Sustainability

9 out of 10 people in poor countries are set to miss out on COVID-19 vaccine in 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 16:48:00 +0200

‘A COVID-19 VACCINE MUST BE SEEN AS A GLOBAL PUBLIC GOOD, A PEOPLE'S VACCINE’ UN SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES (GLOBAL VACCINE SUMMIT, 4 JUNE 2020).

Science Succeeding But Solidarity Failing, Warns Secretary-General, Citing ‘Vaccine Vacuum’ in Poor Nations, as COVID-19 Death Toll Hits 2 Million

Our best chance of all staying safe is to ensure a COVID-19 vaccine is available for all as a global common good.

This will only be possible with a transformation in how vaccines are produced and distributed — pharmaceutical corporations must allow the COVID-19 vaccines to be produced as widely as possible by sharing their knowledge free from patents. Instead, they are protecting their monopolies and putting up barriers to restrict production and drive up prices, leaving us all in danger. No one company can produce enough for the whole world. So long as vaccine solutions are kept under lock and key, there won’t be enough to go around. We need a People’s Vaccine, not a profit vaccine.

Rich countries have hoarded enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly 3 times over

Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced, a group of campaigning organizations warned today.

By contrast, wealthier nations have bought up enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021 if those currently in clinical trials are all approved for use. Canada tops the chart with enough vaccines to vaccinate each Canadian five times. Updated data shows that rich nations representing just 14 percent of the world’s population have bought up 53 percent of all the most promising vaccines so far.

The organizations, including Amnesty International, Frontline AIDS, Global Justice Now and Oxfam, who are part of an alliance calling for a People’s Vaccine, used data collected by science information and analytics company Airfinity to analyze the deals done between countries and the eight leading vaccine candidates. They found that 67 low and lower middle-income countries risk being left behind as rich countries move towards their escape route from this pandemic. Five of the 67 – Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine - have reported nearly 1.5 million cases between them.

Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, said: “No one should be blocked from getting a life-saving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket. But unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 for years to come.”

Heidi Chow, from Global Justice Now, said: “All pharmaceutical corporations and research institutions working on a vaccine must share the science, technological know-how, and intellectual property behind their vaccine so enough safe and effective doses can be produced. Governments must also ensure the pharmaceutical industry puts people’s lives before profits.”

The Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine has already received approval in the UK and vaccinations are beginning this week. It is likely to receive approval from other countries including the US within days. Two further potential vaccines, from Moderna and Oxford in partnership with AstraZeneca are expected to submit or are awaiting regulatory approval. The Russian vaccine, Sputnik, has announced positive trial results and four other candidates are in phase 3 clinical trials.

So far, all of Moderna’s doses and 96 percent of Pfizer/BioNTech’s have been acquired by rich countries. In welcome contrast Oxford/AstraZeneca has pledged to provide 64 percent of their doses to people in developing nations. Yet despite their actions to scale up supply they can still only reach 18 per cent of the world’s population next year at most. Oxford/AstraZeneca deals have also mostly been made with some of the big developing countries like China and India, while the majority of developing countries have not done deals and have to share the COVAX pool of vaccines between them.

This demonstrates that one company alone cannot hope to supply the whole world, and that only open sharing of technology between vaccine producers can make this possible.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance is calling on all pharmaceutical corporations working on COVID-19 vaccines to openly share their technology and intellectual property through the World Health Organization COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, so that billions more doses can be manufactured and safe and effective vaccines can be available to all who need them.

The Alliance is also calling on governments to do everything in their power to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are made a global public good—free of charge to the public, fairly distributed and based on need. A first step would be to support South Africa and India’s proposal to the World Trade Organisation Council this week to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments until everyone is protected.

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice, said: “The hoarding of vaccines actively undermines global efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can be protected from COVID-19. Rich countries have clear human rights obligations not only to refrain from actions that could harm access to vaccines elsewhere, but also to cooperate and provide assistance to countries that need it.

“By buying up the vast majority of the world’s vaccine supply, rich countries are in breach of their human rights obligations. Instead, by working with others to share knowledge and scale up supply, they could help bring an end to the global COVID-19 crisis.”

The vaccines developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have received more than $5 billion dollars of public funding, which the alliance said placed a responsibility on them to act in the global public interest.

Dr Mohga Kamal Yanni, from The People’s Vaccine Alliance, said: “Rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times over, whilst poor countries don’t even have enough to even reach health workers and people at risk.

“The current system, where pharmaceutical corporations use government funding for research, retain exclusive rights and keep their technology secret to boost profits, could cost many lives.”

Lois Chingandu, Director of Frontline AIDS, said: “This pandemic is a global problem that requires a global solution. The global economy will continue to suffer so long as much of the world does not have access to a vaccine.

“We need to put pharmaceutical industry profit aside during this unprecedented pandemic, both to save humanity and the economy.”

Momentum is mounting for a people’s vaccine, which has already been backed by COVID survivors, health experts, activists, past and present world leaders, faith leaders and economists including: Cyril Ramaphosa, Imran Khan, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Gordon Brown, Helen Clark, Mary Robinson, Joseph Stiglitz, John Nkengasong and Thomas Piketty.

Last month in the US, more than 100 high-level leaders from public health, faith-based, racial justice, and labor organizations, joined former members of Congress, economists and artists to sign a public letter calling on President-elect Biden seize on this extraordinary moment and power of the US President to support a People’s Vaccine.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance is a coalition of organisations including Free the Vaccine, the Yunus Centre, Frontline AIDS, Oxfam, SumOfUs and UNAIDS.

Humanity today, in all its fragility, is searching for an effective and safe vaccine against COVID-19. It is our best hope of putting a stop to this painful global pandemic.

Covid-19 and Sustainability

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 2 May 2020 19:31:00 +0300

Sustainability is the concept of maintaining equitable conditions across not only socioeconomic and geographic barriers, but also across generations and through time. Sustainability seeks to demonstrate that there is a way for society to progress and prosper in harmony with the planet. It’s about maintaining a healthy balance between people and the environment.

The coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19 has infected over two million people in more than 160 countries. The rising death counts are heartbreaking, and the fact that we can’t even go through the customary funeral rituals to help us heal emotionally has made the crisis that much harder for many of us. We’re also feeling the economic impacts of the pandemic, with unemployment rates climbing, the financial markets indicating a global recession and small businesses being forced to close in a number of areas. While dealing with my own losses and self-isolation, as a graduate student in Columbia’s Sustainability Science program, I can’t help but notice the parallels between what this virus is doing to us and what we’ve been doing to our planet.

When a virus like the coronavirus invades its host, it disturbs the natural order in that system. A virus seeks to replicate not only to the detriment of its host but with complete disregard to all the other cells and microbiomes within the system. Analogously, sustainability teaches us about our planet, which can be thought of as a system much like the human body. Except, rather than a virus disrupting the natural order, we, the humans, have disrupted the system. We have sought to replicate and grow to the detriment of our planet and all of the species within it.

What we know so far is that the coronavirus is replicating at high levels in the upper respiratory tract for several days before people become symptomatic. This is part of why the virus has been so successful in spreading at such a high rate. Similarly, humans started to spread all over the planet before they began to damage it. Damage for COVID-19 can be thought of as the symptoms of a dry cough, tightness of the chest and a fever. Damage for the planet can be extrapolated from rising sea levels, deforestation and increasing global temperatures.

But coronavirus isn’t always devastating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that up to 25 percent of all positive COVID-19 cases can be entirely asymptomatic — they cause no symptoms whatsoever. The sustainability analogy here are the people that are living their lives in a way that minimizes their impact on the rest of the world. These people are careful to lower their carbon footprint. They make conscious decisions when making a purchase. And when they need to go somewhere, they do so in an environmentally friendly way. Ultimately, however, they are still a part of the spread of humankind — the COVID-19 of planet Earth.

While this critique may seem harsh, the parallels are all there. But, if more people lived their lives in harmony with their environment and in a truly equitable way, then humans wouldn’t pose a threat to the planet. We would still proliferate, but entirely asymptomatically — more akin to the natural bacteria in our intestines than an invasive virus.

So many things have changed in our daily lives during this short battle with the coronavirus. There is less smog in cities, the homeless have been brought indoors and people are making sincere efforts to stay in touch with friends and family like never before. So, while the pandemic is awful, the deaths are tragic and the isolation suffocating, the virus has certainly brought perspective to the ways our societies work.

It’s hard for anyone to say what the world will look like after COVID-19, since it has brought into question so many things that we have always accepted as the norm. Commuting to work or school, sitting at a coffee shop and going to the gym are all examples of things that many of us used to do. By not engaging in these activities anymore, we have reduced energy consumption and emissions in our respective cities and as a result, the air is cleaner, for now.

The true test of the sustainability movement will come after we win the battle against COVID-19 and achieve a new semblance of normalcy. When the new normal arrives, we must leverage the changes that COVID-19 brought to our societies as concrete examples of what we can achieve from an energy efficiency perspective. Cities in America have recorded 15-30 percent reductions in carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and black carbon. Many companies have found ways to accommodate employees with remote work policies and alternate work setups that have allowed productivity to continue without the traditional barricades. If these narratives become a part of the conversation, then we can be hopeful that the sustainability movement will continue forward and be more powerful than ever before.

European Commission launches new online portal to support responsible sourcing in businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 14:40:00 +0200

European Commission is launching Due Diligence Ready!, an online portal that provides businesses with guidance on how to check the sources of the metals and minerals entering their supply chains – the so-called “due diligence” process. It will help them ensure that their use of raw materials respects human rights while improving transparency and accountability across their value chains.

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: “Today, market demand for responsibly sourced raw materials is growing. These materials are essential to new business sectors and clean technologies like high-power batteries, and businesses should ensure that each step in the value chain is carried out in a transparent, responsible and sustainable way. I welcome the launch of Due Diligence Ready! which will help businesses make more informed choices.”

Due Diligence Ready! will help businesses to:

Improve their due diligence capacity of minerals' sourcing: the portal will provide businesses with information and training materials to carry out due diligence. The tool is particularly dedicated to small and medium businesses but all companies with minerals and metals in their supply chains are encouraged to use it.
Facilitate compliance with the EU's Regulation on Responsible Sourcing of Minerals (the so-called “Conflict minerals Regulation”): the portal will offer guidance on the responsible sourcing of metals and minerals, in particular tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. Such metals and minerals are used in the production of everyday products such as mobile phones, cars and jewelry. The portal will help companies comply with the EU's Regulation on Responsible Sourcing of Minerals, which sets out due diligence requirements for EU importers of these metals and minerals.
Respond to growing market demand for responsibly sourced minerals: by improving transparency along the value chain, Due Diligence Ready! will help businesses respond to the growing awareness and demand for sustainable products and services, and contribute to positive developments in the minerals and metals sector.
Background

Mineral resources hold great potential for our economy, especially for strategic business areas like batteries, high-performance computing or microelectronics. However, when mined in conflict-affected or high-risk areas, they can add to the continuation of violent clashes, human rights abuses. This has raised concerns among customers, suppliers, regulators, investors, non-governmental organisations and citizens who are increasingly asking companies, including small and medium businesses, to show that the minerals and metals entering their supply chains have not contributed to activities that harm people.

To address these problems, the EU passed the EU's Regulation on Responsible Sourcing of Minerals,also sometimes referred to as the “Conflict minerals Regulation”, in May 2017. These new rules will ensure that minerals used by European industries are sourced responsibly, diverting revenues away from rebel groups, conflict, and terror. The regulation also supports the development of local communities and businesses. The rules will cover up to 95% of imports as of 1 January 2021. In the meantime, the Commission and Member States will work to make sure that the necessary structures are in place to ensure EU-wide implementation.

Welcome to 'due diligence ready!'. This online portal contains information, tools and training materials to guide your company in conducting due diligence on its minerals and metals supply chain. It is available in 7 languages: English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Polski, Português, Español.

Why was 'due diligence ready!' developed?

'Due diligence ready!' was developed to help companies source minerals and metals responsibly and, if applicable, comply with regulatory requirements, including the new EU ‘conflict minerals’ regulation effective from 1 January 2021.

Who is it for?

'Due diligence ready!' is designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - but can benefit any company with minerals and metals in its supply chain and help them perform due diligence.

What minerals and metals are covered?

'Due diligence ready!' focuses on tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold but also includes all other minerals and metals such as battery raw materials.

Objectives: The 'due diligence ready!' portal will help you:

learn about the benefits companies can gain from performing due diligence on their supply chains
understand, assess and mitigate risks and impacts in their supply chains related to responsible sourcing
understand and implement the OECD due diligence guidance (OECD DDG) for responsible supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs) and learn how to do due diligence for responsible mineral sourcing. (The OECD DDG applies to all minerals.)

Israeli start-up Aleph Farms made international headlines this month by announcing that it has successfully grown meat from bovine cells in space

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 6 Nov 2019 15:42:00 +0200

Israeli start-up Aleph Farms made international headlines this month by announcing that it has successfully grown meat from bovine cells in space. While the move is a publicity stunt to many, the Russian technology company that helped facilitate the experiment with its own equipment said boosting food sustainability on Earth is at the core of this breakthrough.

Moscow-based 3D Bioprinting Solutions, the R&D subsidiary of Vivax Bio, is primarily focused on developing the whole range of the hardware, materials, technologies and products comprising the 3D bioprinting industry.

CEO Yusef Khesuani noted he has been working with animal cells since the inception of the company around 2013, but the team only began to apply its expertise in the field of bioprinting to cellular agriculture recently.

“Long-term manned space stations are bound to face unparalleled challenges with nutrition and reutilization of all available organic resources,” he told me via an email.

“As a company, which has gained a lot of experience and expertise with both bioprinting and space-related engineering designs, we believe that biofabrication of cultured meat in space has several unique advantages,” especially around sustainability and ethicality.

He believes experiments, such as the one conducted with Aleph Farms, are a “stepping stone towards sustainable production of cultured meat products during deep space expeditions and initial colonies on the moon and Mars”. .

Human cartilage tissue and rodent thyroid gland

3D Bioprinting Solutions has previously developed Organ.Aut magnetic bioprinter and magnetic bioprinting technology, with the former delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) on board the Soyuz MS-11 manned spacecraft to start bioprinting experiments about a year ago.

“For the first time on orbit, a cosmonaut researcher printed human cartilage tissue and a rodent thyroid gland using a bioprinter,” Khesuani said. “Our magnetic bioprinter became a permanent part of the ISS scientific equipment, enabling us to provide it as infrastructure for a wide range of biotechnology experiments.

“We intend to use our proprietary 3D bioprinting technology and tools as a platform to focus on cell-based cultured meat/fish project, while still further developing our 3D bioprinting technology.”

He noted 3D Bioprinting Solutions approached Aleph Farms in 2018 after realizing the company’s co-founder Dr. Shulamit Levenberg has a similar background in biotechnology, therefore, “we introduced both of our cutting-edge extrusion bioprinter FABION, along with Organ.Aut and magnetic bioprinter, to Aleph Farms”.

Cultured meat market

Aleph Farms’ announcement comes as the global cultured meat market is growing at an accelerate rate to meet the increasing consumer demand for ethical meat products made with minimum environmental damages.

MarketsandMarkets estimates the revenues of the global meat market to be $214 million in 2015, and to reach $593 million by 2032, growing at a 15.7% CAGR during the forecast period.

The research firm said “health concerns about the consumption of meat products and increased investor interest in alternative proteins” are also driving the growth of the cultured meat market, of which North America will account for the lion share in terms of value by 2021 due to the rise of innovations and developments.

Another Israel-based cultured meat specialist Future Meat Technologies recently secured a $14 million round of funding led by S2G Ventures and Emerald Technology Ventures. Founder and chief science officer Yaakov Nahmias is currently using the money to construct a facility, hoping to make the products affordable across Israel by 2021.

However, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, Didier Toubia, believes cultivating meat in space demonstrates several potential benefits.

“Space is one of the scarcest, most hostile and remote environments possible that have nearly no [natural] resources available. The experiment … has demonstrated our capacity to produce food without the reliance on local land and water resources, and then potentially reverse climate change,” he said, noting the UN recently stressed that conventional animal farming methods create a challenging environment that will ultimately undermine food security.

Toubia added: “Intensive animal farming also serves as a major driver of biodiversity loss and contributes to deforestation and fires in the Amazon, and is responsible for the destruction of soils due to monoculture of soy as animal feed.”

The other benefit is that cultivated meat can help avoid potential spoilage of food during transportation or storage since it can be produced anywhere at anytime.

Commercialization challenges

Despite the initial success of growing meat in space, experts believe full commercialization of such products will not materialize in the near term.

Toubia noted Aleph Farms has only established the framework, the infrastructure and the first milestone for further space explorations in the production of cultivated meat in space, saying that, however, the meat created in the experiment is not ready for consumption yet.

“[Our] focus at this stage was on establishing the cell-cell contacts, the structure and the texture of muscle tissues,” he noted.

Additionally, organizing delivery of the cell material to orbit is costly, making it difficult to produce meat in space on a large scale, according to Khesuani.

“Fortunately, our partners at Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, look forward to expanding the range of scientific experiments conducted on the Russian segment of the ISS, and they were eager to offer their assistance, both scientific and organizational, for this experiment,” he said.

“We believe that this space experiment is intrinsically linked to the development of cellular agriculture, the cultured meat in particular here on Earth, and the scientific insights gained from its results will allow the whole industry to reach market earlier.”

Sustainability, a key factor at 2022 World Cup Qatar

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 15:28:00 +0300

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has ensured that all sports facilities in Qatar will be accompanied by 850 square metres of green space.

Sustainability is one of the basic concepts which underlines all of the initiatives being undertaken by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (the department in charge of overseeing development projects for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar). Every sports facility which will by used for the tournament must included 850 square metres of green space (parks and lakes) in the surrounding areas.

Material will be recycled once the tournament is over - for example, seating in the upper areas of the stands at the World Cup stadiums will be dismantled once the event is over and given to other countries who need it for their own football development projects.

To remodel the new Al Rayyan stadium, 90% old of the old seating was recycled. All of the new World Cup stadia use 40% less water than in other sports stadia around the world.

As for the innovative Ras Abu Aboud stadium, which is constructed from shipping containers, it will be completely dismantled after the 2022 World Cup - it is the first stadium in World Cup history which has been specifically designed for temporary use and repurposing. Parts of the stadium will be used in sporting and non-sporting projects after the tournament setting new standards in sustainability with a waterfront development taking its place.

In all of the stadia at 2022 World Cup Qatar, low energy lighting will be used to reduce comsumption to a third of the energy required for standard lighting.

Transport is another area which has been addressed with Doha Metro, the three-line rail system which will transport fans to the World Cup venues, provides a fast and environmental-friendly service.

In accordance with the Qatar National Vision 2030 project, the majority of the infrastructure and new transport network which the 2022 World Cup will benefit from, forms part of a long-term initiave which was launched before Qatar was announced as the host nation for the 2022 World Cup.

About Qatar

Introduction
In commitment to the QNV 2030 and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 adopted by world leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2015, the State of Qatar has aligned the outcomes and goals of the Second National Development Strategy (NDS-2) 2018-2022 with the goals of the Sustainable Development Agenda. With this alignment, the goals and targets of the Global Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 have been adapted and integrated into NDS-2. The implementing agencies will allocate their resources to achieve the NDS goals in accordance with the agreed timeframe. Qatar National Voluntary Review Messages will highlight the country’s achievements in the set of selected SDGs for the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2018.

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
The State of Qatar ensures the provision of water for all its population. The percentage of population that benefited from safe drinking water services reached 100%, where seawater desalination constitutes 60% of total available water. Sustainably-managed sanitation services are also provided for all and the percentage of safely treated wastewater reached100% as well.

The total loss of desalinated water was reduced to 10% in 2016 (of which 4.7% was due to real loss and less than 6% was due to administrative loss), compared to 30% in 2011. The Rationalization Law No. 26 of 2008 was amended by Law No. 20/2015 to raise users’ awareness on the optimal use of water. In addition, defective meters have been replaced with smart meters. Modern techniques to rationalize the use of water have been installed in some schools and mosques and are being installed for other uses. Wastewater treatment plants have been expanded and the study of the establishment of an industrial wastewater treatment plant has been completed. Qatar’s water policy has also been prepared and approved, which includes an integrated management of water resources to be implemented in 2018, while Qatar Water Strategy is underway and will be completed by mid-2018.

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
The State of Qatar has ensured that its population has access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy services by following an optimal pricing method of energy sector-related goods (water, electricity, fuel). The State has adopted alternative sources of energy, such as: the establishment of Umm AlHoul projects, Siraj Energy Company and a number of solar-related industrial companies, e.g. Qatar Solar Technologies.

Qatar has also promoted energy and gas efficiency through the formation of a National Renewable Energy Committee at the Ministry of Energy and Industry, which is drafting a national policy for the development of the new and renewable energy sector.

Within the framework of enhancing the efficiency of energy production, distribution and consumption, the State of Qatar has undertaken the following measures:

Qatar District Cooling Company “Qatar Cool” has achieved compliance with the transition plan for the use of treated wastewater in the operation of cooling stations instead of using potable water (in the Pearl and West Bay stations).

The implementation of the program of rationalizing energy and water consumption (Tarsheed) continues, leading to a reduced rate of electricity per capita consumption by 18% and water per capita consumption by about 20% since its launch in 2012 until the end of 2016.

The necessary studies are conducted by Qatar Electricity and Water Company (KAHRAMAA) for the rehabilitation and development of Ras Abu Fantas area by replacing the old plants by new ones with better efficiency, state-of-the-art technologies and low emissions by 2018.

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
The State of Qatar has ensured that the overall urban plan is the spatial translation of QNV 2030 and a strategic guide to the management and development of vibrant and sustainable spatial communities, such as cities and human settlements, in order to improve the quality of life, provide a decent living for both citizens and expatriates and make Qatar a safe haven for learning and innovation. Qatar has also built an advanced infrastructure, enabled citizens to obtain modern housing, constructed universities, research centers, schools, public libraries, museums, heritage villages and clubs, and established hospitals, health centers, playgrounds, parks, green areas and rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities. It has further provided clean water and electricity at affordable cost, in addition to transport, telephone and Internet networks. Doha has become an attractive destination for shopping and recreation at reasonable cost. Doha has a world class convention center, a GISbased referencing system for zones, streets and buildings, which is used effectively in postal, ambulance, emergency and other service; and a public library with international standards. An international airport has been built to match the world’s most advenced airports, as well as an international seaport that contributes to the promotion of international trade. Despite the large population increase, the death toll from road accidents has been decreased, and all phases of the National Disaster Management and Recovery Project have been completed in 2016.

The first phase of Qatar Rail will be inaugurated in 2019, and Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022; a unique global sport and cultural event that will be broadcast all over the world. The elected Central Municipal Council works to improve the quality of services provided by municipalities. The State is working hard to combat pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to manage the effects of climate change and to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Qatar, in accordance with QNV 2030, aspires to optimize investment in natural resources to meet the needs of the current generation without prejudice to the rights of future generations, and to build more smart cities, such as the Pearl and Lusail cities.

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
The State of Qatar has been able to create a clean and sustainable environment despite the increase in its population. Qatar encourages the efficient use of natural resources and green initiatives, recycling and reducing the production of waste, and implementing programs and projects related to pollution and solid waste recycling. The Domestic Solid Waste Management Center was opened in Mesaieed in 2011. Solid waste (construction) generation was reduced from about 9.6 million tons in 2011 to 4.6 million tons in 2016. Qatar has also encouraged and promoted local product culture.

The Government of Qatar has encouraged the engagement of consumers by raising awareness and education on optimal water use patterns, rationalizing energy use by switching to energy-efficient lamps and air conditioners, encouraging the use of renewable energy, increasing the efficiency of water desalination systems and reducing gas emissions. It has also directed to avoid the excessive use of groundwater through smart meters so as not to aggravate water stress and salinity. It has further supported the installation of modern techniques to rationalize the use of water in schools and mosques, and encouraged the use of treated wastewater in central cooling facilities and in irrigation of fodder and green spaces.

The government has also promoted the efficient use of energy and gas through the National Committee on Renewable Energy, in addition to providing a system of plant, fish, and livestock production that contributes to food security to reach high rates of self-sufficiency.

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
The State of Qatar has endeavored to preserve its biodiversity as part of its heritage, culture and future in order to preserve its national and cultural identity, food security and local development: and to provide resources for scientific and medical research, as well as other benefits. Over the past ten years, the terrestrial protected areas increased from 11% to 23.6% totaling 2,744 km2 , in addition to 6.2% for marine protected areas totaling 720 km2 , bringing the total protected area to 3,464 km2 , representing 29.8% of Qatar’s total area, which is one of the highest rates in the world. These protected areas, mostly terrestrial, aim to protect sensitive desert ecosystems from overhunting and overgrazing, as well as to combat desertification and halt land degradation. The Government is also working to raise awareness on the current and future status of biodiversity and to establish and operate a biodiversity database by the end of 2022.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
The State of Qatar has strengthened its global presence by hosting several international conferences on sustainable development, such as the “Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development To Review The Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus” held in Doha (29 November - 2 December 2008). In terms of financing for development, the State of Qatar provided development assistance to poor countries, needy groups and refugees in excess of US $ 2 billion in 2017. The role of civil society in the country became more active and sponsored the “Doha Declaration on the Role of Civil Society in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, 2017. The State of Qatar was keen to promote the use of technology in the implementation of most of its economic, social and environmental development programs aimed at improving the quality of life in the state and establishing of sustainable societies where no one is left behind. The Qatar National Research Strategy 2012 provides a framework for the research objectives of Qatar Foundation Research & Development Sector. Qatar has also been keen to enhance the capacity of its citizens to enable them to effectively contribute to the development process. Thus, Qatar has established schools and universities and sent many students on scholarships abroad. Moreover, The State of Qatar has signed trade agreements with many countries around the world.

🚧 Top 20 biotechnology companies in Europe making every industry greener 🔝

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 12:03:00 +0300

Industrial biotechnology draws from biology and the billions of years of evolution behind it to make the production of any chemical compound more efficient and more sustainable. In Europe, the industrial biotech sector is rapidly growing as a response to the environmental impact of current chemical production methods used in all industries.

Europe’s industrial biotechnology sector is driving a massive change from petrochemical processes to more sustainable alternatives. Here are the top industrial biotechnology companies in Europe making every industry greener:

Avantium
Founded: 2000, Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

A spin-off from Shell, Avantium is developing renewable materials from plant sugars. One of its most notable applications is the development of 100% renewable bioplastics. The technology has managed to lure big brands, with ongoing projects to make bottles for Coca Cola and yogurt cups for Danone. With two pilot plants opened in the Netherlands, the company uses forestry and agricultural byproducts as a sugar source to avoid competing with crops intended for food production.

Global Bioenergies
Founded: 2008, Location: Evry, France

This French company uses agricultural and forestry waste to make isobutene through microbial fermentation. This chemical derived from petroleum is a major staple of the petrochemical industry, used in fuels, natural gas, rubber, plastics, lubricants and cosmetics among others. Among many other applications, Global Bioenergies is working with Audi to make sustainable gasoline.

Carbios
Founded: 2011, Location: St-Beauzire, France

Carbios seeks to make PET, one of the most commonly used plastics, fully recyclable. The company has developed an enzymatic technology that can break down 97% of PET waste. The resulting components can then be used to make 100% recycled plastic bottles. Later this year, Carbios is planning to open a demonstration plant that will take it closer to the commercialization of its technology.

AMSilk
Founded: 2008, Location: Planegg, Germany

AMSilk creates high-performance materials made of spider silk protein produced by engineered bacteria. The range of applications seems limitless. AMSilk is working with Adidas on a biodegradable running shoe, and with Airbus on lightweight materials for plane construction. So far, the largest application of these proteins is in cosmetics — this arm of the business was acquired by the Swiss company Givaudan earlier this year. Other uses in development include medical implants and vaccine delivery.

Algalife
Founded: 2016
Location: Berlin, Germany & Beit Yizhak, Israel

Algalife founder Renana Krebs used to work in the fashion industry, where she became aware of the huge environmental impact of this industry. Her company uses algae to produce fibers that are used to make clothes, as well as textile dyes. The goal is to reduce the use of water and to cut the need for toxic chemicals. Algalife is first eyeing the home and sportswear market, with the goal to start selling its unique clothing by 2020.

PILI
Founded: 2015
Location: Paris, France

This biotech startup seeks to disrupt the unsustainable production of dyes. PILI uses microbial fermentation to produce the same chemicals used to dye textiles. This could reduce water use by 5 times and carbon dioxide emissions by 10 times as compared to the petrochemical processes currently used in the dyeing industry. In addition, it can reduce the use of petroleum and toxic chemicals.

Jellagen
Founded: 2013
Location: Cardiff, UK

Inspired by jellyfish blooms in the coast of Scotland, Jellagen co-founder Andrew Mearns Spragg decided to use this animal to source collagen. The most abundant protein in the body, collagen is often used in the medical and cosmetic industries. Obtaining collagen from jellyfish rather than cows or pigs makes the product safer, as it is less likely to carry mammalian diseases.

Aquaporin
Founded: 2005
Location: Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Aquaporin aims to make water purification faster and more efficient than with traditional reverse osmosis. The company uses membranes seeded with molecules called aquaporins, which transport water molecules through the membrane but leave any contaminants behind. One interesting application of this technology is to recycle water in space, which Aquaporin is testing in partnership with the Danish Aerospace Company.

Biomimetx
Founded: 2013
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Conveniently located near the sea, Biomimetx develops an anti-fouling paint additive that prevents microorganisms from latching onto and growing on boats. The company uses bacteria to produce an environmentally friendly alternative to current toxic anti-fouling paint. The additive is biodegradable, degrading within one month when it leaches into the water.

Gene & Green TK
Founded: 2013
Location: Marseille, France

Gene & Green TK is developing enzymes to degrade organophosphates, which are used as toxic insecticides and chemical warfare agents — including the VX nerve agent used to kill former North Korean leader King-Jong Nam. The enzymes are derived from the extremophile microorganism Sulfolobus solfataricus, which lives in volcanic pools in Italy.

Deinove
Founded: 2006
Location: Grabels, France

Deinove screens rare microorganisms to find useful molecules. This has led to the development of an anti-aging cosmetic ingredient that is produced by the extremophile bacterium Deinococcus geothermalis, which survives in the volcanic hot springs of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The company has several other cosmetics in development, as well as new types of antibiotics and feed additives.

Agrosavfe
Founded: 2013
Location: Ghent, Belgium

Agrosavfe takes inspiration from the antibodies of animals like llamas and camels to develop fungicides. These molecules are targeted exclusively to a specific pest, preventing damage to other insects such as pollinators. The company’s biofungicides have also been proved to be safe for consumers and for the environment, cutting food loss by 70% and chemical residues by 40% compared to conventional pesticides.

Micropep Technologies
Founded: 2016
Location: Toulouse, France

Micropep works on natural crop biostimulants and herbicides as an alternative to chemical products. The company develops micro-peptides, molecules that regulate gene expression without altering the plant DNA. They can be used to specifically stimulate the germination, flowering or growth of a crop, or for weed control. The micro-peptides work on the target crop, without affecting other plants or insects.

Oxitec
Founded: 2002
Location: Abingdon, UK

A spin-off from Oxford University, Oxitec uses genetic engineering for insect control. By introducing a gene that kills the female offspring of mosquitoes, the company has managed to massively reduce local populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes in Brazil, India and Panama among other places. Oxitec is also using the technology to control pests that attack food crops, such as some species of caterpillars or moths. Since 2015, Oxitec is a subsidiary of US-based Intrexon Corporation.

Biophero
Founded: 2016
Location: Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Biophero aims to replace insecticides with a natural alternative: pheromones. Applying pheromones to crops can mask the pheromones that female insects use to attract males, reducing mating. In addition, pheromones are not toxic to humans and evaporate over time, leaving no toxic chemical remnants. The company has developed a method to produce these molecules through yeast fermentation, making their industrial production affordable.

Metgen
Founded: 2008
Location: Kaarina, Finland

Metgen develops custom enzymes to make industrial production of paper, chemicals and biogas more efficient and sustainable. The enzymes are engineered to adapt to thrive in harsh industrial conditions to drive up efficiency. The company also offers enzymes that can efficiently use wood waste as a raw material, a challenge that can often increment the cost and energy it takes to process this kind of material.

Metabolic Explorer
Founded: 1999
Location: St-Beauzire, France

A spin-off from the Université d’Auvergne, Metabolic Explorer has the goal of offering alternatives to petrochemicals in all industries. Its first product is intended to replace the petrochemical production of methionine, an amino acid used as a cost-effective additive to animal feed. The company also seeks to produce textiles and packaging materials.

Photanol
Founded: 2008
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

A spin-off of the University of Amsterdam, Photanol is dedicated to creating chemicals using solely light and carbon dioxide. The trick consists of genetically engineering cyanobacteria, which are natural photosynthesizers, to produce the desired chemicals. The company is targeting first the production of high-value compounds such as organic acids used to create polymers.

GF Biochemicals
Founded: 2008
Location: Geleen, The Netherlands & Milan, Italy

GF Biochemicals boasts that it is the only company producing levulinic acid directly from biomass instead of petroleum. This organic acid and its many derivatives have a huge range of applications, including cosmetics, solvents, detergents, coatings, flavors, fragrances, fuels and polymer materials. The company has plans to open the largest biorefinery plant in the US in partnership with the company American Process.

Afyren
Founded: 2012
Location: Saint-Beauzire, France

Afyren uses microbial fermentation to produce a range of organic acids from waste biomass. The company currently produces seven organic acids that can otherwise only be produced using petrochemical processes. The applications range from cosmetics to flavors and fragrances, also including nutrition and fine chemicals. Afyren is now in the process of scaling up its production with a new fermentation plant.

Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) approved guidelines for sustainability of space

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 10:33:00 +0300

The approval of set of space sustainability guidelines by a United Nations committee has been widely endorsed by the global space community, even while questions remain on how those guidelines can be turned into more binding rules.

The U.N.’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) formally approved 21 guidelines for long-term sustainability of space at the end of its latest session in Vienna June 21, referring them to the U.N. General Assembly for endorsement later this year. The guidelines cover a range of recommended behaviors and best practices in space, including safety of space operations and international cooperation.

The guidelines were developed by a working group that started in 2010 and wrapped up its efforts last year. COPUOS didn’t approve them last year, sources familiar with the process said, because Russia sought to add seven additional guidelines. COPUOS acts by consensus among its 92 member states, so extensive discussions took place to convince Russia to accept the 21 guidelines and defer debate on additional ones to a new working group.

At a pair of events here this week, government and industry officials hailed the adoption of the guidelines as a major step towards enacting practices intended to reduce the creation of space debris and other hazards that affect activities in Earth orbit.

“This is probably the most significant output of COPUOS in the last decade, and a significant step forward for promoting space sustainability,” said Peter Martinez, executive director of the Secure World Foundation, in opening remarks June 25 at his organization’s Summit for Space Sustainability. Prior to joining the Secure World Foundation last year, he chaired the COPUOS working group that developed those guidelines.

Andre Rypl, a Brazilian diplomat who serves as chair of COPUOS, praised countries for extended discussions that led to the consensus approval of the guidelines. “This only happened because people were engaged,” he said during a panel discussion at the event June 26. “We basically had different countries with very different views sitting together, drafting text together, recognizing that this was absolutely essential. We had to develop something that was the product of agreement.”

“Sometimes the process can sound a little bit long, and it is,” Simonetta di Pippo, director of the U.N.’s Office for Outer Space Affairs, said during a June 25 panel discussion. The acceptance of the long-term space sustainability guidelines is a “role model” for space diplomacy, she argued, because the consensus COPUOS reached means “all the member states will adhere to that.”

Among the COPUOS members that endorsed the guidelines is the United States. The approval of the guidelines is a “historic accomplishment,” said Audrey Schaffer, director of space strategy and plans at the Defense Department and a member of the U.S. team that negotiated the guidelines, during a panel discussion June 27 at the Space Enterprise Summit, a joint event of the Commerce and State Departments here.

She argued that the guidelines were important for several reasons, including both their comprehensive scope and their consensus acceptance. “What that tells us is that this is truly a universal agreement for the international community at large, and a political one,” she said. “States are showing their commitment to long-term sustainability of outer space activities.”

Another key factor, she said, is that commercial operators were also included in the discussions about the guidelines, reflecting the growing role that companies, and not just countries, play in space. “What that meant is that the best practices that were incorporated into the guidelines were not just government practices, but also private sector practices.”

Those guidelines, however, are not binding on nations or other organizations. Backers of the guidelines anticipate that countries will review the guidelines and incorporate them into national laws and regulations. Schaffer, for example, noted that the guidelines are already “very consistent” with existing U.S. policies and practices.

Other countries plan to examine how the guidelines match up with national policies. “We’re starting a review of our existing regulations to ensure that we are meeting our international obligations,” said Elle Agnew, manager of international and regulatory affairs at the Canadian Space Agency, at the Space Enterprise Summit June 27. That includes mapping the contents of the guidelines to those regulations. Where there’s a gap, she said, that process will “influence the decision making in the regulatory reform that we’re undergoing.”

She and representatives of other nations said they planned to discuss those efforts at future meetings of COPUOS, including any technical issues that might arise from trying to implement them.

“It is a monumental achievement to have these guidelines approved at a time when tensions are maybe escalating around the world,” Agnew said. “Let’s not forget how important and significant these are.”

Ralph Lauren Names 1st Chief Sustainability Officer, Backs Goals with Senior Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 23:02:00 +0300

Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL) unveiled its renewed strategy on Global Citizenship & Sustainability as part of its fiscal year 2019 (FY19) report, published today. The strategy, Design the Change, is both a commitment and a journey to accelerate the Company’s work across citizenship and sustainability and includes a new set of goals that bring clarity and focus to how Ralph Lauren will deliver the change required to create a better future. As part of its commitment, the Company also announced it has signed onto the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), joining other companies across industries to implement universal sustainability principles and to take steps to support UN goals.

“When Ralph founded our Company more than 50 years ago, he did so with the conviction that whatever we create is meant to be worn, loved and passed on for generations,” says Patrice Louvet, CEO and President, Ralph Lauren Corporation. “This philosophy is deeply embedded in our culture, our brands and our Purpose–to inspire the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style. It also inspires Design the Change, a strategy that will accelerate our efforts to create a positive impact in society and a more sustainable future.”

Design the Change is led by senior leadership, with strong governance in place. The Ralph Lauren Corporation Board of Directors has expanded the responsibilities of the Company’s Nominating & Governance Committee to include oversight of environmental and social risks and opportunities; the Company formed a Senior Steering Team made up of members of the Global Leadership Team; and the Company recently appointed its first Chief Sustainability Officer, Halide Alagöz, who also serves as the Company’s Chief Supply Chain Officer.

Design the Change is focused on three areas where Ralph Lauren can create the greatest positive impact: Creating Timeless Style, Protecting the Environment, and Championing Better Lives. Its foundation is 16 ambitious goals that will guide the Company’s work across each of these areas.

Select goals include:

Achieve 100% sustainably-sourced key materials – including cotton – by 2025

Train design, product development and merchant teams on sustainable, circular, inclusive and culturally-aware design annually by 2020

Set science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2020 and 100% renewable energy targets by the end of 2019

Achieve gender parity with equal representation in leadership positions at the Vice President level and above by 2023

Increase female representation in factory management by 25% by 2025

The report also highlights significant Company achievements from the past year. Of note, Ralph Lauren:

Unveiled the Earth Polo, a reimagination of the iconic Polo shirt crafted from an innovative fabric produced entirely from plastic bottles. The creation of the Earth Polo is part of the Company’s commitment to recycle 170 million bottles by 2025. Each Polo is made from approximately 12 plastic bottles – which may have otherwise ended up in oceans or landfills – and uses a completely waterless dyeing process.

Donated more than 14,000 hours of time and talent to non-profit organizations through Ralph Lauren Gives Back. In FY19, the Company hosted three Ralph Lauren Gives Back weeks, during which Company teams volunteered with 80 organizations. Employees also took part in 64 fundraising walks for life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and AIDS.

Achieved a global workforce gender balance of 64% female, with women holding 53% of positions at and above the Senior Director level.

Launched the “Lead Like a Woman” campaign, a platform which aims to close the leadership gap between women and men, and includes media, products and events celebrating female leaders and providing support for the NGO Women in Film.

The 2019 Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report and the 2019 Standards Supplement are available for download on the Company’s website.

ABOUT RALPH LAUREN

Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps and Club Monaco, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands.

New research suggests over half (52%) of consumers in the UK and US want the fashion industry to be more sustainable. Though clothing manufacturers like Ralph Lauren are already taking steps to become more sustainable, 45% of the 2,000 consumers polled agree that it is difficult to know which fashion brands are really committed to sustainability.

A Fashion Transparency Index published in April, however, indicated that more than half – 54% – of fashion companies are publishing goals on improving their environmental impact.

Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion concerns more than addressing fashion textiles or products. It comprises addressing the whole system of fashion.

EU Green Week inspiration: 5 networks to watch

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 May 2019 18:00:00 +0300

Have you heard thousands of young people all over the world calling upon us to get serious about the climate crisis? It’s high time we stopped making excuses and started acting. URBACT transfer networks offer concrete examples of how each and every city can contribute to a more sustainable future.

1. Bee-friendly cities - good for nature, good for people

Did you know that bees are one of the best indicators of environmental health? This is why the city of Ljubljana (SL), European Green Capital 2016, originally decided to support urban beekeeping and then things got a little out of control! It turned out that the bees (or was it honey?) had the power to bring so many people and activities together: from biodiversity protection to tourism, from corporate social responsibility to open source design. As part of BeePathNet network, Ljubljana and 5 partner cities are (re)discovering urban beekeeping as a way to co-create greener cities and stronger communities.

2. Sustainable food - one school meal at a time

Think only big cities can afford to go green? Think again or, better yet, find out more about the incredible work that the French city of Mouans-Sartoux (FR) and its BioCanteens partner cities do to promote sustainable food systems. Imagine school canteens with 100% organic meals that do not cost more thanks to reduced food waste. They are also better for the planet thanks to an increased share of plant proteins. And now, imagine the food is also grown locally, creating jobs and raising awareness about sustainable lifestyles. Sounds tasty, right?

3. Urban gardens – looking to Rome

Urban gardening projects have become widespread in European cities, but are we making the most of the opportunities they offer? Urban gardens are not just places to relax and grow some zucchini; they can be experiments in citizenship and democracy, social innovation and inclusion too. They can also promote new, healthier mind-sets and lifestyles. Partners of RU:RBAN network are getting inspiration from the city of Rome (IT), home to over 200 community-run green areas that fulfil social, environmental and cultural goals.

4. Recycling – re-use and reap the rewards!

Learning from the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela (ES), Tropa Verde partners are encouraging citizens to reuse and recycle by proposing a reward system managed via an online platform. Local government works closely with local businesses and partners to make sustainable choices easier and more fun. The trick is to set the rewards in such a way that the system promotes genuine behaviour change and does not simply fuel more consumption, e.g. by supporting sustainable businesses, promoting services over products or encouraging a healthy lifestyle. We can all learn from the Tropa Verde network!

5. Climate emergency – helping artfully

The arts and culture sector is far from being the biggest contributor to the climate emergency we are facing. However, when it comes to sustainability, artists and institutions can lead by example, bring critical issues to the public agenda and change mind-sets. The partners of the C-CHANGE network are learning from the experience of the Manchester Arts Sustainability Team how to better involve the arts and culture sector in developing and implementing ambitious local climate policies. Who knew that the local arts and culture community could be the best allies in creating a cultural shift and a sense of urgency needed to address the climate emergency?

Environmental laws have a huge impact on our life. They improve water and air quality, they protect nature, and they encourage recycling and waste management. But to really make an appreciable difference, these EU laws must be implemented in full.

EU citizens consider environmental protection to be of crucial importance. The European Union has some of the most ambitious environmental protection rules and policies in the world. However, their proper implementation remains a major cause of concerns to society.

In April 2019, the European Commission published a set of reports on the state of implementation of environmental laws in Europe: the Environmental Implementation Review.

The purpose of the Environmental Implementation Review is to provide an informative picture of where each Member State stands, identifying their main shortcomings in implementing EU environmental legislation, as well as to recommend remedial priority actions and to provide support to those Member States lagging behind in terms of implementation, in particular through the peer-to-peer tool for technical assistance.

The EIR is designed as an ongoing process of analysis, dialogue and collaboration to improve the implementation of existing EU environmental policy and legislation in all Member States, punctuated every two years with release of country reports and with structured dialogues with the Member States.

The country reports provide added value for citizens and civil society organisations in the respective countries: they provide a comprehensive overview of the situation in each country, allow to compare their performance, to identify common challenges and also to share best practices.
The EIR is a fair source of information that enables citizens to push for better implementation of environmental legislation.

How to tackle homelessness? Homelessness in Europe - a hidden figure. Six steps that can help us to tackle the problem.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 13:07:00 +0200

Kamel is one of the beneficiaries of the "400Rooftops" campaign, which aims to find stable houses for 400 homeless people by 2020.

The government of the Brussels Capital Region and seven non-governmental organizations (NGO) are part of a international project promoting housing as a first tool for social reintegration.

"I have the allowance of the CPAS, the rent is 610 euros, plus the charges for the energy. Calculate, there is 700 euros per month. I thought: "Kamel is expensive". But as I lived in the street, I said, "Kamel, that's it or to go back to the street." In the morning, I get up and if I have to go to eat in a social canteen or to look for places where I can eat for free, I move and I go there", he explains.

Rising housing costs are a growing problem in Europe. According to a 2019 report about housing insecurity presented by FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless), in Brussels, on the 22nd march, the so called overburden is one of the major challenges.

#OHEE2019 found a 70% increase of #homeless people* in the EU.

📈*@FEANTSA estimates that every night, at least 700.000 people sleep in the street or in emergency accomodation in EU: that's a 70% increase in 10 ys (410.000 in 2009)

Read the report here: https://t.co/pVmeJCPbEC pic.twitter.com/8WGmgGbcSi
— FEANTSA (@FEANTSA) March 26, 2019

Overburden affects mainly the poor households

Overburden is when a household spends more than 40% of its income on housing costs.

In the EU, it affects 10% of general households and 40% of poorer households.

In poorer households in Greece, average overburden stands at 72 per cent of monthly income. But richer member states like Denmark aren't immune with overburden at 60 per cent of the monthly income - and in Germany, the average is 48 per cent.

Brussels is trying to tackle the problem of costly, poor quality, overcrowded or temporary lodging by building housing estates like this one.

The Tivoli project is being developed by the Brussels Regional government. Tucked between the poorer district of Molenbeek and the posher area of Laeken, it will soon welcome new residents.

"In many European countries, housing expenses are growing faster then the incomes and taking a big slice of families budgets. In this project, in Brussels, 70 per cent of the houses are for conventional rent, but 30 per cent are for social renting. Many experts say that there is a need to invest more in social housing so that houses are perceived not as a financial product but as a human right", explains Euronews correspondent in Brussels, Isabel Marques da Silva.

The "400Rooftops" campaign also proposes a more intermediate solution: low-cost modular units that are temporarily installed on undeveloped land.

The founder of HuNeeds, an NGO working with the homeless, says these movable studios can be financed by private investors and public authorities.

"People are getting more excluded from housing.This solution allows for more affordable housing, it allows to get people out of the street, so they re-adapt to a new daily life, taking the necessary administrative steps to have greater access to the permanent housing", Nastasia Englebert.

There is no data about the exact number of homeless people across the EU. National figures are collected using different methods, and in different years, but especially in countries like Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium they point to a sharp rise in street sleeping after the economic crisis.

Providing increased capacity of better quality, emergency shelter is one of the main messages in the FEANTSA report.

It recommends that although housing is a national competence, the EU institutions should be working to highlight the problem and to find solutions.

"The European Commission should collect data on homelessness. It is challenging but it is not impossible and it could already do lot more with the national data that exists. Hidden homelessness, rough sleeping (situations) and people staying in emergency accommodation is really the tip of the iceberg. Homelessness is touching young people, that are particularly at risk, migrants in different situations, and women and children, all families, are increasingly affected by homelessness in Europe", says Ruth Owen, policy coordinator.

Finland is the only Member State where homelessness has been steadily decreasing for the last two decades, after creating a Housing First policy. But elsewhere in the EU it is a growing problem which will need to be solved.

#OHEE2019: Seeing below map ⤵️, there must be something EU can do.@Rakotomilimo says, the EU can&SHOULD
➡️ Act when MS violate #homeless people's rights
➡️ Invest more & more efficiently in #housing solutions
➡️ mainstream housing into legislation
(🙏 @RuthSOwen1 for recap) pic.twitter.com/8UYKmFM7Do
— FEANTSA (@FEANTSA) March 22, 2019

6 steps that can help us to tackle homelessness

Homelessness remains a critical challenge in both developing and developed countries. According to recent official estimates, about 235,000 people experience homelessness in any given year in Canada, while 553,742 do in the United States. With the exception of Finland and Norway, many countries in Europe have reported increasing numbers of people experiencing homelessness in recent years:

Germany: +150% (2014–16)

Ireland: +145% (2014–17)

Belgium: +96% (2008–16)

Austria +32% (2008–16)

Spain: +20% (2014–16)

England: +15% (2016–17)

These concerning trends have spurred policy-makers and service providers to explore new approaches, including Housing First, systems planning, and investments in supportive and affordable housing. As we learn more about the causes and dynamics of homelessness, we realize that we cannot resolve the issue in the homeless-serving system (the range of local and regional services that serve the homeless).

As a fusion of policy issues, homelessness involves actors, policies and services across government levels and departments, NGOs, the private sector and informal organizations. These form a complex ecosystem that people at risk of experiencing homelessness have to navigate. As a result of this understanding, significant efforts have been introduced to enhance the integration of these services, under the assumption that what we need is better coordination to improve access and efficiencies.

You can picture integration by imagining a network with nodes of activity, interests, people and resources as different parts of the systems that provide services to the homeless. The key then is to focus on which nodes offer clients the best outcomes. These include social services, education, justice, housing, health, children’s services and income support.

Despite work across jurisdictions, efforts to integrate have at times complicated an already uncoordinated service system with additional layers of administration. The unintended consequence has been to make access to support even harder to navigate and negotiate for vulnerable populations.

This brings us to some key questions. What is the role of integration in preventing and ending homelessness? When is it appropriate and desirable? And under what circumstances is it detrimental?

In a research report published through the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, we propose six key tenets to consider when introducing new integration measures in efforts to address homelessness (and other complex social issues).

*Why should we care about integration?

In 2017, Canadian charities generated $86 billion in revenues primarily through contracts with provincial and federal government, complemented by donations. Of this, our paper estimates that over $27 billion is spent annually on about 170,000 services to deal with mental health, addiction, homelessness, violence and poverty, each with their own target populations, eligibility criteria and funding sources.

In the US, a comparable figure is elusive, as much of the funding for the homelessness "ecosystem" is received piecemeal from federal, state and local governments, private foundations and donors. Direct federal investment totalled $2.5 billion in 2018 for homeless assistance services such as housing, food, education, employment, health and other support services. This is a sizeable amount that unfortunately fails to capture the full scale of resources at play.

*Have you read?

Despite this dizzying array of support, the most commonly cited concern for those struggling with life’s challenges is that they don’t know where and how to access help. Not surprisingly, decision-makers in funding and government roles also report a lack of understanding around which services are actually operating on the ground, and how they relate to each other. As a result, there's a strong impetus for improved integration to make sense of the confusing web of support.

*When integration goes wrong

However, at times we find that our efforts to make the system more transparent and easier to access have the exact opposite effect. We found evidence from diverse jurisdictions where solutions to integration challenges have actually added more bureaucracy, and therefore even more barriers on the front line.

In Canada, we saw task forces, committees and services being created to deal with complex client needs that had no line of sight to actual client outcomes. In some cases, there were almost as many integration initiatives as clients they sought to help (with tens of government and NGO staff involved in meeting and planning over countless hours).

In other instances, intended improvements for patients and clients were not only never achieved, but in fact worsened because of the additional demands of integration on front line workers. In England, auditors found no compelling evidence to show that integration among social and health services led to sustainable financial savings or reduced health system use. In a US example, integration of service delivery systems for homeless persons with serious mental illness in 15 cities showed limited integration at the system level.

We have to consistently probe the assumption that integration will increase efficiency and reduce costs, which in turn will create better individual and population-level outcomes. Integration efforts will not automatically improve efficiencies; second, more integration does not automatically equal better outcomes for clients or populations; third, system efficiencies are not the same thing as client outcomes (nor does one magically beget the other). The simplest example of the fault in this logic is cutting front line staff to save costs, thereby reducing care for clients.

*If integration isn’t a silver bullet, when is it a good idea?

Our research offers a six-part framework to help community leaders and policy-makers involved in such efforts to resist the urge to jump onto another task force, pilot programme or committee.

Articulating how best to move multiple and complex networks involved in homelessness as a coordinated ecosystem is no easy task. It asks for different commitment, thinking, mutual trust, relationships and time. It brings new risks and challenges to individual and organizational stakeholders.

There is no doubt that more effective delivery is needed, in addition to improved integration across agencies, systems and policies, to address complex social challenges like homelessness. However, such efforts must be done with intention so as not simply to add more layers of bureaucracy to an already confusing service network. The focus must remain on the clients, and not on the systems involved.

Integration should not be considered a cure-all for what ails the system. Rather, it would be more realistic to take a transformative and deliberate approach to collaboration and change.

Asia’s biggest funding opportunity for sustainable solutions offers up to S$1m and more for clean energy & circular economy solutions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 15:57:00 +0200

Singapore—The Liveability Challenge on 10th January launched a global call for innovative clean energy and circular economy solutions for cities in the tropics, dangling Asia’s biggest prize for sustainability solutions with up to S$1 million in project development funds, as well as exclusive crowdfunding campaigns and mentorship opportunities up for grabs. The global call for submissions will close on 5 April 2019, 11:59pm (GMT+8) Singapore time.

The need for transformative action has never been greater. Humanity only has 12 years to curb its carbon emissions and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius—or risk an irreversible climate crisis, according to the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It’s not game over yet. But beating the 12-year climate deadline and providing better lives for Asia’s growing urban populations will take a drastic reduction in our energy footprint and moving to a circular economy. That’s why The Liveability Challenge aims to close the financing gap between the ideas needed for liveable cities of the future, and the investments that will make these solutions a reality.

The Challenge is presented by Temasek Foundation Ecosperity and organised by Eco-Business, in partnership with Ecosperity Week 2019. A total of 28 partners from business, civil society and government are supporting The Liveability Challenge, almost double the number from 2018.

“To give the world a fighting chance at preventing runaway climate change, humanity must slash emissions by 45 per cent and it is clear that incremental improvements will not be enough. But we believe in the power of human ingenuity and determination, which is why this year’s Challenge aims to tackle two major areas of concern in sustainability—energy and circular economy,” said Ms Jessica Cheam, Managing Editor of Eco-Business.

“With more funding and support this year, the Challenge aims to drive impact and ensure a sustainable future for urban residents in the tropical belt, who are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the decades to come,” she added.

The launch event at Cool Cats, The NCO Club at South Beach marked the start of The Liveability Challenge 2019’s call for submissions related to clean energy or the circular economy. Proposals submitted must have proof of concept or have achieved Technology Readiness Level 6. Submissions close 5 April 2019, and must be done via the official website of The Liveability Challenge.

Shortlisted finalists will get to pitch their projects to a panel of #Asia’s most sought-after venture capitalists and investors during Ecosperity Week in June. Start-ups, innovators or anyone with an impactful, demonstrable solution will vie for not one but four prizes, including project funds of up to S$1 million from Temasek Foundation Ecosperity, a crowdfunding campaign on private equity investment platform FundedHere, a mentorship opportunity with the Circular Economy Club, and a spot in GoMassive’s accelerator programme.

“The first edition of The Liveability Challenge in 2018 exceeded our expectations by bringing innovators, funders, investors, and the sustainability ecosystem in Singapore and the region closer together. Temasek Foundation Ecosperity played a catalytic role in commercialising the first winning solution, which are the world’s first truly biodegradable straws, as a first step to reduce plastic waste and pollution,” said Mr Lim Hock Chuan, Chief Executive, Temasek Foundation Ecosperity.

He added: “More action is needed as the world seeks to accelerate the transition to a decarbonised and resource-efficient future. Temasek Foundation Ecosperity champions sustainability and liveability. Together with our partners, we hope to get more people on board and help game-changing solutions get the funding and support they need to be commercialised, and in time to come, make a big, positive difference to our collective living environment.”

Representatives from business, civic society and government at the exclusive launch event heard from a high-level line-up of speakers including venture capitalists, investors, sustainability experts and two of Singapore’s most prolific start-ups. They spoke about what it takes for innovative cleantech start-ups to get funded, how climate change is driving transformation in the economy, and why Singapore is the perfect bridge between sustainable solutions and green finance.

Mr Zhaotan Xiao, President Asia Pacific, RWDC Industries and winner of The Liveability Challenge 2018 for his proposal to manufacture the world’s first truly biodegradable straws, said: “The Liveability Challenge is a gathering of like-minded people concerned and passionate about our living environment, and opens doors to key industry players to scale up much-needed solutions. With a solid foundation in research and development, and strong credibility from RWDC’s win at The Liveability Challenge 2018, our straws have quickly been recognised by food & beverage brand names, many of whom have started strategic conversations with us.”

The Liveability Challenge has doubled the number of partners from its first edition in 2018. Partners for 2019 are: 500 Startups, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Circular Economy Club, Circulate Capital, Danfoss, Development Innovation Insider, Engie Factory, Enrupt, Envision Digital, Forum for the Future, FundedHere, Global Green Growth Institute, Golden Gate Ventures, GoMassive, Level3, National Environment Agency (Singapore), National University of Singapore, Nordic Innovation House, Olympus Capital Asia, Padang & Co, Ruder Finn, RWDC Industries, SGInnovate, Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, Singapore University of Technology and Design, WI Harper Group, Vertech Capital, and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Sustainability from Sanctions? The Eurasian Development Bank and Infrastructure Projects in Russia’s Arctic

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 15:37:00 +0200

Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) announced it will be financing infrastructure projects in Russia that were previously turned down by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The news follows yet another dismissal by the EBRD of a Russian complaint during the bank’s annual conference last month, citing the temporary suspension of funds for Russian projects in light of international sanctions linked to the Ukraine crisis. From the perspective of Arctic environmental and social sustainability, these developments are worrying because the EDB still lack the clear implementation frameworks deployed by the EBRD and other western lenders to international best practice standards. Nevertheless, they also represent an opportunity for the EDB to flesh out a sustainability framework of their own, with the potential to further reduce environmental and social risks of infrastructure projects across the Russian Arctic.

Applied Sustainable Development

The EDB was established in 2006 by Russia and Kazakhstan. It currently comprises six member states, including Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. As it develops, it should continue to provide transparent, practical mechanisms for reducing risks of investment, not least for projects based in the northernmost latitudes where investors and operators may struggle to obtain their Social License to Operate (SLO) if they fail to mitigate project risks to communities and ecosystems.
The Russian Arctic, with its vast area and hostile climate, is a challenging environment for development projects. Yet the region contains massive oil and gas reserves as well as a large portion of the nation’s estimated 20,000 deposits of minerals and metals. Compared with other Arctic states, Russia’s domestic social and environmental standards are limited; as development in the region continues, companies operating across the Russian Arctic and seeking project finance should have to comply with increasingly stringent social and environmental policies and procedures.

An ideal scenario would see the EDB publishing detailed sustainability guidance, which are essentially roadmaps for applied Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. By highlighting potential economic disadvantages of failure to mitigate project risks to the environment and communities, facilitated by bespoke methods of impact measurement, these frameworks offer achievable pathways to sustainable development backed by financial and reputational incentives.

In practice, this means the EDB should produce clear guidance requiring environmental and social risks of a project to be addressed before funding can be unlocked. Broad environmental areas covered within such frameworks typically include landscapes and topography, soils, geology, air quality, hydrology and biodiversity. They also address impacts on local communities and stakeholders, including on demographics, land use and livelihoods, infrastructure, transportation, human resources, archaeology and cultural heritage.
A Sustainable Investment Opportunity

The concept of sustainable investment is not a new one. Over the past thirty years, financial institutions have grown increasingly aware of how environmental and social risks may harm investment, including by eroding the trust of project stakeholders. Starting in the mid-1990s, pioneering banks began reporting on the environmental impact of their investments in an effort to promote transparency and gain a reputation for sustainability credentials. Nearly a decade later, the United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the milestone Equator Principles (EPs) formalized how banks, asset managers and insurance companies reported environmental and social performance of large-scale (over US$10 million) infrastructure, mining and energy projects.

In this context, the 2006 International Finance Corporation Performance Standards (IFC PS) offered an early benchmark of best practice. Supported by subsequent revisions and similar guidance, such as the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Sustainability, these offered recommendations for environmental practices, the health and safety of workers, and engagement with communities. At the heart of these schemes lies the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) reporting. Transparency is a vital component within these strategies, often requiring early public disclosure of predicted impacts in advance of the allocation of funding.

Emergence of Cross-Cutting Themes

Any novel framework created by the EDB should be seen as an opportunity to further advance the integration of cross-cutting, global themes into site-specific analyses. Whereas initial sustainable investment guidance focused largely on stand-alone aspects in the social and natural environment, themes such as climate change, ecosystem services, gender and human rights bridge the gap between social and environmental aspects of impact analyses. These themes cannot be addressed in isolation and their delivery to international best practice standards often requires a multidisciplinary team of independent experts.

For example, ecosystem services approaches attempt to quantify the intrinsic value of the environment to human well-being. By incorporating these into risk management frameworks, for example by measuring impact on potable water provision or risk to species used in traditional hunting practices, the new frameworks bridge the gap between environmental and social elements of risk. The same holds true for risks relating to climate change, where emissions scenarios and their complex consequences throughout a project’s lifetime continue to take on a more prominent role within impact assessments.

Human rights and gender aspects are also increasingly important within the impact assessment process. They are formalized in enhanced stakeholder engagement strategies and the provision of grievance mechanisms, through which vulnerable community members are given a continuous chance to voice their concerns directly to operators. Often easier said than done, these approaches encourage operators to co-develop projects with stakeholders. This is particularly important in the Arctic, where concerns of Indigenous Peoples are often overlooked by outside investors and project operators.

Improving Delivery of CSR in the Russian Arctic

The financial incentives for improved delivery of CSR in emerging economies have never been greater. Wherever operators seek finance from lenders with stringent sustainability credentials, local communities across the Russian Arctic are set to benefit. In this context, although the EBRD made the decision to temporarily suspend funding of new projects in Russia in July 2014, a country which until then accounted for about one-third of the bank’s lending volumes, infrastructural development will continue across the country, not least as part of the global quest to unearth the Arctic’s wealth of natural resources.
Despite the challenges posed by the harsh climate and sheer vastness, the planet’s northernmost latitudes continue to emerge, including a result of climate change, as an important new frontier for shipping, fisheries and natural resource extraction. In the Russian Arctic, where social and environmental standards lag behind those deployed in other Arctic states, a novel EDB framework emphasizing cross-cutting themes and transparency has the potential to reduce harmful industrial practices, improve stakeholder engagement strategies and can lend a stronger voice to some of the Arctic’s most vulnerable communities.

Affordable Housing: the issue makes its come back on the European Agenda

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 02:03:00 +0200

What can be done to avoid evictions? How can a city provide housing to the most vulnerable groups and to the young talented people? Can low-carbon housing be affordable?
Barcelona , Dupnitsa and Poznan have developed interesting initiatives to work towards “Housing for All”, looking at the social, environmental and physical aspects of housing policies.

In an excellent article on the meaning of affordable housing,Laura Colini wrote the following: “If affordable housing simply means that adequate housing should be accessible and affordable to all, -and primarily to those at risk of becoming or already less well off- its meaning remains not universally shared in public policies all over Europe… the statistics on Affordability of housing by Eurostat from November 2015 are reporting for 2014 that 11.4 % share of the EU-28 population lived in households that spent 40% or more of their “equivalised disposable income” on housing.”

Two decades ago the housing problem was thought to be solved in European cities. The large construction programmes of the 1960s and 1970s decreased housing shortage, while the neoliberal economic turn and the reduction of the welfare state benefits to those who were considered to be the most in need (residual welfare system) further decreased the effective demand of families. This artificial balance of demand and supply suddenly changed with the economic crisis, which affected the construction industry to a very large extent. The huge drop in new housing construction, together with the austerity policies of the states (causing a further shrinking in welfare payments) led to a quick increase of the housing problems. Not only the number of homeless people grew but also of those who are living in very bad physical housing conditions and/or in overcrowded units. As a long-term consequence of the financial crisis also the number of families, which are threatened by eviction for not being able to pay their increasing housing costs, soared.

Inspirations and Learning from Barcelona, Dupnitsa and Poznan

Preventing Evictions: Barcelona’s example shows how cities are bound by the national legal framework
Cities, when designing their own policies towards affordable housing, do not operate in a vacuum: many aspects of housing policies are determined on national level. The URBACT Good Practice of Barcelona is a prime example of this.

When Ada Colau (link is external), a former housing activist, became mayor of Barcelona in 2015, the political strategy of Barcelona changed radically and the Right to housing became an important element of it.

“Housing First” is a well-known approach among cities, which have socially sensitive local housing. It responds to homelessness through offering housing units at the bottom of the housing market instead of placing homeless people into shelters.

Barcelona went further and also introduced the “Housing Last” program, which tries to keep people threatened by evictions as long as possible in their flats.

The number of planned evictions is high in Barcelona, around 30 evictions per week. Earlier the main reason for evictions was foreclosure. It has now become the high level of rents, partly boosted by AirBnB rentals.

The original political aim of the city was to stop evictions to happen at all, or at least to make it so that the final decision be taken at the local municipality level, as being the closest to citizens and knowing best the real circumstances. This would be in line with the proposals of the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, Feantsa (link is external), an EU-wide NGO focused on protecting the homeless. Unfortunately, Barcelona had to face the reality: in Spain, as in most other EU countries, housing competences are divided between the different levels of government and the quite strict national regulation on evictions can not be changed by local municipalities.

The URBACT City Festival (link is external)in Tallinn was the occasion to discuss the Barcelona case in an international perspective. In Poland, the national housing law does not allow to evict families to the street. The “Housing Last” program of Barcelona, which handles some 80% of eviction cases, either stopping the process or offering alternative accommodation for families where eviction cannot be avoided would not be needed in Poland, since the right to housing is there ensured (at least for families) by national law. No wonder that the representatives of Barcelona and Poznan exchanged their business cards: Barcelona seemed interested to study further the details of Polish housing law.

How Dupnitsa and Poznan defined eligibility to affordable housing to reach out to specific populations

Affordability of housing is a complex topic. There is no unilaterally accepted definition across EU countries, as the cases of Dupnitsa and Poznan show. Income limits, a key element to determine eligibility for affordable housing, have to be locally defined.

A Home for Everyone, the Good Practice of Dupnitsa, Bulgaria, aimed at the construction of 150 new social housing units for vulnerable families. Eligibility to the new social flats, was defined locally according to the following criteria: being a Bulgarian citizens, living at least since 5 years in Dupnitsa; having no properties suitable for permanent dwelling; having no ownership of non-built-up landed property, not owning factories, workshops, shops, commercial and business warehouses; having no ownership of property, including motor vehicles, of a total value greater than the market value of a dwelling in Dupnitsa. Besides these factors an upper income limit was given in the following way: one quarter of the total annual income of the household should be less than the cost of a market rental price for a home corresponding to the needs of the household.

The number of residents, which were considered as eligible on the basis of these factors, was much higher than the number of flats available. Thus a second step ranking system was introduced, based on employment, age, education, health and family status. Within this ranking the chances of families were higher if working (as opposed to unemployed), being middle aged (as opposed to younger and older); having higher education (as opposed to lower educated); being single parent or having many children (as opposed to families without children).

To sum up: in Dupnitsa those people had the chance to get a new social flat who did not have property and had middle or lower income. Within this group, however, the better educated and employed people had the advantage. The latter criteria hint to the efforts of the municipality to select those parts of the needy population which seems to have more ambitions to learn and work (which means excluding the “undeserving poor”).

Poznan developed a different approach, focussed on retaining university graduates and young talents in the city, offering them affordable rental flat for up to 10 years. Tenants are chosen on the basis of several selection criteria: they should be university graduates within the last five years, below 36 years old, and should not own any other apartment in Poznań. They must work in or run a business in Poznań and pay taxes there. There is also an upper and a lower income limit.
In both cities the new housing construction programme aimed for affordable housing to certain population groups. In order to achieve their aims, both programmes used interesting mixtures of upper and lower limits: with upper income and property limits to focus the programme to the relatively needy population but exclude (with the lower/minimum income, education and employment criteria) those who are the poorest, low educated or long-term unemployed.

Of course the latter can appear to be highly controversial conditions, which illustrates well the complexity of the affordable housing topic.

How to do it? The decisive impact of the institutional background

Affordable housing programmes require strong leadership of the local municipality. Such programmes might apply very different tools, depending on their focus, whether it is keeping vulnerable families in their flats, improving low quality housing or constructing new housing for specific population groups.

The URBACT Good Practice cities mentioned here share the strong political will to develop housing policies with social aims and have developed the corresponding professional capacity within the local municipality to steer such programmes.

There are differences in other details, e.g. Poznań has created the Social Housing Association (PTBS), a public company which can manage the housing programme for graduates, when the other cities do not have such institutions.

In Tallinn, the extent to which such city owned housing companies are needed to implement affordable housing programmes successfully was discussed heavily. This discussion led to further exchange between Antwerp and Poznan. Antwerp does not have its own housing company. The representatives of the city became interested in Poznan housing for graduates project and wondered if such a programme could be carried out on the basis of renting housing from the private market.

Learning from one corner of Europe to the other

One and half hour is not much time for discussions on such a complex issue as affordable housing. The Good Practices showcased in this panel at URBACT City Festival raised many interesting dilemmas, such as which population groups need help with affordable housing, how their selection can best be performed (income and other selection criteria) and to what extent publicly owned institutional background is needed for this. Besides these issues it was striking to see how well-developed and rich Western European cities (Barcelona and Antwerp) became interested to learn from innovative examples elaborated in less rich cities (Poznan and Dupnitsa) of the new member states. It is my hope that the exchanges among these good practices during the URBACT City Festival in Tallinn and the freshly established links between the cities last long and lead to new Transfer Networks in the future.

Efficient small micro-CHP generators are coming !

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 7 Nov 2017 10:19:00 +0200

Micro combined heat and power or micro-CHP or mCHP is an extension of the idea of cogeneration to the single/multi family home or small office building in the range of up to 50 kW.

As it turns out, most homes already have half of a miniaturized power plant. Electricity is just a part of our daily energy consumption - we also need heat to keep us warm. We need thermal energy to heat our homes, hot water and food. And so, in the US, more than 60 million homes are heated by natural gas and there are 100 million gas boilers installed in European homes.

Now, technologies are becoming available to complete the rest of the miniaturized power plant. This is called micro-combined heat and power (CHP). Micro-CHP generates both electricity and heat simultaneously at the size of a home. The heat meets the demand for space heating and hot water, while the electricity provides power for home appliances.

How does it work? Let’s first look at the current status quo. Right now, your boiler burns natural gas at incredibly high temperatures approaching 2,000°C. However, you only need hot water and space heating at ~50°C. At the moment, a gas boiler just lets the heat degrade and cool down, throwing away most of the useful energy content. In comparison, in micro-CHP, that huge temperature difference is used to generate electricity in addition to heat.

Micro-CHP can attain overall efficiencies of 90% by generating both electricity and heat on demand and at the location where both are needed and valuable. This contrasts with central power plants, which produce electricity at 35% efficiency. At these plants, the waste heat is usually thrown away, since the heat can’t be transported hundreds of miles to where it is needed. The higher efficiency of micro-CHP can help cut homeowners' energy bills by 30% and reduces their carbon footprint.

Some micro-CHP technologies use mechanical engines, such as internal combustion engines or Stirling engines. They reach good efficiencies only at larger sizes, so are more suitable for large apartment complexes or commercial buildings.

Today, newer technologies such as fuel cells and thermionic energy converters can reach high efficiencies even at the scale of a single home. This allows micro-CHP to be available to individual consumers and homeowners. Furthermore, these new technologies have no moving parts and thus have far lower maintenance requirements and no sound pollution making them more amenable to a residence. Finally, this set-up gives individuals the option of producing power on demand, thus complementing home solar power and storage.

A future of distributed generation

The benefits of a system of solar, batteries and efficient small generators go beyond being greener and saving energy bills. One recent sad example remains unresolved. A month after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, a US territory with 3.4 million people, 80% of the island still has no electricity. This tragedy shows the fragility of traditional centralized power generation and transmission.

The future can be different. By keeping power sources close to the end user, power is less likely to disappear when a tree falls on a power line. Solar, batteries and small generators can form a microgrid that improves the resilience of our energy systems.

Being able to go small matters. Together, these technologies enable distributed generation, even at the level of individual homes. This can be critical for the developing world, where billions of people still don’t have access to reliable power. With these technologies, society can leapfrog the need to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure for central power generation and transmission. This can help us to deliver power to all people faster.

Japan

The largest deployment of micro-CHP is in Japan in 2009 where over 90,000 units in place,[17] with the vast majority being of Honda's "ECO-WILL" type. Six Japanese energy companies launched the 300 W–1 kW PEMFC/SOFC ENE FARM product in 2009, with 3,000 installed units in 2008, a production target of 150,000 units for 2009–2010 and a target of 2,500,000 units in 2030. 20,000 units where sold in 2012 overall within the Ene Farm project making an estimated total of 50,000 PEMFC and up to 5,000 SOFC installations. For 2013 a state subsidy for 50,000 units is in place. The ENE FARM project will pass 100.000 systems in 2014, 34.213 PEMFC and 2.224 SOFC were installed in the period 2012-2014, 30,000 units on LNG and 6,000 on LPG.

Europe

The European public–private partnership Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking Seventh Framework Programme project ene.field aims to deploy by 2017 up 1,000 residential fuel cell Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) installations in 12 EU member states.

The programme brings together 9 mature European micro FC-CHP manufacturers into a common analysis framework to deliver trials across all of the available fuel cell CHP technologies. Fuel cell micro-CHP trials will be installed and actively monitored in dwellings across the range of European domestic heating markets, dwelling types and climatic zones, which will lead to an invaluable dataset on domestic energy consumption and micro-CHP applicability across Europe.
The ene.field project also brings together over 30 utilities, housing providers and municipalities to bring the products to market and explore different business models for micro-CHP deployment.

Conference on Sustainable Business & Development in Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 1 Aug 2017 17:22:00 +0300

This international, peer-reviewed weekend event will be held in partnership with the 3rd International Conference on Disaster Response and Management (DREAM 2017) and the 3rd Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Asia (COSTA 2017).

Nearly 30 years ago, the Brundtland report – formally titled “Our Common Future” – launched the concept of sustainable development as “the process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations.” At the heart of the concept of sustainable development lie two interrelated challenges: how to address our growth needs, in particular those of the developing countries, given the limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on our ability to meet present and future needs.

Despite significant progress made since the publication of the Brundtland report, the twin challenges of sustainable development remain valid to the present day. What type of governance structures, business practices, technological innovations, legal agreements or policy tools can best bridge the needs-limitation gap in order to facilitate and accelerate sustainable development? The rapid economic growth of the developing countries in Asia in the recent decades has added a new dimension to this process, by shifting the leverage of change from the West to the East. Designing infrastructure, products, enterprises and processes with sustainability in mind can have an enormous impact on environmental and social systems.

COSDA 2017 offers a platform for scholarly and applied conversations among a wide variety of stakeholders concerned with the continual challenge of advancing the sustainable development and business agenda: people, planet, and growth. Because this is an emerging paradigm, there is much research and exploration that is needed. Academics, researchers, students and representatives from industry, government and non-governmental organizations need to both share their findings and learn from each other, in order to facilitate the transformation in how economic activity is conducted, allowing human societies to be sustained and to thrive.

As the fields of sustainable development and sustainable business cross over into multiple areas and disciplines, authors are welcome to submit from a range of topics, perspectives, and disciplines. The range of research submissions may include conceptual, empirical, experimental, and case studies. We particularly invite papers making empirical and theoretical contributions about the social and economic processes impacting on sustainable development; global environmental governance, business and public policy approaches; technological innovations; climate change adaptation & mitigation; renewable energy development.

Climate Change and Sustainability
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Economic Development
Eco-Tourism & Sustainable Tourism
Public Policy
Sustainable Business, Production and Consumption
Sustainable Development
Sustainable and Renewable Energy
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Other Areas (Please Specify)

About Hiroshima

Hiroshima (広島市? Hiroshima-shi, Japanese: [çiɾoɕimaɕi]) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu - the largest island of Japan. The city's name, 広島, means "Broad Island" in Japanese. Hiroshima gained city status on April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1980, Hiroshima became a designated city. As of August 2016, the city had an estimated population of 1,196,274. The GDP in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Metropolitan Employment Area, is US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has been the city's mayor since April 2011.

Hiroshima is best known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped an atomic bomb on the city (and later on Nagasaki) at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, near the end of World War II.

The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 1 Jul 2017 17:12:00 +0300

"East Meets West: Innovation and Discovery"

From natural phenomena and the results of climate change to pollution and societal traumas, migrations and war, the enormous challenges that face humankind and our environment are frequently daunting and difficult to comprehend. However, with every new challenge or disruption comes the opportunity for innovation and discovery. Whether inventing new technologies, implementing innovative systems, enacting better policies, legislation, or governance, or ensuring greater cooperation and information sharing, responses are many and varied.

From incremental shift to radical change, from the local to the regional and from the national to the global, this international conference will focus on the challenges that demand a collective response. It will highlight the need to harness our abilities as scientists, policymakers, practitioners, engineers and educators to find multidisciplinary solutions in pursuit of the common goal of a sustainable world.

The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment (ECSEE2017) is a multidisciplinary conference held concurrently with The European Conference on the Social Sciences 2017 (ECSS2017). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either of these conferences permits attendance in both.

In conjunction with our Global Partners, including the University of Sussex and Birkbeck, University of London, we look forward to extending you a warm welcome in 2017.

Location: The Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront, Brighton, UK
Dates: Friday, July 07, 2017 to Sunday, July 09, 2017
Conference Theme: "East Meets West: Innovation and Discovery"

Why Attend ECSEE?

The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment (ECSEE) offers the chance for scholars and practitioners to exchange the latest ideas and approaches, attend workshops and interact with some of the biggest names in the field.

What’s more, this conference, like all IAFOR conferences, is organised in partnership with some of the world’s leading universities and academic associations. These partnerships attest to the excellence of our programme and ensure that the conference offers an exceptional platform through which to disseminate research. Learn more about IAFOR's Global Partners.

Academic Quality

We work hard to put together an excellent academic programme of plenary and featured sessions, topical panels, workshops and forums, but the heart of any academic conference is, of course, the parallel sessions during which the majority of delegates present their papers, then engage in discussion and receive feedback from their peers.

The responses indicate that consistent high standards are maintained during this part of the conference. 85% of respondents to the ECSEE/ECSS 2016 feedback survey said they were satisfied with the quality of the parallel sessions, with 60% responding that they were "good" and 25% stating that they were "fair".

Networking Opportunities

Human interaction is at the source of all value creation, and our academic connections provide us with a community of knowledge. Conferences provide an excellent opportunity for academics to expand the personal and professional networks necessary for a successful career.

IAFOR's conveniently located conference venue in Brighton offers an ideal environment for building these networks. Delegates have numerous opportunities to connect with their peers – over freshly brewed coffee in the baseroom, at a forum discussion, in the sessions and workshops, at the cultural or side events, over lunch, at the evening dinner out, or on one of the conference tours.

Based on feedback received after the ECSEE/ECSS 2016 conference, 86% of respondents said that they were satisfied with the networking opportunities offered by the event, with 14% responding the networking opportunities were "very good", 29% describing them as "good" and 43% saying they were "fair".

Conference Venue

The UK is a wonderful place to attend an event – vibrant, culturally rich and scenic – and Brighton is one of the most attractive cities in the country. From iconic tourist spots to beachfront cool, Brighton is crammed full of things to see and do. Boasting a cultural heritage that includes the Royal Pavilion, Regency architecture and Victorian aquariums plus the seaside attractions of Brighton Pier, the Brighton Wheel and the famous pebble beach, Brighton offers something to delight each and every visitor.

95% of respondents said they were satisfied with the conference venue, Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront Hotel, which is bright, modern and conducive to networking.

Situated on the picturesque seafront, Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront Hotel is centrally located and is a short walk or taxi ride from nearby train and coach stations.

95% of respondents to the ECSEE/ECSS 2016 feedback survey were satisfied with the quality of the conference venue, with 14% responding that it was "very good", 43% responding that it was "good" and 38% stating that it was "fair".

World Refugee Day 20 June

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 17:25:00 +0300

In a world where violence forces thousands of families to flee for their lives each day, the time is now to show that the global public stands with refugees.

To do this, the UN Refugee Agency launched the #WithRefugees petition in June 2016 to send a message to governments that they must work together and do their fair share for refugees.

On World Refugee Day, held every year on June 20th, we commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. This year, World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee.

June 20 is the day the world commemorates the strength, courage, and perseverance of millions of refugees. Held every year, World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee.

In September 2016, global leaders agreed to work towards a Global Compact for refugees in 2018 where all parts of society stand together #WithRefugees and do their fair share instead of leaving individual states to bear the burden of mass forced displacement.

You can call on these governments to keep their promise by signing the #WithRefugees petition. It asks them to make sure:
Every refugee child gets an education
Every refugee family has somewhere safe to live
Every refugee can work or learn new skills to support their families.
In a world where one in every 113 people have been forced to flee their homes because of war or persecution it’s vital we demonstrate the global public stands #WithRefugees.

Abou World Refugee Day

On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.[1]

African Refugee Day had been formally celebrated in several countries prior to 2000. The UN noted that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June.[1]

In the Roman Catholic Church, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees is celebrated in January each year, having been instituted in 1914 by Pope Pius X.

Celebrations

Each year on June 20 the United Nations, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host World Refugee Day events in order to draw the public's attention to the millions of refugees and Internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution.

The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in more than 100 countries, involving government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves.

1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol

Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect them. They are the only global legal instruments explicitly covering the most important aspects of a refugee’s life. According to their provisions, refugees deserve, as a minimum, the same standards of treatment enjoyed by other foreign nationals in a given country and, in many cases, the same treatment as nationals.

The 1951 Convention contains a number of rights and also highlights the obligations of refugees towards their host country. The cornerstone of the 1951 Convention is the principle of non-refoulement. According to this principle, a refugee should not be returned to a country where he or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. This protection may not be claimed by refugees who are reasonably regarded as a danger to the security of the country, or having been convicted of a particularly serious crime, are considered a danger to the community.

The rights contained in the 1951 Convention include:

The right not to be expelled, except under certain, strictly defined conditions;
The right not to be punished for illegal entry into the territory of a contracting State;
The right to work;
The right to housing;
The right to education;
The right to public relief and assistance;
The right to freedom of religion;
The right to access the courts;
The right to freedom of movement within the territory;
The right to be issued identity and travel documents.
Some basic rights, including the right to be protected from refoulement, apply to all refugees. A refugee becomes entitled to other rights the longer they remain in the host country, which is based on the recognition that the longer they remain as refugees, the more rights they need

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency, was established on 14 December 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.

UNHCR's mandate distinguishes it from other humanitarian actors, requiring it to provide international protection to refugees who do not enjoy the protection of their governments. It also recognizes that international cooperation and support are needed to complement the efforts of the host country, which bears the primary responsibility for meeting the needs of refugees.

Rebuilding Lives in Peace and Dignity

UNHCR provides legal protection for refugees and seeks long-lasting solutions to their problems, by helping them either return voluntarily to their homes or settle in other countries. Its objective is to help refugees and other forcibly displaced persons rebuild their lives in peace and dignity.

The agency aims to uphold the rights of all displaced people, including women, children, older persons and people living with disabilities. Its seeks to reunite them with their families, protect them from sexual exploitation, abuse, violence and military recruitment, and offers education and training, health services, etc.

When there is a massive influx of refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a region, UNHCR can dispatch 300 skilled personnel in less than 72 hours following a crisis and leads the relief action to provide refugees and IDPs with emergency shelter — refugee camps, collective centres, makeshift shelters — and essential goods, including tents, blankets and plastic sheeting.

UNHCR also helps build clinics, schools and water wells for shelter inhabitants and gives them access to health care and psychosocial support during their exile. It coordinates family reunification activities and demobilization, disarmament and integration programmes for children associated with armed forces.

Repatriation and Integration

A refugee’s voluntary repatriation to her or his country or region of origin is considered the most successful outcome of all. Upon a refugee’s return home, UNHCR organizes “go-and-see” follow-up visits and provides safety information while engaging in community reconciliation activities and providing legal aid.

Refugees who cannot return home often locally integrate into host societies or resettle in a third country. In such cases, UNHCR supports integration programmes, such as cultural orientation, language and vocational training, and offers legal advice as well as psychological support to ensure that people are well integrated and resettled into societies in peace.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

Out of the estimated 15.2 million refugees in 2011, 4.8 million were Palestinian refugees registered with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East provides assistance, protection and advocacy for registered Palestine refugees. UNRWA offers education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, community support, microfinance and emergency response, including in times of armed conflict

Singapore opens country’s first sustainability academy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 16:44:00 +0300

The Singapore Sustainability Academy (SSA) has been built to highest energy efficiency and green building standards and will serve as the city-state’s sustainability learning and collaboration hub, reports Climate Action.

The SSA is a joint collaboration between local property developer City Developments Limited (CDL) and the non-profit Sustainability Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS).

“SEAS as the voice of the sustainable energy industry in Singapore has been promoting sustainable technologies, project development, as well as financing of clean energy projects locally and regionally,” said Sherman Kwek, deputy chief executive officer of CDL.

“Our partnership with CDL for the SSA will provide a platform for not just the industry but also the youth and community to learn and collaborate on sustainable development, mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions and to fight and adapt to climate change and its effects.”

The new net-zero emission building in Singapore’s Farrer Park district opened last week on World Environment Day and marks the first major initiative that supports Singapore’s national sustainability goals outlined in the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint and Climate Action Plan, in addition to the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.

The SSA will provide businesses and the public sector with a venue for learning and collaboration on how to make sustainable development work.

The timber used in the building is certified highly sustainable by Nature’s Barcode System – a compliance and verification system that tracks the origin and legality of timber products in its supply chain – and provides a high level of thermal performance, limiting air-conditioning costs.

The building also operates smart energy consumption monitors and sensors to ensure optimal energy efficient levels at all times.

The 3,200 square feet of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the academy’s roof will generate enough renewable energy to power the entire building, producing 60,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.

The building is projected to consume just 50,000 kWh per year, making the SSA carbon negative.

“I hope the academy will inspire more cooperation with the private sector and more engagement with citizens,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “Our goals for a healthy planet are demanding. But working together like this, I am absolutely confident we will achieve them.”

About Singapure

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City, the Garden City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km2), and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.

Singapore holds numerous events each year. Some of its famous festivals and events include the Singapore Food Festival, the Singapore Grand Prix, the Singapore Arts Festival, the Chingay Parade, the World Gourmet Summit and ZoukOut.

The Singapore Sun Festival is another popular festival in Singapore, with 2010's line-up featuring renowned stars such as David Foster, Natalie Cole, Jose Carreras and Sharon Stone. Christmas is also widely celebrated in Singapore, a season where the city streets and shopping malls along its famous shopping belt Orchard Road are lit up and decorated in vibrant colours. In addition, the Singapore Jewel Festival attracts numerous tourists every year, and is a display of precious gems, famous jewels and masterpieces from international jewellers and designers.

Ultra Singapore (客路新加坡ULTRA电音节), [1]. The Singapore Edition of the ULTRA Music Festival comes to the city around June. The 2017 festival will be held on June 10-11 2017 and features Kygo and Afrojack Many Price tiers.

Sustainable development in an opium production environment - Afghanistan Opium Survey 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 May 2017 21:27:00 +0300

Afghanistan: Total area under opium poppy cultivation expanding, threatening sustainable development in the country.

19 May 2017 - The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is expanding, leading to a significant increase in its production, according to the latest survey report released today by UNODC.

The report reveals that the total cultivation area in Afghanistan increased by 10 per cent from 183,000 to 201,000 hectares compared to the previous year. Similarly, potential opium production saw 43 per cent increase, reaching 4,800 tons in 2016.

The report highlights that the impact of illicit drug cultivation and production on economic and social development in Afghanistan is multifaceted. It created an economy based on illicit activities that many communities have become dependent on the income from opium poppy to sustain their livelihoods. In fact, the value of opiates produced in that country is equivalent to a considerable portion of the country's economy in 2016 - some 16 per cent of the GDP - and was worth more than two-thirds of the entire agricultural sector of the country.

The illicit economy also discourages private and public investment by fuelling insecurity, violence and insurgency, and creates costs associated with the consumption of opiates for individual drug users and their families.

According to the same report, opium poppy harvesting provides labour to temporal workers, one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of poverty and food insecurity. The cultivation provided labour for an estimated 235,100 full-time jobs in 2016, and the sales of opium poppy and derivatives constituted the main source of income of opium poppy farmers, accounting for up to 57 per cent of the annual household income.

However, the potential that such cultivation has for sustainably improving livelihoods seems to be limited. Opium poppy farmers reported a higher cash income than other farmers, which may provide more flexibility in the allocation of assets to cope with shocks like food insecurity. Nevertheless, the income incurred from opium was mostly used for covering basic needs such as purchasing food or medical expenses. Further, only few farmers mentioned to invest the income in assets, including agricultural tools or land with potential to build alternatives to opium poppy cultivation.

Due to the scale of the drug problem in Afghanistan, the reduction of illicit crop cultivation depends on the achievement of broader development goals, such as well-established and strong state institutions for effective governance, and functioning social protection mechanisms. Also, a stronger inclusion of women into the workforce and the provision of income-generating opportunities, can reduce the dependency of households on illicit crop cultivation and empower women.

The report aims to improve the understanding of the different challenges that opium poppy cultivation poses on sustainable development in Afghanistan, and to provide evidence to strengthen rural communities to resist opium poppy cultivation.

The survey shows that the development of physical and social infrastructure, in particular in relation to theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to good health and well-being, and quality education, as well as a strategy to increase security and government control are needed for a sustainable reduction of opium poppy cultivation.

The SDGs bring a new vision to alternative development in Afghanistan and can guide a long-term strategy that intends to transform the development paradigm to ensure that all aspects of development are considered, including security, justice, good governance and the rule of law.

Lego + more investments in renewables

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 12:52:00 +0300

Denmark's KIRKBI A/S, the family holding company behind toy maker Lego, wants to expand its renewable energy investments.

* KIRKBI has invested 6 billion Danish crowns ($876 million) in two offshore wind farms operated by DONG Energy in German and British waters
* "We would like to see these wind turbines up and running first, but we definitely have an appetite for more, and we're constantly looking for possible investment opportunities," the Chief Executive Soren Thorup Sorensen said
* By 2020, the firm plans to generate as much sustainable energy as the Lego Group consumes, he said
* KIRKBI on Tuesday posted a 2016 result of 13.3 billion crowns after tax
* Earnings for 2016 showed positive results of the company's involvement in renewable energy for the first time
* KIRKBI owns 75 percent of Lego Group and almost 30 percent of Merlin Entertainments, the group that owns and runs the Legoland theme parks ($1 = 6.8493 Danish crowns)

LEGO ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

LEGO have an ambition to contribute by creating positive impact through our environmental actions. That is why they evaluate business through an environmental impact assessment. To see where LEGO can achieve the largest reduction in our CO2 emissions, they look at every aspect along our value chain, from sourcing of materials through to disposal of waste.

LEGO strategic priorities

Reducing CO2 emissions: to reduce their own and theirs suppliers’ CO2 emissions and to build 100% renewable energy capacity. Lego works closely with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in setting ambitious targets to reduce CO2 emissions through improving energy efficiency, and they have invested in an offshore wind farm to produce renewable energy to balance global energy use.

Responsible resources: LEGO wants to innovate sourcing and use of materials. LEGO have therefore made a commitment to find and implement sustainable alternatives to theirs current oil-based raw materials by 2030 and to use sustainable packaging for all LEGO® products, while also aiming to improve waste management.

Inside Lego

How does the LEGO Group produce millions of LEGO® bricks with such precision and in a wealth of colours every single day?
This is the true story about how small pieces of plastic granulate are transformed into creative play sets.

About LEGO

Lego is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colourful interlocking plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct objects; vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects.

The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has developed. Supporting movies, games, competitions, and six Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.

In February 2015, Lego replaced Ferrari as Brand Finance's "world's most powerful brand".

Are you a waster?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 09:26:00 +0200

On March 22nd, World Water Day 2017, Pope Francis will inspire a global conversation. His address from the Vatican will help shift how the world values and understands its single most precious resource: water. Immediately following the Papal address, at 10:30 a.m. CET, 400 thought leaders from around the world will convene at WATERSHED. These policy makers and academics, together with students, artists, business leaders and men and women from the most at-risk populations will begin an unprecedented dialogue around the value and values of water.

The conference is co-hosted by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture and the Club of Rome.

Collaborating partners include Circle of Blue, with input from the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Environment.

Globally, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.

Instead of wasting wastewater, we need to reduce and reuse it.

In our homes, we can reuse greywater on our gardens and plots. In our cities, we can treat and reuse wastewater for green spaces. In industry and agriculture, we can treat and recycle discharge for things like cooling systems and irrigation.

By exploiting this valuable resource, we will make the water cycle work better for every living thing. And we will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase water recycling and safe reuse.

Are you a waster?

The answer is yes – we’re all wasters when it comes to wastewater: 80% of it just flows back to nature untreated, polluting the environment and wasting a precious resource.

Let’s reduce the quantity and pollution of our wastewater, and safely reuse as much as we can.

So, don’t be a waster. Reduce and reuse wastewater.

Every time we use water, we produce wastewater. And instead of reusing it, we let 80% of it just flow down the drain. We all need to reduce and reuse wastewater as much as we can. Here are three ideas for all us wasters!

Turn off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth or doing dishes or scrubbing vegetables. Otherwise you’re just making wastewater without even using it!
Put rubbish, oils, chemicals, and food in the bin, not down the drain. The dirtier your wastewater, the more energy and money it costs to treat it.
Collect used water from your kitchen sink or bathtub and use it on plants and gardens, and to wash your bike or car.

The water passing through us and our homes is on a journey through the water cycle. By reducing the quantity and pollution of our wastewater, and by safely reusing it as much as we can, we’re all helping to protect our most precious resource.

Pope Francis will address the world from the Vatican on World Water Day. His livestreamed address will inspire a global conversation around water, and shift how the world values and understands its single most precious resource.

Water activist and actor Matt Damon, NASA astronaut Dr Kathryn Sullivan, and former US President George W Bush are among the prominent figures also taking part in the livestream on March 22nd.

After the event, 400 thought leaders from around the world will convene at WATERSHED. These policy makers, academics, students, artists, business leaders and people from the most at-risk populations will begin an unprecedented dialogue around the value and values of water.

Your water story could be part of the livestream from the Vatican on World Water Day. Contribute to #MyWaterStory via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook or visit WATERSHED at www.worldwatervalues.org

https://t.co/MqhN6WJ15L Are you a waster ?On March 22nd, World Water Day 2017 #MyWaterStory, #onbeon #WorldWaterDay pic.twitter.com/y7R5N8zI3i

— onbeon (@onbeon) March 20, 2017

Adidas to present sustainability targets in Hong Kong conference

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:23:00 +0200

Austin Davidsen, Senior Manager in Footwear Materials – Leather, Adidas Group, will be presenting 'Corporate Sustainability Goals and Chemical Management Targets - The Way Forward', at upcoming the Sustainability in the Leather Supply Chain Conference to be held in Hong Kong on March 30, 2017.

Davidsen specialises in leather sourcing, specifically in footwear materials for Adidas Group. With around 53,000 employees worldwide, Adidas believe sport has the power to change lives.

Other key presentations during the conference include:

‘ZDHC – Chemical Gateway and MRSL conformance for the leather supply chain’ by Frank Michel, Executive Director, ZDHC;

‘Walking the Talk: How the leather chemicals industry is taking action on transparency’ by Michael Costello, Director of Sustainability, Stahl;

‘DNA Labelling, an opportunity for leather supply chain transparency’ by James Hayward, Chairman & CEO, Applied DNA Sciences;

‘Update of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) for Leather’ by Dietrich Tegtmeyer, Vice President, Lanxess.

Jointly organised by the BLC Leather Technology Centre and APLF Ltd, the conference will be held on Thursday, March 30, 2017 from 12pm to 5.30pm. Please click here to find out more about the agenda of the conference, the speakers’ profiles, or register to attend.

Sponsors of the 2017 conference include Stahl (platinum), Lanxess (Gold), and Micro-Pak (Bronze). ILM is the official media sponsor.

Green Finance + G20 = ?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 11:53:00 +0200

Up to today, we do not have a precise and commonly accepted definition of green finance for two reasons. First, many publications do not try to define the term – for instance neither IFC (2013) nor Spratt and Griffith-Jones (2013) include a definition of green finance and second, the definitions that are proposed vary significantly.

Green finance comprises:

the financing of public and private green investments (including preparatory and capital costs) in the areas of environmental goods and services, the financing of public policies (including operational costs) that encourage the implementation of environmental and environmental-damage mitigation or adaptation projects and initiatives (for example feed-in-tariffs for renewable energies)
components of the financial system that deal specifically with green investments, such as the Green Climate Fund or financial instruments for green investments (e.g. green bonds and structured green funds), including their specific legal, economic and institutional framework conditions

The G20’s finance ministers and central-bank governors have begun to undertake a stunning shift in mindset.

They have become increasingly convinced that “green finance” – financing environmentally sustainable growth – should be at the center of economic-development strategies. Such an idea, until recently confined to a fringe of academics and policymakers, is potentially one of the most important new “truths” of the twenty-first century.

The conventional economic-development model viewed environmental protection as a “luxury good” that societies could afford only after they became rich. Such thinking explains why the dramatic growth in global income, 80-fold in real terms during the last century, has been accompanied by a decline, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, in natural capital in 127 of 140 countries.

But natural capital is not just an abstract concept; it supports lives, livelihoods, and societal wellbeing. The environmental destruction that our activities are wreaking – greenhouse-gas emissions add energy to the Earth system at a rate equivalent to the detonation of four nuclear bombs every second – has concrete consequences, which are already being borne by millions of people.

Since 2008, an average of 26.4 million people have been displaced from their homes by natural disasters each year – equivalent to almost one person every second. One-third of the world’s arable land is now jeopardized by land degradation, which causes economic losses of $6.3-10.6 trillion per year. And 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers have passed their sustainability tipping point.

The downsides of the conventional approach to economic development, which favors income and employment over environmental protection, are particularly apparent in China. By some measures – in particular, per capita income and GDP growth – China’s development process has been an extraordinary success. But it has also brought lethal levels of air pollution and extensive contamination and depletion of land and water.

The good news is that Chinese leaders now seem to recognize that they must safeguard the environment before China achieves high-income status. Indeed, they have moved to the forefront of the green-finance movement.

To be sure, the challenge facing China is monumental. Success will require an estimated $600 billion in investment each year, in areas including environmental remediation and protection, renewable energies and energy efficiency, and sustainable transportation systems. Given that less than 15% of that finance will come from public sources, China will also have to retool its financial system to support private investment.

But China is already taking concrete steps in the right direction. On August 30, President Xi Jinping presided over a decision by the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms to transform China’s financial system to facilitate green investment. The so-called “guidelines for establishing a green finance system” adopted at the meeting represent the world’s first attempt at an integrated policy package to promote an ambitious shift toward a green economy.

According to the guidelines, China will have to develop a wide range of new financial instruments, including green credit, green development funds, green bonds, green equity index products, green insurance, and carbon finance. It must also introduce a host of specific policies, regulations, and incentives, including innovative use of the central bank’s relending operations, interest subsidies, and guarantees. And it must establish a national-level Green Development Fund, much like the United Kingdom’s Green Investment Bank.

How this process unfolds in China will hold important lessons for others seeking to build more sustainable economies. But some governments are not hesitating to make their own way. From the City of London’s Green Finance Initiative to Indonesia’s Sustainable Finance Roadmap, innovative policy packages are emerging at an accelerating pace

Moreover, many of the world’s stock exchanges have committed to requiring listed companies to report on their sustainable development risks. And a coalition of banking regulators has emerged to explore how to advance green credit. Details vary by country, but the goal is a common one: to align capital markets with the financing needs of an inclusive, sustainable economy.

The G20’s agenda, which aims to promote strong, sustainable, and balanced economic growth, should now be updated to reflect this shared goal, with green finance becoming a key component of the G20’s business

The 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 09:23:00 +0300

The 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit held in Goa recently, a fair share of focus was laid upon issues relating to energy and environment. The last couple of weeks have highlighted India’s commitment towards addressing global environmental concerns. First, it ratified the Paris climate change agreement; second, it signed the Kigali agreement to amend the Montreal Protocol (in order to cut down its hydrofluorocarbons by 85% of the values in 2024-26 by the year 2047); and now it has agreed to cooperate on a whole lot of sustainability issues through the Goa Declaration.

To reaffirm the guiding principles for the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda and harp upon the Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDRs) is a good way to remind the developed nations of their duties without shying away from our own. The establishment of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism within the UN with a mandate to facilitate technology for the implementation of the SDGs has been welcomed by BRICS. With India’s recent push on the use of technology in social sector, it would clearly benefit from it. Even the 2030 SDGs call for global partnerships for sustainable development that would involve financial assistance, technology transfer, promotion of trade and more importantly capacity building at national levels.

The BRICS commitment and reaffirmation of the goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (also referred to as SDGs) would ensure its focus on access to health, sustainable agriculture, access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy, sustainable water management and sanitation, sustainable cities and sustainable industrialization. The 2030 Agenda calls for focusing on sustainable consumption and production patterns and this would ensure that we manage our wastes of all types and forms efficiently. Conservation and sustainable use of marine resources and increased focus on forestation and biodiversity conservation are a part of the SDGs with climate change adaptation and mitigation serving as the backdrop. The BRICS nations have also committed themselves to the protection of wild flora and fauna, and prevention of trade in endangered species.

With Russia and India working closely in the area of civil nuclear energy and the Kudankulum power plant being the result of such cooperation, nuclear energy has been recognised as being crucial to BRICS energy security plans. Technology transfer and access to finance shall play a crucial role for not just nuclear energy but also in ensuring overall energy access, security and affordability. That the BRICS nations have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on energy saving and energy efficiency shows their commitment in this regard. They have also called for the wider use of natural gas in order to honour their commitment under the Paris Agreement. The BRICS nations have agreed to share technical expertise in the areas of abatement and control of air and water pollution, efficient management of waste and sustainable management of biodiversity, and have emphasised upon the importance of participation by BRICS countries in environmental cooperation initiatives, including developing a platform for sharing environmentally sound technologies.

The BRICS nations have underlined the importance of science-based agriculture and the use of information and communications technology to address issues relating to food security and malnutrition. The signing of the MoU for establishment of the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform to intensify co-operation in agricultural research policy, science and technology, innovation and capacity building, including technologies for small-holder farming, is a welcome step. There is a need for sustainable management of natural resources in agriculture and innovation remains the key to it.

Environment remains at the epicenter of the BRICS deliberations as it is interrelated with issues relating to health, sanitation, water, food and overall economic growth. That the BRICS nations have come together to address these concerns is a welcome step. Technology transfer and finance remain the key in addressing sustainability concerns. India and Russia have signed 16 agreements for cooperation on the sidelines of the Summit and these include building smart cities, the use of technological solutions in smart cities and besides others laying gas pipelines to India, co-operation in the oil and gas sector, and education and training in the oil and gas sector. Russia remains one of the largest producers of natural gas in the world and India one of its largest importers. With renewed focus on cleaner fuel and energy security, agreements like these would help India attain its goals relating to energy and environment in order to honour its international climate change commitments.

The BRICS Summit has opened numerous avenues for co-operation in sectors such as clean energy, health, environment, trade, agriculture and science, technology and innovation besides others. Considering that more than 40% of the world’s population resides in the BRICS countries, the decisions taken by these five nations would have a significant impact on the rest of the world.

BRICS Summit 2016: Goa Declaration adopted by India, China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 15:11:00 +0300

Here is the excerpt from the Goa Declaration adopted by the BRICS member nations:

We, the Leaders of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, met on 15-16 October 2016 in Goa, India, at the Eighth BRICS Summit.

Recalling all our previous declarations, we emphasize the importance of further strengthening BRICS solidarity and cooperation based on our common interests and key priorities to further strengthen our strategic partnership in the spirit of openness, solidarity, equality, mutual understanding, inclusiveness and mutually beneficial cooperation. We agree that emerging challenges to global peace and security and to sustainable development require further enhancing of our collective efforts.

We agree that BRICS countries represent an influential voice on the global stage through our tangible cooperation, which delivers direct benefits to our people. In this context, we note with satisfaction the operationalization of the New Development Bank (NDB) and of the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), which contributes greatly to the global economy and the strengthening of the international financial architecture.

We welcome the report presented by NDB President on the work of the Bank during the first year of its operations. We are pleased to note the progress in operationalizing the Africa Regional Centre (ARC) of the NDB and pledge our full support in this regard. We look forward to developing new BRICS initiatives in a wider range of areas in the years to come.

We note with appreciation the approval of the first set of loans by the New Development Bank (NDB), particularly in the renewable energy projects in BRICS countries. We express satisfaction with NDB's issuance of the first set of green bonds in RMB. We are pleased to note that the operationalization of BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangements (CRA) has strengthened the global financial safety net.

In order to reach out and enrich our understanding and engagement with fellow developing and emerging economies, we will hold a Outreach Summit of BRICS Leaders with the Leaders of BIMSTEC member countries – Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation comprising of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The meeting will be an opportunity to renew our friendship with BIMSTEC countries as well as to jointly explore possibilities of expanding trade and commercial ties, and investment cooperation between BRICS and BIMSTEC countries, while advancing our common goals of peace, development, democracy and prosperity.

We reiterate our common vision of ongoing profound shifts in the world as it transitions to a more just, democratic, and multi-polar international order based on the central role of the United Nations, and respect for international law. We reaffirm the need for strengthening coordination of efforts on global issues and practical cooperation in the spirit of solidarity, mutual understanding and trust. We underline the importance of collective efforts in solving international problems, and for peaceful settlement of disputes through political and diplomatic means, and in this regard, we reiterate our commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

We note the global character of current security challenges and threats confronting the international community. We reiterate our view that international efforts to address these challenges, the establishment of sustainable peace as well as the transition to a more just, equitable and democratic multi-polar international order requires a comprehensive, concerted and determined approach, based on spirit of solidarity, mutual trust and benefit, equity and cooperation, strong commitment to international law and the central role of the United Nations as the universal multilateral organisation entrusted with the mandate for maintaining international peace and security, advance global development and to promote and protect human rights. We underline the importance of further strengthening coordination of our efforts in this context.

We reaffirm our commitment to contribute to safeguarding a fair and equitable international order based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations including through consistent and universal respect and adherence to the principles and rules of international law in their inter-relation and integrity, compliance by all states with their international legal obligations.We express our commitment to resolutely reject the continued attempts to misrepresent the results of World War II. We recall further that development and security are closely interlinked, mutually reinforcing and key to attaining sustainable peace.

We remain confident that resolving international problems require collective efforts for peaceful settlement of disputes through political and diplomatic means. Implementation of principles of good-faith, sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and cooperation excludes imposition of unilateral coercive measures not based on international law. We condemn unilateral military interventions and economic sanctions in violation of international law and universally recognised norms of international relations. Bearing this in mind, we emphasise the unique importance of the indivisible nature of security, and that no State should strengthen its security at the expense of the security of others.

We recall the 2005 World Summit Outcome document. We reaffirm the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of the developing countries so that it can adequately respond to global challenges. China and Russia reiterate the importance they attach to the status and role of Brazil, India and South Africa in international affairs and support their aspiration to play a greater role in the UN.

We welcome the substantive measures undertaken by the UN membership to make the process of selecting and appointing the UN Secretary-General more transparent and inclusive.

We express our gratitude to UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his contributions to the United Nations in the past ten years. We congratulate Mr. António Guterres, on his appointment as the Secretary-General of the United Nations and express our support and to work closely with him.

Cognizant of BRICS countries' significant contributions to UN Peacekeeping operations, and recognising the important role of UN Peacekeeping operations in safeguarding international peace and security, we realise the challenges faced by UN Peacekeeping and emphasise the need to further strengthen its role, capacity, effectiveness, accountability and efficiency, while adhering to the basic principles of peacekeeping. We emphasise that UN Peacekeeping operations should perform the duty of protection of civilians in strict accordance with their respective mandates and in respect of the primary responsibility of the host countries in this regard.