This report presents the third evaluation of the Nordic Swan ecolabelling scheme. The evaluation is conducted from the perspective of the public administration, and it examines the role of the Nordic Swan in a policy context. Recommendations are presented for authorities in the Nordic countries and for the bodies operating the schemes on a Nordic and national level. The evaluation focuses on current opportunities and challenges in the operating environment of the scheme. It examines the relations between the Nordic Swan and the EU Eco-label in the Nordic countries, including their governance procedures, popularity and reception in the market. Other current topics addressed include the progress achieved by the Nordic marketing strategy for the Swan and some current governance issues in the scheme, including the grounds for public funding for the Nordic Swan. The report also analyses the relations between the Swan and other environmental information systems. In particular, the report investigates the opportunities and challenges ensuing from the current attention to climate issues for the Nordic Swan.

Sustainable Consumption is a focus theme in the Environmental Action Plan 2009-2012 of the Nordic Council of Ministers. As stressed in the Plan, the Nordic countries form a joint market with the same product range and similar patterns of consumption. Hence, the countries can together contribute to developing environmentally adapted production meth-ods and stimulating the interaction between environmentally conscious consumptionand an environment oriented product range. This report presents 22 different projects, realized recently in the Nordic countries, that have promoted sustainable life styles.

Kestävä kulutus on keskiössä Pohjoismaiden ministerineuvoston Ympäris-töyhteistyön toimintasuunnitelmassa vuosille 2009–2012. Ohjelmassa tode-taan, että Pohjoismaat muodostavat yhteiset markkinat ja niitä yhdistävät samanlaiset tuotevalikoimat ja kulutustottumukset. Siten maat voivat yhdessä edistää ympäristön kannalta kestävien tuotantomenetelmien kehittymistä sekä sitä kautta lisätä kestäviä kulutusmahdollisuuksia. Tässä raportissa esitellään 22 Pohjoismaissa toteutettua hanketta, jotka ovat edistäneet kestävää elämäntapaa.

This report provides a framework for circular procurement and discusses its possibilities to promote circular economy. Several best practice examples in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway illustrate how and in which sectors and product groups circular procurement could be applicable. Different approaches to circular procurement and tendering criteria supporting circular aspects are also illustrated.The study was carried out in Nordic co-operation by Finnish Environment Institute, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Copenhagen Resource Institute. The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), administrated by the NCM Sustainable Consumption and Production Working Group and guided by a steering group consisting representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

ÅF Ljud & Vibrationer har på uppdrag av Nordiska ministerrådets BAT-grupp, som är en undergrupp till arbetsgruppen för hållbar konsumtion och produktion, utfört en studie kring bästa tillgängliga teknik, s.k. BAT(Best Available Technique) avseende dämpning av externt industribuller från livsmedelsindustrier och hamnverksamheter. Rapporten är framtagen i syfte att identifiera de tekniker, som ska beaktas när BAT ska bestämmas, för att begränsa bulleralstrande mekanismer och arbetsmoment inom externt industribuller. Tio respektive elva stycken tekniker presenteras och de fokuserar på de ljudalstrande mekanismer som olika maskiner och verksamheter ger upphov till, samt vad som kan göras för att minimera buller till omgivningen, BAT. Resultatet visar att en tillämpning av BAT medför att respektive bullerkällas bullerbidrag till omgivningen kan reduceras avsevärt.

Green Public Procurement (GPP) can play a significant a role in efforts to influence the private sector towards more sustainable products and services. Following an account of the environmental impact of Nordic public procurement, the project provides an assessment of the potential of strengthening GPP within three key product groups in Nordic public procurement: Taxi and coach services, Computers and related services, and Cleaning products. The analyses show that compared to traditional regulatory instruments GPP tends to be more soft and dynamic - but also slower and less comprehensive. A decision model for GPP is developed. Two cases illustrate the potential benefits of GPP: Procurement of a new server centre in the City of Copenhagen, and procurement of transportation for disabled and elderly people in the City of Stockholm. Conclusions and recommendations on how to strengthen the benefits of GPP are provided. The study has been initiated and supervised by The Working Group on Environment and Economics under the Nordic Council of Ministries.

Rapporten præsenterer et studie af brugen af frivillige aftaler og forekomsten af miljømærker i de nordiske lande, inklusiv brugen af instrumenterne i et policy mix med andre policy værktøjer. Grundlaget for rapporten er fem landestudier, der hver især kortlægger brugen af de nævnte policy værktøjer i de fem nordiske lande og præsenterer identificerede evalueringer af konkrete frivillige aftaler og miljømærkeordninger. Fra evalueringerne uddrages konklusioner om omkostningseffektivitet samt gode og dårlige eksempler på anvendelse af frivillige aftaler og miljømærkeordninger i kombination med andre styringsmidler. Det primære formål er at udvikle anbefalinger, der kan understøtte og give input til justeringer af strategier for den fremtidige anvendelse af frivillige aftaler og miljømærker i de nordiske landes miljøregulering. Rapporten er udført af Plan Miljø og finansieret af Nordisk Ministerråd.

The purpose of this study was to clear out how Green Public Procurement has been realized in state framework contracts in the Nordic countries, to propose country-specific ways to improve the situation, and to draw a general model of efficient ways to realize green state framework contracts. The study was carried through in 2014 and 2015 by Bjørn Bauer and Rikke Fischer-Bogason (PlanMiljø, Denmark), Luitzen de Boer and Sigurd Vildåsen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), and Timo Kivistö (Kivistö Consulting, Finland). The study was supervised by the Working Group of Nordic Council of Ministers for Sustainable Consumption and Production (i.e. HKP-group).

In addition to this Full Report, the project has also resulted in a short Summary Report and a power point presentation (slides), including the key findings and conclusions.

Green Public Procurement, GPP, can be an important driver of green transition – and must be dealt with accordingly. All five Nordic countries have established framework contracts at state level and have allocated the responsibility for the State Framework Contracts (SFC) to certain organisations:

• Denmark: Moderniseringsstyrelsen and SKI

• Finland: Hansel Ltd

• Iceland: Rikiskaup

• Sweden: Kammarkollegiet

• Norway: DiFi, HINAS

The roles of these units differ, partly due to differences in the overall national structure.

This is a short Summary Report with key findings and conclusions based on the Full Report (TN2016:506), which includes detailed country studies. The study was carried through in 2014 and 2015 and supervised by the Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production (i.e. HKP-group) of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Technology procurement is a method of merging public procurement with innovation in order to achieve specific, eg. environmental, benefits. The objective of this report has been to provide a clear and well structured review of Nordic and international experience within technology procurement and recommendations for development and increased use of technology procurement. The many examples from regional, national and supra-national contexts described in this report show that considerable benefits that can be achieved through technology procurement. The report includes a set of recommendations aiming at increased and effective use of technology procurement as a means of supporting environment-friendly and energy-saving technologies in the Nordic countries.

Policy Brief: Ecodesign Requirements for Textiles and Furniture The EU Eco design Directive’s potential for application to nonenergy related themes has come under the spotlight in recent years with Nordic countries at the forefront. A large part of the lifecycle environmental impacts of a product are determined at the design stage.

In this report potential eco design requirements that can be drawn up for non-energy-related products are in focus. Textiles are here used as an example, and a light application of the approach has subsequently been applied to the furniture sector. Clothing and home textiles were chosen due to significant wastage in the value chain due to fast fashion, dropping quality and relatively low repair and reuse rates.

The project was initiated, financed and steered by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production and carried out by a consultant team led by PlanMiljø.

A large part of the lifecycle environmental impacts of a product are determined at the design stage, why The EU Eco design Directive’s potential for application to non-energy related themes has come under the spotlight in recent years with Nordic countries at the forefront. In this report potential eco design requirements that can be drawn up for non-energy-related products are in focus. Textiles are here used as an example, and a light application of the approach has subsequently been applied to the furniture sector. Clothing and home textiles were chosen due to significant wastage in the value chain due to fast fashion, dropping quality and relatively low repair and reuse rates.The project was initiated and financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and led by its Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production. A separate Policy Brief (ANP2018:739) is also published.

This report contains the results of a scoping study on the potential for mainstreaming green public procurement in the Nordic countries. The report gives recommendations on how green public procurement can be better integrated in other policy areas.  The study was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production.

In comparison is the commonly used Cap and Trade method with an alternative and novel method for pricing pollution: The aim was to conduct a practical approach to clarify advantages and challenges of the respective mechanisms. Shortly, the report promotes:

1) Levying a Fee which is sufficiently high and adjusted sufficiently often for a Fee.

2) Letting the Futures Market and other hedging and insurance instruments indicate the price (the average abatement cost) which can be levied without harming the economy.

3) Securing a repayment of a sufficiently large fraction of the revenue from the Fee.

These three parts or components are all essential to the mechanism. Still, key questions remain unanswered in this report. This project was launched by the Working Group for SCP (HKP) in collaboration with the Working Group on Environment and Economy (MEG) under the Nordic Council of Ministers.

This report explores how public sector support promotes the locomotive model, which is understood as partnerships between locomotive companies and SMEs in order to facilitate export of cleantech and system solutions. Support structures vary a lot among the Nordic countries. A main observation is that the various programmes in all Nordic countries had little information on the impacts of the instruments. Some suggestions for policy makers in the Nordic countries are offered, now with an understanding of the interaction between large businesses and SMEs, which wish to export clean technologies. The project was carried out from May 2014 to December 2014 by a consortium led by COWI with FORES, Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum and Tyrsky Consulting as partners. The Nordic Council of Minister's Working Group on Sustainable Consumption and Production initiated and financed the project.

The textile industry is one of the world's largest industries. The fashion and textile industry is also one of the most polluting and resource-consuming industries in the world. Ecolabels such as the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel can play an important role in reducing the environmental impact of textiles purchased in Nordic countries. The project aims to identify barriers to more ecolabelled textiles on the Nordic consumer market and initiate activities and actions to remedy these. The project has also taken a global perspective, identifying how producers in e.g. India and Turkey can be encouraged to engage in eco-labelling. The study was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and carried out by Nordic Ecolabelling with a subgroup of the Nordic Sustainable Consumption and Production group (HKP) as steering group

This report provides a thorough analysis concerning the situation in Tirupur, India, where the local government has imposed strict requirements on zero liquid discharge of wastewater in textile production. The report analyzes how Tirupur can turn the Zero Liquid Discharge requirements into a competitive advantage by creating a green textile cluster based on the European Eco-label Flower and ISO 14001. The report also includes an analysis of the demand situation for environmentally certified textile in the Nordic countries and how this demand can be affected positively.

Recommendations for Nordic policymakers:Resource related ecodesign obligations will be a necessary part of the future policy mix, though not all parts of the policy puzzle is yet in place. The Nordic policymakers can begin processes in order to realise strategic opportunities. Examples of such policies would be to continue the development of resource efficiency criteria in the Nordic eco-labelling and public procurement in order to pave the way for an uptake in EU eco-labelling and in the Ecodesign Directive. By continuously developing resource related criteria in voluntary policy instruments a platform for legal standard setting will be created that can be applied for ecodesign. See also the main report Addressing resource efficiency through the Ecodesign Directive - A review of opportunities and barriers at http://www.norden.org/sv/publikationer/publikationer/2014-511

The European Union has initiated a number of initiatives to improve resource efficiency in Europe. The Ecodesign Directive is one of the policy instruments that could aid the transition towards a more resource efficient economy. So far, the Directive has mainly been applied to set requirements related to energy efficiency, but there is potential for setting legal standards that increase product durability and promote the future re-use and recycling of components and materials. This paper examines the potential benefits and disadvantages in applying the Directive for this purpose, and analyzes the potential to apply certain types of legal standards. There is a need for continuous development of indicators and methods in order to allow for a broader range of legal standards in the future. The study provides some short and long term recommendations on the way forward.

Seventeen Nordic and international labelling and certification schemes met at an international workshop on dialogue and cooperation at Lund’s University in November 2011. With this meeting among schemes across fields such as the environment, organic, fair trade and sustainability, NCM Working Group on Sustainable Consumption and Production and Nordic Ecolabelling has taken a first step to create transparency and exchange of experience between label schemes with relevance for Sustainable Consumption and Production. Prior to the workshop in Lund the consulting firm Ecostory mapped information schemes on the Nordic markets and carried out a stakeholder survey. Ecostory found four megatrends that are important for schemes within SCP:  convergence towards sustainability, information overload, regulation as driver, and national/regional labels on global markets. This report presents findings from the mapping of schemes, the stakeholder survey and the workshop on dialogue and cooperation. Ecostory describes 10 key challenges and recommends policy responses and gives tentative proposals to follow-up and support cooperation between the Swan and other information systems.

The development and diffusion of environmental technologies, which is considered to be one way of achieving the dual goals of maintaining competitiveness in a dynamic and knowledge-based economy while integrating environmental consideration in this process, may be influenced by a number of sector-specific conditions. In light of this, case studies of energy efficiency innovations in the Nordic building sector were carried out as a part of two-year research project on Green Market and Cleaner Technologies - Leading Nordic Innovation and Technological Potential for Future Markets. The studies looked into the characteristics of the industry as well as other issues influencing the three key activities of an innovation system - access to knowledge, access to resources and market formation. This report highlights some features of the building industry as well as their products which tend to pose constraints to the three innovation activities in the sector. It elucidates several strategies deployed by innovating companies to overcome some of the constraints and points to specific areas for policy interventions needed to effectively enhance innovation activities in the sector.

This report explores the urgent question of how to transition to a green economy. If the price of pollution becomes the same as the price to not pollute, i.e. the investment required for a non-polluting solution, could market forces be harnessed to create a totally green economy? Would the consumer lead the way if pollution fees were simply credited into everyone’s account? Would economic growth and technical development forge ahead? Taking the flexible fee mechanism proposed by Höglund as a starting point, the report examines the academic literature and presents the results of a workshop where leading Swedish economists and environmentalists examine the issues involved in price discovery mechanisms and call for further developments in this field.

Den här rapporten ger en överblick av frågeställningar kring användning av livscykelkostnader som verktyg för en hållbar utveckling. Projektet har fokuserat på att sammanställa exempel där det kan löna sig ekonomiskt att t.ex. minska energi- och resursförbrukning och visa på denna lönsamhet genom att beräkna livscykelkostnader. Av rapporten framgår också erfarenheter kring tillämpningen som möjligheter, svårigheter och framgångsfaktorer med livscykelanalyser. Utifrån detta presenteras förslag till vad som kan göras generellt för att främja användningen och mer specifikt hur Ministerrådet skulle kunna gå vidare.

The report presents new BAT (Best Available Techniques) candidates for larger breweries, malting companies and soft drink producers identified within the Nordic brewery sector. The report is prepared as a joint Nordic contribution to the Technical Working Group and is proposed to be used when a review of the BREF for Food, Drink and Milk Industries from 2006 is launched. Larger and IPPC relevant breweries have a production capacity exceeding 300 tons per day or 1,100,000 hl per year. The number of larger breweries and malting companies in the Nordic countries is 10 companies. 8 potential new BAT candidates and 2 emerging techniques are included in the report and all candidates have their origin in the Nordic countries. The BAT described in the report are related to a number of resource saving and optimisation solutions, e.g. like substitution of raw materials and processes, energy and water savings plus production of renewable energy based on brewery waste and side-products.

An expert workshop on sustainability certification of tourist destinations was held at the Swedish EPA (Naturvårdsverket) in Stockholm Tuesday the 11th of September 2012. The workshop in Stockholm built on a study, conducted in 2011 by Environice for the Nordic Council of Ministers. The aim was to explore and widen the recommendations from the earlier study with the target to create a professional and reliable foundation for further decision and policy making. The workshop was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ group on small communities (Småsamfundsgruppen). This report includes a summary of the workshop’s group discussions, followed by revised recommendations for future work, based on the workshop results. The main conclusion of the workshop was that the Nordic countries should develop a common Nordic system for sustainability certification of tourist destinations.

Svanen och EU Ecolabel – Succéhistorier i nordiska småsamfund - Producenternas erfarenheter De nordiska länderna har ett framgångsrikt samarbete med det nordiska miljömärket Svanen, ett av de mest lyckade exemplen på miljömärkningar i hela världen (enligt en internationell studie, som utförts av Evironmental Resources Management i England 2008). EU Ecolabel hamnade på topp fyra i samma studie. I denna skrift presenteras 18 goda exempel (”succéhistorier”) från små företag som drivs i nordiska småsamhällen och fått sina varor eller tjänster miljömärkta med Svanen eller EU Ecolabel. Exemplen visar att miljömärkning är möjlig och lönsam, inte bara i storstäderna, utan också i småsamhällen.

Det finns ett antal olika miljö– eller hållbarhetscertifieringssystem för enskilda företag och produkter inom turistindustrin. Certifierade företag kan dock endast uppfylla en del av de förväntningar som morgondagens turister och framtida generationer kan antas ha till hållbarheten. För att ta steget vidare krävs det ett omfattande samarbete mellan industrin och det lokala samhället, så som kommunstyrelsen och befolkningen. Hela samhället måste delta för att uppnå målet om en så hållbar turism som möjligt. Trots detta finns det nästan inga system för hållbarhetscertifiering av hela samhällen eller turistdestinationer. I denna rapport presenteras en utredning av möjligheter och hinder kring hållbarhetscertifiering av turistdestinationer i en nordisk kontext, antingen enligt befintliga standarder eller enligt ett ev. nytt nordiskt system. Syftet med rapporten är att skapa ett bra underlag till nordiska myndigheter för beslut om ev. miljö- eller hållbarhetscertifiering av turistdestinationer. Rapporten utarbetades av konsultföretaget Environice på Island på uppdrag av Nordiska ministerrådets Småsamfundsgrupp, som är er undergrupp till ministerrådets arbetsgrupp för hållbar produktion och konsumtion (HKP-gruppen).

Indhold

• Report structure
• Indledning
• Sammendrag
• Livsstadier
• Landbaseret opdræt
• Miljøpåvirkninger fra landbaseret opdræt
• Vandrensningsteknologier til brug i landbaseret opdræt
• Reduceret miljøbelastning fra landbaseret opdræt
• Landbaserede referenceanlæg

The working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Nordic Council of Ministers requested consultants from Gaia to identify and write out best Nordic practice cases of sustainable consumption and production to be shared internationally within the UNEP SCP Clearinghouse. This report is the second part and covers in total 19 examples of two particular themes on:

1) Sustainable Tourism

2) Consumer Information

The cases have also been added into the UNEP’s 10 Year Frame-work Program (10YFP) information platform, the SCP Clearinghouse. The objective is to enhance international cooperation in order to accelerate a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. The SCP Clearinghouse is a web-based information sharing tool, which can be used by different actors as an inspiration for advancing SCP worldwide.

The working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Nordic Council of Ministers requested consultants from Gaia to identify, write out and publish best practice cases of sustainable consumption and production on the UNEP SCP Clearinghouse. This report presents nineteen initiatives that cover two particular themes:

1) Sustainable Lifestyles and Education and

2) Sustainable Public Procurement.

The cases have also been added into the UNEP’s 10 Year Frame-work Program (10YFP) information platform, the SCP Clearinghouse which is a concrete result of Rio+20. The objective is to enhance international cooperation in order to accelerate a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. The SCP Clearinghouse is a web-based information sharing tool, which can be used by different actors as an inspiration for advancing SCP worldwide.

Rapporten beskriver data og informationer om de løsninger og teknikker (BAT), som udgør de bedste til at opnå det mindst mulige ressourceforbrug og mindst mulige miljøpåvirkning for mindre bryggerier. Beskrivelserne omfatter de mest gængse løsninger og teknikker, som de i dag findes anvendt på bryggerier i de nordiske lande. Antallet af mindre bryggerier i de nordiske lande er opgjort til 180-185. Mindre bryggerier har en produktionskapacitet på under 300 tons per dag eller svarende til under 1,1 millioner hl/år. Mindre bryggerier består af bryggerier tilhørende gruppen af mellemstore, små og mikrobryggerier. For at lette overvejelserne om at anvende de anbefalede BAT er der udarbejdet en tjekliste, som kan anvendes som et værktøj til at tjekke og overveje BAT mulighederne til at forbedre ressourceudnyttelsen og reducere miljøpåvirkningen. Tjeklisten findes som bilag til rapporten.

Waste quantities in most EU countries are growing. To reverse this trend we need effective waste prevention policy instruments. In the new waste framework directive the EU demands member states to establish national waste prevention programmes. This project aimed at finding new policy instruments for waste prevention and material efficiency through discussions with Nordic experts. The purpose of this report is to give ideas to Nordic countries for possible policy tools to be introduced and to support the preparation of national waste prevention strategies and other environmental strategies.

There is an economic potential for increased energy efficiency in Nordic buildings. How much is however difficult to assess, partly because of insufficient energy statistics for buildings. Several barriers hinder the use of more efficient solutions when building and using buildings, e.g. lack of information, energy issues having low priority, and different incentives for builders, owners and users. Climate concerns and the need to secure energy supply are important drivers for energy efficiency policies. Promoting energy efficiency in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions might however induce large rebound effects causing total emissions to be reduced very little or not at all. This might be the case if reduced energy use in buildings is replaced with more emission intensive activities, like travel. To avoid this it is important to include all greenhouse gasses in tax or quota systems, and to restrain financial support to energy efficient investment in order not to make them too cheap.

Dette projekt har med fokus på genanvendelse, til formål at gøre status for affaldshåndteringen på hhv. Bornholm, Færøerne, Åland og i Grønland. Disse småsamfund har en række særlige udfordringer med hensyn til affaldshåndtering, primært pga. lange transportafstande og relativt begrænsede affaldsmængder. EU har i december 2015 lanceret sin Cirkulære Økonomipakke , der overordnet set skal øge genanvendelsen i Europa og derigennem mindske miljøbelastning og forbrug af jomfruelige ressourcer. I rapporten vurderes affaldshåndteringen i de respektive småsamfund og man komme med forslag til forbedringer, som kan øge genanvendelsen af kommunalt affald i nordiska småsamfund.

Environmental management system (EMS) based on either the ISO14001 or EMAS standards require a lot of resources (both time and money). Small and medium enterprises (SME) often prefer less formal systems because of their down-to-earth approach and lower costs. Several successful less formal approaches to eco-management and eco-certification systems exist in the Nordic countries and may be good examples for future development in Europe. It would improve the competitiveness of the Nordic region. The report briefly reviews five established Nordic systems that meet the central requirements of the ISO14001 and EMAS standards, but are less bureaucratic, easier to understand and cheaper to implement. A new challenge arises for SME working in different countries because the less formal systems do not have international accept. A 4-steps methodology was developed to help the co-ordination between these less formal systems. It forms a basis for future cooperation and a practical guide for less formal EMS in more than one Nordic country.

Eco-design presents an integrated approach to develop products with as small environmental footprint as possible taking a life-cycle perspective. However, still, the vast majority of manufacturing companies do not use eco-design, or at least they do not use it in their marketing. Taking a company perspective, this report tries to understand why. Its ambition has been to identify and explain the incentives companies have for implementing eco-design practices in their product development. Ultimately, the report is trying to answer the question on how authorities can use these incentives to better support eco-design. The findings presented in the report are based on interviews with Nordic manufacturing companies, experts in the field and a literature survey. Conclusions are followed by general recommendations on how to stimulate the use of eco-design in companies.

Policy initiatives have highlighted the importance of environmental innovations as a solution to environmental problems, and looked into ways to promote them. Based on empirical cases in the Nordic pulp and paper industry, this report explores environmentally sounder technological innovations and their relation to societal and economic drivers. The cases studied include the use of production by-products for energy, new products in the core business areas and new product value chains. The report shows that public policy has directly influenced environmental innovation in the P&P industry through providing public R&D support, funding development projects and encouraging cooperation. It has also facilitated the crucial stage of demonstration by creating or enforcing markets for environmental innovations. The success of policy-created markets in supporting innovation is, however, crucially dependent on other market changes that push the development towards improved environmental performance. Environmental policies alone are seldom sufficient drivers for innovations.

The purpose of the analysis is to study the implications it can have for a company to acquire the Swan License. The analysis takes a broad focus and investigates the following three themes:

•The motivation for companies to acquire the Swan Label.

•The implementation of the Swan Label.

•The impact of acquiring the Swan Label.

The project aims at doing this by performing company visits to 16 companies from the five Nordic countries representing different company sizes and sectors. The project is commissioned by the Swan group under the Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production group (HKP gruppen) of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The analysis is conducted by DAMVAD with expert assistance from Åke Thidell, Lund University.

The working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Nordic Council of Ministers requested consultants from Gaia to identify and write out best Nordic practice cases of sustainable consumption and production to be shared internationally within the UNEP SCP Clearinghouse. This report is the third part of three reports and covers 15 examples of two particular themes on:

1) Sustainable Buildings and Constructions

2) Sustainable Food Systems

The cases have also been added into the UNEP’s 10 Year Frame-work Program (10YFP) information platform, the SCP Clearinghouse. The objective is to enhance international cooperation in order to accelerate a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. The SCP Clearinghouse is a web-based information sharing tool, which can be used as an inspiration for advancing SCP worldwide.

The European Commission adopted in January 2015 an Action Plan for the Circular Economy. The plan suggest measures for how the market may significantly contribute to a circular economy.

Now the methodological fundament needed has been finally established and it remain for the new Commission to demonstrate how the toolbox may be applied in a coherent and effective European product policy.

The toolbox is the result of nearly 15 years of work and comprises harmonized guidelines for lifecycle based assessment of environmental footprints within specific product categories (PEFCR) and organization sectors (OEFSR) and also guidelines for 3rd party verification, benchmarking and communication. The guidelines have been tested in more than 20 pilot projects representing more than 50% of the respective (European) supply chains regarding product categories like dairy, shoes and textiles. The guidelines build upon lifecycle based Product and Organizational Environmental Footprint (PEF and OEF) standards developed by the Commission and published in Off. Jour. in 2013.

By the use of the developed toolbox it is now for the first time possible uniquely at the European market to define and credible communicate what is “a green product” and what is not.

The paper discusses possible measures for how to apply the toolbox in establishing and implementing a coherent new European product policy with objectives to significantly reduce especially products environmental (and climate) footprints in the future.

This analysis looks closer at the synergies and positioning between the fee structures and criteria of the two ecolabels, the dissemination and success of the two labels within different product groups and the experience with co-existence between the EU Ecolabel and other national and regional ecolabels. The analysis does this by performing interviews with representatives from the five Nordic ecolabelling secretariats, interviews with representatives from ecolabelling secretariats from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria as well as through a desk research of available material. The analysis is conducted by DAMVAD with expert assistance from Åke Thidell, Lund University. The project is commissioned by the Swan group under the Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production (HKP-gruppen) of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

This report was initiated and conducted as input to the discussions based on the “Vision 2015” document for the Nordic Swan that explicitly states a wish to find ways to make use of ecolabelling in the green public procurement (GPP) setting. In 2014, the Directive (2004/18/EG) on public procurement was revised and replaced by Directive (2014/24/EU). Some of the restrictions in using ecolabelling in GPP mentioned in this report may thus not be valid while the discussion on the relation between the two policy instruments as such still is considered relevant.

The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Environmental Ministers´ (NCM) Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production (HKP-gruppen) and carried out by the IIIEE at Lund´s University.

The awareness of Biomimicry within the processes of design and development in Nordic companies are not well known. As a result, The Nordic Council of Ministers Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production has called for this report to highlight Nordic forerunners in Biomimicry and actors and activities in the field of biomimicry, biomimetics and biologically inspired design in Nordic countries today. The study conducted by Torben Lenau, Lilli Linkola and Anna Maria Orrù, will present a basis for planning further activities to leverage the possibilities for actors in biomimicry and to disseminate knowledge and methodology on if and how nature's solutions can provide environmental and competitive advantages in business development. Results showed that over 100 organisations and almost 100 professionals from the Nordic countries are listed in the stakeholder map.

This report deals with "production of iron and steel" and "ferrous metals processing industry". The main purpose of the study is to support the coming updating work of the present BREF´s (BAT Reference Documents) in the corresponding areas, and also to promote the possibilities to include Nordic examples in these BREF-areas. The study made it very clear, that there are a lot of BAT-level processes, sub-processes, measuring technologies etc. in both areas. The study includes a total of 35 objects, which are rather well divided into the "steel production" and "ferrous metals processing" areas. In addition to the new descriptions of the Nordic BAT-level objects the both present BREF's are commented from today point of view. The project was carried out by MEFOS - Metallurgical Research Institute AB in Luleå, Sweden, and supervised by the Nordic BAT-group.

This report is a temporary version, which will be superseded by TemaNord 2006:509. This report deals with "production of iron and steel" and "ferrous metals processing industry". The main purpose of the study is to support the coming updating work of the present BREF´s (BAT Reference Documents) in the corresponding areas, and also to promote the possibilities to include Nordic examples in these BREF-areas.The study made it very clear, that there are a lot of BAT-level processes, sub-processes, measuring technologies etc. in both areas. The study includes a total of 35 objects, which are rather well divided into the "steel production" and "ferrous metals processing" areas. In addition to the new descriptions of the Nordic BAT-level objects the both present BREF's are commented from today point of view.The project was carried out by MEFOS - Metallurgical Research Institute AB in Luleå, Sweden, and supervised by the Nordic BAT-group.

The Nordic Council of Ministers´ Working Group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, in collaboration with the Working Group on Environment and Economy, held a Nordic Conference on Green Investments and Nordic Pension Funds in Oslo, 27 May 2015. The aim of the Conference was to discuss how to deepen and strengthen green, sustainable and socially responsible investments by Nordic Pension Funds and institutional investors. The main outcome was the following: Investing in green & sustainable companies is profitable. Divesting out of fossil fuels is one of the strategies, and this is actually about to happen with the Nordic countries as frontrunners. The financial market is already prepared and expecting tough policy measures from politicians. We hope this report will contribute to strengthen the Nordic countries aim for a climate ambitious agreement in Paris in December 2015.

This guideline was produced through a Nordic Council of Ministers’ project Green Growth through Public Procurement. The project aims to create a common Nordic understanding of the possibilities for taking environmental considerations in public procurement according to the EU Public Procurement Directives (2014). The guideline presents the results of the project.The guideline focuses exclusively on opportunities to use Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and ecolabels in a tender and gives both a general introduction to the possibilities of using EMS and ecolabels and specific suggestions for how minimum requirements, award criterion and contract terms can be formulated. However; when using this guideline it is important to take into account the national implementation of the directives, because there may be differences in the national implementation e.g. concerning the acceptance of other appropriate means of proof.The target group for this manual includes public purchasers and other stakeholders – especially suppliers –want to gain insight into the rules for using EMS and ecolabels in line with the 2014 directives.

This report constitutes part of the larger project Eco-design and Future Product Policy – Further research on Energyrelated Products. The objective was to investigate how nine policy instruments affect the development and environmental performance of household washing machines. The following policy instruments are investigated: 1. The Eco-design Directive2. The EU energy label Directive3. The WEEE Directive4. The RoHS Directive5. The REACH Regulation6. The EU Ecolabel Regulation7. The Nordic Swan8. Green Public Procurements (GPP)9. Voluntary Environmental Agreements (VA)

På uppdrag av Nordiska ministerrådets BAT-grupp, har RISE CBI Betonginstitutet tillsammans med Vahanen Environment Oy genomfört ett projekt om bästa tillgängliga teknik (BAT) för den nordiska betongindustrin. Syftet med projektet har varit att

• göra en översyn och beskriva betongindustrin i Norden

• beskriva de tekniker som används i branschen

• definiera och beskriva de viktigaste miljöaspekterna ur ett nordiskt perspektiv

• identifiera och beskriva tekniker som kan ingå i överväganden om BAT i betongindustrin.

Informationen i rapporten kan användas av betongindustrin, miljökonsulter samt miljömyndigheter i de olika länderna. BAT-gruppen är en undergrupp till den nordiska arbetsgruppen för Hållbar Konsumtion och Produktion (HKP).

Trots 20 års politikutveckling för hållbar konsumtion (UNCED 1992), fortsätter den materiella konsumtionen och miljöpåverkan att öka i Norden och Europa. Det är orealistiskt att förvänta sig att ett hållbart samhälle ska komma till stånd utifrån nuvarande politiska strategier. De förändringar som ska till är betydande och forskningen som använts för denna studie visar att beslutsfattarna har en uppsjö av möjligheter att skapa positiva förändringar. Målet med denna studie är att skingra myter som motarbetar hållbarhet genom att lägga fram kunskap om konsumentbeteende för att främja effektiv policy i Norden. Denna studie använder sig av kunskapsförmedlings-konceptet som utgångspunkt. Forskningsresultaten har strukurererats kring konsumentbeteende och hållbar konsumtion med målet att undanröja myter och göra bevisen mer åtkomliga för vår publik. Varje avsnitt belyser och kommunicerar forskningens politiska betydelse med utgångspunkt från flera olika ämnesområden. I stället för att sprida resultaten som ett fullbordat faktum i slutet av projektet, används studien som en språngbräda för dialog med beslutsfattare och andra intressenter genom intervjuer, fokusgrupper och webbseminarier.