Public Information Discourse

Corporate rating disclosure programmes, also referred to as public information disclosure programmes, were developed by Vietnamese and Indonesian environmental agencies in the 1990s as a low cost response to rising pollution loads. Viet Nam published Black and Green Books listing the worst-performing companies, while the Indonesian national pollution control agency staff (BAPEDAL) is credited with conceiving corporate ratings and disclosure model that has been successfully replicated, with slight modifications, in China, India, the Philippines and Viet Nam as well as other countries outside the region.

Then Indonesian PROPER programme “is an alternative instrument to control pollution based on sustainable development principle through environmental compliance and performance of companies’ improvement in environmental management through the introducing disincentive and incentive reputation by disclosing environmental performance of industries to public and stakeholders”.* The PROPER rating system consists of five colours designed to represent the entire spectrum of environmental performance.** The rankings are regularly reported in the media, and the results have been significant. Results show that the programme has indeed influenced polluters’ behaviour; PROPER reduced the number of facilities with the worst rating with 43 % in two years.

Product Stewardship Tools

Product Stewardship Tools such as life cycle analysis and material input per unit service (MIPS) can be integrated into policy in order to track a product from production to consumption and disposal, thereby providing an incentive to increase the product’s eco-efficiency.

There is further need for guidance and facilitation of regional cooperation among the countries of Asia and the Pacific. Therefore UNESCAP remains committed to working with partner organizations (KAPFE, KIPF, OECD, WB, ADB, IGES, other institutions, and the private sector) to learn about and promote green tax and budget reform as one of the policy tools necessary to achieve green growth.

* Hermien Roosita “Public Disclosure System as an Effective Tool for Pollution Control: The Implementation of PROPER in Indonesia”, Available at http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:DkqfNGjwXEJ:www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/62/34079500.ppt+proper+indonesian&hl=en

** Magda Lovei “Green Growth Through Green Accounting and Policy Reform, World Bank”, A Presentation at the First Regional Policy Dialogue: Towards Green Growth in Asia and the Pacific: Eco-efficiency Through Green Tax and Budget Reform, Held at Soul, Republic of Korea, 8-9 November 2005.

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