Supporting and Recognizing Good Environmental Governance through Clean Air Certification
AIR pollution cause one in eight deaths worldwide. This invisible killer affects more than 80% of people living in cities1. While its effects have raised alarm, taking action has been a challenge because its impacts are often cumulative building up slowly and requiring a long term vision that all citizens need to support. To address these challenges that cities face in improving air quality, the Cities Clean Air Partnership (CCAP) - an initiative of Clean Air Asia - aims to make a clear business case that links air quality improvements to cities economic and quality-of-life decisions. The core of the initiative is the development of the Clean Air Certification, a certification scheme that will: § recognize actions that cities take to address air quality, § make it easier to establish new collaborations with public and private stakeholders, and 1 WHO, 2016: www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/air-‐pollution-‐ rising/en/
§
increase opportunities for cities to learn from each other and collectively address issues.
CCAP draws input from a balanced and representative group of stakeholders, which also includes UCLG ASPAC in the advisory group, in developing the draft standard of the certification, while also aligning these with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards. The ISEAL Alliance is the global organization for sustainability standards. The certification scheme focuses on the actions that cities can take to address air quality, instead of on absolute air quality levels. CCAP seeks to recognize actions taken to prevent the worsening of air pollution in Asian cities that occur alongside the annual growth of population by up to 44 million. Cities will be recognized for taking actions in the following four areas: 1) identifying core personnel to take actions forward; 2) understanding sources of air pollution, 3) assessing air quality and impacts, and 4) addressing air pollution. In terms of addressing air pollution, cities need to demonstrate that control measures taken and the consideration of air pollution in economic and development decisions have an impact in addressing air pollution. They also have to show that new stakeholders are engaged in supporting solutions. The actions are not linear. At the initial level, taking action to address air pollution will help build momentum to improve both understanding of sources and assessments of air quality. Upon completion of certification actions, applicable to cities’ circumstances, cities are required to submit supporting documentation for third-party verification. Cities will be able to easily upload evidence in the on-line Knowledge Platform based around common indicators allowing for easy sharing of information. Achievement of the standard required will result in certification and international recognition. The on-line Knowledge Platform will also highlight actions taken by cities and stakeholders, provide information relevant to them, and highlight actions they are taking to support city targets. Show your City Cares about Clean Air. Be Involved! Aside from being a widespread and international recognition of innovative and impactful city action, the Clean Air Certification is also a common and credible assessment of city impact and progress toward meeting commitments on
clean air. It also helps cities build momentum to meet their clean air targets. Moreover, city stakeholders are also affected by the certification as it is a) a mechanism for national governments to recognize and resource local commitments, b) an opportunity for research institutions to align research around identified needs, and c) a way to increase business and investor confidence through improving economic development. Many existing initiatives are recognized by and are aligned with the certification requirements, such as the Compact of Mayors, the New Urban Agenda, and Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), SDG 11 (Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), and SDG 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns). Recently launched on 31 August during the 17th (International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Associations) IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress and 9th Clean Air Asia Better Air Quality Conference in Busan, South Korea, the pilot phase of the Clean Air Certification is being carried out in the following: § § §
South East Asia – Philippines and Indonesia South Asia – India and Nepal East Asia – Chinese Taipei and Japan
If you are a city representative from the above areas, or if you are a stakeholder from civil society, government, business or finance who wants to support city action on clean air, please e-mail ccap@cleanairasia.org. For more information, visit www.cleanairasia.org/ccap. Participation will be open to all cities in 2017.