Together we improve the quality of life

28.07.2016

Every day business practice best testifies on the determination of Hemofarm to proactively create sustainable business models by achieving better business results. At the same time they develop the local community in which they operate, respect the needs of present and future generations, and most importantly protect limited natural resource. Natalija Popović is our interlocutor and for the special bulletin RESPONSIBLE COMPANIES she reveals in detail how Hemofarm has become a model company when it comes to nature conservation.

EP: Hemofarm is one of 5 companies in Serbia that publish a report on sustainable development, as well as one out of two companies that have the highest score in this area. What does that mean exactly? Can you tell us why Hemofarm has an advantage compared to other companies that may endanger the environment?

Natalija Popović: That is right. Hemofarm is one of just two companies that have achieved A+, the highest possible score in the area of sustainable development in the region, in accordance with international GRI G3.1 methodology. And as you have already mentioned, one of the few companies in Serbia that approaches to its business from the perspective of respecting the principle of sustainable development.Companies are faced with numerous problems in the modern business environment which is quite turbulent. The topic of sustainable development usually does not get to agenda, in a sea of everyday existential issues, but this needs to be changed. The significance of this topic is best confirmed by Agenda for sustainable development 2030 adopted at the UN summit last year. It is based on 17 global targets: to eradicate poverty, hunger and inequality, the prevention of climate change and environmental protection, the improvement of the access to health and education, etc. This strategic importance of sustainable development has to be viewed and customized to company’s business because it is a certain way for their improvement and survival, but also for the sustainability of the society we live in. Foreign companies have recognized that long time ago and that is why sustainable development is one of the key issues and a business approach of modern companies, but also a few domestic companies including Hemofarm. This is beyond the scope of the prevention of endangerment of the environment and it is much more than that. It includes a set of economic, environmental and social issues which illustrate the performance of the company– staring from profit and financial parameters, corporate excellence, human rights protection to taking care of generated waste,investment and development of local community,concern about climate change… This is in a nutshell. The achievements of Hemofarm in the context of sustainable development illustrate that the company has evolved and is able to compete with global competition, which gives us the sales advantage. Likewise, Hemofarm tries hard to provide a good example for other companies how to improve their operations and comply with global trends, but at the same time to use available resources in a responsible way. We have to be aware of the fact of the national importance of sustainable development, whose aspects, with the focus on environmental issues, are rather represented in the latest chapters of EU on stabilization and association of Serbia.

EP: The new common future is the motto that Hemofarm follows and which dates from 1987 and Bruntland Report published in the UN. You emphasize the responsibility towards the future generations with respect to your products and your employees. Is it difficult to maintain the balance between financial performance and ethics that you represent?

Natalija Popović: At the very outset, a few years ago I would say that it was very challenging, today it is standard and a way of thinking, and in the conditions we live in it is a safe way. It is a question of responsibility towards the future generations – we should use the resources that are available to us today in such a way that apart from satisfying immediate needs, we have to we enable the future generations to do the same, because this is the only way for the entire society to last and exist.Clean air and the preservation of the ozone layer is an important factor of this responsibility. Therefore, Hemofarm is trying to, by following the latest technologies in accordance with required standards, improve its production so that the emissions are reduced below the legal limit.Likewise,the core responsibility lies in preserving of the quality and availability of water. Hemofarm achieves this by relieving the public water supply system and using its own artesian wells, collecting rain water which is used as technical water, as well as recovery of water, i.e. vapor. In the broadest context, sustainable development is also the prevention we stand for,rather than treatment. In other words, modern health systems can be sustainable only if they pay enough attention and shift the accent to the development of healthy lifestyles which protects the health itself. Prevention enables the health care system to provide treatment to those who really need it. Hemofarm, through its Foundation, for more than 20 years seeks to further develop the community we work and live in, supporting the health care system of Serbia. This primarily refers to infrastructure projects and donations of medical equipment for the institutions that are in the most difficult position, as well as the development of public aware campaigns in the core issues such as organ donation and transplantation. We do all this driven by the idea that people are our most important resource! That is why we pay special attention to the development of our employees, enabling them every year a number of trainings and opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills.

EP: What is it that Hemofarm can teach other investors and new corporations? What is most difficult to achieve when it comes to ecology and what is most valuable?

Natalija Popović: Let’s not focus on ecology, but rather talk about responsible business, which has the goal of sustainable development. Hemofarm has a lot of examples that can inspire others. One of them is that we came up with the idea to freeze water during the night, when electricity is cheaper and the electric grid is less burdened in order to melt that icy water during the day and use it for cooling devices in the production process. The other example is that we succeeded to preserve up to 27000 trees on annual basis by introducing nearly 90% of recycled cardboard for the secondary packaging of products. To this I might add that we have improved our packaging system, that is stacking products into transport boxes and stacking boxes on the pallets that are shipped by trucks. That is how we have a bigger impact on transport efficiency which reduced the number of trucks transporting our products and therefore we reduced the emission that negatively impacts the environment. Also, we have improved the production system of infusion bottles, so that the part of bottles damaged in the production system, instead of becoming scrap, returns in the production system by recycling, maximizing the utilization of granules i.e. starting raw materials. In addition to this we have accepted the principles of leading code of social compliance – BSCI, that we convey to our business partners, protecting labor and human rights. Judging by the fact that we have achieved the highest level in the field of sustainable development, we are on the right track and that we succeeded in achieving the balance you asked me about.

New Coal Technologies Spell Disaster for Climate

28.07.2016

“Fuelling the Fire”: The chequered history of Underground Coal Gasification and Coal Chemicals around the world” is a new report that sets out the dangers that Underground Coal Gasification and Coal Chemical poses in terms of climate change, local environmental impacts and public health. Against a backdrop of slow growth within the conventional coal industry, highly polluting, unconventional coal technologies threaten to further destabilise the earth’s climate. If exploited these technologies could blow the global carbon budget, and in doing so spell certain catastrophe for our planet. At a time when sustainable renewable energy is proving to be cleaner, safer and better for people, it makes no sense to exploit dirty technologies like Underground Coal Gasification and Coal Chemicals that would make it vastly harder to avert runaway global warming.

The report is published by Friends of the Earth International and Friends of the Earth Scotland. It was authored by Flick Monk, campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, with case study materials from Friends of the Earth groups in Australia, South Africa and the US.

For more information visit foei.org.

Source: foei.org

ABB Sells First Order for 15-Second Bus Charging

27.07.2016

Last week, the U.S. government pledged to push the electric-vehicle industry toward charging a car in less than 10 minutes. Now, that sounds like a long time.

In Switzerland, a new line of buses can be topped off in a few seconds and fully charged in minutes. ABB received a commercial order from transit bus operator Tosa for its 15-second, 600-kilowatt flash charge technology, which will be installed along the bus route 23, between suburban Geneva and the airport. The project has been in pilots for the past few years.

The fully electric buses roll into bus stops as they usually would, but then a contact on top of the bus rises to meet an overhead charger. Thirteen of 50 stops have the charging technology. The flash charger delivers up to 600 kilowatts for 15 seconds. At the bus depot, the chargers fill up the bus in three to five minutes using 200 kilowatts.

The charge stations use supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors, which can store and release a lot of energy almost instantaneously, although they do not have the energy storage density of batteries. Because the bus line is most active during the day, it is also poised to take advantage of solar power. Here’s what ABB said about charging using superconductors: “The flash charger station…flattens out the demand by charging supercapacitors over a period of a few minutes while drawing a lower current from the grid. As this current is up to 10 times less than would be the case without storage, the connection can be made with a cheaper and more readily available low-power supply. Additionally, recharging of the supercapacitors is timed so that they are left discharged for longer periods when the bus service is running at lower frequency. As supercapacitors are aged by higher voltages, this ‘smart’ functionality allows the life of the supercapacitors to be doubled.”

It’s not the first time ABB has employed supercapacitors for advanced transportation energy projects. ABB worked with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority to use supercapacitors to recover more braking energy from that agency’s trains and offer more flexibility to earn money in the PJM frequency regulation market.

As the demonstration project for the Tosa flash charger was underway in 2013, ABB said it was already competitive with diesel, and a future cost would be cheaper than diesel buses, although that assumption figured in rising fuel costs and dropping energy storage costs. While battery prices have come down, the price of oil has also plummeted.

Of course, the advantages go beyond price. The bus is quieter than the current diesel buses that Tosa produces and reduces carbon dioxide emissions. The bus will go into full service in 2018.

Source: greentechmedia.com

Good Emissions Trading Programs are Unique, Not One-Size-Fits-All

27.07.2016

Climate change is a global problem — but its solution relies on national, regional, and local policy actions. Take the issue of greenhouse gas emissions markets, which put a price on, say, the amount of carbon a country can release into the atmosphere.

There are about 45 substantial climate-focused markets around the world, including some operating within parts of a single country, such as California’s cap-and-trade program. But 195 countries developed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to reduce emissions. Can the trading schemes used in one place be readily adopted by others?

Not really, according to Janelle Knox-Hayes, a professor in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, because markets do not just naturally spring into existence wherever deals can be made; instead, they are painstakingly crafted by institutions.

“Maybe markets are an important piece of the solution,” says Knox-Hayes. “But markets aren’t one-size-fits-all.”

Knox-Hayes takes a deep look at the issue in a new book, “The Cultures of Markets: The Political Economy of Climate Governance,” published this month by Oxford University Press. Her examination illuminates the basic tension between the international and national aspects of the climate issue. Whereas experts once sought “supranational control” of policy, as she writes, national-level policies have become a much more feasible route to climate progress in recent years.

To write the book, Knox-Hayes spent years studying climate regulations globally and interviewed about 275 policy and market makers around the world. Her study looks closely at six countries or regions that have adopted climate markets of various kinds: the U.S., Europe, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and China.

To see how emissions markets can vary, consider that in the U.S., financial firms have long been involved the construction of emissions markets. As a result, nearly a decade ago, before the financial-markets crisis, it was already possible to trade collateralized carbon obligations, a type of security akin to the collateralized debt obligation derived from the real-estate lending markets.

But in Japan, by contrast, climate markets have had a distinctly lesser emphasis on financialization. After its Fukushima nuclear-power disaster in 2011, the country created a program in which exports of clean technology to other countries counted as offsets against its own emissions.

This reflected a “core value of materiality” in the Japanese economy, Knox-Hayes says. “It’s one of the cases where there’s an incredible skepticism of finance,” she observes. “You see in the [market] mechanism this emphasis on the material economy. They see the core of their economy in heavy industry, heavy manufacturing.”

And then there are the different political circumstances in which emissions markets emerge, which also vary greatly. In the U.S., Knox-Hayes notes, carbon trading followed in the wake of a successful trading program set up to reduce acid rain, but it took market form also because of deeply entrenched attitudes in which markets are “seen as less onerous than other forms of regulation,” as the book states.

In Japan, the acute Fukushima crisis transformed energy and climate policies, while in China, Knox-Hayes says, “The motivating factor has been chronic environmental crisis,” which, she adds, is an important issue relating to “the stability of the one-party system” in the country.

And while these differing market systems might have different levels of effectiveness over time, Knox-Hayes suggests this variation might be beneficial, by providing more types of models for other countries to follow.

“One of the takeaways is, at the international level, we need to build more flexibility in the creation of policy,” Knox-Hayes suggests.

For her part, Knox-Hayes says she hopes readers will also engage in the book’s concluding discussion about what she calls the “materiality of environmental markets,” that is, the issue of how many kinds of financial instruments should be used within emissions trading.

Consider again the financial crash of the last decade, in which the amount of money tied up in derivatives (side bets) based on subprime lending, in some institutions, far exceeded the value of the lending itself. Building a system like that around environmental factors, Knox-Hayes suggests, could also create unwanted market instabilities. In short, while emissions markets have their place, she thinks, their primary goal — helping tackle climate change — should not be usurped by financial innovation. That is, perhaps, one universal feature such markets need to share.

“The nature of the value held in a derivative is different from the nature of the value held in a commodity,” Knox-Hayes says. “We need to place limits on the degree to which we extend value.”

Source: news.mit.edu

Solar Impulse Proves Innovation, Technology and Pioneering Mindset Can Address Global Challenges

26.07.2016

Solar Impulse has made history by completing the first ever round-the-world flight powered only by energy from the sun. The plane landed at its starting point in Abu Dhabi at 04:05 am local time, after a final leg of 48 hours and 37 minutes from Cairo.

“This is a truly historic achievement, with tremendous symbolic significance,” said ABB CEO, Ulrich Spiesshofer. “It demonstrates clearly that with pioneering spirit and clean technologies, we can run the world without consuming the earth. On behalf of everyone at ABB, congratulations to Bertrand Piccard, André Borschberg, and the rest of the Solar Impulse team. We are extremely proud to have been able to contribute to this remarkable project.”

ABB forged the innovation and technology alliance with Solar Impulse because what the project has achieved in the air, ABB is doing on the ground, as a pioneer of power and automation technologies for 125 years in Switzerland.

“It’s a historic first for renewable energy and clean technologies, not only for aviation”, said Solar Impulse pilot, initiator and chairman Bertrand Piccard, on arrival.” By combining their respective strengths, Solar Impulse and ABB were able to show how breakthrough innovation can be transformed into credible solutions, and how energy can be more efficiently produced, stored and used to create a cleaner world.”

Solar Impulse co-founder, CEO and pilot André Borschberg confirmed the value of this partnership: “The mission would not have been possible without the expertise and support of ABB and other organizations that contributed to the project. As part of its innovation and technology alliance with Solar Impulse, ABB provided experts to support the mission, including engineers who served as embedded members of the ground crew throughout the round-the-world flight.”

To attempt the round-the-world flight, Solar Impulse had to confront many of the challenges that ABB is solving on the ground for its customers, such as maximizing the power yield from solar cells, integrating renewable energy into the electricity distribution systems, and improving energy efficiency.

During its flight around the world, Solar Impulse made stopovers on four continents (Asia, North America, Europe and Africa), and flew across two oceans (the Pacific and the Atlantic), as well as the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Peninsula. On the way, it set several new aviation records, including that of the longest solo duration for an airplane (117 hours, 52 minutes) achieved by André Borschberg on the leg from Japan to Hawaii, and the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a solar airplane achieved by Bertrand Piccard.

Source: abb.com

EPA Finding Clears Way for Limit on Aircraft Emissions

26.07.2016

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday declared that jet engine exhaust endangers public health by contributing to climate change, a key milestone as it works to develop regulations that will cut carbon emissions from commercial aircraft.

Large commercial jets account for 11 percent of all emissions from the global transportation sector. Aircraft emissions are expected to grow by 50 percent by 2050 as demand for air travel increases.

Regulating aircraft emissions is part of the Obama administration’s goal under the Paris Climate Agreement to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The international pact aims to to keep global warming from exceeding 2°C (3.6°F).

“Addressing pollution from aircraft is an important element of U.S. efforts to address climate change,” Janet McCabe, the EPA’s acting assistant administrator for air and radiation, said in a statement. “EPA has already set effective GHG standards for cars and trucks and any future aircraft engine standards will also provide important climate and public health benefits.”

Both the EPA and the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, are developing regulations that will cut carbon emissions from commercial aircraft. The ICAO is expected to finalize its emissions standards in 2017, but the EPA could not proceed with developing its own standards in the U.S. until it concluded that jet engine exhaust poses a public health threat.

Jet engine exhaust emits carbon dioxide, which drives climate change by warming the atmosphere, leading to increasing global temperatures, rising seas and extreme weather. Public health will suffer as heat waves become more frequent and intense, rising seas inundate coastal cities, extreme storms lead to more deaths and catastrophic wildfiresburn more forests and reduce air quality.

“The endangerment finding is key because it obligates the EPA to take regulatory action to cut carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft — it triggers a legal mandate,” said Drew Kodjak, executive director of the International Council on Clean Transportation.

New emissions standards may become more important as climate change affects the atmosphere. Studies show that climate change will increase wind speeds in some areas of the globe, forcing airplanes flying through them to burn more fuel. Total global carbon dioxide emissions could see a boost as flight times increase in the stronger winds.

The proposed ICAO standards, supported by the U.S. and 22 other countries, call for a 4 percent reduction in fuel consumption in new commercial aircraft built after 2028 and from aircraft currently in production delivered after 2023.

Airplane makers are already building more fuel efficient aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, and they are expected to already meet the proposed ICAO emissions standards.

Kodjak said the ICAO’s proposed standards will not sufficiently cut airplane emissions to reduce their climate impact, and the EPA’s process for developing new standards for U.S. airplanes could be an opportunity to make emissions cuts even stricter.

U.S.-based aircraft are responsible for 29 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from commercial aircraft worldwide, according to the EPA.

Source: climatecentral.org

Indigenous Peoples Central to Efforts to Combat Climate Change

26.07.2016

Governments must do much more to provide the enabling conditions required for indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders and their organizations to restore degraded landscapes and achieve climate change mitigation and adaptation in practice, according to FAO.

Speaking at an event on the sidelines of the 23rd session of the Committee on Forestry, FAO Assistant-Director General René Castro Salazar warned that the issue of indigenous rights to land and territories was ‘critical’ for the success of climate change initiatives.

“Unless we help indigenous peoples achieve secure land tenure and better governance, it will be very hard to achieve long-term solutions,” Castro Salazar said. “We are lagging behind, and we need to do more.”

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said at the event that very few countries have so far made a clear commitment to a requirement in the Paris Climate Change Agreement that countries undertaking climate change activities should ensure the rights of indigenous peoples.

She also highlighted the large number of violent deaths of people protecting their forests and rights to land in 2015 – the deadliest year for environmental defenders on record.

“It’s a dire situation in terms of respect for the rights of indigenous peoples,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

A third of global forests are under some form of management by families, smallholders, local communities and indigenous peoples, and represent some of the most important carbon stocks in the world. Government-recognized community forests alone hold an estimated 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon stock.

Family smallholders, local communities and indigenous peoples have a key role to play in preserving these carbon stocks by reducing deforestation, managing forests sustainably and restoring tree cover as part of productive rural economies, particularly when they belong to strong producer organizations.

In addition, an estimated 1.5 billion hectares of land hold potential for smallholder farmers to combine agriculture with trees.

But failure to find the best way to engage with local stakeholders and align their interests with forest conservation can significantly compromise the chances of achieving carbon sequestration and mitigation targets.

In an outcome statement issued at the close of the event, participants urged governments to provide the enabling conditions required for local communities, indigenous peoples and local producers – with special focus on women and youth – to manage larger territories, from securing and enforcing tenure rights to creating favorable business incentives and offering technical, financial and business extension services.

They also called on global financing mechanisms, government programmes and private investors to direct investment and support towards local communities, indigenous peoples, smallholders and producer organizations.

Finally, they called for climate change initiatives to shift towards giving greater ownership to local communities, indigenous peoples, smallholders and producer organizations and engaging them in participatory and qualitative assessment of the forest cover and trees on farms they manage.

The event was co-organized by FAO and the Forest and Farm Facility, a partnership between FAO, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and AgriCord.

Source: fao.org

Green Finance is Key to Resolving Climate Change

26.07.2016

WINDMILLS — Photo - Illustration: Pixabay

Climate change is not just an environmental challenge — it is a fundamental threat to development in our lifetime. Without immediate action targeted at emissions reductions by the international community, climate change could result in an additional 100m people living in extreme poverty by 2030 and reverse many of the development gains of the last decade. A 2007 United Nations study projected adaptation finance needs for developing countries would start at $28bn annually by 2030.

The costs for this cannot be borne by the public sector alone. There is a key role for the private sector, including the financial industry, to play in the struggle for a greener future. In fact, the private sector is the largest source of climate finance, devoting $243bn in 2014 to climate-related investments, according to the Climate Policy Initiative’s Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2015.One huge opportunity lies in green finance. Currently, green finance remains marginal to overall financial flows and inadequate for global needs.

There have been some encouraging developments over the past few years, including significant advances in mobilizing and mainstreaming green finance within financial institutions and financial markets. New and innovative financial products and services such as green bonds and green guarantees have been developed.

The green bonds market almost quadrupled between 2013 and 2015, reaching $42.4bn in 2015. The Paris climate accord re-confirmed the need to mobilize significant funding from public and private sources to finance the investment requirements outlined in the agreement. In this context, green bonds have already proven to be an important financial instrument capable of raising billions in climate finance.

Growing numbers of investors, banks, and insurers have also committed to integrating environmental and sustainable development issues into their decisions. Countries, including many G20 members, are mainstreaming sustainable development considerations into their financial market development efforts by including climate and broader environmental factors.

This includes encouraging voluntary action by financial institutions, such as the adoption of environmental management standards. Countries are also adopting policies and regulations aimed at improving information flows and capabilities through codes of conduct and disclosure requirements.

But despite this progress, green financing hasn’t reached its full potential. There is an estimated $1tn needed annually for climate-aligned investments, of which about $450bn is needed for non-OECD countries. The Climate Bond Initiative estimates that labelled green bonds issued globally in 2015 represented less than 1 per cent of total US dollar bond issuance and less than 0.2 per cent of debt securities issued globally.

The potential for scaling up the green bond market is tremendous. For green financing to realize its full potential, however, the public and private sectors need to work together. Removing fossil fuel subsidies, introducing a meaningful price for carbon and effective environmental regulations are critical, while public investment also has an important role to play.

There are a number of ways to help mobilize private capital for green investments. These include helping to enhance information flows, improving environmental risk management practices in the financial sector, eliminating market obstacles, and promoting market innovations. Providing proper incentives and ensuring policy coherence between financial and wider sustainable development policies are also vital to help the sector grow.

Responding to climate change is not only the right thing to do — it also makes good business sense.

Source: medium.com

How is Climate Change Impacting the Water Cycle?

26.07.2016

Climate change increases our risk of both heavy rains and extreme droughts. But why – and how – is that? Aren’t the two contradictory?

Science has shown that climate change touches every corner of our planet’s ecosystem, and the water cycle is no exception. Because the processes involved are highly dependent on temperature, changes in one have consequences on the other. Specifically, as global temperatures have steadily increased at their fastest rates in millions of years, it’s directly affected things like water vapor concentrations, clouds, precipitation patterns, and stream flow patterns, which are all related to the water cycle.

So how does climate change impact the water cycle? We’ve created an infographic that illustrates what’s going on, but we’ll describe it here too. Put simply, water evaporates from the land and sea, which eventually returns to Earth as rain and snow. Climate change intensifies this cycle because as air temperatures increase, more water evaporates into the air. Warmer air can hold more water vapor, which can lead to more intense rainstorms, causing major problems like extreme flooding in coastal communities around the world.

But it doesn’t end there. At the same time that some areas are experiencing stronger storms, others are experiencing more dry air and even drought. Like we mentioned above, as temperatures rise, evaporation increases and soils dry out. Then when rain does come, much of the water runs off the hard ground into rivers and streams, and the soil remains dry. The result? Still more evaporation from the soil and an increased risk of drought.

Source: climaterealityproject.org

Climate Change: Cities are Key to Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions

25.07.2016

The heat that saw forest fires sweep through Uttarakhand and damage the already fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas… the heat spikes that caused deaths in Rajasthan and Bihar… the drought that put severe stress on underground water supplies.

All this, no doubt, caused some people to seriously think about climate change.

Whether or not the record temperatures are directly linked with greenhouse gas emissions, most scientists agree that climate change will make extreme weather more likely. Climate change was a crucial topic at the recent World Cities Summit in Singapore. It is one of the world’s biggest challenges. On one hand, population growth and rising standards of living are generating a bigger demand for energy, on the other there is a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And cities are at the heart of the solution.

The global population is growing—from over 7 billion today, it will reach an estimated 10 billion by the end of the century. With this, the growth of cities will accelerate. Over half of the global population already lives in cities. By 2050, the proportion will be around three-quarters, with half of this growth happening in Asia alone.

Also, cities consume two-thirds of the energy the world produces; by 2040, they would use almost 80%. Even with heroic efficiency efforts, the amount of energy the world is consuming by the end of the century is likely to double compared to today.

One of the major challenges we face is how to halt the accumulation of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

The Shell Scenarios team—which has been developing possible visions of the future since the 1970s, helping generations of Shell leaders explore ways forward and make better decisions—models possible futures and has just published its latest supplement, A Better Life with a Healthy Planet: Pathways to Net Zero Emissions.

In it, we can see a possible path—challenging though it may be—to a world where emissions of carbon dioxide are at net zero levels. That means the emissions that remain are offset, or captured and stored below ground. This is not a target for Shell; it is something the world must achieve.

Cities, and how we plan them, will be central to achieving this. They have a huge opportunity to become more energy-efficient: through building standards; by using waste heat from power generation to warm homes; by encouraging high-density living to reduce travel and encourage smaller electric or hydrogen-powered cars; by building high-capacity public transport systems.

The evolving energy mix will be vital too. Natural gas, for example, produces half the carbon dioxide and one-tenth of the air pollution as compared to coal when burnt for power. Gas power stations also partner well with renewables, providing reliable electricity when there is no sun or wind. Here, adding carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to power stations and industrial complexes will be critical to reduce emissions enough to reach net zero.

Renewables will, of course, continue to grow rapidly as part of the mix, but mainly produce electricity.

Today, electricity accounts for less than one-fifth of the total energy used in the world. For renewables to have a major impact, our scenario shows the share of electricity in the energy mix will need to grow to at least 50%.

This means people must meet the costs of, for example, electric or hydrogen-electric cars. Households and businesses not supplied with waste heat must be warmed with electricity. Food processing and light manufacturing must also go electric.

However, even with all these changes, the greenhouse gas emissions will continue to enter the atmosphere for the foreseeable future.

The production of chemicals used in so many of the things we take for granted will continue to rely on oil and gas. Where very high temperatures or dense energy storage are required—such as in the manufacturing of iron, steel and cement, or in heavy freight and air transport—we will almost certainly see continued use of hydrocarbon fuels.

There will also be regions that switch to low-carbon energy at different speeds, for political, economic or demographic reasons.

Continuing emissions will have to be offset. We can plant forests and use agricultural practices that raise the carbon content of the soil, such as ploughing partly burned biomass into fields. We can also burn biomass for power, coupled with CCS. Plants can suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Using CCS will make sure it never goes back to the atmosphere.

Whether in cities or beyond, none of this will be easy. However, all of it is possible. Only if the world starts working towards it right now.

Source: financialexpress.com

Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation Makes Historic Grant Announcement

25.07.2016

LDF announces its largest-ever portfolio of environmental grants, increasing the organization’s total direct financial giving to over $59 million since 1998. Additionally, after a period of increased grantmaking and a goal of expanding its global impact, the foundation warmly welcomes veteran environmental leader Terry Tamminen as CEO.

$15.6 million in grants have been awarded for wildlife and habitat conservation, to aide in the defense of indigenous rights, and to support innovative grass roots efforts aimed at combating climate change and solving complex environmental issues. These grants support the work of LDF partners, which range from major environmental conservation organizations to local partners who are fighting to protect and defend vital ecosystems and species that are gravely impacted by the global environmental crisis caused by climate change.

Grants were awarded in 5 key program areas — Wildlife & Habitat Protection, Oceans Conservation, Indigenous Rights, Innovative Solutions, and Climate Change. Below is a summary of this round of grants:

Wildlife/Habitat Protection Portfolio: $7,631,508
LDF is protecting endangered wildlife by enabling cutting-edge, results-driven conservation and restoration projects in the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Only 12% of the world’s forests and natural wildlands are protected. As global demand increases for timber, fossil fuels, minerals, and agricultural products like palm oil, rubber and soy, corporations are encroaching deeper into the world’s last wild places. The foundation’s grant making strategy aims to improve the future for vulnerable wildlife on land by protecting and restoring natural habitats, ending poaching in critical regions, and reintroducing native species back into the wild. At the same time, the foundation’s partners on the ground work with local governments and communities to build successful, long-term solutions that benefit all stakeholders. Grantees include the Elephant Crisis Fund (Wildlife Conservation Network and Save the Elephants), Lion Recovery Fund (Wildlife Conservation Network), Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary (George Adamson African Wildlife Preservation Trust), Maasai Wilderness Conservation Fund, Turtle Conservancy, Naturalia, California Mountain Lion Conservation (National Park Service), World Wildlife Fund, Pacific Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Oceans Portfolio: $2,525,000
LDF is a leader in marine conservation, working to improve ocean health and protect key ocean ecosystems and marine wildlife by supporting innovative projects in underserved areas. Oceans provide half of the world’s oxygen supply, regulate the global climate system and directly support the life of nearly 50% of all living species. Yet, only 2% of the oceans are formally protected. LDF’s partnerships aim to safeguard endangered ocean habitats and species, constrain overfishing, and establish and expand marine protected areas. Grantees include Oceans 5 and the Global Partnerships for Sharks Fund.

Indigenous Rights Portfolio: $2,100,000 million
Less than one percent of philanthropic giving goes to indigenous people and issues, and only a small fraction of that money is granted to indigenous-led organizations or initiatives directly. Yet, according to the IUCN, 80% of the world’s remaining biological diversity is found on indigenous lands and traditional territories; 90% of the world’s language and cultural diversity. Even without consideration of vital justice, human rights, and equity issues, arguably one of the most important strategies to protect wild species and places, is to partner with the people who call those places home. Investment in the emergence of an effective, empowered, and indigenous-led conservation movement is essential to protecting the Earth. Grantees include Utah Dine Bikeyah, RAVEN, United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Wishtoyo Foundation and Amazon Watch.

Innovative Solutions Portfolio: $2,085,000
Portfolio Objectives: LDF’s Innovative Solutions portfolio is designed to support innovation at the grassroots level that can be replicated and amplified to bring about new pathways for change. The work in this context includes tools and tactics that are flexible, forward thinking and creative. The range of tools includes new ways to use the legal framework to empower communities, sustainable design, technology driven solutions and empowering citizens to become active through bold media and education initiatives. Grantees include Digital Democracy, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Mongabay, Waterkeeper Alliance, Water Defense, Bioneers, Biomimicry Institute, Earth Echo International and People’s Grocery.

Climate Change Portfolio: $1,300,000
The outcome of COP21 signals that there is an unprecedented opportunity to invest in climate solutions that will further elevate the urgency of the issue and immediately make an impact. The consensus that was reached at COP21 signaled a greater opportunity to accelerate the deployment of strategies and solutions in order to make a broader impact. Investing in a diverse combination of powerful tools can help to increase our efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and expedite the transition to a clean, green economy. These tools include innovative use of the legal system, media, and technology. Grantees include Our Children’s Trust, Desmog Blog, Empowered By Light, TreePeople and Native Renewables.

Source: leonardodicaprio.org

Groupe Renault Announces Carsharing Pilots with New Renault Mobility Services

22.07.2016

Groupe Renault today announced Renault MOBILITY, which has been in its pilot phase since June 2016 at the La Défense site (France), in partnership with the Schumacher group Renault Bellini dealership. With this service, Renault will offer the public and companies its vehicles under a car sharing scheme, with both electric and combustion engine vehicles (ZOE, Captur, Clio). Renault brand aims to develop its solutions in urban and rural areas through its network of partners, to offer a truly local service.

“With Renault MOBILITY, Renault offers a Renault brand vehicle or other, made easily accessible and available at any time. The aim is to meet all travel needs, from individuals to whole fleets, with flexible and adaptable solutions at the best price,” said Christophe Chevreton, Renault France director of the new mobility project.

In addition to individual use, a company’s employee may then use a Renault brand vehicle or other, under the carsharing scheme both for his business and private travel. The cost will be borne by the company for all business use and billed to the employee for his private use. This service has been in place at Plessis-Robinson (France) since the end of 2015.

A new player in the carsharing market in France, Renault MOBILITY uses the technological solutions provided by RCI Mobility, a subsidiary of RCI Bank and Services. The system will be launched officially for the Paris Motor Show, which will take place in October.

Source: media.renault.com

To Fight Climate Change, We Need to ‘Uberize’ the Energy Industry

22.07.2016

Organizing capital, in isolation, isn’t enough to get hundreds of Elon Musks dedicating themselves to building companies that develop critical new wind, solar, nuclear and battery technology.

In June, Hemant Taneja attended a breakfast organized by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Bill Gates, with top business and policy leaders from around the world. The investors in the meeting were dedicated to increasing funding of early-stage energy companies. Of course, that’s a much-needed step. As the data below shows, exponential decrease in solar costs has led to exponential increase in solar capacity, despite limited technology investment. This has been principally driven by consistent, long-term policy that drove deployment at scale.

Uber and Tesla show that when companies create amazing consumer experiences, large, fragmented markets can organize fast around a new solution. Customer adoption of Uber, the enthusiasm for Tesla electric cars, and advances in self-driving vehicles have brought the transportation sector to a point of no return. The days of internal combustion engine and gasoline are numbered. Just think about that: in less than a decade, cars running on electric power will be a utility that we can access on demand. Far fewer of us will own cars. The most in-demand new cars will be electric. That is an amazing step forward towards reducing CO2 in the atmosphere.

The swift change to electric-powered transportation makes it all the more important to transform the 21st-century electricity system. An effective way to do that will be to employ the lessons from Uber and Tesla and let entrepreneurs lead the established companies.

How? A crucial early step will be to align utilities with entrepreneurs instead of against them. Let’s create regulatory and business models that give utilities a path to evolve their role from operating mammoth power plants and transmission grids to operating software-powered platforms that interconnect the small-scale power solutions in homes and small businesses. This then becomes a platform that supports entrepreneurial solutions, much like the internet or the iPhone and app store. Utilities can prosper, providing reliability and resiliency in the power network, while faster-moving entrepreneurs create ever more effective ways to generate, move, trade, market, share and store power.

Entrepreneurs will come in hoards to tackle this great mission if they can take advantage of the economies of unscale that have propelled other sectors. Airbnb is an unscaled response to hotels, re-assembling demand for places to stay in a whole new way. The Honest Company took advantage of unscaling to profitably compete against Procter & Gamble in consumer brands.

What can entrepreneurs do in the field of energy? One important role: solve the problem of power storage. A major barrier to unscaling electricity is that it can’t be stored effectively. Tesla and a number of global companies are racing to build affordable battery technology for homes and businesses. Once energy can be stored cost effectively in small quantities, much less of it needs to be produced centrally and distributed on power grids.

Put all of this together, and this is systems thinking about the problem. It follows market principles, centering solutions around what customers actually want. We need to bring to the power industry the same mindset we apply to internet-based “utilities” like Facebook and Google. After all, how are they any less important to life today than energy?

If we do this right, no utility will ever again build a large-scale carbon-based power plant. Such a thing won’t be necessary if every home is generating electricity on its roof and the grid works more like the internet, moving power to where it’s needed and storing excess in new-age batteries for reliable access. Just as anyone can now be a hotelier because of Airbnb, in a decade anyone will be able to be a power company once these new technologies are in place. In an unscaled era, the mini power plant in a home or small business will be better, cheaper, cleaner and more resilient than the next massive power plant.

Customers will have choices, and if new energy technologies are better, cheaper and cleaner than old ones, that’s what customers will choose.

Source: weforum.org

Small Increase in Energy Investment Could Cut Premature Deaths from Air Pollution in Half by 2040

22.07.2016

Each year an estimated 6.5 million deaths are linked to air pollution with the number set to increase significantly in coming decades unless the energy sector takes greater action to curb emissions. Air pollution is a problem felt around the world, particularly the poorest in society. No country is immune as a staggering 80% of the population living in cities that monitor pollution levels are breathing air that fails to meet the air quality standards set by the World Health Organization. Premature deaths from outdoor air pollution are projected to rise from 3 million today to 4.5 million by 2040, concentrated mainly in developing Asia. Meanwhile, premature deaths from household air pollution will decline from 3.5 million to 3 million over the same period, although they continue to be heavily linked to poverty and an inability to access modern energy.

In its first ever in-depth analysis of air quality, the IEA’s World Energy Outlook (WEO) special report released today highlights the links between energy, air pollution and health. It identifies contributions the energy sector can make to curb poor air quality, the fourth-largest threat to human health, after high blood pressure, poor diets, and smoking.

Energy production and use – mostly from unregulated, poorly regulated or inefficient fuel combustion – are the most important man-made sources of key air pollutant emissions: 85% of particulate matter and almost all of the sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Millions of tonnes of these pollutants are released into the atmosphere each year, from factories, power plants, cars, trucks, as well as the 2.7 billion people still relying on polluting stoves and fuels for cooking (mainly wood, charcoal and other biomass).

The air quality outlook is not set in stone, but rather it is a policy choice. The report presents strategies tailored to various country circumstances to deliver cleaner air for all. A Clean Air Scenario demonstrates how energy policy choices backed by just a 7% increase in total energy investment through 2040 produce a sharp improvement in health. Under such a scenario, premature deaths from outdoor air pollution would decline by 1.7 million in 2040 compared with our main scenario, and those from household pollution would fall by 1.6 million annually.

The IEA strategy for cleaner air requires the implementation of a number of proven policies. Actions to deliver access to clean cooking facilities to an additional 1.8 billion people by 2040 are essential to reducing household emissions in developing countries, while emissions controls and fuel switching are crucial in the power sector, as is increasing energy efficiency in industry and emissions standards that are strictly enforced for road transport. Overall, the extra impetus to the energy transition means that global energy demand is 13% lower in 2040 than otherwise expected and, of the energy that is combusted, three-quarters is subject to advanced pollution controls, compared with only around 45% today.

Aligned with its energy policy strategy for cleaner air, the WEO special report highlights three key areas for government action:
1. Setting an ambitious long-term air quality goal, to which all stakeholders can subscribe and against which the efficacy of the various pollution mitigation options can be assessed.
2. Putting in place a package of clean air policies for the energy sector to achieve the long-term goal, drawing on a cost-effective mix of direct emissions controls, regulation and other measures, giving due weight to the co-benefits for other energy policy objectives.
3. Ensuring effective monitoring, enforcement, evaluation and communication: keeping a strategy on course requires reliable data, a continuous focus on compliance and on policy improvement, and timely and transparent public information.

Source: iea.org

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