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Concrete Initiatives — Outcome Document
Metz, France, May 6, 2019
[pdf]
At the occasion of the G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting held in Metz, France, on May 5th and 6th, the following initiatives were launched, strengthened or joined by several G7 members and outreach countries.
The "Gender responsive environmental action & training" coalition aims to contribute to sustainable, inclusive and equitable development between women and men for a fairer future, by bringing together influential actors around gender equality to face the consequences of environment degradation and ecological transition and sharing views in a privileged discussion forum between public and private actors. This initiative will contribute to the production of knowledge on gender and sustainable transition, particularly on gender and biodiversity but also in other important sectors of sustainable development. Finally, the coalition will encourage its partners to consider how to better mobilize and allocate funds for the implementation of concrete local solutions for gender equality, and to address the difficulties of access to finance for women actors in the transition.
At the G7 Environment Ministers' meeting, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, as well as Egypt, Fiji, Gabon, Indonesia, Mexico, Niger and Norway expressed their support for the GREAT coalition's declaration of intent.
The world is on a trajectory where waste generation will drastically outpace population growth by more than double by 2050. The global production of waste has doubled in the last decade, and it is expected to increase by 69% by 2025, especially in emerging countries. Only 50% of waste is collected on average in cities of developing countries while the other half is disposed of in open dump sites, burnt or dispersed in the environment. In many cities, in particular in developing countries, the informal sector constitutes a palliative to defective waste management which provides jobs and subsistence income to many. There would be a clear added-value to take an initiative to gather initiatives promoting an inclusive transition to sustainable waste management while limiting the negative externalities on vulnerable populations and mindful of a resource efficiency and/or circular economy approach. Such an initiative would be working on exchanges of experiences, by providing a platform for its members to exchange expertise, including expertise on financial and/or organizational (role of local authorities, NGOs, companies …) issues as well as information and best practices on policies for taking into account the informal sector. The initiative would also aims at encouraging commitments of international financial institutions to take into account in their projects the social and human aspects of informal activities.
Canada, France, the European Union, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Egypt, Fiji, Indonesia, Niger and Norway committed to launching this initiative for taking into account the informal sector in the inclusive transition to sustainable waste management.
The CBD COP-15 in Kunming, China in 2020 will decide on a new global framework for biodiversity – a new deal for Nature – and will therefore represent a major global chance for sustainable development. Hence, the « International Leaders for Biodiversity » initiative aims at advocating & promoting an ambitious outcome at COP-15, through the combination of several elements : a top-down approach with an ambitious and practical post-2020 global framework that will facilitate the transformational changes needed to achieve the 2050 vision for biodiversity and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a bottom-up approach with government-led commitments ahead of COP-15, individually or in partnership, and a cross-cutting approach with an « Action Agenda » bringing together mainly (but not exclusively) non-state actors (relevant organizations, indigenous peoples and local communities, local and sub-national governments and authorities, academia, women's and youth groups, the business, financial and economic sectors, and non- governmental organizations). Through the attached political Declaration, countries are encouraged to promote the engagement of decision-makers on the road to CBD COP15, and seek synergies with existing initiatives.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Fiji, Mexico, Norway, joined the International Leaders for Biodiversity Declaration.
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) includes 64 countries (all the G7 countries). This initiative on Efficient cooling aims at building high level leadership and facilitate collaboration among stakeholders with a view to fostering enhanced energy efficiency in the cooling sector while countries implement the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol.
In the context of an increasing energy demand for cooling, this initiative is intended to highlight the importance of improving the energy efficiency of the cooling sector.
This new CCAC initiative on "Efficient Cooling" was presented at the occasion of the G7 Environment, and received the support from Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Chile, Fiji, Gabon, Mexico, Niger, Norway, and the World Bank.
The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) was established at the UN in 2001 to ensure the long-term survival of great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans) and their habitats in Africa and Asia. By combining political commitments, education and practical conservation in an effective program, GRASP aims before all to tackle an immediate challenge: lifting the threat of imminent extinction faced by great apes. GRASP aims to leverage the convening power, international access and multidisciplinary resources of its partners to provide a coordinated response to address habitat loss and population declines. Moreover, GRASP constitutes moreover a formidable tool for sensitization and for providing opportunities to engage the private sector, and to mainstream great ape conservation issues into sustainable production.
To contribute to the conservation of great apes, Canada, India and Japan have decided support the efforts of GRASP and to complement contributions from other partners engaged in GRASP among which France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, Gabon, Indonesia and Norway, that were present at the G7EMM.
Considering that forests are a key factor for the achievement of climate and biodiversity regulation, food security, and improved nutrition, it is more important than ever to build sustainable forest management, sustainable agriculture, and enhance forests restoration and afforestation. Members of the initiative recognize the need to enhance the sustainability of agricultural commodities supply chains in order to halt deforestation. They, inter alia, reaffirm their commitment to put an end to natural forest loss, including by supporting the private-sector goal of eliminating deforestation from the production of agricultural commodities, identifying alternatives to deforestation driven by basic needs in ways that alleviate poverty and promote sustainable and equitable development, improving agricultural production practices, notably of small-holders, significantly increasing the rate of global forest restoration, and strengthening forest governance and transparency. This initiative will promote and facilitate dialogue among member countries and non-State actors and improve the transparency, monitoring and accountability of commitments made.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Fiji and Norway, have joined the initiative on halting deforestation through sustainable supply chains for agricultural commodities and adopted the corresponding declaration., along with the following non-state actors: Conservation International, the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, Danone, Alliance for the preservation of forests, Finance for tomorrow.
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is a unique partnership of governments, international organizations, scientific entities and non-governmental organizations whose aim is to preserve coral reefs and associated ecosystems (mangroves and seagrass beds) in a framework of sustainable use. Its main objectives are to mobilize governments, improve management practices, and finally to share and exchange knowledge about these ecosystems. It was established in 1994 by France, United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Japan, Jamaica, Philippines and Sweden, and announced at the first Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1994. Today, ICRI counts more than 60 members. The Initiative plays an important role in informing international efforts to conserve and sustainably manage reef and associated ecosystems, providing a forum for global advocacy on coral reefs, exchanging good practices and building knowledge and capacities.
At the occasion of G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting, Canada, Germany and Italy have joined the ICRI, and Norway and India have announced their reengagement in the initiative, along with France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Egypt, Fiji, Mexico, and Indonesia, that are already members, to promote and contribute to the work on the development of a new coral reef target as part of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. They also encourage and support the identification of innovative financing as a means to mobilize funding for coral reef conservation.
The « G7 innovation Challenge to address marine plastic litter », launched by G7 Ministers at Halifax in 2018, aims at incentivizing the development of innovative social or technological solutions for a more sustainable management of plastics throughout their lifecycle in order to increase resource efficiency and to reduce marine plastic pollution.
At the occasion of G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting, G7 members accounting for almost 40% of worldwide plastic consumption, outreach countries and 13 key non-state actors including companies representing the entire plastic value chain, presented pledges and shared emblematic initiatives to curb marine plastic litter.
Pledges included:
The full collection of contributions to the G7 Innovation Challenge to Address Marine Plastic Litter will be published.
Globally, around 10 million people experience coastal flooding due to storm surges and cyclones every year. Sea level and population density projections indicate that 50 million will be at risk by 2080. In response to this situation, the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) aims at pioneering ground-breaking investments to regenerate coastal natural capital and build resilience in the most exposed and vulnerable regions and communities. To that end, the ORRAA will foster multisector cooperation between governments, financial institutions, the insurance industry, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders to unlock greater private investment in resilience. ORRAA will focus on three key areas: accelerating research, analysis & modelling and to use data to better understand and identify solutions; identifying and promoting insurance & other financing solutions to build societal resilience and help close the protection gap, and informing & advancing ocean resilience policy, governance and public understanding. This initiative has been submitted by Canada and was presented by AXA XL and Ocean Unite.
All G7 members joined the ORRAA, Canada as a full member and the others as observers. Fiji, India, Mexico and Norway also joined as observers.
Source: The Official Website of the 2019 French Presidency of the G7
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