Sustainable Dev.

By Eberhard Rhein While the Government is busy rewriting legislation on the promotion of renewable energies a High-level Group of Scientists appointed by the German Parliament has come out with a radical proposal to abolish the legislation altogether: a complete suspension of the system. But it is unlikely that the government will have the courage to abolish one of its most cherished policies.

The move from linear business models to circular ones is an exciting development. More and more companies are rejecting the “business as usual” model by maximizing the value extracted from resources and reusing them to generate new products as well as by improving efficiency which enable cost savings in raw materials, labour, energy, water, waste and emissions.

Articles on the circular economy are being more widely discussed in business groups. As a result, new policies are being integrated into company strategies and promoted as benchmarking tools.

I was recently invited to an industrial plant operated by the carpet tile manufactures, Interface, in Scherpenzeel, The Netherlands, where I joined in discussion with industry leaders, government employees and stakeholders from financial markets and other organizations. At the top of the agenda was the question of whether Europe’s industries can transform into “circular” businesses. Could the US-owned Interface be used as a prototype for a new industrial model in manufacturing sector in Europe?

In my interview with Rob Boogaard, Acting CEO & President EMEA, he explained how important it has been to provide economic, social and environmental goals within the company. As a listed company standing up for long-term sustainable development Boogaard says that Interface “has many eyes” on it. “[But] using the Natural Step system conditions, we have gradually increased our ambitions.”

As of January 2014, Interface has been operating on 100 percent renewable energy (both electricity and gas) and using 100 % re-circulated water in its manufacturing processes in Scherpenzeel. It has also managed to send zero waste to landfill. These are impressive achievements for the facility and a significant step towards “Mission Zero”, the company’s pledge to eliminate any negative impact on the environment by 2020 and, in doing so, become a restorative enterprise.

This mission is the result of the vision and strong leadership of Interface’s late founder Ray Anderson. The principle was established in 1996 and, by 2013, the company’s European manufacturing plants located in Sherpenzeel, the Netherlands and in Craigavon, Ireland  had reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent and their water consumption by 87 percent. In this context, the political objective of a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across Europe by 2030 does not seem particularly ambitious. It sounds more like a new, achievable definition of “business as usual”.

To aim beyond the status quo, company managers must raise their expectations and take on more ambitious goals. In Scherpenzeel I also spoke with CEO of Lavery Pennell, Greg Lavery, who has undertaken the challenge of developing a new industrial model for Europe. In a new report he presented at the meeting, Lavery demonstrated how European industry can increase its profits by 9 percent and create 170,000 new jobs through energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy. All of this can be achieved while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1,200 metric tons (or 14.6 per cent of Europe’s total).

With experience from my own values-based consultancy Respect, which uses the principles of both the Natural Step system conditions and circular economies, I have seen how important it is to use companies like Interface as an example of best practice. The organization’s process of change provides a business model that can apply in all market-driven companies, whether listed or not. Circular models can become standard practice and, in doing so, use efficiency in the name of both profits and environmental sustainability.

@KajEmbren

 

Europa ha sido protagonista de las dos primeras revoluciones industriales de la historia. En el continente y las islas británicas se desarrollaron en los dos siglos pasados los procesos tecnológicos y productivos que han cambiado la vida en la Tierra. La era digital, sin embargo, la que nos ha conducido a la globalización mundial, nos vino dada en el final del siglo XX desde América bajo predominio económico de los Estados Unidos. La nueva forma de gestión del conocimiento y la implantación de una sociedad de la información ya no podemos decir que haya sido fruto del progreso europeo. Ahora que los grandes gurús consideran que Internet ya nos ha llevado al límite de donde nos podía llevar, se plantean los nuevos retos del tercer milenio y con ellos los escenarios que concebirán los avances de la Humanidad. Y si acudimos al razonamiento lógico, correspondería al continente que da vida al 60% de la población del planeta, es decir a Asia, liderar los nuevos tiempos de desarrollo. Lo cual no debe ser obstáculo para que Europa sea capaz de aportar su valor añadido al proceso. Es más, está obligada a hacerlo si no quiere ver empobrecido su paisaje productivo, ser dependiente tecnológicamente y a la postre poner en riesgo definitivo el sistema de libertades que nos hemos dado.

Cabe preguntarse y debatir, por tanto, sobre cuáles son las revoluciones pendientes que debemos acometer. Cuáles son las nuevas tecnologías que nos harán avanzar hacia una nueva era de la civilización y cuáles los pasos a dar para que su implantación nos ayude a mejorar la calidad de vida de nuestra sociedad. En Europa esa reflexión resulta fácil empezando por su principal carencia y dependencia. El continente que parió la industrialización y que es hoy la mayor potencia comercial del mundo, tiene un desbalance energético gravísimo, lo que le convierte en un gigante con pies de barro. Una crisis de seguridad en el Golfo Pérsico o en el Magreb, o el endurecimiento de las condiciones de abastecimiento del gas ruso, puede colapsar las principales economías de la zona euro y poner en peligro la estabilidad de empresas y de las propias necesidades básicas de nuestros ciudadanos. Un tema crítico al que Europa no ha sido capaz de dar una respuesta común armonizando políticas energéticas nacionales y gestionando conjuntamente un problema que a la larga es de todos los europeos. Nos hemos acomodado confortablemente en el desarrollo de las energías renovables, pese a que relación de su precio y el retorno a la red de las mismas sea claramente insuficiente.

Europa precisa de todas las fuentes de energía de las que podamos disponer, es absurdo encarecer nuestra factura energética o nuestras dependencias de importaciones de combustibles sin caer en la cuenta de que esos costes nos hacen menos competitivos, nos endeudan y ponen en peligro el mantenimiento de nuestro Estado del Bienestar. Trabajar por la producción de energías limpias y seguras no significa en modo alguno prescindir de fuentes que precisamos. ¿Podemos seguir anclados en argumentos de la década de los 70 para prohibir la energía nuclear en nuestros países? ¿o podemos permitirnos el lujo de excluir sin prueba o debate alguno científico las extracciones de gas pizarra? Rotundamente no. Europa necesita aprovechar todos y cada uno de los recursos energéticos a su alcance sin desestimar una sola posibilidad. Y debe desnacionalizar sus fuentes para ponerlos en común. Si tenemos una moneda común, debemos tener una capacidad energética común, algo que nos lleva a los propios orígenes de nuestro proyecto europeo que no fue otro que una comunidad del carbón y del acero, es decir, la garantía de abastecimiento interno de materias energéticas básicas.

Pero junto a la tarea de no despilfarrar y gestionar comunitariamente nuestras fuentes de energía, está el reto superior de la investigación en alternativas a los combustibles fósiles. Europa ha hecho un alto esfuerzo inversor en proyectos comunes de esta naturaleza. EURATOM o el CERN son ejemplos claros de una apuesta decidida por dar pasos definitivos en la revolución energética. Resulta difícil saber el estadio en que nos encontramos en el camino al éxito cuando ni nuestros científicos saben valorar sus descubrimientos, pero no tenemos más remedio que incrementar las aportaciones a estos campos investigadores en la certeza que tarde o temprano darán sus frutos. En el estudio del comportamiento de los elementos del átomo y las partículas es seguro que encontraremos las soluciones que requerimos para hacer el Planeta sostenible y frenando el impacto medioambiental negativo que hoy producen los combustibles que empleamos. La ecuación a resolver por nuestros físicos está en el ahorro de resistencias para frenar las necesidades de combustión. Un mundo global donde todos sus ciudadanos tienen derecho a una vida digna y confortable precisa alternativas al modelo energético actual.

Pero esa revolución energética va íntimamente ligada a la revolución del talento, es decir, a la liberación de todas las capacidades del hombre en su ecuación de tiempo y espacio. El brutal incremento de las posibilidades de comunicación e información que Internet nos ha brindado está transformando profundamente la gestión del conocimiento. Pero, sin embargo, está pendiente derivar dicha potencialidad a la generación de talento. Tenemos muchos más medios pero no estamos aprovechando las herramientas para extender nuestro recurso más sagrado, la creatividad de las personas. La incorporación acelerada de la población de los países emergentes a herramientas del saber y la movilidad que de las ideas podemos hacer hoy, debería suponer la mejor oportunidad de la historia para producir exponencialmente arte y ciencia, o lo que es lo mismo, para desarrollar al máximo las potencialidades de individuos y sociedades. Si estamos a obligados a realizar una gestión más eficiente y respetuosa con las generaciones venideras de los recursos naturales, o estamos más aún en ser mucho más productivos en la adecuada extracción del talento de las personas.

El caso es que las revoluciones para producirse siempre han contado con tres elementos básicos que prenden la mecha del cambio abrupto. Lo primero la incorporación a los procesos de una tecnología altamente novedosa y transformadora. Algo que puede que una vez más estemos cercanos a alcanzar en los próximas dos décadas según nos cuentan los científicos de vanguardia. En segundo lugar, al filósofo que observador de la realidad se encarga de describir el paradigma de futuro bajo una idea innovadora. Eso, hoy por hoy, no abunda o por lo menos no está en el top de visitas de un blog o en la lista de best sellers de un mundo que no lee y solo entiende las cosas en clave audiovisual. Y tercero, un liderazgo político inspirado en la base ideológica engendrada por el susodicho pensador, que se pone al frente de los movimientos generados por los cambios sociales que provocan las nuevas tecnologías y ejecuta las reformas necesarias del de convivencia. De este último ingrediente es del que andamos más carentes ahora mismo. En Europa tenemos algún científico insigne, escasean los filósofos y carecemos de líderes. Probablemente esto es así porque el problema de origen que debemos resolver es el del inmediatismo que rige nuestros actos. Nos comportamos mecánicamente sin darnos tiempo para pensar las cosas, el imperativo ya no es ser, sino estar para hacer por hacer. Pero no me veo a Merkel o a Rajoy enfrascados en tan estériles reflexiones como las que a mi me ocupan, tienen altas cuestiones de Estado en las que atarearse como la enésima discusión sobre los mecanismos de garantía de depósitos de los bancos europeos. Ya se sabe primum vivire y que siempre vivan mejor los mismos.

Guest contribution by Molly Walsh, climate and energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe. A public consultation on state support for renewable energies closes today. The proposed guidelines Commissioner Almunia’s DG Competition are consulting on  have caused consternation in the renewable sector and particularly among citizens and communities involved in running smaller renewables projects. [...]

At the end of this month, the European Commission will present its winter economic forecasts. We could expect that they will continue with its cautiously optimistic tone from the last autumn: “Eurozone is slowly stabilising, economic recovery is on the way, all we need is to continue the “sound economic and fiscal policies” and “necessary [...]

The Risk-Monger understands that IKEA is considered one of those sweet, well-loved retail chains that most consumers want to believe does good things. Unfortunately, if IKEA were to be looked at beyond their Allen key PR, their sustainability record would be rather sour. Why don't we look?

By Nazimi Açıkgöz It is expected that, world will need 50%-70% more food by 2050. The main reasons are global warming, increasing population and much more daily calories due to raising welfare. The question “how will we make up the gap?” is not answered easily. Will yield increase per unit area be a solution? Don’t we need to increase or decrease cultivation area some of basic crops? Here, agriculture strategists are obliged to know the expectation, which products at what quantity or in which ratio will be consumed in future.

Guest blog post de Arnaud Gavard, chargé de campagne chez “merci la mode” pour une mode sans fourrure et responsable de la collecte “ethicScience”. Cette semaine, les acteurs de la filière fourrure sont attendus au Parlement Européen pour exposer leurs arguments. Une communication séduisante et inventive qui ne suffit pas à cacher la vérité. Les arguments en [...]

Boeing researchers have identified green diesel as a potential aviation biofuel of high sustainability, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by at least half over its lifecycle. Boeing said last week that it is working to gain approval from government agencies for aircraft use of renewable green diesel, which is already used in ground transport.

Green diesel — chemically distinct from biodiesel — is made from fats and oils, and Boeing’s researchers have found it to have a chemical profile similar to today’s sustainable aviation biofuels, meaning it could be blended directly with conventional jet fuel. Moreover, U.S. and European industry has existing capacity to provide 600 million gallons per year, accounting for up to 1 percent of current global aviation fuel needs at a price — $3 per gallon, given government incentives — competitive with conventional fuel.

“Green diesel approval would be a major breakthrough in the availability of competitively priced, sustainable aviation fuel,” says James Kinder, a Technical Fellow in Boeing Commercial Airplanes Propulsion Systems Division. “We are collaborating with our industry partners and the aviation community to move this innovative solution forward and reduce the industry’s reliance on fossil fuel.”

The green diesel initiative is part of Boeing’s long-term commitment to sustainable growth in aviation, following its Optimal Flights programme and ecoDemonstrator aircraft. Boeing is also part of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, an alliance of aviation industry participants seeking to develop sustainable biofuels that avoid adverse local land-use and environmental effects while lowering CO2 emissions overall.

“Boeing wants to establish new pathways for sustainable jet fuel, and this green diesel initiative is a groundbreaking step in that long journey,” adds Boeing executive Julie Felgar, managing director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Environmental Strategy and Integration. “To support our customers, industry and communities, Boeing will continue to look for opportunities to reduce aviation’s environmental footprint.”

By Nick Molho for WWF This week’s announcements on fracking, including David Cameron’s pledge to “go all out on shale gas”, triggered yet another shale gas frenzy in the UK media. Regardless of one’s views on fracking, the shale gas hype should not distract the UK away from its decarbonisation goals.

In 2013 weather conditions in Europe have been marked by high instability and unpredictability.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish the seasons.

In March winter weather prevailed, in December spring time. The rain distribution has become very uneven, with heavy rains causing massive inundations, especially in Northwestern Europe.

Strong and frequent winds have become a familiar component of European weather, making wind power generation an increasingly reliable and attractive renewable power source.

The weather vicissitudes have caused unusually high insurance damage, mostly from inundations and storms.

They are also hurting winter sport activities. Hardly any winter resort below 2000 m can survive without artificial snow, particularly visible in preparation of the Olympic Games in Sotchi where snow had to be collected and stored over months to be available in February 2014.

Climate change is thus becoming a cost factor of rising importance. If it continues like this many resorts will have to painfully adapt to “green winters” in the coming 30 years.

Compared to milder and stormier winters summer heat spells have not been a prominent aspect of climate. If this trend continues expenditures for heating will fall, especially if helped by more effective insulation.

Thanks to its geographic position surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea tiny Europe seems far less threatened by the arrival of severe climate change than other continents, especially Asia and North America. The waters around, combined with the heat provided in winter by the Gulf Stream, shield Europe against excessive changes.

At the same time, its geographic diversity offers plenty of wind, solar and marine energy to supply a rising chunk of Europe’s energy needs from non-fossil sources. Its scientific prowess should enable it to develop additional technologies for mitigating climate change globally.

All these factors combined place Europe in a privileged position for the forthcoming negotiations on a global climate compact in 2014-15. China, India, many parts of Africa and the USA need such an agreement far more than Europe.

We should keep this in mind, without forgetting our responsibility to fight against climate change. After all, we are a rich continent with huge financial and technological means. Moreover, we should always keep in mind the rising risk of being overwhelmed one day by millions of climate refugees having lost their livelihood in their home countries! If that were to happen it is likely to be the end of European civilisation.

Eberhard Rhein, Brussels, 8/1/2014

Dear friends,

The new year marks new challenges and opportunities. In 2014 we will see two tests of two major political systems – the Swedish general election and the EU’s parliamentary election. Are politicians ready to face the challenges of the welfare state, climate change and other global issues?

Let me propose one of the means by which politicians, businesses and their stakeholders can be brought to the table – pension funds. Our pension funds need a new roadmap. If they are restructured responsibly, Sweden can create a new model that encourages more serious discussion about what we do with future investments.

How much CO2 is emitted by companies that Swedish citizens are inadvertent shareholders in by virtue of such public investments? Pension funds are some of the biggest actors in the country’s financial sector, so why aren’t they supporting the development of clean energy, especially in fields like bioenergy where Sweden is a global leader?

Now is the time for Swedish politicians to lead from the front.

Read my full article on how pension funds can overhaul the direction of energy markets – http://bit.ly/19rPQhp

For my Swedish network I also recommend the debate featured in the Daily Newspaper Dagens Industri - http://bit.ly/1gcEkbs – written by CEO of EON Sweden Jonas Abrahamsson, Professor at Karolinska Institutet’s Center for Social Sustainability Stefan Einhorn, TCO President Eva Nordmark, President of Global Utmaning Kristina Persson, Publicist Mats Svegfors, Archbishop of the Swedish Church Anders Wejryd, and President of the Club of Rome Anders Wijkman.

More links that could be interesting for you

English: The Guardian - Reuters - The Atlantic cities

Swedish: Swedish Radio - Sydsvenskan

Best wishes for 2014!

Kaj

Follow me on Twitter – @KajEmbren -  https://twitter.com/KajEmbren – to receive updates on issues related to sustainable development and the challenges facing the welfare state.

As issue managers in chemical companies lurch from one policy catastrophe to another, seeing public trust disintegrate and policies work against them, now is the time to do some basic thinking. What is needed are more philosophers and fewer lawyers

Does an environmental policy at the European level have a chance? Most EU states want to keep it a national competency, although the economic crisis pushes them to do frequent cost-benefit analyses. In a time when every job counts, governments are not comfortable in taking measures that lead to layoffs in industries, regardless of pollution. [...]

As urban consumers our use of resources leaves a huge footprint on the planet. In Europe alone, 8 billion plastic bags find their way through to waste disposal systems, creating unnecessary environmental problems.

The OECD expects that its member countries will generate 45 percent more waste than it did in 1995. A new EU directive in 2013places greater demands on European nations to cope with the increasing amount of garbage and the systems needed to take process it.

Studies show that a more effective system and smarter regulations can save financial resources and create new jobs. The research suggests savings in the region of € 72 billion and the creation of 400,000 new jobs in recycling industries.

But of course there is plenty of ways that both consumers and producers can take greater responsibility today. As consumers we can make more conscious choices at the store or when shopping online. Similarly, producers can make it easier for us, by offering appealing, well-designed products that are recyclable and resource-efficient.

There are also a number of pioneering technological advances in this field. A few weeks ago, I spoke with Jonas Törnblom of Envac, a company that develops systems for waste disposal and separation in residential areas.

He told me about the company’s new optical sorting technology now being launched in several Swedish cities including Stockholm and Eskilstuna, as well as the Norwegian capital, Oslo. Using camera technology, this fully automated system is able to separate waste on the basis of the color bag that it is contained in.

This new tool can contribute to more efficient garbage disposal in many sustainable urban development projects. Let’s hope that the EU directive instigates more examples of innovation in waste collection and management.

Kaj Embrén