UN Environment is together with partners supporting Georgia in a bid to become self-sufficient for energy, boost food security and improve health and safety under a new national green growth strategy being developed.

Meanwhile, around 40 small and medium-sized companies, associations and government experts from the country dealing with, using or storing chemical substances have been trained to do so in a safe way.

Sustainable choices for a green economy transition During high-level consultations held in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on 28 April, five deputy economy, environment, agriculture and education ministers - as well as experts from other ministries, NGOs, international organisations and academia - discussed how the green growth strategy development can be supported in Georgia and outlined the scope and objectives of collaboration.

UN Environment will support the development of an economic modelling analysis as part of this, demonstrating how green policy choices will bring tangible social, environmental and economic benefits at macroeconomic and sectorial levels. Discussing concrete sustainability challenges of the agriculture and energy sectors in Georgia, meeting participants were introduced to System Dynamics – a modelling approach for understanding complex real-life issues and creating sustainable policy responses, that will help guide decision makers designing Georgia's green future. The meeting recommended that an inter-ministerial working group would be established to allow for cross-sectoral and inter-governmental collaboration of the national green economy process as a whole.

Detox for companies
A Safer Production training was meanwhile held on 20-21 April introducing firms, chemical service providers, academic experts and government officials were meanwhile presented with tools developed by UN Environment to improve chemical hazard management and help companies identify and address hazards and risks related to the manufacturing, processing and handling of chemical substances and reduce the associated social, economic and environmental impacts.

These tools provide guidance for example on developing a chemical inventory, classifying chemical hazards, identifying health, environmental, social and economic risks and potential accident scenarios, or how to develop a chemical emergency plan with a range of stakeholders.

Participants were also introduced to the eco-innovation approach, whereby lifecycle thinking is applied to a business’ entire value chain. This allows companies to find novel solutions that make them more competitive and sustainable.

They can stay ahead of the game before the entry into force of new policies or regulations for example – with potentially stricter ones now on the horizon, following the Georgia-European Union Association Agreement signed in 2014. Both meetings were held in the framework of the EU-funded Greening Economies in the EU's Eastern Partnership Countries (EaP GREEN) project, jointly implemented by UN Environment, OECD, UNECE and UNIDO.

Under EaP GREEN, UN Environment supports the six Eastern Neighbourhood countries in ensuring that Green Economy and Sustainable Consumption and Production principles are included in economic and development policies, and supports the implementation of the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production demonstration activities led by the UN Industrial Development Organisation.

The green growth strategy consultations were organised by UN Environment in collaboration with the Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the country’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection. The latter also partnered with UN Environment to organise the Safer Production training.

For more information on EaP GREEN click here. For further details on the meetings please contact rie.tsutsumi@unep.org