Schloss Elmau, Germany
June 8, 2015
G7 Principles on Women’s Entrepreneurship
Make girls and women aware of the possibility of becoming entrepreneurs and actively encourage them to transform their ideas into business cases – starting at early stages, e.g. in schools, vocational training and universities by promoting tailored information.
Counter gender stereotyping, and develop specific measures for girls to enroll in and complete education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines early on.
Make successful female entrepreneurs more visible, e.g. as role models for new generations of women founders.
Address the specific needs of female entrepreneurs, e.g. by providing them with tailored information, skills, mentoring and coaching and promoting networks for women entrepreneurs.
Facilitate women entrepreneurs’ access to finance, e.g. alternative sources of funding as well as the banking system, to technology and innovation and to domestic and international markets.
Improve framework conditions, e.g. by providing ample policies to support the reconciliation of work and family life for both men and women, including access to parental leave and childcare.
Joint Efforts to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
The G7 strongly supports the first Global Action Plan by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). We will develop or review, operationalize and share our national action plans and keep up our cooperation with various organizations and stakeholders with a focus on the areas listed below:
Combating AMR has to be addressed in a two-fold approach: by conserving the effectiveness of existing and future antimicrobials and by engaging in research and development for new antimicrobials, vaccines, treatment alternatives and rapid diagnostic tools.
We are strongly committed to the One Health approach, encompassing all areas of human and animal health as well as agriculture and the environment. Our national action plans will be based on this concept.
We have a responsibility to improve the prevention of infectious diseases as well as to be more prudent when using antimicrobials. To achieve this we need a holistic approach and concrete measures to retain the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents. We encourage and support other countries to join these efforts.
We will specifically foster the prudent use of antibiotics1 by committing to use them for therapeutic reasons under supervision in compliance with national and or jurisdictional legislation and after individual diagnosis. We will increase knowledge and responsible use through the implementation of stewardship programmes for medical and veterinary professionals as well as livestock producers.
We highlight the importance of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine which should be available through prescription or the veterinary equivalent only, and the fact the appropriate use of antibiotics contributes to the reduction of antimicrobial resistance.
We flag the need to phase out the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in animal husbandry in the absence of risk analysis.
We recognize the importance of increasing awareness and knowledge of prevention and control of infections and on AMR among human and animal health professionals and the general public.
We need to strengthen surveillance of existing and emerging patterns of AMR in medical, veterinary and agricultural settings and via environmental pathways in order to fill knowledge gaps in the interest of effective strategies to fight AMR.
We have to stimulate innovation by increasing basic research, research on epidemiology, and the development and access of new antimicrobials, alternative therapies, vaccines, and rapid point of care diagnostics and we take note of the Independent Review on AMR.
In this context we are committed to intensifying our dialogue with the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and food industries which plays a vital role in our close collaboration with the WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
We call on our Ministers to pool the national efforts and hold a G7-Meeting in order to promote responsible use of antibiotics among all relevant stakeholders and share best practices.
Climate Policy
Climate Risk Insurance Initiative
Effective climate risk management that aims to build resilience to the impact of climate change especially for poor and vulnerable people in highly exposed and low-income countries needs to encompass disaster risk reduction, adaptation to climate change and insurance to cover a portion of the residual risks that arise from natural hazards and extreme weather events.
Objective
The overall objective of the G7 initiative is to stimulate the creation of effective climate risk insurance solutions and markets and the smart use of insurance-related schemes for people and assets at risk in poor and vulnerable developing countries. This enables climate change adaptation and contributes to enhancing economic growth, poverty reduction and climate resilience.
The G7 climate risk insurance initiative aims to increase the number of people benefiting from direct or indirect insurance covering the negative impacts of climate change induced hazards in low and middle-income countries by up to 400 million by 2020, including by building on existing risk insurance facilities in Africa, Asia, Small Island Developing States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
A climate risk transfer approach will strengthen the enabling environment for insurance in combination with awareness-raising measures to promote insurability. The initiative intends to make use of synergies with related international policy frameworks such as UNFCCC and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Initiative for Renewable Energy in Africa
Africa is endowed with vast renewable energy resources. However, half of the world’s un-electrified households are in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite significant recent improvements in increasing energy access, the IEA estimates that 645 million people in sub-Sahara Africa will be without access to energy in 2030. Improving access to affordable energy services and thereby reducing energy poverty is an important objective in which a clean energy agenda can play an important role. In this respect, developing regional renewable energy resources effectively utilizing all available resources could serve as the main driver to increase African energy generation and unlock potential for the future.
Objective
The aim of this effort is to improve sustainable energy access in Africa by 2030 by accelerating the deployment of renewable energy (solar, onshore and offshore wind power, hydro, biomass and geothermal, off-grid renewables, and grid and corridors deployment). This initiative is intended to scale up existing initiatives and aims to reach up to 10,000 MW in additional installed renewables capacity by 2020. It would identify and support the bankability of renewable energy projects in Africa, based on national and regional investment plans. It is possible to build on existing multilateral and bilateral programmes – most notably the UN “Sustainable Energy for All SE4All”, IRENA “Africa clean energy corridor” and UNEP initiatives, Africa-EU Energy Partnership, African Union, NEPAD, AMCEN and AfDB flagship programmes including the African Power Vision, the U.S. “Power Africa” initiative and the EU’s Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFi). This initiative aims to strengthen coordination between existing efforts and to highlight gaps where future work is needed. It should constitute an integral component of the international efforts to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and safe and clean energy for all. The G7 aims to use existing financial institutions, i.e. MDBs/DFIs and the Green Climate Fund, and target specific challenges to private investments in climate technologies, i.e. financial and political risks, limited local project development capacity, and weak regulatory framework and sector policies.
The initiative will also include innovative instruments as well as scaling up existing successful programs, including but not limited to the “Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance” (the Lab) which supports the identification and piloting of innovative climate finance instruments aiming to drive private investments into renewable energy and energy efficiency in developing countries.
Method
Backed by the political commitment of the G7 in Elmau to coordinate efforts to accelerate the development of clean energy in Africa, the African Union, French COP 21 presidency and German G7 presidency in consultation with other G7 members will develop a common plan for further action. The action plan will be worked out in close cooperation with UNEP and the World Bank engaging other relevant stakeholders and presented at the ministerial meeting on climate finance that will take place in Lima during the IMF/World Bank 2015 Annual Meetings as a decisive milestone on the road to COP21 in Paris.
Alliance on Resource Efficiency
At the global level, the consumption of natural resources and production of waste have increased to a greater scale than ever before. Data indicate that global raw material use rose during the 20th century at about twice the rate of population growth. For every 1% increase in GDP, raw material use has risen by 0.4%. Furthermore, much of the raw material input in industrial economies is returned to the environment as waste within one year. Although there has been some relative decoupling of economic growth and natural resource use, it is insufficient to overcome the even higher demands we face with a projected world population of more than 9 billion people by 2050 and rapid economic growth in newly industrializing countries.
Unsustainable consumption of natural resources and concomitant environmental degradation translates into increasing business risks through higher material costs, as well as supply uncertainties and disruptions. Against this background, improving resource efficiency and managing materials sustainably throughout their life cycles are important elements of delivering environmental and climate protection, employment, social benefits and sustainable green growth. Resource efficiency offers opportunities to reduce the burden on the environment while strengthening the sustainability, competitiveness and growth of the economy. This should be a part of broader strategies to promote sustainable materials management and material-cycle societies. Improving resource efficiency requires the productive collaboration amongst policy-makers, business, academia, and consumers.
Commitment to Ambitious Action
We reaffirm the high importance of the protection and efficient use of natural resources throughout their life cycle and the positive impact on all three equally important dimensions of sustainability – economic, environment and social aspects. Life-cycle-based decision-making can help focus attention on natural resources and/or sectors with significant potential. We will continue to take ambitious action to improve resource-efficiency, building on existing national and regional initiatives, including the Kobe 3R Action Plan (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and reflecting international developments. In doing so, we will be strengthening the competitiveness of industries, safeguarding jobs and boosting environmental protection. Prior to the next G7 meeting, we will share progress on our activities.
G7-Alliance on Resource Efficiency
We establishing a G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency, which will provide a forum to exchange and promote best practices and foster innovation together with business (Business 7) and other stakeholders, including from the public sector, research institutions, academia, consumers and civil society, on a voluntary, non-binding basis. The Alliance will benefit from actively engaging, with, for example, relevant business initiatives and supporting networks. The G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency aims to promote an exchange of concepts on how to address the challenges of resource efficiency, to share best practices and experience, and to create information networks.
A series of workshops on best practices will initiate this process. Subjects to be addressed in workshops under the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency could include:
Business initiatives and best practices (in cooperation with Business 7)
Policies to create favourable framework conditions
Life-cycle-based decision-making tools, data, concepts, and methodologies of resource efficiency
Industrial symbiosis , i.e., the sharing of services, utilities, and by-product resources among industries, e.g. through Eco-Industrial Towns
Support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including practical tools
Policy approaches and best practices in specific sectors
Sustainable products and purchasing, green public procurement, local supply chains and the integration of resource efficiency into decision-making in government agencies
Circular economies, eco-design, sharing economies and remanufacturing
Fostering research and innovation for resource efficiency and integrating resource efficiency into education and training
Relevant activities in international forums and international organisations
Experience from bilateral cooperation with developing countries and possible ways for the G7 to collaborate with and in support of these countries
The potential of substituting non-renewable resources with sustainable renewable resources.
The G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency will conduct workshops at least once a year under the leadership of the respective Presidency. The use of virtual workshops and videoconferences is encouraged so as to maximize benefits while limiting travel requirements and resources.
Intensified International Cooperation
Work on resource efficiency can benefit from intensified cooperation with international organizations already active in this field. Therefore, we invite the International Resource Panel (IRP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to prepare a synthesis report highlighting the most promising potentials and solutions for resource efficiency in industrialized countries as well as in emerging market economies and developing countries. The synthesis report should build upon the existing work and main findings of the IRP and other relevant international organizations, such as the OECD and UNEP, and take into account relevant international processes such as the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production. The synthesis report should be provided by the second half of 2016. We further invite the OECD to develop policy guidance supplementing the synthesis report.
G-7 Action Plan to Combat Marine Litter
Overarching Principles
The G7 countries
Commit to the improvement of countries’ systems as a key goal of the action plan, to prevent, reduce and remove marine litter, including the below listed priority actions.
Recognize that support through international development assistance and investments are important to combat marine litter and encourage both.
Support development and implementation of national or regional action plans to reduce waste entering inland and coastal waters and ultimately becoming marine litter, as well as to remove existing waste.
Share best practices, especially with developing countries, and encourage a similar call to action in other international fora.
Recognize that, where available, the use of existing platforms and tools for cooperation will reduce duplication and take advantage of progress made (e.g. the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA), the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans) and therefore support their use.
Promote individual and corporate behaviour change through public awareness and education to address marine litter.
Recognize that prevention is key to long-term success in addressing and combating marine litter and that industries and consumers have an important role to play in reducing waste.
Recognize that the need for removal actions is important, due to the vast amounts of litter already in the marine environment.
Support the use of a broad range of policy toolkits and available instruments, including economic incentives, market-based instruments, and public private partnerships to support implementation of actions to effectively combat marine litter.
Priority Actions to Address Land-Based Sources
Improving countries’ systems for waste management, reducing waste generation, and encouraging reuse and recycling;
Incorporating waste management activities into international development assistance and investments and supporting the implementation of pilot projects where appropriate;
Investigating sustainable and cost-effective solutions to reduce and prevent sewage and storm water related waste, including micro plastics entering the marine environment;
Promoting relevant instruments and incentives to reduce the use of disposable single-use and other items, which impact the marine environment;
Encouraging industry to develop sustainable packaging and remove ingredients from products to gain environmental benefits, such as by a voluntary phase-out of microbeads;
Promoting best practices along the whole plastics manufacturing, and value chain from production to transport, e.g. aiming for zero pellet loss;
Priority Removal Actions
Identifying accumulation areas of marine litter and establishing an exchange platform on experiences in marine litter removal on beaches, riverbanks, seafloor, the water column and sea surface areas, ports and inland waterways;
Supporting the removal of litter where it poses a threat to sensitive marine ecosystems, in an environmentally sound way, taking into account the socioeconomic aspects including cost effectiveness, thereby using best available techniques (BAT) and best Environmental practice (BEP) and engaging partners where possible;
Assessing and analyzing removal data to support and target outreach efforts, potential policy options, and other means of preventing litter;
Priority Actions to Address Sea-based Sources
Working to maximize the amount of waste delivered to port reception facilities and disposed of properly in accordance with Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
Identifying the options to address key waste items from the fishing industry and aquaculture which could contribute to marine litter, and implement pilot projects where appropriate (including deposit schemes, voluntary agreements and end-of-life recovery) and take into account the expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ;
Priority Action on Education, Research and Outreach
Promoting outreach and education activities leading to individual behavior change that can reduce the amount of litter entering the environment, internal waters and the seas;
Supporting the initiation of a harmonized global marine litter monitoring effort and the standardization of methods, data and evaluation;
Supporting the effort of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other organizations to help understand the sources, pathways and impacts of marine litter; and
Supporting and calling for additional research initiatives to address marine litter.
Broader Food Security and Nutrition Development Approach
We remain strongly committed to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition. We therefore support the ongoing efforts towards an ambitious Post-2015 Development Agenda and envisage placing our engagement on food security and nutrition within the framework. As part of a broad effort involving our partner countries, and international actors, and as a significant contribution to the post 2015 development agenda, we aim to lift 500 million people in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030.
As outlined below, the G7’s broad approach is designed to help reduce hunger and malnutrition. We will pursue a broad scope of interventions, including greater focus on increasing development effectiveness and improving impact, and mobilizing resources.
Our broad approach builds on our long-term G7 efforts for food security and nutrition, including the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, the Land Partnerships and the Global Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Compact. We will build on our existing partnerships with developing countries, and we commit to supporting and aligning our activities with their development policies and strategies. We note with appreciation the commitments made by partner countries in the context of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.
Broad Scope of Interventions:
We will continue and build upon our existing wide range of interventions for food security and nutrition and will pay particular attention to the following areas:
Towards a dynamic transformation of the rural world
Hunger and malnutrition are currently most prevalent in rural areas. We aim to follow an integrated multi-sectoral approach to support rural areas in developing their potential, with a particular focus on the rural poor, smallholder and family farmers. However, more than half of the global population already live in urban areas. The rural world is already changing, through rapid demographic and spatial shifts. We will work together and share experience and ideas to deepen our understanding of how we can best support these ongoing processes to maximize the positives, minimize the negatives, and leave no one behind.
Recognizing the essential role of women and youth, we aim to make them central to this broad approach, particularly by empowering them within agriculture and food systems and by supporting their active participation in agricultural and food value chains. This will unlock their entrepreneurial potential to help increase family incomes, decrease poverty and improve food security and nutrition.
We will promote agricultural and food value chain approaches that link smallholder farmers with business, attract investment, and generate much-needed non-farm employment and income.
Responsible investment and sustainable agriculture
Our efforts should help mobilize private capital and increase its development benefit. We thus reaffirm our support for the consistent implementation of and strive to alignment of our own ODA-supported investments with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems. We furthermore strive to promote the conformance of private investments under the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition with these Guidelines and Principles.
The responsible governance of tenure of land is crucial for socially equitable agricultural development and for attracting investment. We will therefore continue our support of partner countries in their implementation of the VGGT, continue with the existing G7 Land Partnerships and seek to add new ones where appropriate.
We are concerned about the increasing pressure on natural resources and clearly recognize the need to conserve and sustainably use the world’s ecosystems. We agree to make sustainable intensification of agricultural production an important component of our food security efforts in support of partner countries. We agree to increase our efforts to ensure that research and development, new and sustainable technologies, and other innovations and practices are more accessible and available to the rural poor.
We are concerned about the negative effects of climate change and other underlying disaster-risk drivers on food security and nutrition, and we therefore commit to furthering means of sustainably increasing agricultural production and productivity and incomes while adapting and building resilience to climate change and mitigating greenhouse gases. We commit to promoting best practices for adaptation to climate change and take note of new initiatives, e.g. the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture.
Nutrition
We commit to following an integrated multi-sectoral approach to improving food security and nutrition, in an effort to achieve the internationally agreed World Health Assembly Global Targets to improve maternal, infant and young child nutrition. We welcome the N4G Compact, and recognize the need to scale up further nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions.
We will pursue nutrition-specific interventions that have proven to be effective in addressing undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. We will also strengthen our nutrition-sensitive interventions in key sectors such as agriculture, social protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, health, education, and improving food systems. We support the diversified production of food to increase balanced diets for better nutrition.
We affirm a life-long approach with a focus on the nutrition of women of reproductive age, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under five, with particular attention to the first 1000 days from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday.
We support the Rome Declaration on Nutrition and the Framework for Action adopted at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), and welcome the continued efforts of the multi-stakeholder SUN Movement and its partner countries in fighting undernutrition. Regarding the N4G Compact, we look forward to reconvening in 2016 under Brazil’s leadership to monitor progress and assess the need for additional actions to reach the Compact’s goals.
Food security and nutrition in conflicts and crises
We remain committed to addressing the food security and nutrition needs of populations affected by natural disasters, economic crises and societal, political and violent conflicts.
We aim to better connect short-, medium- and long-term support, embedded within a comprehensive development strategy, in order to strengthen resilience. Enhancing transition between relief and development is key to increasing effectiveness and sustainability. Our objective is to strengthen the absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities of individuals, communities and countries in order to enhance their ability to cope with acute shocks or chronic stresses.
Comprehensive joint risk analysis will form the basis for our interventions wherever possible, allowing us to better understand and address root causes of food insecurity.
We will strive for more of our interventions to be designed to enhance resilience, particularly in countries prone to recurrent or protracted food crises.
Increasing Development Effectiveness, Improving Impact
We reaffirm our commitment to fully implement the Busan principles to increase development effectiveness. We particularly recommit to supporting and aligning our activities with the existing strategies, approaches and plans of our partner countries, such as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). We also reiterate our commitment to support multi-stakeholder partnerships – both at the international level and within partner countries.
We support the CFS as the most inclusive platform for policy debates and coordination, and seek to engage with the CFS, other UN and international bodies and existing initiatives on improving concerted international efforts for food security and nutrition.
To ensure transparency, we will monitor and report on progress, as is consistent with G7 accountability practices. We will quantify our commitments in line with the outcomes of the Post-2015 Development Agenda process as appropriate, and monitor our progress through an accountability mechanism, building on previous G7 exercises. We will work to improve country level accountability processes.
We will improve the data input for monitoring our goal regarding food security and in particular nutrition by working closely with the UN bodies, the Global Nutrition Report and the SUN Movement.
Mobilizing Resources
We rely on our developing country partners to effectively use domestic resources for food security and nutrition. We call on the private sector to contribute with responsible investments, and we encourage the active involvement of civil society. We support the increased use of sustainable and innovative financing, in line with the Financing for Development process.
We recognize the fact that we, as the G7, have increased our ODA to agriculture, rural development, and food security and nutrition since our pledge in L’Aquila in 2009, and we acknowledge the role of ODA in leveraging other resources, including private investment. We today commit to working with our partners to mobilize the resources necessary to aim to lift 500 million people in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030.
We recognize the important role of the FAO, the WHO, IFAD, the WFP and UNICEF, as well as financing through the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), financial mechanisms, notably the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), and civil society implementing partners. We recognize the commitments made as part of the N4G Compact and seek to unlock the matched funding available