Until the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, or Harmonized System (HS) is revised in 2022, all HS codes for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are contained in a single HS code which does not allow differentiation of the individual chemicals or of mixtures/blends. This document outlines a proactive interim approach, recommended by the World Customs Organization (WCO), to establish additional digits in the existing national HS codes to identify specific HFCs to facilitate monitoring of trade and enable a licencing system to function effectively.

In line with the partnership between UN Environment and the IPU, this issue brief aims to provide parliamentarians with a basic understanding of the green economy and of the policies required to transition toward it.

SDG 16, with its emphasis on realizing peaceful, inclusive and just societies, provides the foundations for achieving all other SDGs. No resource or tool is more powerful in making progress, economically, environmentally and socially, than a sum of persons empowered to fulfill their potentials in a safe and secure environment, where rule of law prevails.

By focusing on the extent to which the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been addressed in the voluntary national reviews (VNRs) submitted by countries to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in 2016 and 2017, the policy brief uses a set methodology to review all the voluntary national reviews submitted by 64 countries in 2016 and 2017. Though early in the timeline, the two cycles of reviews indicate the growing interest of member states to focus on actions related to environmental dimension of achieving the SDGs. The brief also provides an overall assessment of the VNRs as a review mechanism and suggests recommendations to strengthen the reporting of the environmental dimension moving forward.