn (a UNITAR led initiative), Trade and Environment Hub, Green Fiscal Policy Network, GGKP, and Green Jobs Programme at ILO.

10. SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

South-South Cooperation among countries is a key enabling tool where PAGE partner countries can learn each other’s initiatives and experiences about different pathways for reaching a resource-efficient, low-carbon and socially inclusive economy. This modality of cooperation facilitates information sharing among countries, so as to support them to achieve their national development goals. An important aspect of South-South Cooperation lays in its primary purpose to empower countries to shape home-grown responses to development challenges based on evidence-based solutions from their peer countries. PAGE has encouraged and supported partner countries to share experiences and lessons learnt for conducting assessments, policy design and analysis, plans and strategies and bringing on board a wide ranging stakeholders in the process.

There are several examples of partner countries sharing their experiences and lessons learnt in the framework of different PAGE events. During the PAGE launch event of Mato Grosso in Brazil, the PAGE national coordinator for Peru shared experiences and lessons learnt from PAGE support to Peru at a high-level event. In addition, the ‘Institut des sciences de l’environnement’, which has been involved in delivering PAGE support to the government of Senegal was invited to present the experiences and lessons learnt from Senegal in its transition to a green economy. The PAGE national coordinator for Mongolia was invited by Kyrgyz Republic to present PAGE work and implementation strategy in a Green Economy Forum hosted by GIZ in Bishkek on 30 November 2016. Following their initial sharing of experience, in a recent mission to the Kyrgyz Republic the government expressed its desire to learn from the successful model of PAGE implementation in Mongolia in the context of policy analysis processes and formation of National Steering Committee through experience sharing and exchanges.

During the second global Green Economy Academy held in Turin in October 2016, policy makers from Barbados, China, Kyrgyz Republic, South Africa, and other PAGE partner countries  shared policy perspectives with their counterparts at a high-level dialogue. At the implementation level, a knowledge fair was organized where representatives and technical experts showcased successful examples and lessons learnt from IGE policy development implementation to share with fellow participants from other PAGE countries and participants of the academy. Similarly, a training of trainers event was conducted for participants from the learning institutes in PAGE partner and other developing countries during the academy. The event provided an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning through experience sharing of successful learning models.

Additionally, participants from the three new PAGE partner countries (Barbados, Mato Grosso State of Brazil, and Kyrgyz Republic) have been actively invited to participate in the e-learning course on Green Economy and Trade to held in during 13 March – 21 April 2017.

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Two webinars were conducted for PAGE national coordinators and PAGE focal points for countries to share challenges faced, lessons learned and strategies for effectively working with the government counterparts for policy change, especially for new PAGE countries. This experience allowed countries to learn from their counterparts and improve their strategies and implementation efforts in their respective countries.

Through PAGE support, the government of Jiangsu province in China will conduct an assessment for South-South trade in renewable energy and environmental goods and services with developing countries.

Additionally, PAGE supported participants to share experiences of IGE implementation and development of policy tools at a number of events to other developing countries. A government representative presented the case of PAGE Mongolia as an example of coordinated delivery of advisory services and technical assistance for achieving he SDGs at a workshop held in Nairobi in 2016.

PAGE team members also shared their experiences of implementing policy development tools at a technical workshop on 25-26 April, 2016 jointly organized by Korea Environment Institute (KEI) and UN Environment in Songdo, Republic of Korea. The workshop reviewed Inclusive Green Economy's contribution to SDGs and shared experiences with other representatives from developing countries.

PAGE is committed to further facilitate the exchange of good practices through different platforms among partner countries under the South-South cooperation framework to scale up national efforts for reaching a resource-efficient, low-carbon and socially inclusive economy

11.LESSONS LEARNED AND CHALLENGES

National Coordinators: The role of the national coordinator is key to the successful implementation of the PAGE programme in PAGE countries. Given the interagency and interdisciplinary nature of the PAGE intervention, the need for a person that represents PAGE, coordinates the work of the five agencies on the ground, and connects the dots between different government partners and other stakeholders is evident. In countries with a well-selected, experienced and pro-active person under PAGE contract, national coordinators have been able to drive PAGE activities forward. In cases where countries went through government transition, national coordinators provided stability and helped the PAGE programme navigate through political changes. There are different models for employing national coordinators in the countries, depending on administrative processes in the lead agencies. There is not one way that works best. Experience from 2016 have shown that different models are effective, including sharing national coordinators with other international programmes, e.g. with PEI for Kyrgyz Republic or Switch Africa Green in Burkina Faso.

A key challenge to successful management of national coordinators has been the short funding cycles of PAGE funding, where contributions to the PAGE Trust Fund are made with short duration or are split in several instalments, which do not allow for provision of longer-term contracts. National coordinators have to accept short-term contracts of up to 6-months with promise but no guarantee for renewal. This has led to a situation where not all national coordinators could be maintained and took up positions in other programmes (e.g. for Mauritius and Senegal). To address the situation, PAGE agencies have already agreed throughout 2016, to give priority under available funds to securing national coordinator positions before considering other activities. Moving PAGE funds into the MPFT and allowing them to be pooled with a longer-term funding horizon is expected to bring relief to this situation.

National Steering Mechanisms: The National Steering Committees play an important role to institutionalise inter-ministerial coordination and integrated implementation of PAGE activities in a

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country. There are different models of how the steering mechanisms are set up in PAGE countries, and different terminologies are used, but in essence, the committees bring together the key ministries that are involved in PAGE programmes, and in some countries beyond this also other groups, for example in South Africa the National Steering Committee includes representatives of PAGE agencies and development partners. In some countries, the steering committee serves as institution that endorses the work plans (e.g. Peru while in other countries setting up a steering mechanism has been challenging (e.g. Mauritius, China, Burkina Faso). An emerging lesson from 2016 is that, in countries that went through the new application process – including the requirement for coordination among Ministries already at the point of application – inter-ministerial coordination and the involvement of different Ministries is easier. There is a positive impact from the coordination that PAGE applicant countries did for their application, and key Ministries are ready to cooperate when PAGE starts its activities in a country (this was experience from Kyrgyz Republic, Mato Grosso and Barbados).

In some countries that joined before the application process was launched that expressed interest mainly through a high-level letter, PAGE started work through one or two Ministries, while in parallel supporting the set-up of an inter-ministerial committee. However, once one or two agencies have taken ownership over the programme and identified their interests, it is more difficult to widen the scope and encourage coordination (this was the experience in Burkina Faso, Mauritius, Ghana). At the same time there are also examples, where the inter-ministerial coordination has expanded over time and new government agencies became part as the programme evolved (as in the case of Peru and Mongolia). Overall the experience confirms that it is useful to request inter-ministerial coordination from the point of application to PAGE.

Cashflow in the PAGE programme: A key challenge in 2016 was related to the cash flow of funds for country activities. While pledges from funding partners in the beginning of 2016 where sufficient to plan a comprehensive programme, documented in the global PAGE work plan, the funds actually received in accounts were either lower due to the delay in administrative processes, or came in sequenced in instalments, allowing only for step-by-step disbursement to country activities. This has led to a situation where implementation fell short of country expectations and country programmes had to reprioritize mid-year to implement only a share of the activities planned. To be able to deliver activities only based on actual funds received in accounts, and receiving information on this only in bits and pieces in the first half of 2016, provided a major challenge for the continuity of activities in countries, their timeliness and impact, as well as for building trust with partners. With the transition of the PAGE fund management to the Multi-Partner Trust Fund, PAGE aims to address this situation and shift to a more long-term planning cycle.

Expansion plans for PAGE: The operational strategy has sent out the plan for PAGE expansion and fundraising, taking into account an average time for engagement with a country of 4 years. Towards the end of 2017, some countries that joined PAGE early would already reach the point for phase out. However, due to several reasons, the programmes may not have advanced as steadily as originally planned and further engagement may be needed to lead the country towards a sustainability plan (e.g. Peru had elections and government changes, Mongolia had several reshuffles in government, Burkina Faso was held back by a coup d’état, Ghana had elections and some challenges in overall coordination). This situation needs to be carefully monitored with respect to the programme’s ability to take on new countries and support a certain number of countries within a given moment. In 2016, PAGE supported 11 countries, but on a lower volume of funding than outlined in the operational strategy. This led to a situation where contributions per country were limited. With an additional two countries in 2017, the total number would raise to 13 to be supported under the available budget, bearing a risk that contributions per country go further down. If more countries are supported at a given moment with limited resources, PAGE would also need to re-evaluate its own capacity, within the PAGE Secretariat and PAGE partner agencies to backstop a rising number of countries. The sustainability plans and phasing out strategies for countries, while building a global network of partner countries, will need to be framed conceptually more clearly. Building on the sustainability strategies outlined in the Operational Strategy, PAGE partners will take up this topic in the recent PAGE retreat in January 2017 and set up a working group around sustainability and scaling–up.

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PAGE Application process: The application process introduced towards the end of 2015, provides a good mechanism to gather insights into the real interest by countries, the countries’ forward going plans, and their readiness for inter-ministerial coordination. PAGE received several very good applications in 2016 and early 2017, sufficient in numbers to allow for further scaling-up, and sufficient in substance and high-level support to have good entry points for PAGE activities. As already mentioned, the application process has a positive impact on inter-ministerial coordination when entering in the new countries. At the same time, it also raises the expectation for PAGE delivery, given that key partners have already clearly expressed their needs and worked out suggested priority sectors and areas of work. There is a greater need to level expectations at the point of selection, as inevitably what is expressed in the application goes beyond what PAGE can address with limited funding. This situation is aggravated when – as was described above – the level of funding combined with number of countries receiving support in parallel by PAGE only allows for limited allocations to countries. To handle the situation, PAGE emphasises its catalytic role, where the strength may be to bring partners together in the countries, delivering a sub-set of activities requested, while actively engaging other partners to support activities under a wider green economy portfolio.

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12. FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

In 2016, PAGE has received additional contributions from Norway (USD 1,004,202), Republic of Korea (USD 790,024) and Sweden (USD 197,496). In addition, Switzerland provided USD 70,538 earmarked to the mid-term evaluation. Together with the 2016 instalments received from Switzerland (USD 513,768) and Finland (USD 331,858), the additional income in 2016 was USD 2,907,886.

Confirmed contributions to UN Environment hosted Trust Fund (under signed agreements in 2016)

Funding Source Pledges in USD Received Funds in USD Outstanding transfers

Pledges signed between 2013 and 2016

 2014/2015 2016 2017 2018-2019

Finland 1,534,416 1,202,558 331,858Rep of Korea (2013-2014) 1,700,000 1,700,000

Rep of Korea (2015) 825,984 825,984

Rep of Korea (2016) 790,024 790,024

Sweden I (2013) 119,712 119,712

Sweden II (2014) 134,460 134,460

Sweden III (2015) 179,250 179,250

Sweden IV (2016) 197,496 197,496

Norway (2014-2015) 4,871,316 4,871,316

Norway (2016) 1,004,202 1,004,202

SECO Switzerland* 1,554,404 700,127 513,768 340,509SECO Switzerland MTE** 70,538 70,538

EC DG Env*** 689,655 689,655

EC DG DevCO**** 8,468,000 1,770,1856,697,815

Total 22,139,457 9,603,223 2,907,886 2,110,694 6,697,815

Total (2014-2016) 12,511,109

Total22,139,457

* For outstanding amount USD estimate based on exchange rate at time when pledge was received **funds provided specifically for mid-term evaluation***contribution to PAGE under UNEP-EC strategic cooperation agreement lower than originally planned****Transfer received in January 2017

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An agreement with EC DG DEVCO for a contribution of USD 8,468,000 was signed in 2016 and a first instalment of USD 1,770,185 will be available in 2017. Together with the final payment under the Swiss contribution (USD estimate 340,509), USD 2,110,694 are available for 2017 from these sources. The total amount of pledges under signed agreements at the end of 2016 was around USD 22 million.

Further, as of 1 January 2017 the Multi-Partner-Trust Fund administered by the MPTF-Office in New York is operational. Forward going pledges to the MPTF were received from Germany are in process from the Republic of Korea and Norway, summing up to an estimated USD 3.9million available in 2017. The total amount of additional funds available for 2017, under the UN Environment Trust Fund and MPTF is estimated to be USD 6,005,985.

New pledges from 2017 to PAGE MPTF

Funding source In countries’ currency Estimated USD amount available in 2017

Estimated USD amount available beyond 2017

Germany (2017)* Euro 2,000,000 2,125,800Norway (2017-2020) NOK 33,320,000 1,000,000 3,000,000Republic of Korea (2017) KRW 9,300,000 810,000Total (USD estimate) 3,935,800

*Fund already received in PAGE MPTF

In addition to the pledges received, PAGE agencies provided in-kind contributions and some partners provide in-kind contributions and or funds aligned with the PAGE programme. PAGE in-kind contributions are estimated at USD 3,600,000 in the period 2013-2016 from deploying staff funded from agencies’ core budgets for the development of PAGE, as well as core funding for specific PAGE related activities. In addition, Germany through the International Climate Initiative has provided funding to UNEP as part of a project implemented jointly with GIZ, which will align activities with PAGE. The estimated USD amount of funding provided to UNEP is USD 1,184,211 for the period 2015-2017. In 2014, UAE had provided an in-kind contribution of USD 1,029,392 for the first international PAGE conference. Considering the different sources the total amount of funds pledged to the PAGE programme is roughly USD 35 million.

The mid 2016-mid 2017 workplan was developed based on anticipated funding of USD 5,350,000 million, or USD 4,857,000 of programmable funds without programme support cost, however only USD 2.9 million of this became available in 2016 (USD 2.5 million without PSC). Together with remaining 2015 funds, USD 2.9 million were actually allocated towards the mid 2016-mid 2017 workplan. Going forward, out of the USD 6 million available in 2017, USD 2.3 million will be assigned to close the funding gap in the earlier work plan. Taking this into account, funds to be newly programmed in 2017 currently amount to USD 3.7 million.

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