Welcome to the Climate Change Corner, a new column dedicated to raising awareness, providing education, and inspiring action on one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change. As the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident, it is crucial for individuals, communities, and businesses in Lesotho to stay informed and engaged. Our goal is to offer you valuable insights, practical advice, and inspiring stories to help you understand and address the challenges posed by climate change.
Why Climate Change Matters Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is a global challenge that affects every aspect of our lives. From extreme weather events and rising temperatures to shifts in agricultural productivity and biodiversity loss, the consequences of climate change are far-reaching. In Lesotho communities are already facing the impacts, making it essential for us to act now. The Climate Change Corner aims to be your trusted source of information and support, helping you navigate this complex issue. What’s in store for you: Each week, the Climate Change Corner will bring you a diverse range of content designed to inform, educate, and inspire.
This week we discuss: WHAT IS A QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT SUPPORT CLIMATE ACTION?
The International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI)3 has adopted the following definition of a QIS: The system comprising the organizations (public and private) together with the policies, relevant legal and regulatory framework, and practices needed to support and enhance the quality, safety and environmental soundness of goods, services and processes.
The quality infrastructure is required for the effective operation of domestic markets, and its international recognition is important to enable access to foreign markets. It is a critical element in promoting and sustaining economic development, as well as environmental and social wellbeing.
It relies on:
STANDARDIZATION, CONFORMITY, ASSESSMENT, ACCREDITATION, MARKET SURVEILLANCE.
Setting up an effective and efficient National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) System is one of the most positive and practical steps that a developing nation can take on the path towards the establishment of a thriving economy as a basis for growth, prosperity, health and well-being. The NQI is required for the effective operation of domestic markets, and its international recognition is important to enable access to foreign markets, via the use of harmonized standards and technical regulations and mutual recognition of conformity assessment methodologies.
Establishing a NQI does not necessarily involve large investments in physical structures. Adoption and implementation of international standards (including in legislation and technical regulations) together with the acceptance of certificates of conformity can go a long way towards a NQI. When complemented with inspection and quality control, for example, at ports of entry and markets, a full-fledged NQI can be achieved rapidly and lead to very efficient outcomes.
The International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI) is a forum in which a variety of international organizations exchange information and, where possible, collaborate in supporting the development of technical infrastructures. INetQI has 14 members: BIPM, IAF, IEC, IIOC, ILAC, IQNet, ISO, ITC, ITU, OIML, UNECE, UNIDO, the World Bank and the WTO.
In recent years, however, it has become increasingly clear that a well-implemented NQI contributes to governmental policy objectives beyond trade of products and services to areas such as industrial development, efficient use of natural and human resources, health, the environment, climate change.
Overall, the pursuit of the SDGs requires a fundamental shift in economic activities, social practices and human behaviour, and this transformation can be supported by QI systems using the concept of “broad quality” mentioned in Parts 2 and 3. This is especially the case for SDG 13 (“Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”) and its associated five targets, four of which are directly relevant here:
» Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
» Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
» Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
» Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and Small Island Developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities
Pursuing climate action and sustainable development in an integrated and coherent way offers the strongest approach to enable countries to achieve their objectives efficiently and quickly under the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
When all QI building blocks are in place— standardization, metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment (in particular, testing, certification, validation/verification and inspection services)—a QI can help consumers and citizens to make informed choices, encourage innovation, lead businesses and industries to take up appropriate new technologies and organizational methods improving current practices, and support public authorities in designing and implementing public policies aligned with the SDGs.
Recognizing the need to assess and measure the contribution of QI to climate action, the Quality Infrastructure for Sustainable Development (QI4SD) Index provides a framework of indicators that summarizes the overall state of development of a country’s and/or region’s QI readiness to support the SDGs. As QI is an important enabler of sustainable development, the QI4SD Index aims to bridge an information gap by being the first tool that explicitly measures how fit for purpose QI is in meeting sustainable development.
UNIDO’s holistic approach to quality infrastructure development, which aims to stimulate industrial development, trade competitiveness, innovation and efficient use of resources, while ensuring food safety and protecting human health and the environment. More specifically, as it relates to climate action:
The “governance” element can include regulations that are relevant to climate, net zero and other sustainability-related initiatives, whilst at the same time, the “quality policy” (traditionally focusing on trade-related topics) can easily be transformed into a policy that embraces “broad quality” (including climate change considerations), as discussed in Part 2. readily embrace climate action initiatives into their remit and portfolios.
» The “quality infrastructure services” can focus on “broad quality” promotion including, issues relating to climate change. Conformity assessment bodies can support climate action initiatives and calibration and verification services adapted to provide additional confidence.
» “Enterprises” will need to adapt to the growing global concerns about climate change and adapt and/or mitigate as appropriate for their particular context. This includes the promotion of climate action throughout the value chain.
» “Consumers” (and, more broadly, “citizens”) need to be made aware of their own responsibilities to make informed decisions not only about the products and services they are offered, but also on their own behaviour as a member of the global community.
A QIS is a powerful tool for defining, developing and verifying quality requirements for products and services. The QIS not only helps to demonstrate that products and services actually meet the relevant requirements for their intended markets, it can also be used to support and provide confidence in sustainability-related claims made for those products and services, and help to avoid “greenwashing”, among other things. It helps to
promote products and services that meet the state-of-the-art “broad quality” requirements and best practices that are essential for participating in modern-day international trade.
Robust QI systems better position developing economies to achieve sustainable development, through increasing prosperity, meeting the needs of people, and protecting the planet. In turn, a well-functioning, internationally harmonized and recognized QI system is essential for climate protection as QI provides confidence not only for the assessment of the impact of services and products on our climate, but also for monitoring national and international commitments such as those of the Paris Agreement as well as for SDGs.
In a similar fashion, within the financial sector, investors who traditionally evaluated performance based on financial measures alone are now taking into consideration non-financial parameters to support their decision-making process. The concept of environmental, social and governance (ESG) was first discussed in depth at the UN Global Compact’s 2005 Conference “Who Cares, Wins” which brought together institutional investors, asset managers, buy-side and sell-side research analysts, global consultants and government bodies and regulators to examine the role of ESG value drivers in asset management and financial research.
So-called “green financial instruments” are now in increasing demand to support projects aimed at climate change adaptation and mitigation measures at the international, regional and local levels. To support the analysis of such proposals and to allow for monitoring of the level to which the project objectives have been achieved, it is vital to have confidence in the impartiality and accuracy of associated performance indicators, which can only be provided by conformity assessment processes that are supported by appropriate standards, metrology and accreditation—in other words by a robust QI system.
In the upcoming issue, we get to know more about: QUALITY POLICY
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