1. National sustainable development strategies : experience of France Christian Brodhag Interministerial delegate for sustainable development, France (Délégué Interministériel au Développement Durable) Nordic Council of Ministers Workshop on Sustainable Development 6th March 2007, Ständerhuset, Helsingfors, Finland www.developpementdurable.gouv.fr Sustainable development strategies tools for policy coherence, Christian Brodhag and Sophie Talière, Natural Resources Forum 30 (2006) 134–143

2. Why national sustainable development strategies (NSDS) ? International engagement for implementing NSDS –Action 21, UN Conference on Environment and Development Rio in 1992 : “Each country should aim to complete, as soon as practicable, if possible by 1994, a review of capacity- and capability-building requirements for devising national sustainable development strategies,... ” §37.4a –“As an important aspect of overall planning, each country should seek internal consensus at all levels of society on policies and programmes needed for short- and long-term capacity building to implement its Agenda 21 programme. This consensus should result from a participatory dialogue of relevant interest groups... ” §37.5. –1997 Special Session of the UN General Assembly new deadline of 2002 –The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg called to begin their implementation by 2005 Efficiency of policies and interest for all parties –Implementation of sustainable development and mainstreaming environmental concerns into development –Connecting local challenges with global concerns and sectoral policies –Management of risks and opportunities at all level –Lever for reform of governance and public/private relationship –Integration of scientific knowledge in policymaking –Coherence of policies through continuous improvement process

3. key recurring tasks for NSDS according to IISD study of national strategies for sustainable development of 19 countries : Feedback mechanisms. The establishment of feedback mechanisms includes monitoring, learning and adaptation, and aims to implement an attitude of continuous improvement, and to change existing values and visions through a cognitive process. Coordination with the national budget. Strategic objectives and initiatives must be coordinated with and incorporated into the national budgeting process. Efforts of this type are referred to as horizontal integration. Vertical integration. Vertical integration concerns coordination with subnational and local entities towards sustainable development. Implementing policy initiatives. A fourth important and recurring task in NSDS involves implementing policy initiatives, particularly fiscal reforms, to accommodate environmental objectives. Swanson, D.A., Pintér, L., Bregha, F., Volkery, A., Jacob, K., IISD and GTZ, 2004. National strategies for sustainable development: Challenges, approaches and innovations in strategic and coordinated action. Available on www.iisd.org/pdf/2004/measure_nat_strategies_sd.pdf.

4. 8 components of NSDS according OECD Policy integration thoroughly integrated approaches and plans, of all three pillars of sustainable development. Intergenerational timeframe long-term perspective through principles and indicators. Analysis and assessments costs and benefits, environmental, economic and social, policy and strategy. Indicators and targets : well-structured system of indicators in monitoring progress and serve as a quantitative target. Coordination among institutions, government departments and agencies need to be involved in the formulation; responsibility should be located at the highest government level, such as in the office of the Prime Minister Local and regional governance, certain aspects may be devolved to subnational governmental levels. Stakeholder participation : businesses, labour unions, and non- governmental organizations, take part in designing and implementing. Monitoring and evaluation of NSDS process OECD, 2005. National strategies for sustainable development: Good practices in OECD countries. Report presented at the OECD Annual Meeting of Sustainable Development Experts, Paris 3–4 October. SG/SD(2005)6, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris

5. French institutions for sustainable development international treaties UN, EU… Prime Minister others government departments Ministry of ecology and sustainable development impulse President of Republic political engagement, founding declaration « house is burning and we look elsewhere » Parliament Constitution Environment charter Coppens commission contribution peer review Belgium, Ghana Mauritius, United Kingdom 5-11 February 2005 National Council for SD NSDS 2003-2008 3 June 2003 ICSD interministerial delegate SD delegation sustainable development interministerial comity SD Comity of senior civil servant SD animation and coordination secretariat new actions 23 mars 2005 governmental seminar NSDS 2003-2008 actualized 13 November 2006 ICSD 16 June 2006 European Spring Council European strategy for SD Follow-up

6. environment charter in the french constitution Recognition at constitution level the right to live in a balanced environment which shows due respect for health, and the duty to participate in preserving and enhancing the environment. The preamble of the Constitution has been changed for the first time in the history of the 5th republic : La Constitution will refer to environment at the same level that the « Declaration of human right » of 1789 which established political rights and the preamble of the Constitution of 1946 which established economic and social rights, « and rights and duties defined in the environment charter of 2003. » 10 articles of the charter Art. 1 er - right Art. 2. - duty Art. 3. - avoid damage to the environment Art. 4. - contribute to repair Art. 5. - precautionary principle Art. 6. – sustainable development Art. 7. - information and participation. Art. 8. - education and training Art. 9. - research and innovation Art. 10. - international action

7. Coordination among institutions (OECD 5) an Inter-Ministerial Committee for Sustainable Development (CIDD) chaired by the Prime Minister includes all other relevant Ministers. It was given formal responsibility for “the definition of orientations, monitoring their implementation, adopting the NSDS, and approving action plans and annual reports on NSDS”. –Session 3 June 2003 for adoption of NSDS 2003-2008, session 13 November 2006 for actualization. An Inter-Ministerial Delegate in charge of Sustainable Development (DIDD) –lead and co-ordinate the actions of all Ministries with regard to the Government’s sustainable development policy, in the name of the Prime Minister –is responsible for preparing materials for consideration by the CIDD –watches over their follow-up and implementation –chairs the Permanent Committee of Senior Officials in charge of Sustainable Development –is associated with defining the work of the CNDD

8. Feedback mechanisms (IISD 1) Peer review (February 2005) recommendations on process, contents, implementation and outcomes, monitoring and indicators Reports every years communicated to Parliament and National Council for sustainable development Feedback in some policies integrated in the actualization of action plan in the NSDD in November 2006 Preparing the revision for 2008-2012 strategy (problem of political continuity as no law is organizing the process, it is only a executive leadership without Parliament involvement). Peer recommendation urge to “ensure that the NSDS is fully institutionalised so that the progress of sustainable development in France is not vulnerable to political change”

9. Coordination with the national budget (IISD 2) Implementing policy initiatives (IISD 4) Weakness of the process due to the fact that the budget process is strongly changed in France. The “ordinance” of 1959 was changed through a budget reform called LOLF (Loi organique relative aux lois de finance – organic law on budget law) underway since 2002. This change the system from standard ministry-based allocations (eg for standing expenses such as salaries, travel, equipment, etc) to results-oriented allocations for proposed ministry action programmes. It is the instrument of a reform vaster than its only budgetary and countable dimension, concerning organization of responsibility in the administration and the effectiveness of the public policies Such a major reform process has its own logic and the position of sustainable development in the cabinet structure was to weak to integrate sustainable development concern in the heart of missions and performance indicators formalized through the LOLF. Peers recommendation : “The process of systematic integration should be taken further in future iterations of the strategy, e.g. through using strategic tools such as: (…) Integration of sustainable development considerations into all State reforms such as the LOLF process”.

10. Policy integration (OECD 1) Local and regional governance (OECD 6) SD strategies for corporations - CSR national legislation compliance business / economics private sector initiatives including NGO’s and social actors Type I Type II Type I and II is referring too initiatives launched in Johannesburg national sustainable development strategy peer review local Agenda 21 vertical integration Recognition of coherence with reference framework global governance conventions, protocols…

11. Vertical integration (IISD 3) Climate Change and clean energy Sustainable Transport Sustainable consumption and production Conservation and management of natural resources Public Health Social inclusion, demography and migration Global poverty and sustainable development challenges human development and access for all to a good quality of life climate change and atmosphere protection biodiversity preservation and protection of ecosystems and resources employment, social cohesion and solidarity between territories and between generations development according to responsible production and consumption patterns 5 objectives of framework for sustainable development processes at local level (Agenda 21) 7 key challenges SEDD SNDD european strategie for sustainable development national strategie for sustainable development

12. Analysis and assessments (OECD 3) Indicators and targets (OECD 4) Monitoring and evaluation of NSDS process (OECD 8)    1 GDP per capita 3 renewable energy share of global energy 11 Public development aid 2 global GHG emissions 6 Population index of common birds 6bis Population index of farmland birds 8 life expectancy 9 households under poverty line 4 global energy consumption of transportation 5 Municipal waste collected 7 Fish catches taken from stocks outside safe biological limits 10 Old-age-dependency ratio 12 on line administration 12 global indicators from Eurostat. Indicators are embedded in the revised NSDS of November 2006 with prioritization      Indicators of policies implementation: percent of action from NSDS action plan realized, number of Agenda 21… Objectives for “exemplary state” energy, water… consumption

13. Stakeholder participation (OECD 7) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 2 : informed % 23% 1,6% 7% 64% 26% 41% June 2002 Nov 2002 Juyl 2003 Dec 2003 July 2004 Dec 2004 July 2005 Dec 2005 July 2006 Dec 2006 1 : hear of French citizens better informed Source Ifop, Les Français et l’environnement, Baromètre de la Communication Gouvernementale, Résultats d’ensemble Johannesburg National council for sustainable development : 90 members Business forum for sustainable development : public/private dialogue and partnership Integration of “participation of the actors” as a major item in local Agenda framework National meeting (assises nationales) for sustainable development every 2 years (more than 1000 experts) National week of sustainable development more than 1400 local initiatives, communication on top 100 best practices and examples

14. Process coordination for mainstreaming Id for other global strategic processes as National strategies for biodiversity or natural resource management (water, energy…) national council for sustainable development national authority in charge of NSDS national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) sustainable development poverty reduction strategy papers PRSP participatory process government leadership of PRSP poverty designated national authority (DNA) national council for CDM sustainable development criteria for projects climate change mirror comity ISO 26000 CSR targets & objectives normalization administration economic type I type II

15. social responsibility: ISO 26000 A guidance standard will be published in 2009 as ISO 26000 and be voluntary to use. It will not include requirements and will thus not be a certification standard. It will aim to encourage voluntary commitment to social responsibility and will lead to common guidance on concepts, definitions and methods of evaluation for any organizations in both public and private sectors Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) and Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) provide the joint leadership of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (WG SR). 6 stakeholder groups are participating in the WG SR: industry, government, labour, consumers, nongovernmental organizations and others, in addition to geographical and gender-based balance. Each country being represented by 6 delegates from the 6 stakeholder groups International organisation are involved in the process as “liaison organisation”: UNEP, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UN/DESA, WHO, OECD, UN Global Compact, Global Reporting Initiative(GRI). ISO 26000 Internet site www.iso.org/sr, working documents for WG SR can be found in the ISO Livelink area http://www.iso.org/wgsr