Environmentally Sustainable Urban Infrastructure: Outcomes of recent UN-ESCAP activities

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Environmentally Sustainable Urban Infrastructure
Outcomes of recent UN-ESCAP activities

• By Lorenzo SANTUCCI,
• Environmental Affairs Officer,
• Environment and Sustainable Development Division,
  UN-ESCAP

First Asia-Pacific Mayors Forum on
Environmentally Sustainable Urban Infrastructure,
21-23 April 2008, City of Ulsan, Republic of
Korea
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First SINGG Policy Consultation, Seoul, 6-8
September 2006
100 participants 17 countries
Relevant Ministries responsible for
infrastructure development International
Organizations, NGOs, private sector and research
institutions
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Project proposal Oct 2006

• ESCAP Developed project proposal to follow-up on
  outcomes of SINGG meeting
• Project Eco-efficient and Sustainable Urban
  Infrastructure in Asia and Latin America
• Partnership with ECLAC and UN-HABITAT

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Expert Group Meeting, Bangkok, 11-13 June 2007
40 participants 11 countries
Experts from Asia-Pacific in infrastructure in
key sectors (transport, water and sanitation,
energy, waste management).
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The concept of Eco-efficiency

• Concept developed by WBCSD in the 90s, and
  defined as
• delivery of competitively priced goods and
  services that satisfy human needs and bring
  quality of life while progressively reducing
  environmental impacts of goods and resource
  intensity throughout the entire life-cycle to a
  level at least in line with the Earth's estimated
  carrying capacity."
• or, in simple words
• creating more value
• with less impact

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The concept of Eco-efficiency (2)
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(No Transcript)
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The concept of Eco-efficiency (3)

• WBCSD has identified seven elements (for
  businesses) to improve eco-efficiency
• Reduce material intensity
• Reduce energy intensity
• Reduce dispersion of toxic substances
• Enhance recyclability
• Maximize use of renewables
• Extend product durability
• Increase service intensity

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Resource productivity Factor 4 and Factor 10

• Factors 4 and 10 have been defined as
  eco-efficiency targets for economies at large
• Factor 4
• resource productivity has to grow fourfold

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Applying eco-efficiency to infrastructure

• Infrastructure, not as an end product in itself,
  but as
• systems that deliver goods and services, using
  resources (e.g. energy, water, materials, land)
  and interacting with the surrounding environment
  (e.g. waste, emissions, noise)

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Applying eco-efficiency to infrastructure (2)
Mobility
Resources
CO2
NOx
Transport systems
Emissions
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Eco-efficiency indicators
Product / service value
Eco-efficiency
Environmental influence
Often the reversed ratio is used, as a measure of
pollution / resource intensity, for example
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Source A. Roehrl, TTD, ESCAP
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Example sustainability indicators in urban water
supply (Chapman et al)
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Critical role of infrastructure
Infrastructure has key implications for
socio-economic development

• Foundation for economic growth
• Delivers goods and services to the population

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Critical role of infrastructure (2)
Infrastructure has key implications for
environmental sustainability

• Resource and pollution intensive
• E.g. Buildings are estimated to contribute 40
  of greenhouse gas emissions over their life span
• Locks into consumption patterns for decades

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Lifespan of Assets and InfraSource WWF Living
Planet Report 2006
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Critical role of infrastructure (3)

• Choice of infrastructure is critical in
  determining efficiency and effectiveness of
  service delivery, as well as of environmental
  impacts

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Not just an environmental issue

• Actually many externalities and environmental
  issues associated with infrastructure can be
  looked as competitiveness issues
• Energy efficiency
• Water efficiency
• Congestion
• Land(scape) degradation

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An indicator of economic development?...
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or a sign of low competitiveness?

• Congestion and poor quality infrastructure main
  factors negatively influencing competitiveness of
  cities (OECD, 2006)
• Congestion costs can be substantial
• Seoul (3-5 of GDP)
• Bangkok (4-6 of GDP)
• In turn, environmental quality and a more
  sustainable spatial approach enhance the
  liveability of a city, and thus its
  attractiveness to foreign direct investment

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Cost of road traffic congestion
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Eco-efficient and Sustainable Infrastructure
should

1. minimize resource use and ecological impacts
   throughout the life cycle
2. preserve ecosystem integrity
3. not aggravate adverse global phenomena as climate
   change and ozone depletion
4. deliver economically viable goods and services
5. maximize long-run economic growth for the benefit
   of all

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Eco-efficient and Sustainable Infrastructure
should (2)

1. be financially viable
2. be managed and operated in a sustainable way
3. be socially inclusive
4. contribute to reducing poverty
5. contribute to meeting the MDGs
6. be appropriate for the stage of development and
   context
7. be accepted and supported by the general
   population

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Current limitations

• Lack of awareness of sustainability concepts as
  applied to infrastructure development among key
  actors
• Criteria and measures for developing sustainable
  infrastructure are yet to be fully identified and
  applied

• Current methodologies either do not consider
  environmental and social aspects, or are
  misapplied or misunderstood
• Impacts of long-term use need to be reflected
  into policies and programs through tools such SEA
  (not yet common practice)

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Current limitations (2)

• Lack of integration environmental and social
  aspects into all stages of infrastructure
  development
• This is reflected in a lack of integration of
  environmental and social aspects in policies and
  in institutions
• This results in several distorting effects,
  including in public resources allocation

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Project on Eco-efficient Urban Infrastructure
Project Title Eco-efficient and Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development in Asia and Latin America
Duration 3 years (2008-2010)
Countries Selected cities / countries in Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Executing Agency United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
Co-operating Agencies United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
Beneficiaries Policy-makers, planners and decision-makers, both at local and national level, responsible for urban infrastructure development.
Funding from Development Account US 753,000

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Project on Eco-efficient Urban Infrastructure (2)

• Seek to promote the application of eco-efficiency
  as key criterion for sustainable infrastructure
  development and as a basis for expanding
  infrastructure financing opportunities
• Equip policy-makers and planners with a
  methodology to
• assess the eco-efficiency and social
  inclusiveness of urban infrastructure in an
  integrated manner, and
• develop strategies and policies to improve this

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Project on Eco-efficient Urban Infrastructure (3)

• Activities will include
• City and sector level assessments
• Case studies
• Identification of good practices and policy
  options
• National capacity building workshops
• Regional and inter-regional workshops

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Project on Eco-efficient water infrastructure

• Title Development of Eco-Efficient Water
  Infrastructure in the Context of Climate Change
• Project Duration July 2008 - May 2010
• Funding Source Republic of Korea
• Long Term Goal
• To improve water productivity and services
  through the development and management of eco
  efficient water infrastructure

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Project on Eco-efficient water infrastructure (2)

• Short Term Goals
• To provide policy recommendations to policy
  makers in developing countries regarding the
  development and management of eco efficient water
  infrastructure through the close consultation
  with national experts and officials
• To improve the awareness of policy makers and the
  capacity of government officials for the
  integration of water resources management into
  the socio-economic development process through
  the development and management of eco-efficient
  water infrastructure.
• To design and integrate all kinds of
  infrastructures such as agriculture, transport
  and land use system to work toward the
  improvement of eco efficiency of water resource

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Project on Eco-efficient water infrastructure (3)

• Implementation of pilot project in city level or
  community level focusing on Eco Efficiency
• For example, rainwater harvesting project, joint
  revision of guidelines and regulations for eco
  efficient water infrastructure in city level..,
  
• Welcome good project proposals or proposal to
  joint implementation for the promotion of eco
  efficient water infrastructure
• Contact information in ESCAP
• KIM Tae Hyung (Mr) / Economic Affairs Officer
• Sustainable Development and Water Resource
  Section (SDWERS) , Environment and Sustainable
  Development Division (ESDD), ESCAP
• Tel [phone], Email kimt_at_un.org
• Concept paper More information

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Thank you for your attention !

• Contact
• Lorenzo SANTUCCI
• Environmental Affairs Officer
• Environment and Sustainable Development Division
• United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
  Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)
• Rajadamnern Nok Avenue, 10200 Bangkok, Thailand
• Tel [phone] / Fax [phone]
• E-mail santucci_at_un.org