Are the UN programmes of national cleaner production centres necessary for introducing cleaner production practices in industry?

The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) have sponsored programmes on national cleaner production centres (NCPCs) since 1993, to assist emerging and transitional economies to reorganise their production activities on an environmentally sound footing based on the generation and/or transfer of environmentally sensitive technologies. This article analyses whether the initiatives in the first phase of the NCPCs' experiment prove they are necessary in facilitating activities through: concept development to assist CP practices; methodology and techniques for assessments; information provision; training; and helping policy analysis to develop CP practice further. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.