"Go Green!" National Campaign
Concept Note:
The importance of the actions needed to tackle environmental issues is increasingly recognized all over the world, and Ukraine is of no exception to this trend. Especially considering that Ukraine is the world’s most energy inefficient country, among the sixth world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gasses with per capita CO2 emissions, and with heating sector that has 25 – 40% losses in transmission and distribution. The climate change has direct social and economic implications and affects each and every person. Therefore, there is an urgent need for understanding the challenges and roles & responsibilities and responding with actions needed to be addressed. This universal issue for the society at large requires leadership, commitment and voluntary action.
DESCRIPTION:
The “Go Green” is a national campaign initiated by UN in Ukraine under the auspices of Global Compact. This voluntary initiative has the objective to reinforce the role of the environmental protection within the context of the country’s economic and social development. The Campaign is aiming to encourage behavioural changes vis-a-vis environment in Ukrainian society. Two-fold approach will be applied:
- A. Public information and awareness raising: Conducting a series of
public events that will bring attention to the major environmental issues and
promote sustainable solutions for overcoming them. Practical guidance for
companies, organizations and private persons will be introduced.
- B. National policy dialogue: Conducting surveys, organizing
conference for multi-stakeholder policy discussion and introducing best
practices that will enhance national dialogue and lead to joint actions among
the stakeholders.
INTENDED PARTICIPANTS:
The “Go Green” National Campaign and its activities will bring together different stakeholders, including Government, private sector, civil society, academia and media, who seek to demonstrate leadership and contribute to preservation of environment. Business and civil society champions will have an important role by leading the initiative, demonstrating pragmatic approach and dynamics in response to the issue thus bringing positive behavioural change to the society at large.
CAMPAIGN COMPONENTS:
The Campaign will have a wide national coverage and include the following components for 2008:
A.Public information and awareness raising:
- National photo-contest “Caring for our planet: addressing climate change”: Amateur photographers will have the opportunity to express their active position on addressing climate change through participating in the contest. (5 June 2008)
- Clean-up weekends:
- observance of the Dnieper Day ( 6 July, 2008)
- clean up event, venue to be confirmed (21 September, 2008)
Corporate volunteers of a number of companies will collectively clean city’s recreation zones. (July, September 2008)
- Public launch of National “Go Green” Declaration and presentation of the Global “Caring for Climate” initiative: Business and civil society leaders will publicly announce their commitment to environmental protection by endorsing the Declaration (3 July 2008).
- Social advertising campaign on major environmental challenges: 5 key messages on energy efficiency, water conservation, reducing pollution, effective waste management and controlling carbon foorprint, will be introduced to the general public through out-door and printed media (August-September 2008).
- National Survey on Climate Change. The survey will provide findings on how the corporate world and public at large perceives climate change and its impact on the socio-economic development of the country (July-October 2008)
- International Conference on Climate Change will highlight the most urgent environmental challenges facing the world today and discuss business-driven solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change (November 2008)
- Knowledge and experience sharing meetings: The Global Compact Working Group on Environment will host focused meetings for participating companies and civil society organizations to review progress biannually (January 2009)
CAMPAIGN OUTCOMES:
- Public awareness on the environmental protection and responsibilities raised
- Participants of the campaign are provided with the tools for becoming more environmentally responsible
- Internal policies and attitudes of the participants changed in favour of environment protection
- The campaign becomes a multi-stakeholder platform for environment advocacy