From 3 to 5 June, UNEP participated actively in the 2014 edition of Green Week, the biggest annual conference on European environment policy. This year’s theme was "Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Waste."

The conference was preceded by a New Environmentalism Summit taking place on 3 June, where UNEP’s Executive Director Achim Steiner gave a presentation outlining his views on the need for a “New Environmentalism” as described by journalist and moderator of the event, James Murray.

Throughout the Green Week, UNEP and UNEP’s International Resource Panel (IRP) had a very strong presence, not only through an information stand, but also by participating in over six sessions:

• Session 2.2 “Gearing up cities for the circular economy,” with Maarten Haaijer, IPR Panel Member,
• Session 2.3 “Resource efficiency: how to get investors on board?”with Charles Anderson, Director, UNEP Finance Initiative,
• Session 4.1 “International dimension: resource efficiency in the Sustainable Development Goals” with IPR Panel Members George Varughese and Stefan Bringezu, Wuppertal Institute, and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Co-Chair of the IRP,
• Session 4.3 “Building the knowledge base for a greener economy” with Joy A. Kim, UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics,
• Session 7.4 Decoupling in practice: technologies and policies for improved resource productivity Organised by UNEP’s IRP and the European Commission, with Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Co-Chair of IRP,
• High Level Panel Discussion “Green and Circular: Resource Efficient Economies for Sustainability - a Small Islands Developing States Perspective”, organised by UNEP with Michele Candotti, Chief, UNEP Executive Office and Principal Advisor to the Executive Director).

More Information: alexa.froger@unep.org