Annual NCPCs and NCPPs Meeting 2007, jointly organized by UNIDO and UNEP

24-26 September 2007 - Semmering, Austria

From 24 to 26 September 2007, the UNIDO Cleaner Production Unit, in cooperation with UNEP, carried out the Ninth Annual Meeting of the UNIDO / UNEP National Cleaner Production Centres and Programmes and the following training session for the directors of the NCPCs and NCPPs on the Centre’s management, that took place in Semmering (Austria) from 24 to 28 September 2007. 120 CP related stakeholders, from 48 countries, participated in the meeting, representing National Cleaner Production Centres and Programmes, governments, donor agencies, universities, consulting companies, experts, other UN organizations, etc. (see list of participants in the meeting below). The meeting was officially opened by Mr. Dmitri Piskounov, Managing Director of the UNIDO Programme Development and Technical Cooperation Division; Ms. Renate Paumann, representative of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management; Mr. Stefan Denzler, Programme Manager for Trade and Clean Technology Cooperation of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs; and Mr. Arab Hoballah, Head of the Production and Consumption Branch of Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of UNEP.

The first day of the meeting mainly focused on the presentation of the first outcomes of the Independent Evaluation of the UNIDO Cleaner Production Programme. The first results of the evaluation at Programme level and the recommendations for the development of the UNIDO and UNEP future CP strategy were presented by the leader of the Evaluation team. The participants were divided in 5 working groups and were requested to comment on the recommendations of the Evaluation team, with reference to their correctness, relevance and completeness. (see documents below).

Innovative activities carried out by the international network of Cleaner Production Centres were presented during the second day of the meeting. The presentations covered topics such as “Closing the loops” in the sisal production, the link between Sound Chemical Management and Cleaner Production; Renewable energy for industrial application; Regional CP networking; Integrated Management of Health, Safety and Environment; Chemical Leasing; Clean Development Mechanism; Cleaner Production and Corporate Social Responsibility; Cleaner Production Excellence Model; and Credit lines for CP and EST investment.

The director of the UNIDO ECB Branch proposed some questions related to the development of a new Cleaner Production strategy, covering the topics of the international networking of the CP Programme and the diversification / specialization of CP services. The questions were the basis for the discussion of the 5 working groups on the second and third days of the meeting.

Based on the outcomes of the presentations and discussions during the plenary and working group sessions, UNIDO and UNEP could draw some conclusions on the way forward.

The Annual Meeting included a parallel session on Wednesday 26 September, where the representatives of the Vienna-based permanent missions were invited to Semmering. Representatives from 12 countries (Angola, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Namibia, Philippines, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, Japan) participated in a lively discussion on the importance of the dissemination and strengthening of the Cleaner Production activities and international network.

The representatives of the permanent missions also had the opportunity to meet all the other participants at the “Market Place” an exhibition on the CP achievements in the 34 countries where Centres and Programmes are currently active.

The last two days of the meeting (27 and 28 September 2007) were dedicated to an advanced training session for the directors of the National Cleaner Production Centres and Programme. The activity was carried out in cooperation with the WU Executive Academy of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

The training focused on the improvement of the managerial skills of the staff of the NCPCs and NCPPs, including the preparation of the respective business and marketing plans and the strengthening of human resource management. The training session included working group activities and presentations from the participants (training material: see below).