United Nations Environment Programme
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UNEP
Eco-Innovation
- Introduction
- Past Projects
- Current Projects
- Success Stories
- Resources
Through its eco-innovation methodology, UNEP has been supporting SMEs across regions in the development and application of a business model that incorporates sustainability throughout all business operations based on life cycle thinking and in cooperation with partners across the value chain. Eco-innovation entails a coordinated set of modifications or novel solutions to products (goods / services), processes, market approach and organizational structure which leads to a company’s enhanced performance and competitiveness. This approach can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access new and expanding markets, increase productivity, attract new investment into the business, increase profitability across the value chain, and help them stay ahead of regulations and standards.
Thinking from a life cycle perspective means considering all phases of the product life cycle, from extraction of raw materials through material processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, repair and maintenance to disposal or re-use. This approach allows companies to evaluate where significant progress can be made against the major challenges faced by industry, anticipate and avoid future ones. Adopting this perspective works best in cooperation with suppliers, customers and other partners across the value chain.
Companies evaluate their position in the value chain, analyze the hotspots that affect their business and seek innovative solutions in collaboration with value chain partners to strengthen their market position and competitiveness. Actual transformation is likely to be achieved by implementing the elements of the new strategy on a gradual, progressive and targeted basis, but these steps take place within the framework of the company’s long-term strategic drive towards major change.
Through this method, eco-innovative companies create value for the business, the environment and society in general. The result is a more flexible company, able to respond to changing market trends with novel solutions ahead of competitors. Contrary to a short-term outlook that leads to incremental improvements and results in only limited progress and benefits, eco-innovation represents a long-term strategic drive towards sustainability.
By adding sustainability at the core of a business strategy the concept of Eco-Innovation can support small and medium-sized enterprises to become more resilient, including during times of crisis:
- By working on joint sustainable solutions to common problems, significant shared gains can be achieved with better commercial, environmental and social value;
- With lower production costs through greater material or production efficiency, minimized waste, optimization of distribution channels and reduced lead-time;
- Good relationships through the value chain approach help develop proactive communication on emerging challenges and risks to adapt; and
- Producers that rely less or not exclusively on import supplies (for example, by sourcing certain materials locally or through on-site recycling) are less prone to the crisis.
First Eco-innovation Project
Funded by the European Commission and coordinated by UNEP, the first Eco-innovation Project ran from 2012-2017 in developing and transition economies. Those countries comprised Colombia, Peru, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
In the framework of this project, a Manual was created to help businesses become eco-innovative. In order to facilitate the entire process starting from preparation, to setting a strategy, setting a business model, building a roadmap and finally implementation phase and review, this website visualizes each goal broken down into manageable actions and serves as a step by step guidance. The complete version of the Eco-Innovation Manual is available in the Resources section.
Further support to companies and stakeholders which subscribe to transition towards eco-innovation is provided by a number of tutorial videos by experts addressing individual steps of the process.
Find out more about our country specific cases for eco-innovation in the 'Success Stories' section.
SwitchMed in Jordan
Funded by the European Union, the SwitchMed Programme was launched in 2013 to speed up the shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns in the Southern Mediterranean, notably through the promotion of circular economy approaches. The programme aims at achieving productive, circular and sharing economies in the Mediterranean by changing the way goods and services are consumed and produced so that human development is decoupled from environmental degradation.
In synergy with SwitchMed, UNEP engaged small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan in an eco-innovation process by facilitating policy and technical conditions that enable systemic innovation and by complementing local expertise through capacity building activities. The implementation of Eco-innovation approach in the project has reduced the risks of chemicals uses, promoted the replacement of chemicals in products and processes by less hazardous ones and the development of economically viable products and processes that are sustainable and less hazardous in the long run. Thus it has contributed to the implementation of Sustainable Production and Consumption National Action Plan (SCP-NAP), developed through SwitchMed
Capacity building in SMEs
Five companies were supported in finding alternatives for the replacement of identified hazardous chemicals. The sustainable benefits are gained in identifying new market opportunities for their newly developed products, ensuring their competitiveness in the local and international markets, and complying with national and international regulations on the sound management of chemicals.
Find out about achievements in the 'Success Stories' section.
UNEP is currently supporting SMEs and governments in the implementation of eco-innovation through the following projects:
Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under SAICM
Exposure to chemicals can cause or contribute to a broad range of negative environmental and health outcomes, including irreversible environmental degradation and death. Hazardous chemicals are found in consumer products all over the world, resulting in the potential exposure of workers during manufacture, of consumers during use, of informal sectors involved in recycling and disposal with emphasis on women and children, and of the environment via wastewater and sewage sludges.
To date, documentation of hazardous chemicals in products often does not exist, and even when information about chemicals in products is available, it is often not made available outside supply chains or used for sound management. Measures to reduce chemicals of concern in products need to consider the whole value chain. Within a product life-cycle, specific stages, processes or product categories can be identified that account for a significant proportion of the impact of chemicals.
Within the framework of the project 'Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)' funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNEP two supplements to the Eco-innovation manual (for more information please see in section ‘First Eco-Innovation Project’) are being developed - one for the electronics sector and one for the buildings sector. These supplements will be piloted with SMEs in two countries – Colombia and Sri Lanka, respectively.
European Union for Environment (EU4Environment)
The EU4Environment project (2019-2022), funded by the European Union, is implemented jointly by five international organizations – OECD, UNECE, UNEP, UNIDO and the World Bank. It aims to help six Eastern partner (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine) to preserve their natural capital and increase people's environmental well-being.
It is structured around five results:
1) Greener decision-making;
2) Circular economy and new growth opportunities;
3) An environmental level playing field;
4) Ecosystem services and livelihoods; and
5) Regional knowledge sharing and coordination.
For goal number 2) on supporting ‘Circular economy and new growth opportunities’, and more specifically within the sub-goal 2.6) on ‘Ecological value-chain and product innovation’ UNEP is supporting Georgia and the Republic of Moldova on eco-innovation. Activities include:
- National trainings on sustainable production/eco-innovation for companies and governments
- Market assessment and policy analysis of eco-innovation potential in selected sectors
- Assess SMEs/companies’ potential for eco-innovation & provide advisory services for business strategy review/development
- Awareness raising activity among business sector and government
InTex project
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is implementing a three-year project funded by the European Union (EU): Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain (InTex). The project has five components. Two components have global reach and three components will focus on national implementation in three countries in Africa where textiles is a key economic sector and where companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are part of multinational value chains (for example exporting towards the European market). Technical intermediaries from three countries (Kenya, South Africa, and Tunisia) are UNEP’s partners implementing the three components that have national focus.
Success story from Georgia
- within the framework of the EU4Environment project
UNEP promotes eco-innovation among SMEs in Georgia with the aim of reducing their socio-environmental impact and increasing their competitiveness. 8 SMEs were selected to receive advisory services for incorporating sustainability and product lifecycle considerations into their operations and value chains. Eco-innovation methodology will help these companies make their operations ‘greener’ and more inclusive, while also broadening their customer base.
Success stories from Malaysia
- within the framework of the first Eco-innovation project
A Blueprint for Success - Accel of Malaysia
In a global printing market worth $850 billion, producers of printing inks inevitably face stiff competition, but also real business opportunities. With an eye firmly on the Asia-Pacific market, Malaysian company Accel Graphic System is turning to eco-innovation to reap the rewards of a growing printing industry. But Accel’s innovations have had a multiplier effect, opening new business lines and new possibilities – all good for the environment… and for the bottom line. Learn more about their success here!
Malaysia’s Wilron Products is an adhesives manufacturer with a plan. Thanks to a new eco-innovative strategy, the company is providing its customers with the ecological adhesives they want, while aiming for a bigger share of domestic and foreign markets. Here’s why going green makes business sense for an ambitious SME.
Success stories from Peru
- within the framework of the first Eco-innovation project
The Grains of Success at Peru's IMSA
The production of coffee and cocoa features strongly in Latin America’s agri-food industry, which covers an extensive value chain of very different businesses. Peru is no exception, and one Lima-based company, IMSA, has been navigating the big challenges of the sector since 2001. It manufactures machinery for its customers in Peru and the Americas, who then process the coffee and cocoa beans. But for IMSA, growth has been hampered by waste, insufficient plant capacity, high energy consumption and constrained domestic markets. Fortunately, the Eco-innovation Project guided IMSA towards new success. Discover IMSA's success here!
A successful producer of iron castings for Peru’s mining and cement sectors, Funvesa is a company with growing ambitions. Before eco-innovation, the business was already using iron scrap to produce its goods. But Funvesa wanted to boost its green credentials even further to take advantage of new markets, especially Peru’s public sector where construction requires sustainable public procurement. Coupled with overseas export ambitions, Funvesa’s foray into new segments meant eco-innovation was a natural step to take the company to the next level. Learn more about how Funvesa benefited from the eco-innovation approach here!
Success stories from Vietnam
- within the framework of the first Eco-innovation project
An Ecological Catalyst for Vietnam’s Guava Farms
On the banks of the Red River in northern Vietnam, the region’s guava fruit farmers face all manner of challenge to their businesses. Like elsewhere, the use of pesticides to protect trees from disease and chemical fertilizers to boost production is very common. But businesses have noticed increasingly poor conditions because of excessive chemical use. One small enterprise, Viet Lien, has turned to ecological, sustainable solutions to improve its own situation and that of its neighbours… with some surprising results - which you can discover here!
How Eco-innovation Transformed a Vietnamese
Tea Trader
Vietnamese company Hiep Thanh used to produce and trade dried tea for Middle Eastern markets. But as it faced increasingly difficult challenges – regulatory, technical and economic – it became clear that business as usual was not an option. Through the Eco-innovation Project, and helped by new tools and expert support, the company has undergone a remarkable transformation. Here’s how Hiep Thanh became an innovative champion of sustainable development.
Success stories from Sri Lanka
- within the framework of the first Eco-innovation project
‘Production to partnership’ – why grassroots success means better business for Sri Lankan dairy
When Sri Lanka’s Rasoda Dairies took on eco-innovation, it focused on the quality, sustainability and productivity of its dairy business. In a short space of time, the results in grassroots farming, the supply chain and on the factory floor were startling. Learn more about how the company made eco-innovation a success here.
Coconut innovator targets new, high-value production
Sri Lankan company Asian Agro Products has taken big steps through eco-innovation, making a smart switch from its traditional business model to the direct sale of new, high-value produce to international markets – and it’s also good news for the environment. Discover their success here!
- within the framework of the project on 'Strengthening SCP Practices in Sri Lanka'
An SME from Kochchikade within the coconut based industry used to produce desiccated coconut with high levels of waste and equally high energy bills. Through eco-innovation, the company now produces virgin coconut oil with higher profits and export potential, while minimizing wastes and also diversifying the new product lines.
Another small business within the coconut based industry has geared to produce health-conscious goods which can be sold for premium prices on both local and especially international markets.
A dairy business hampered by lack of technology, low supplier productivity and high waste, has used eco-innovation to move from a production-centered business model to a partnership-oriented approach. With farmer development underpinning its eco-innovations, the company has increased its value chain, forming multiple supplier partnerships in the process.
Producers of vegetable protein and other foods from soy used the eco-innovation process to address a range of 'hotspots'. These include factory efficiency, high import dependency and government packaging regulations. Now the company is well on the way to locally-sourced soy, a new 'green-conscious' product line, as well as strong partnerships woth local farmers.
Within the cinnamon processing industry, businesses that process and export cinnamon from Sri Lanka's Southern province faced a range of difficulties, such as quality standards, waste and workforce issues as well as environmental damage, before turning to eco-innovation. One company introduced multiple solutions including sustainable business practices, product diversification and eco-tourism to promote its brand.
A specialist in fruit processing has used a range of tools including Life Cycle Thinking to develop a new business model. Now it produces fruit pulp to become a pulp supplier for bigger brands with plans to distributing pulp and juice to its customers as part of a new service-oriented model.
Success stories from Jordan
- within the framework of the SwitchMed project
Sigma developed a new business strategy aiming by 2020 and engaged in a new business model to produce powder and liquid laundry detergents replacing hazardous chemicals like parabens, which are endocrine disruptors and may cause certain types of cancer, thus affecting the health of workers and consumers. Learn more here.
Sipes applied a life cycle thinking across the product’s life stages to identify alternative solutions for eliminating lead pigments.This was also motivated by national regulations in Jordan banning lead chromate in non-decorative paints by 2022, and global efforts for lead elimination in paints.The company developed a new business model to produce lead-free automotive and road-marking paints for the Jordanian market by 2020. Learn more here.
Site Group provides well drilling services.
A new foaming agent was formulated with less hazardous substances and manufactured with a fully automatized process. This will result in significantly fewer health risks to the company’s staff caused by occupational exposure and contact, and reducing environmental damages to soil and water resulting from the foaming agent use and discharge. Learn more here.
Al Qawafel Agro at Al Alrabia site targeted the sound management of 25 ton per day of liquid hydrochloric acid (HCl), a by-product of potassium sulfate production, which is stored on-site in plastic containers.The company started identifying potential new customers in this industry, where HCI can be sold as a valuable material. Through reducing the amount of HCl stored on site, the company targets reducing health risks faced by staff members who handle liquid HCl. Learn more here.
With a strong commitment from their top management team to engage on eco-innovation, Al-Emlaq developed a new business strategy aiming at being recognized in Jordan and the EU markets for their products manufactured with less-harmful substances, i.e. elimination of preservative substances in the dish washing liquid detergents and resulted in reduced health risks on workers and consumers. Learn more here.
This brochure explains how eco-innovation can support SMEs in making their business sustainable, profitable, and resilient. Available here in English.
Eco-Innovation Implementation Process
The core eco-innovation process and its 54 activities to support implementation. Available in English, Portuguese, and French.
Eco-Innovation Manual - Chemical Supplement
Chemicals sector specific information supplementing the manual when working with companies in this sector. Available in English.
Eco-innovation Manual - Metal Supplements
Metals sector specific information supplementing the manual when working with companies in this sector. Available in English.
Eco-innovation Manual - Agri-food Supplement
Agri-food sector specific information supplementing the manual when working with companies in this sector. Available in English.
Eco-innovation Manual - Templates
Pack of blank activity templates to be used for collaborating with the company, colleagues or working on your own. Available in English.
The Business Case for Eco-Innovation
Good practices of eco-innovation for a business audience. Available in English, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.
Mainstreaming Eco-Innovation in Sustainable Consumption and Production Policies
Practical guidance to create a policy context conducive to eco-innovation, enabling systemic changes in consumption and production patterns. Full report available in English, Spanish and French.
Moving Ahead with Technology for Eco-innovation
Technological aspects relevant to eco-innovation; guidance on identifying, developing, and adopting technologies; role of policymaking,
and business intermediaries. Full report available in English. Executive Summary available in Spanish and French.
UNEP circularity platform
The UNEP circularity platform provides an understanding of the circularity concept, its scope and how it contributes to promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns. It also offers a wide range of resources and features stories illustrating how various stakeholders have successfully adopted circular approaches.
