UNEP Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production activities include:

Providing and exchanging information

• Publications: UNEP addresses a wide audience through technical manuals, e.g., various Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Industry Sector Guides, and more general awareness raising publications, e.g., 'the Cleaner Production Companion'. UNEP has already published Status Reports on Cleaner Production for almost all the regions of the world, and developed a series of publications on Cleaner Production Financing.

Capacity enhancement and technical assistance

• National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs): UNEP and UNIDO have joined forces to help introduce Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production in developing countries and countries in transition. The UNIDO/UNEP Programme of establishing National Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Centres is a unique programme of capacity development to help achieve adoption and further development of the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production concept at the national level.
  
  
• Promoting Resource Efficiency in SMEs (PRE-SME). UNEP in collaboration with UNIDO has developed a user-friendly electronic toolkit accompanied by a hard-copy manual that provides SMEs' CEOs, operational managers and RECP service providers, with comprehensive learning on resource efficiency.
  
  
• Financing Cleaner Production: In 1999, UNEP coordinated a four-year project aiming at increasing investments in Cleaner Production in developing countries. The project demonstrated how such investments can be stimulated by helping financial institutions understand the importance of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production and helping Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production experts develop creditworthy investment proposals.

  The project's Web Site offers trainings and tools to enhance skills and knowledge in the area of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production, as well as information on the challenges and opportunities facing the main actors in Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production finance.

Promotion of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production strategy

• Partnering with other organisations: Since its inception in 1989, UNEP has played a catalytic role in establishing an informal international network of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production promoters and practitioners. The network encompasses representatives from governments, multilateral organisations, industrial stakeholders, development banks, academia and other non-governmental organisations. The network members have developed and are involved in initiatives, as diverse as conducting plant-level assessments, building general awareness among key decision-makers and industry in general, training Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production experts, industry representatives and government officials, and developing and implementing Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production fostering policies.
  
  
• International Declaration Cleaner Production (IDCP): The Declaration is a voluntary and public statement of commitment to the practice of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production. The Declaration outlines a set of principles, which when implemented will lead to increased awareness, understanding and ultimately, greater demand for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production. It was formulated in consultation with diverse interest groups, and designed to be a tool for all promoters of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production to spread an understanding of the strategy and attract new advocates from government, business and other sectors.

UNEP is continuously working to increase the worldwide consensus on a Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production 'vision' and to support the growing network of organisations dedicated to promoting Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production activities.