SMEs to become more environmentally conscious, increased use of eco-products in the region, creation of policies by member economies to promote eco-products and green technologies.

The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) was established on 11 May 1961 as a regional intergovernmental organization, to contribute to the sustainable socioeconomic development of Asia and the Pacific through enhancing productivity.

APO is nonpolitical, nonprofit, and nondiscriminatory, with a vision to be the leading international organization on productivity enhancement, enabling APO economies to be more productive and competitive by 2020.

For promoting Green Productivity (GP), the APO will work with member countries to promote green technologies and create demand for green products and services. In addition, special effort will be directed to promoting sustainable practices in the agriculture sector.

GP is a strategy for enhancing productivity and environmental performance for sustainable socioeconomic development. GP projects follow a twin approach of capacity building and the development of trainers so that APO members and other stakeholder institutions can institutionalize GP promotion.

Some areas covered under this program are greening supply chains, under which two flagship projects, the Eco-products International Fair and Development of the Eco-products Database, are conducted with the cooperation of the GP Advisory Committee comprising representatives of leading Japanese corporations with years of experience in environmental issues; greening supply chains; energy efficiency; and environmental management.

Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo, Japan