Public Sector Leadership for Sustainable Environment Directives

Of interest is the applicability of environmental sustainability issues, within the leadership domain of influence and decision-making in the general public sector. It revolves around the general manager and mid-level management in ministries. The two levels of management often have different objectives, length and depth of action. This presentation explores the possible actions that leaders, not just managers, can take towards implementing environmentally sensitive issues. Given that sustainability is a relatively new concept, there are still a lot of deficiencies in this regard, and ample room for actions to be taken. This is certainly not an environmental engineering work. It presents however examples that may establish some needed incentives to be used by such a leadership, in a monetary frame of valuation by establishing the gains over the course of actions, but without rewriting an environmental report. Given the limitations of the governmental decision making process, it explores ways of circumventing relevant obstacles, avoiding the "red tape" terminal hurdle. It bases its observations and assumptions on Cyprus legislation and public sector regulations, where as part of European Union have been dramatically altered in the last nine years since 2003. Although this small EU nation is not representative of the rest of the Union, nor its magnitude of scale in expenditures is anywhere near the larger EU members, it does abide with the same EU directives. In many cases, the decisions of the EU administrators equally affect all member states. Two such directives are considered as examples on energy-using products, and energy performance of buildings. The paper suggests specific lines of actions that within the aforesaid legal frame can implement sustainable environment directives for smaller countries. Rather than criticism that usually attacks public sector leadership as an easy target, it aims to be a tool and a reference in their hands.