Activities and Expected Results of SWITCH Asia II Grant Program

Projects will work closely with the SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component in order to maximize policy impact and sustainability. They will have to actively disseminate their results and facilitate exchange of good practices, and to cooperate with the SWITCH-Asia Network Facility on documenting the results of the overall program. The projects should envisage development and actual application of replication mechanisms (e.g. voluntary agreements, product and service standards, public-private partnerships, sustainable supply chain management, reinforcement of SCP service providers, and engagement of financial institutions) for effective outreach towards a large number of SMEs and/or consumer groups.

Activities should focus to address one or several of the following programs

Consumer information
Sustainable lifestyles
Sustainable public procurement
Sustainable buildings
Sustainable tourism and food production
Distribution
Waste disposal

In their proposals, depending on the degree of relevance, applicants should include (and subsequently monitor) one or more of the following indicators established at the program level

Number of SMEs applying Sustainable Consumption and Production practices with EU support;
Proportion of consumers showing preference for greener consumption (based on national surveys where available)
Number of governments applying i) green public procurement policies; ii) life-cycle approach policies implemented (from design, packaging, retail, maintenance, end-of-life)
Level of GHG-emissions;
Level of energy consumption
Percentage of renewable energy consumed
Number of voluntary agreements established, e.g. industrial codes of conduct, product eco-labels at country level, etc.

Ineligible Actions

Actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses.
Actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses.

Expected Results of the Program

Adoption of sustainable production and consumption practices, particularly among MSMEs

Increased use of environmentally-friendly technologies and practices by SMEs
Increased development/diversification/production and consumption of “green” products
Improved overall resource efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Move SCP practices from demonstration to replication, including:

Improved capacity of business intermediaries
Increased partnerships between SMEs and organizations with SCP “pull” potential (such as financial institutions or SMEs business partners)
Increased capacity of SMEs as regards “green” finance issues and the preparation of credible “green” business proposals
Increased relative share of environmentally-friendly products and technologies in the EU-Asia and intra-Asia trade.