The Scottish Government

Education for Sustainable Development

• Need to increase human capital - focus on economic and social aspects of SD
• Need for integrated approach to children's development and education linking to combating social exclusion
• Sustainable development not made priority in Education National Priorities Order
• Features in 5-14 curriculum but not much elsewhere
• More emphasis on school estate
• Acknowledged as cross curricular issue in HE and FE but limited evidence of cross-curricular implementation
• Some emphasis on HE- FE estate
• Role of lifelong learning
• Public education and changing attitudes

• Call to extend Education for Sustainable Development ( ESD) beyond formal education into non-formal and informal education.
• Moving ESD away from a tokenistic place on the curriculum

• Difficulties of defining SD, though this working as an advantage to educationalists, allows for an interdisciplinary.
• Differing approaches to education between different Member States of the EU.
• Campus Greening, or lack of take-up, is also salient right now at the European level.

Three key priorities:
1. Improving basic education
2. Reorienting current education (80% of US population has some post-secondary education, yet per capita US has very high level of consumption).
3. Public understanding and training

• All within a trans-disciplinary and cross-sectoral approach.
• Continuing debate between 'Education and Sustainable Development' versus 'Education for Sustainable Development'

Sustainable Procurement

• Need to direct resources to support SD in local government and voluntary sector
• Recognition of role of sustainable procurement
• Use of whole life costing

• Need for a socially responsible approach to procurement.
• Development of a more strategic approach to public procurement with inter-departmental co-ordination and long-term partnership relations with suppliers
• Meeting the demands of the global economy is having an effect on procurement policy

• Necessary changes that need to be made in line with Environmental Policy Integration.
• Need to harmonize with the fundamental freedoms of the common market as the EU moves towards further market integration and trade facilitation

• Still a risk that the eagerness to attract foreign investment to developing countries will encourage companies more interested in low labour costs and lenient environmental legislation.
• A mixture of corporate social responsibility and the reach of international institutions has lead to something of a revolution in procurement policy at the global level.
• Growing use of 'linkage' in the awarding of contracts.
• 'Green Procurement' and 'Social Procurement'.

Sustainable Consumption

• Shared priority with UK but a number of areas not devolved or mixed reserved/devolved
• Breaking the link between economic growth and environmental pollution
• Inefficient use of resources
• Reducing energy consumption, promoting energy efficiency
• Reducing unnecessary car use

• Problem of 'consumer lock-in'
• Problem of or limits to notion of 'consumer sovereignty'
• Problem of inadequate information
• Mistrust of government information campaigns as a result of mistrust of government in general

• Need to decouple economic development and quality of life from environmental and cultural deterioration
• Pressures of globalisation
• Challenge of turning niche markets into mainstream markets.

• Consumptions levels increasing at unparalleled speed
• Car use
• Oil and the future
• Obesity
• Questioning of whether greater consumption necessarily leads to greater quality of life

Food

• Food miles' as too simple a concept to capture the impacts of food transport ( DEFRA, 2005)
• Continued reform of the CAP.
• Worries surrounding human host status
• Potential social excluison small and medium-sized farmers

• Eco-labels as not totally verifiable or taking into account life-cycle
• CAP Reform
• Green House Gas emissions from food production.

• Common Agricultural Policy:

Current reform and proposed reform.

• Fair Trade:

Little research on the relative merits of fair trade and free trade.

• Potential of the Millennium Development Goals to increase food security.
• Effects of GM

Green Jobsand Business Enterprise

• Making more efficient use of resources
• Business opportunities particularly in renewables
• Addressing peripherality
• Enhancing training and business advice

• Need for life-cycle thinking
• Move away from trade-off approach

• A need to question the assumption that more economic growth is the answer to high unemployment.

• Flaws with 'green growth' and over-reliance on 'eco-efficiency'.
• erosion of local culture by global pressures
• Criticism of market-based aid programmes

The Built Environment

• The sustainability potential of urban living… the critical importance of public space to the processes of social learning, public participation, social inclusion and social integration.
• Sustainable urban development and CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design)
• Problems with PFI and delivery SD (Green Alliance)
• Cutting Carbon Emissions
• Future of Social housing

• Potential strains on an infrastructure that was built with a lack of long-term thinking, as we continue to urbanise.
• SUD, Sustainable Urban Development, emphasis on cities
• Need for greater conservation of energy
• Significant developments in social housing, both in management and ownership

• Urbanisation of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa and the problems this entails.
• Need for inter- and intra-industry collaboration, and among policy-makers.
• 'Creative Destruction' - using innovation to drive out inefficient practices.
• Need for a common definition for practitioners to work around.

EnvironmentalProtection

• Government focus on advanced technologies at the expense of science-based integrated appraisal methods
• Localisation of environmental issues and policy responses is also becoming more prevalent
• The importance of environmental protection in more tangible policy areas, such as fuel poverty and economic growth, is coming to the fore

• The 'value-action gap'/ stated intention and behaviour
• The relationship between encouraging environmental good practice and accession into the European Union

• Problems with the nation-state system and the legitimacy of international organisations
• The continued threat of climate change
• The need for increased pollution prevention

Education for Sustainable Development

• Fully devolved so considerable freedom of action
• Down to Earth (1999) - education is an essential and inevitable element of SD
• 5-14 National Guidelines; National Qualifications
• A Curriculum for Excellence (2004) - successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors
• Building a Sustainable Scotland: Sustainable Development and the Spending Review (2002) provides broader overview
• The 21st Century School - Building Our Future: Scotland's School Estate (2003) - not simply about built school environment but also nutrition
• Eco Schools Programme ( NGO initiative)
• Integrated delivery of education, health and social services: New/Integrated Community Schools Initiative; Sure Start Scotland
• Lifelong Learning Strategy for Scotland (2003) - best possible match between learning opportunities open to people and skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours which will strengthen Scotland's economy and society
• Public education initiatives such as Do a Little, Change a Lot; Learn to Let Go; Dumb Dumpers Campaign
• Implementation of Aarhus Convention information and participation measures

• 1999 Labour Government - Sustainable Development strategy, A Better Quality of life: A Strategy for Sustainable Development, "Improved awareness of sustainable development can be a powerful tool for change"
• Development of the Regional Development Agencies (1998) and the Learning and Skills Council (2000).
• Sustainable Development Education Strategy for England, "Learning to Last", in February 2003.
• The Department for Education and Skills, Sustainable Development Action Plan for Education and Skills

Practical activity from NGO's and Voluntary Sector:

• The Council for Environmental Education: persistent emphasis on participation, learning and research and moving beyond awareness raising to actual engagement
• The Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges
• Forum for the Future: considerable Education and Learning Programme.
• Oxfam's Cool Planet for Teachers and Cool Plant for Children

• The European Union's Sustainable Development Strategy (published in 2001), also highlights the importance of education.
• UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) Education for Sustainable Development Strategy

• UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2015
• Millennium Development Goals ( MDG's) target to achieve universal primary education by 2015 and eliminate gender disparity in education by 2005 ( UN Secretary General, UN Development Group, UN Millennium Project)

Sustainable Procurement

• Changes in the NHS and their procurement policy
• SD Commission's 'Healthy Futures'.
• The Public Supply Contracts Regulations SI 1995 No 201
• The Public Services Contracts Regulations SI 1993 No 3228
• The Public Works Contracts Regulations SI 1991 No 2680
• The Public Contracts (Works, Services and Supply) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 SI 2000 No 2009
• The Utilities Contracts Regulations SI 1996 No 2911
• The Utilities Contracts (Amendment) Regulations SI 2001 No 2418
• The Public Contracts (Works, Services and Supply) and Utilities Contracts (Amendment) Regulations SI 2003 No 46

• Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, UK and Portugal implanting regular strategic planning and green accounting, which is having a positive effect.
• Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors.
• Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts.
• Though they will not be implemented until 2006, the two directives clarify the possibilities for public purchasers to integrate environmental considerations into their respective tender documents, and are therefore of considerable environmental benefit.

• WTO Agreement on Government Procurement
• UN Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative
• UN Growing Sustainable Business Initiative
• World Bank Procurement Policy

Sustainable Consumption

• Meeting the Needs (2002) - more efficient resource use; promotion of renewable energy, travel minimisation
• Communication/education strategies - e.g. Do a Little, Change a Lot
• National Planning Framework (2004)
• Modernising The Planning System White Paper (2005)
• NPPG 6 Renewable Energy Developments (revised 2000)
• Building (Scotland) Act 2003
• Greening procurement agenda
• Implementation of EU directives which encourage sustainable production and consumption e.g. packaging waste, IPPC, Water Framework Directive
• Transport (Scotland) Act 2001: Public transport investment ( e.g. Edinburgh Crossrail, rail re-openings etc)

• DTI and DEFRA jointly produced Changing Patterns: UK Government Framework for Sustainable Consumption and Production
• The Sustainable Consumption and Production: Business Support Review
• Chapter three of the Government's Sustainable Development Strategy Securing the Future looks for a major shift in our consumption behaviour, placing an emphasis on innovation

EU regulatory measures to promote sustainable production and consumption -

• Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ( WEEE) Directive,
• The End of Life Vehicles ( ELV) Directive
• The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive,
• The IPPC Directive (including BAT requirement)
• the Water Framework Directive

• WSSD Plan of Implementation, Changing Unsustainable Patterns of Consumption and Production
• UNEP report Consumption Opportunities: Strategies for change
• OECD Program of Sustainable Consumption

Green Jobs and Enterprise

• Green Jobs Strategy (more efficient use of resources; business opportunities)
• Green Jobs Strategy Implementation Plan (2003)
• A Smart, Successful Scotland: Ambitions for the Enterprise Network
• Proposed Employability Framework for Scotland (due autumn 2005)

• DTI's Sustainable Development Strategy, improving resource productivity.
• Consultation document Taking it on - developing UK sustainable development strategy together

• The European Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control ( IPPC), promoting eco-efficient approaches in industry
• Move toward market-based approaches, e.g. emissions trading
• EU Sustainable Development Strategy and Cardiff Process
• How this fits in with the White Paper on European Governance and the Lisbon Agenda on competitiveness.

• The World Business Council for Sustainable Development ( WBCSD) report Creating Business Value and Accountability
• The World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services
• International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO Action Plan for Developing Countries: 2005-2010

Food

• Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food - Facing the Future, DEFRA 2002, bringing in an agri-environment scheme, encouraging country-side stewardship, 'whole-farm' approach to remove bureaucracy

• EU looking to increase competitiveness in agricultural sector, encourage 'cross-compliance' and set-aside.
• EU Sustainable Development Strategy, vaguely recognising concerns over enlargement, with many new states having large agricultural sectors.
• GM Food and Feed Regulation ( EC) No. 1829/2003

• Developing countries given ten years, 1995-2004, after the WTO Uruguay Round to reshape their agricultural sectors to become more market oriented (a 'tariffs-only' approach, ending non-tariff barriers and quotas)
• UN International Fund for Agricultural Development ( IFAD)'s activities are guided by the Strategic Framework for IFAD 2002-2006: Enabling the Rural Poor to Overcome Their Poverty

The Built Environment

• New Building (Scotland) Regulations
• Modernising the Planning System White Paper
• National Planning Framework
• References to SD in NPPGs and SPPs
• PAN on Contaminated Land
• Strategic Environmental Assessment Bill
• Environmental Justice agenda

• Code for Sustainable Buildings, "a voluntary initiative, by Government and Industry, to actively promote the transformation of the building industry towards more sustainable practices" ( ODPM, DEFRA, DTI, 2005)
• Towards an Urban Renaissance The Urban Task Force
• CABETransforming Neighbourhoods
• ODPM's Sustainable Communities: Homes For All
• Urban White Paper: A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal: National Strategy Action Plan

• Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive
• Aarhus Convention and Directives implementing Aarhus
• European Spatial Development Perspective
• European Commission and the BEQUEST network (Building Environmental Quality Evaluation for
  Sustainability through Time), 2001 BEQUEST Toolkit, looking to build consensus among stakeholders.
• Communication COM(2004)60 Towards a Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ( UNECE) Strategy for a Sustainable Quality in Life in Human Settlements in the 21st Century

• Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, resolution S25.2
• The Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda
• The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and Millenium Development Goal 7

Environmental Protection

• Strategic Environmental Assessment Bill
• Water Environment and Water Services (Sc) Act 2003
• New SD guidance for SEPA
• Landfill allowance trading scheme
• Environmental justice agenda

• The Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005
• The Environmental Action Fund ( EAF)
• The Darwin Initiative
• The British-Irish Council Environment Sectoral Group BIC(E)
• The UK Environment for Europe Fund
• The Nottingham Declaration

• EC Sixth Environmental Action Programme
• Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive
• Increasing integration (Water Framework Directive)
• Aarhus Convention and Directives implementing Aarhus
• Waste minimisation measures ( e.g. Landfill Directive)
• Waste recycling, recovery ( e.g.WEEE and ELV Directives)

• Move toward market-based approaches and alternative mechanisms generally, e.g. emissions trading, environmental management systems.
• Working with business through CSR agenda
• More emphasis on implementation and enforcement ( WSSD 2002)
• Emphasis on integration ( UNFCCC, Kyoto, Biodiversity Convention)