The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is to produce the first ratings of how fund managers investing in emerging markets are integrating environmental, social and governance factors into decision making.The private-sector arm of the World Bank has commissioned consultancy firm Mercer to carry out the research, which involves interviewing 50 fund managers based in China, India, Brazil and South Korea, as well as surveying more than 200 fund managers around the world who invest in emerging markets.Helga Birdgen, responsible investment leader at Mercer, said: “The in-depth nature of this research will really bring colour to the picture of what is happening in these markets and uncover the capacity for sustainable investment.” See full...
The world risks wiping out a new generation of antibiotics and cures for diseases if it fails to reverse the extinction of thousands of plant and animal species, experts warned Wednesday.Biodiversity loss has reached alarming levels, and disappearing with it are the secrets to finding treatments for pain, infections and a wide array of ailments such as cancer, they said, citing the findings of a coming book.Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said more than 16,000 known species are threatened with extinction, but the number could be more."We must do something about what is happening to biodiversity," he said at a news conference on the sidelines of the UN-backed Business for the Environment conference.See full...
US-produced biofuels could in effect be shut out of Europe under plans being discussed in Brussels.Anxious to distance itself from charges that its push for biofuels is creating hunger round the world, the European Union is considering stringent social and environmental criteria for imports that the US and some other big biofuel producers would not meet.The sustainability criteria under discussion would in effect bypass World Trade Organisation rules forbidding biofuel bans. By excluding those products not meeting the criteria from its biofuels target of a 10 per cent contribution to the fuel mix by 2010, the EU would deprive those products of government support, removing incentives to import them.See full Article (paid subscription...
An ambitious cross-subsidy scheme has given rise to a new industryQ-CELLS, based in Wolfen, just north of Leipzig, is the world's biggest maker of the photovoltaic cells used in solar panels. It overtook Sharp of Japan last year and announced big jumps in sales (up 59%) and profits (up 69%) on March 27th. Germany, which is not known for being sunny, seems an unusual place to find this industry leader. But the country leads the world in its installed capacity of renewable energy sources (see chart), and is the third-biggest producer of solar panels, after China and Japan.The environment ministry's latest report on the state of the industry, released on March 12th, shows how quickly it is growing. Renewables now account for 6.7% of energy consumption, up from 5.5% in 2006 and 3.5% in 2003....
Sustainability relates to a company’s ongoing ability to protect and grow shareholder value through positively managing its impacts on, and relationship with, diverse stakeholder constituencies. This means integrating economic, social and environmental concerns and opportunities within decision-making and applying them to help deliver business goals.See full...
Since 2003, the Ernst & Young Renewable Energy Group has been releasing quarterly data that ranks national renewables energy markets, infrastructures, and biofuels, and their suitability for individual technologies.Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices Q4 2007To find out more about the growth in the renewable energy market, download the latest Ernst & Young Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices (pdf, 1mb), which tracks and scores investment in renewable energy. Indices covered in this edition include: All Renewables, Long-Term Wind, and Near-Term Wind. In addition, we offer: * issue focus on the rush to respond to climate change * global highlights from each index * commentary on high-scoring countries * coverage of marine and offshore issues * insights...
Europe is gaining ground on the US as the most attractive destination in the world for investment in renewable energy, according to the latest Ernst & Young Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index — which tracks and scores global investment in renewable energy.The report, launched today, reveals that the EU announcement to mandate the increased use of renewable energy across Europe by 2020 has significantly boosted Europe’s overall attractiveness for investors in the sector — six of the top 10 countries in the index are EU member states.The index, which tracks the top 25 national renewable energy markets, shows that the US lost ground in the fourth quarter of 2007 to its second-place rival, Germany — a consistent performer of late. Germany’s industry has been boosted...
When: June 12-14, 2008Where: Centre International de Conferences Geneve, Geneva, SwitzerlandIn June, Geneva, Switzerland will play host to the 2008 Net Impact Europe Conference as well as EURO 2008. We have the unique opportunity to welcome Mel Young, founder and President of the Homeless World Cup to offer a keynote address providing a link between these two major events. The Homeless World Cup is an impressive example of how football, passion and creative thinking can impact the sustainable prosperity of individuals from over 60 countries. The two-day conference will cover a variety of topics within four main themes that participants will have an opportunity to follow throughout the event. The themes for the 2008 Europe Conference are as follows:See full...
Online calculator assesses products' carbon footprints.A necessary first step toward reducing your product's carbon footprint is to actually know its carbon footprint. Industrial Design Consultancy (IDC) has launched a free online service to help manufacturers assess their products' carbon footprints within minutes. The firm hopes the service may lead manufacturers toward developing greener products in the design stage.Called the LCA Calculator, the service is available at www.lcacalculator.com. The service provides a complete lifecycle assessment of products based on a comprehensive list of questions. Among the issues addressed by the calculator are the materials used; the amount of energy consumed to produce the product; transport methods and distances; manufacturing processes used; and...
People just won't stop travelling, so we should stop berating ourselves over it and look for sensible solutions instead, argues Mallen BakerAs a society, we know pretty well how to sell things to people - not just stuff, but ideas, behaviours, you name it.And all of our learning in this area tells us one thing overall - making people feel guilty generally does not do the business when it comes to promoting behaviour change.See full...
As a society, we know pretty well how to sell things to people - not just stuff, but ideas, behaviours, you name it. And all of our learning in this area tells us one thing overall - making people feel guilty generally does not do the business when it comes to promoting behaviour change.Take flying. Airplanes criss-cross the world filled with lots of people who are sitting there feeling guilty about the fact they are flying. Take all of that guilt and pile it up into a corner - and you don't save a single ounce of carbon.Just to underline the point, the Times ran a piece over a year ago, detailing the known flight paths of the heads of a number of environmental campaigning NGOs. The CEO of WWF had been to Spitsbergen, Borneo, Washington, Geneva and Beijing on business, and taken a holiday...
Australian Government investment funds are putting nearly 50 times more money into the fossil fuel and uranium industries than into renewable energy, a new report has found.Large Government-owned investors, including the Federal Government's Future Fund and state bodies such as the Workcover Authority, are investing in direct conflict with their governments' plans to reduce greenhouse emissions, according to the report, to be released today by the Australian Conservation Foundation.The report came as a Newspoll commissioned by Greenpeace found 78 per cent of Australians remain unaware that the fossil fuel industry receives taxpayer subsidies of just over $800 per person each year, about 28 times the amount given in subsidies to the renewable industry.See full...
A large chunk of the book industry is embracing green publishing, and sustainability is steadily spreading through the book world, says a new report."Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts," co-commissioned by the Green Press Initiative and the Book Industry Study Group, says that more than half of the publishers surveyed plan to increase the amount of recycled paper they use and about 60 percent have or are working on an environmental policy.The report is based on a survey of 76 publishers, who represent about half the U.S. book market, and a number of mills, printers, retailers, distributors and wholesalers, according to the Associated Press.Of the publishers that don't have environmental policies, the survey found, some don't take environmental issues seriously enough, and others do...
When: Wednesday, March 19, 5 PM - 7 PM PT, 2008Where: Hanson Bridgett, 425 Market Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA, USAPresidio School of Management is hosting an event focused on educating executives in sustainability. The event will introduce the school's five-month Executive Certificate in Sustainable Management that begins in July 2008.Modeled after its innovative MBA program that integrates sustainability into every course, the certificate program will help executives gain critical knowledge to lead their companies toward sustainability in a way that increases shareholder value, market leadership and competitive advantage."Sustainability initiatives can be complex and costly, which makes it imperative that executives understand the strategic business case behind them," said Ron...
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has compiled the China Sustainable Development Strategy Report 2008, which has just been published by the Science Publishing House.The report offers a new rating of the 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in terms of their sustainable development capacity, the differences between them regarding the construction of an economized society as well as the increasing environmental problems they are each facing. According to the report, Shanghai has the highest sustainable development capacity, while Tibet the lowest, and the top ten sustainable regions are Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Guangdong, Jilin, Fujian and Heilongjiang, most of which are located in the eastern part of China. The ten least sustainable...
Although a majority of EU citizens had heard of the term biodiversity, only 35% said they also knew what biodiversity meant.When the term "biodiversity" was explained, a majority of EU citizens were able to define the meaning of "biodiversity loss" in their own words. The general public understood biodiversity loss mostly as a species-focused concept or as a concept related to changes in natural habitats.A minority of EU citizens felt well informed about the topic of biodiversity loss.Watching news and documentaries on TV, searching the Internet and reading newspapers and magazines were the three most typical ways of finding out more about biodiversity issues.When EU citizens were asked about the most important threats to biodiversity, pollution and man-made disasters were given equal...
When: August 5-6, 2008Where; Nashville, Tenn. USAWaste News, the leading news source about waste and environmental management, is launching a new technology event for waste haulers and recyclers. The Waste News Sustainability and Compliance Conference is scheduled for Aug. 5-6 in Nashville, Tenn. Routeware Inc., a leading supplier of integrated hardware and software solutions for the waste industry and commercial fleets, is co-organizer of the event.The conference will feature speakers from business and government, providing haulers and recyclers a better understanding of sustainable business practices and environmental compliance. By focusing on technology, this conference will give attendees the opportunity to learn practical solutions and enable them to better compete for bids, achieve...
A global survey of predominantly senior sustainability practitioners – from business, civil society, and academia – points to a leadership vacuum, such that critical issues related to sustainability are being ignored or inadequately addressed by both government and business leaders.The joint SustainAbility/GlobeScan survey was conducted on-line by GlobeScan, to identify drivers and obstacles to the global sustainability agenda.Fully seventy-five percent of 2,158 respondents view “current efforts of governments, businesses, and multilateral organizations” as being “very or mostly inadequate.” Firms such as GE, Shell, Novo Nordisk, and Patagonia nonetheless are recognized as “leading in this area.” Conversely, among those willing and able to identify a specific company that...
The European Commission's draft EU Renewable Energy Directive, published today, ignores numerous recent warnings on the environmental and social damage of its proposed 10 per cent target for agrofuel use in the transport sector by 2020.EU member states had demanded that the 10 per cent target be met 'sustainably', but the EU Joint Research Centre and the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) have expressed strong doubts that this can be achieved. The EAC has also argued for a moratorium on agrofuel targets.A coalition of civil society groups have consistently called for the target to be scrapped and for the EU to implement a moratorium on targets and other incentives for agrofuel expansion."The European Commission's failure to act on the many warnings is shockingly...
The Sustainable Development Commission has initiated, with Defra’s support, a major new stakeholder and consumer engagement project around the Supplier Obligation post 2011.The Supplier Obligation is an innovative policy instrument currently being developed by Defra.It aims to transform the market for the supply of domestic energy, by giving suppliers and consumers a shared incentive to reduce carbon emissions from homes. For more information, please view Defra's website.Policy development is still in the early stages, and there is an opportunity to identify and explore the range of options that could be developed for reducing household emissions. There is also an opportunity to explore how consumers might respond.See full...
The Sustainable Development Commission today (10 January) criticised the Government for its inadequate response to the legitimate concerns expressed by the general public over new nuclear power, which echo those identified by the SDC in its 2006 report The role of nuclear in a low carbon economy.These include:• Concern over waste and decommissioning arrangements• Unease over the role of the private sector, particularly with a technology that has a history of cost over-runs, and where public liabilities extend for many thousands of yearsSee full...
When: 27 February, 2008Where: London, UKFollowing the launch of CIPFA’s Sustainability publication ‘A reporting framework for the public services’ we are pleased to present the 2nd CIPFA Sustainability Conference bringing together experts and practitioners to discuss the most critical and pertinent issues surrounding sustainability. Sustainability is an increasingly important concept in both the public and private sectors. Many organisations now have sustainability strategies setting out excellent intentions, but they often lack the systems, tools and skills to fully implement them, and there is no simple, consistent reporting framework that enables stakeholders to assess performance.Some of the key issues covered at this high-level event• The results of the Accounting for...
When: 21 February, 2008Where: Barbican Centre, London, UKIt is imperative that we now act on the policy guidelines, pushing the key principles of sustainability into every aspect of modern British life. The recently published indicators on the progress of Securing the Future have demonstrated that there is much still to be done to improve environmental performance in a number of sectors.Sustainable Development 08 will focus on both policy and delivery, with our morning plenary assessing the legislation surrounding sustainability, analysing the implications of the indicators on its progress to date. Speaking in the morning plenary are Sara Parkin, Founder, Forum for the Future; Yvette Cooper MP; and Malcolm Wicks MP, Minister for Energy.Our afternoon session, taking the form of a panel...
When: 26 February, 2008Where: London, UKLike it or not, it is increasingly difficult for organisations to ignore the concept of corporate sustainability. Companies are under unprecedented scrutiny from governments, regulators, NGOs, investors and consumers in terms of how their business practices and operations impact society and the wider world. In the context of business, sustainable practices encompass everything from reducing the environmental impact of industry to socially-responsible investing, ethical supply chains regulatory compliance and safety and diversity in the workplace. Sustainability has implications for virtually all aspects of business, including strategy, finance, HR, procurement, compliance, product development and marketing.With this in mind, the Economist...
An over-arching policy on supermarkets is needed if the government is to meet targets on obesity, waste and climate change, an independent report has said.The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) report suggests the food chain contributes about one-fifth of total UK greenhouse gas emissions.It admits supermarkets are improving performance in many ways, but calls for clear government policy guidance.The British Retail Consortium said chains were dealing with the issues.See full...
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has urged its members to lead the work with the business community and help it deliver on its sustainability obligations. The appeal comes as the Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project published its report and introduced a number of resources for businesses and other organisations that will help them do so.Set up in December 2006, the Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability project looked at both reporting and embedding sustainability. It aimed to create a model to integrate sustainability information into the normal business reporting structure of a company or other organisation. See full Press...
Being a good corporate citizen has never been so challenging. Companies have long been under public scrutiny for practices ranging from recruitment to workplace safety, from attitudes to overseas investment to environmental pollution.The emergence of climate change as a mainstream political issue, however, has served to drive home the breadth of ethical issues with which firms must now grapple. The business—and societal—implications of how companies address these are so far reaching that a new area of management practice has come into being to manage them, known by many as “corporate sustainability”.Accordingly, grasping the nature and scope of the sustainability challenge—as well as best practice in addressing the attendant opportunities and risks—is of immense importance to...
Years ago Herman Miller decided to become an advocate for the environment, both because we believed it was the right thing to do and because we saw the potential for a clear business benefit. Ever since, we've been refining our processes to put our aspirations into practice.Our Perfect Vision campaign, launched in 2003, includes green goals such as no landfill waste, no hazardous waste, no air or water emissions from manufacturing, and the use of 100% green energy, all by the year 2020. These are stringent targets our company cannot reach without engaging over 200 materials and components suppliers in the ongoing task of greening our global supply chain.As we've examined every aspect of our worldwide supply chain, we've learned one key lesson: A business, and the products it sells, can...
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New Sustainable Cities Award Sponsored by the Financial Times and Urban Land Institute: Entry Deadline: March 31, 2008The Financial Times and the Urban Land Institute have extended the entry deadline to March 31, 2008 for submissions to the Financial Times Urban Land Institute (FT/ULI) Sustainable Cities Award.The FT/ULI Sustainable Cities Award has global relevance since nominations will be invited worldwide. The announcement of up to seven winners will be the closing highlight of the first-ever Sustainable Cities conference, which will be jointly hosted by the Financial Times and the Urban Land Institute in London on June 16, 2008.The Sustainable Cities Award acknowledges exceptional examples of sustainable land use models that exhibit significant new ideas and perspectives for future...