That Sinking Feeling

Maldives is in the news again and so is its leader who features in the documentary “The Island President”. While parts of Asia continue to experience floods, loss of property and life, we cannot avoid asking the question, as Indian environmentalist Sunita Narain does: when will the world change its ways so that this devastation does not reach catastrophic levels? Or have we passed the point of no return? Indonesia is experiencing droughts, but also seems unable to halt the destruction of man and machine. Rainforests are destroyed as farmers embark on the burning season – again and again. Spreading despair and smoke and little hope. WWF is doing its best to paint a more hopeful picture with its “Love Your Forests” campaign, but the European and US economic state of affairs is not good for the carbon price (in New Zealand) or investment in clean energy and green jobs (in the US). There must be a silver lining and we’re seeing good signs as businesses become sustainability champions. Size of business doesn’t count in the CSR stakes and feed in tariffs make a difference. Singapore is putting money into greening buildings old and new, investing in solar roofs, and designing a climate change strategy. Australia is facing the electric vehicle challenge and adopting carbon neutral products, as its carbon price legislation starts it tortuous journey into law. A call for the private sector to be more involved globally in change management and another warning about the powerful “fossil fuel” influence in high places. Thomas Friedman puts it in perspective. It’s a weird world! – Ken Hickson

Profile: Mohammed Nasheed

His campaign to enlist world powers to fight global warming is the focus of the new documentary “The Island President,” which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Maldives is one of the lowest-lying nations in the world – the average elevation above sea level is 1.5 metres – and Mohammed Nasheed has become a leader in the fight to lower the carbon emissions that warm the air that’s raising the ocean waters.

Reports from the Vancouver Post and AFP:

By Anne Chaon  for AFP (12 September 2011):

TORONTO — Elected president of the Maldives after spending 20 years leading a pro-democracy movement against a cruel dictatorship, Mohammed Nasheed believes it will have all been for naught if his nation of 1,200 islands is swallowed up by the ocean.

His campaign to enlist world powers to fight global warming is the focus of Briton Jon Shenk’s new documentary “The Island President,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend.

The two men came to Canada’s largest metropolis together to present the film, seeing an opportunity to bring much-needed attention to the plight of Nasheed’s tiny island nation off the coast of India.

“Given the gravity of the situation and how important it is for us to bring the message across,” as well as due to his government’s modest means, the documentary seemed like a good idea, Nasheed said Sunday, three months before the next UN climate change conference in Durban.

For Shenk, who won acclaim for his 2003 documentary “The Lost Boys of Sudan,” the film is as much about the arrival of democracy in an entirely Muslim country as it is about climate change.

But for Nasheed it is a fight for survival.

Imprisoned and tortured before becoming president at age 41, Nasheed suddenly found himself facing a new crisis in 2008: the extinction of his country by 2050 — a modern Atlantis — and the apathy of the world’s largest polluters.

The film gains access to Nasheed’s first year in office as he sets out to influence the world’s superpowers, culminating at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit.

He must not only convince the United States and Europe to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming, but also emerging economies China, India and Brazil.

Shenk’s camera follows him everywhere, all the way to the UN headquarters in New York where he tries to convince his peers to seize a historic opportunity to act when they meet in the Danish capital.

He even holds a cabinet meeting under water to make his point, becoming a poster boy for environmentalists.

In Copenhagen, 120 heads of state meet but their negotiations stall amid a showdown between the Americans and the Chinese over emissions reduction targets.

At the end of a long night, after 48 hours without sleep, Nasheed, with the support of other island nations anxious they might be going home empty-handed, capitulates and agrees to a lesser accord.

Still it is something.

The film exposes the selling out, weariness, false hopes and bad faith that marked Nasheed’s journey, the meetings and strategies involved in negotiations, a struggle of David versus the Goliaths of the world.

Two years after Copenhagen, Nasheed has no regrets. “If we hadn’t gotten an agreement, I think that the whole UN system would have been questioned.”

“We don’t have high expectations for Durban,” he added.

“But I think there are some possibilities if we can change the negotiating tracks and ask countries to invest in renewable energy instead of asking countries to cut emitting carbon.”

“It’s difficult to ask them to stop opening power plants but it’s possible to ask that they spend more on renewable energies, and that will lead to the same effect: the level of carbon (emissions) will be reduced.”

Nasheed notes that the global economic crisis has sidelined the climate change discussions. But ever hopeful, he adds: “Even in a crisis, you have to understand that there is a bigger picture.”

Source: www.google.com

By Jay Stone, Postmedia News

September 16, 2011

It’s a late-night party at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Mohamed Nasheed is trying to stifle a yawn. It’s been a long week. Nasheed flew in from the Maldives, the island nation in the Indian Ocean of which he is the leader, and attended the premiere of the documentary The Island President. (“I thought it was excellent,” he says.) Fighting jet lag, he is now moving among the guests at the after-party, talking about the problems of global warming that threaten to flood the entire nation in 40 or 50 years.

“It’s getting worse and worse, and we are having to spend more money on it, on water breakers and embankments and so on,” says Nasheed. When he returns to the Maldives this week, his first job is to build an embankment on one of the 1,200 islands – 200 of them inhabited – that comprise the tiny country. The Maldives is a tourist mecca, a place of luxury resorts, but even there, the effects of erosion are becoming visible: a disappearing shoreline and fallen palm trees.

The Maldives is one of the lowest-lying nations in the world – the average elevation above sea level is 1.5 metres – and Nasheed has become a leader in the fight to lower the carbon emissions that warm the air that’s raising the ocean waters.

If things unfold the way scientists say it might, what will happen to its 400,000 people? Where will they go? “They won’t go anywhere,” says Nasheed. “They’ll die. That’s what’s going to happen.”

The Island President was directed by Jon Shenk (Lost Boys of Sudan), an American documentarian who followed Nasheed through his first year of office, ending at the 2009 Copenhagen climate conference. There, the diminutive leader of the small nation became a driving force for a compromise agreement, the first ever signed by the U.S., China and India. His stirring speech to other world leaders salvaged the summit.

Nasheed – who came to the filmfestival party with an entourage that included plainclothes security guards – said it was helpful to watch the movie, because he gained perspective on the compromises that were necessary.

“It is only through compromise that we will actually be able to move forward on climate-change negotiations,” he said, sitting at a small bistro table at a hip downtown restaurant. The Island President notes that carbon emissions have actually risen since the Copenhagen meetings, but Nasheed maintains his hope: “It perhaps would have gone up much higher, if not for Copenhagen. People could have been very mindless about opening new power stations. Lots has changed, even in developing countries. They’re mindful of what they’re doing, even if they’re doing it.”

The Island President also provides a kind of tour of the Maldives – its impossibly blue waters and pristine, if disappearing, beaches – and of its history. The country was a dictatorship under Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and Nasheed was a pro-democracy advocate who was once held for 18 months in solitary confinement in a small metal shack. He was arrested 12 times over 20 years and tortured twice. He went into exile and returned in 2005 to the cheers of crowds yelling his nickname, Anni.

“It won’t do any good to have democracy if we don’t have a country,” he says in the film. At one stage, in order to draw world attention to the impending disaster, Nasheed holds an underwater cabinet meeting, with ministers wearing scuba gear.

The country has raised taxes so it can afford to build the embankments and seawalls that are protecting it from the rising waters.

“There’s no other way,” he said. “We have to fend for ourselves. Our means are very modest, but we have to fend for ourselves.”

Source:  www.vancouversun.com

Environmental & Geopolitical Catastrophe

The private sector should provide leadership regarding climate change and economic sustainability, and the government’s role should be limited to providing the enabling policy framework, says former Costa Rican president Jose Maria Figueres. Could this mean a bigger role for Sir Richard Branson? Meanwhile, Chris Huhne, UK secretary of state for energy and climate change, warns – not for the first time – that the world must act now to avoid “unprecedented environmental and geopolitical catastrophe”, needed to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2020, and that global warming is limited to 2C.

Tshepo Mashego, Business Times, South Africa (10 September 2011)

Private sector must drive climate change: Figueres

The private sector should provide leadership regarding climate change and economic sustainability, and the government’s role should be limited to providing the enabling policy framework, says former Costa Rican president Jose Maria Figueres.

” Of course there was a political backlash against the tax – we dropped at least 10 points at the polls. But then, what do you get elected for? At the end of the day it paid off…

Figueres, who was in SA last week, said companies working together can achieve greater progress on the sustainability agenda. “To successfully address the issue of sustainability we have to do it from a business perspective. Sustainability is the most important issue on the development agenda today.”

According to Figueres, the public sector moves too slowly, especially when this involves international treaties to tackle a global problem.

“I do not think we should wait for international agreements to be put together, we all know governments move slowly and that creating international agreement is even slower.”

Figueres was called on to address a conference in Johannesburg due to his country’s singular success in embracing sustainability as an economic growth imperative while he was president in the 1990s .

He explained some of the reforms his country made as far back to 1995, which have made Costa Rica one of the greenest countries in the world.

“Back in 1995 Costa Rica passed legislation enacting a carbon tax, a tax on carbon emissions. The tax was payable at the fuel pump.”

However, pushing through such an ambitious reform package did not go down well with the electorate initially, he said. “Of course there was political backlash against the tax, we dropped at least 10 points at the polls, but then what do you get elected for? At the end of the day it paid off.

“The money for the carbon tax, we put it into an environmental services fund. The income from the fund began to finance environmental services, for example farmers who had been producing rice, which is a short-term cash crop were being left without a job as a result of cheap imports, started planting trees to trap carbon dioxide, we incentiviced that programme.”

As a result of the application of pro-sustainability reforms the Costa Rican economy is now 99% powered by renewable power, the majority of it being hydropower.

Source: www.businesslive.co.za

Climate change: summer in the city

As the human numbers grow, so do the cities, and so does the pressure for economic growth

Editorial in The Guardian (11 September 2011):

Chris Huhne, secretary of state for energy and climate change, warns – not for the first time – that the world must act now to avoid “unprecedented environmental and geopolitical catastrophe”. He is, of course, talking once again about the need to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2020, and that global warming is limited to 2C.

That means a global agreement to act by 2015: this parliament, he warns, is the last one with a chance to help avert catastrophic climate change. He is hardly a lone voice, and on the latest evidence the global barometer seems set for stormy weather.

On Friday a team of researchers in Boston calculated that even with only a 2C rise, summer temperatures now regarded as “extreme” will become normal. This is the second such warning from the US this summer. Europeans in 2003 and Russians in 2010 had lethal experience of heat waves. Americans in Oklahoma, Texas, New Jersey and Washington DC have all this summer experienced record-breaking temperatures, along with Atlantic hurricanes, floods in the midwest and on the Mississippi, devastating tornados in the prairie states, and drought and wildfire in the south-west.

In July the reinsurance giant Munich Re predicted that 2011 – on the evidence of the first six months alone – will be the costliest year ever for disasters triggered by natural hazard. Total global losses by June had reached $265bn, far outstripping the $220bn record set for the whole of 2005.

The good news is that lives so far have been spared: in the first six months there have been fewer than 20,000 disaster-related deaths; in 2010 the grim tally reached 230,000. The bad news is that climate-linked disasters are on the increase, with increasing hazard from windstorm, heatwave, flood, drought and winter blizzard.

Some of this hazard exists because the number of potential victims is also swelling: shortly the global population will pass the 7 billion mark. But as the human numbers grow, so do the cities, and so does the pressure for economic growth, and so does the burden of greenhouse gases. In Britain, the price of rail travel is rising ahead of inflation: in a low carbon world, public transport would be so cheap that urban motorists would gladly abandon their cars.

In the US, according to a Rasmussen poll, seven out of 10 Americans now think that climate scientists – and that term embraces the meteorologists, oceanographers and glaciologists of competing institutions and academies in Europe, Asia and America – are likely to have faked their research data to support a belief in global warming. So Mr Huhne is right to issue his warning. There is no great evidence that fellow politicians are listening very intently.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Big Spending Energy Lobby & Carbon Pricing

No wonder business confidence has collapsed. While the US and Europe apparently grind towards a new financial crisis and recession, Australia’s politicians busy themselves with a fraudulent debate about climate change. Because it is impossible for Australia to meet the proposed greenhouse gas emissions target through domestic action, says business commentator Alan Kohler. Meanwhile, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of UNFCCC, said the companies which are ‘stuck in the technologies and fuels of yesterday’ have ‘a voice that is louder and better funded’ than more progressive companies.

Alan Kohler in Business Spectator (14 September 2011):

No wonder business confidence has collapsed. While the US and Europe apparently grind towards a new financial crisis and recession, Australia’s politicians busy themselves with a fraudulent debate about climate change.

Why fraudulent? Because it is impossible for Australia to meet the proposed greenhouse gas emissions target through domestic action, and everyone knows it.

In her speech to Parliament yesterday, the Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “Liable parties will be able to meet up to half of their obligation through the use of international carbon units.”

What she didn’t say is that buying permits from overseas is not simply an option, but an essential part of the plan.

At least she is half honest about it. The Coalition continues to pretend that its “direct action” plan can achieve the same proposed emissions reduction as the government’s, when it would also clearly have to rely on international carbon units to cut emissions by 5 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020.

Yet, Tony Abbott and his Shadow Minister for Climate Change Greg Hunt remain magnificently unquestioned about their own policy while hammering away at the government’s. It is a beautiful thing to be able to successfully criticise careful and detailed government legislation that has been 20 years in the making while not having to worry about developing a credible policy of your own.

But that’s the golden place in which the Coalition finds itself, and good luck to them I guess.

Unfortunately, the lack of any sort of sophisticated discussion about the issue is causing a lot of uncertainty among business people and consumers and contributing to the big drop in their confidence.

No one, for example, is remarking on the fact that while Australia’s “Clean Energy Future” relies on buying international carbon units, the only place you can get them from at the moment – the European Union – appears to be falling apart.

About 85 per cent of the world’s carbon permits are generated in the EU emissions trading scheme, which remains the only deep carbon market to have come out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocols.

Despite two attempts so far – at Copenhagen and Cancun – there is no sign yet of a successor international agreement to replace Kyoto. The World Bank reports that the global carbon market has stagnated, even as the global economy recovered in 2010 and the world’s temperature was the hottest on record at the same time.

There is virtually no chance of an agreement in Durban at the end of this year, or next year, wherever that meeting is held. That means Kyoto will expire in 2012 and it will be every country for themselves… no international market.

That means, realistically, the only place that Australia’s 500 “big polluters” will be able to buy permits outside this country – as they must – will be Europe. But will they be able to?

The EU ETS is not falling apart with the Economic and Monetary Union at this stage, but the future of everything about the eurozone is extremely unclear.

The German Constitutional Court has decisively ruled out a permanent European Stability Mechanism as well as the issuing of eurobonds. In effect, a fiscal union seems to be off the agenda now, which is why financial markets have reacted so negatively in the past week, since the German Constitutional Court ruling.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has publicly ruled out the insolvency of Greece, but that’s not carrying much weight against the combination of Germany’s legal and right wing forces standing in the way of practical solutions.

So will there actually be an EU ETS in 2015 when Australian companies have to start buying permits from it? Who knows? No one wants to talk about that.

More importantly, nor do they want to talk about what Australia’s response to a new financial crisis and recession ought to be. More cheques in the mail? Another Building Education Revolution? What should happen with the budget?

Australia’s politicians are too busy struggling for power to worry about stuff like that.

Source: www.climatespectator.com.au

Progressive companies must be braver if they want to fight climate change amidst a field of timid politicians and powerful fuels lobbyists.

Jo Confino for the Guardian Professional Network (16 September 2011):

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of UNFCCC, said the companies which are ‘stuck in the technologies and fuels of yesterday’ have ‘a voice that is louder and better funded’ than more progressive companies.

A lack of courage and co-ordination is preventing progressive businesses from matching the firepower of energy companies that are investing heavily to sow the seeds of doubt about climate change and prevent timid politicians from introducing tougher regulation.

This was one of the conclusions from a debate hosted this week on the Guardian Sustainable Business website between business leaders from across the world under the auspices of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, warned that efficiency gains alone would not succeed in reaching the quantum leap needed to address climate change and that companies needed to band together to offer an “orchestrated and compelling” case to policy makers to counter the power of the energy intensive industry.

She said: “There is a serious group of companies that have a voice that is much louder, that is better funded, that operates much more in unison and that is still stuck in the technologies and the fuels of yesterday.

“So if we don’t have a voice that is equally as orchestrated with arguments that are at least equally as compelling, then governments are going to be taking very timid decisions and they’re not going to be tipping the scale.”

This view was echoed by Johannes Meier, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, who said politicians were looking for a clear signal to act and that new partnerships between business, NGOs and consumer groups needed to be created to challenge the energy intensive companies.

“Policy makers and politicians very much like a clear signal,” he said. “I think those opposing the transformation towards a low carbon economy have been exceptionally good at creating noise, creating doubt on the value of science and producing as their product basically doubt. I think that the challenge we have as a group and beyond business is to change the signal to noise ratio.”

Ian Cheshire, CEO of the world’s third largest home retailer, agreed that more pressure needs to be put on politicians and that business had a clear role in doing that.

He said: “As a retailer we can obviously reach millions of people with messages about resourcing, responsible choices they make on the products they buy but I do also think that actually unleashing the power of the consumers on the politicians is another important link.

“So it’s okay if I can persuade all our customers that they have chosen a wood product which is forest friendly and it’s sustainable, but actually I also want them to start creating the political space that allows the politicians to act.

“One of the things that I have found generally quite surprising is the fear the politicians have in this area of making the regulatory change and almost the need they have for business leaders not just to say from a business point of view we want it, but that we will engage with our consumers to create the political awareness and the political room to allow you to act.”

Niall Dunne, chief sustainability officer at BT, also pointed to the need to inspire a consumer revolution.

Dunne said that “one of the paradigm shifts that we need to spend a lot more time understanding is how we unleash demand globally in this space, because we’re seeing a much more networked consumer that is taking the advice of friends and strangers online.”

Much of the discussion centred on the barriers to systemic change with the criticism of politicians matched only by attacks on the financial sector for failing to credit those companies that were investing for a low carbon economy.

Several speakers spoke of a market failure with asset owners, fund managers and analysts showing a lack of interest in adjusting valuations, despite the likely advantages of those companies that are able to reduce resource use and open up new markets.

James Bevan, Chief Investment Officer at CCLA Investment Management Ltd (Church Commission Local Authorities), said investors needed to get much tougher and disinvest in those companies that failed to take action on climate change: “I have serious reservations about the capacity for markets to step up to the place, because I still see market failure as a core problem for the global economy.

“I think it’s critical that we act together and in concert. It’s very clear that doesn’t happen and I think we have to be very clear with companies that if we don’t see solid action that we will divest. I would encourage investors globally to say look guys if you’re not going to disclose, you’re not going to step up to the table, then really you shouldn’t be taken as a serious investment opportunity.”

Mark Makepeace, chief executive of FTSE Group, said investors were starting to engage on these issues and that this would give companies more confidence to invest in a low-carbon economy.”

But Cheshire said there was no evidence that this was happening: “I would like to believe that investors would do this. I have to say my experience as a public company CEO says that they’re absolutely not, and the issue for the investment community is currently they have no way of changing valuation based on a more or less sustainable business. We have great disclosure but there isn’t yet a feed through to the investment portfolio manager who’s saying the MPV of this business is more valuable because it’s more sustainable. I can apply a higher multiple to the terminal value. This therefore is a better quality business.

“And in the recent weeks, as we see in this compression of yield correlation of stock, there isn’t really the sort of opportunity to stand out, so at the moment I still think it requires business leadership to make the change, because the investment valuation metrics I think are part of the market failure.”

Another reason given for the slow rate of change was the lack of business CEOs who are prepared toput their head above the parapet and take a leadership position.

Cheshire said one of the main problems was that executives were not able to articulate a different future because they were too embedded in the current economic system: “A fundamental barrier is actually probably us as businesses being very, very comfortable with existing business models, because they’ve made us a lot of money, we’re used to it, we’ve actually worked out how to get better and better and better. We have optimised these models through successive bits of re-engineering and to ask people to step away from that and really re-imagine a different model is a really big ask.

“We’re going to have come up with quantum differences in the way we address businesses and create value. I think that requires a very structured, very different bit of thinking, which goes against the grain of most organisations.”

While there was much in the debate to create pessimism, there was also a recognition of the huge business opportunities opening up as a result of the need to move rapidly to a low carbon economy.

However, there was general agreement that companies needed to actively concentrate their research and development resources on sustainable solutions if they were going to open up a competitive lead.

Several attendees made it clear that this will not happen by accident, but by a determined and consistent focus on creating innovative products and solutions.

Linda Fisher, chief sustainability officer at science-based products and services company, DuPont, said 85% of their research and development budget was now concentrated on finding sustainable solutions in areas such as agriculture and renewable energy technology.

She pointed out that the company is already seeing the benefits of this approach with strong demand for sustainable products in spite of the recession: “I think that’s a good sign for getting to a low carbon economy,” she said.

Arunavo Mukerjee, vice president of Indian conglomerate Tata, said every one of their businesses needed to have a three-year plan that included innovation around climate change.

The global nature of the CDP debate, held simultaneously across four continents, also reflected on the carbon opportunities in the developing world.

One of the key messages was the ability for developing countries to avoid the mistakes made in the West as they develop new infrastructure.

Somak Ghosh, group president, corporate finance and development banking at India’s YES Bank, said a key milestone for a low carbon economy would come if business were able to supply renewable energy to those in the developing world who do not currently have access to electricity.

He said: “If one looks at India or emerging economies, the key challenge is providing basic goods and services to what is known as bottom of the pyramid. If business cannot achieve that, at least in emerging markets, I don’t expect this quantum leap in terms of moving towards a low carbon economy to happen.”

Source: www.reg.guardian.managemyaccount.co.uk

Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink

Remember the Ancient Mariner? Devastating floods in many parts of Asia – Thailand, Pakistan, China, India, Malaysia – are becoming regular and predictable.  Clearly, it is time to accept that we are beginning to see the impact of climate change, says Indian environmentalist Sunita Narain. “It is also time that the world changes its ways so that this devastation does not reach catastrophic levels…. that we change the way we deal with water in the future. So we need to make sure that every drop is harvested.”

Sunita Narain: Floods and climate change

There is a need to safeguard every water body, every channel, drain and nullah, and every catchment area

Sunita Narain / New Delhi September 12, 2011, 0:20 IST

Even as I was writing this, my city, Delhi, was drowning. It had been raining since early morning and four hours of rainfall brought the city to a standstill. The Meteorological Department recorded 60 mm of rainfall in just about six hours, 90 mm in 24 hours, and with this the city made up its deficit of rainfall of the season. In other words, in just about 24 hours, Delhi and its surrounding areas got half as much rain as they would in the entire month of September. Delhi, like other growing cities of India, cares little about its drainage system — storm water drains are either clogged, full of garbage and sewage or just do not exist. Our lakes and ponds have been eaten away by real estate — land is what the city values, not water. So when it rains more than it should, the city drowns.

It is not only Delhi. This month almost all parts of the country are being affected by rains and floods. Little do we know about the extent of this havoc, since putting together news from across the country is difficult and the national media, obsessed with the antics of politics, fails to give an account of the vastness and magnitude of the breakdown and suffering. We also take it for granted that during this time of the year, there are rains and floods. We do not look for news in these events — that there is something unusual about the ferocity of the rain and the extent of damage it causes.

I say this as a keen recorder of these events. Each year, unfailingly, at this time of the year, I end up chronicling the floods that hit most parts of the country. But each year, as I learn and write, I find that change is afoot. Each year, the floods grow in intensity. Each year, the rain events become more variable and extreme. Each year, the economic damages owing to floods and rain increase — governments note that the development gain has been lost in one season of flood.

This year, for instance, the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh has said its bill for rain damage is Rs 334 crore, roughly half the year’s budget for roads and infrastructure. As many as 30 lives have been lost as rivers have spilled their banks, landslides have hit homes, hydropower stations have been shut and roads and crops damaged. What is worrying is the pattern that emerges. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal says that in his state rains were normal in June, deficient in July and hyperactive in August. A record 342 mm of incessant rainfall within 24 hours on just one day of August 13, 2011 left the state shell-shocked and deeply damaged.

In Gujarat, rains have left behind trails of damage. Over the past two months, different regions of the state have witnessed cloudbursts and incessant rain, which have led to flash floods, ravaged homes and killed 140 people. The common thread in the events is the manner in which the rains have come — abnormally heavy rain events with huge sub-regional variations. For instance, earlier this week, Becharaji taluka in Mehsana district of north Gujarat recorded 62 mm of rainfall, equivalent to a third of its annual average. In just one day, the otherwise dry region of Kutch received some 250 mm of rainfall, close to what it gets in an entire year.

Even as I write this, another region of India, Odisha, is struggling to cope with floods of horrendous magnitude. Some 0.7 million people are already displaced from their homes as flood waters are taking away everything. The Mahanadi has burst its banks in many places. My colleagues tracking developments there say this is mainly owing to the heavy rainfall in the catchment area of the massive Hirakud dam. As a result, in less than 24 hours, the Hirakud managers, without warning and notice, opened all its 59 gates, releasing huge volumes of water to the already swollen river. This part of the country, which recorded deficient rains of 40 per cent, is now in surplus. In just three days enough water has fallen to make up this shortfall.

Scientists will tell you there is a difference between weather and its natural variability and climate change — a pattern brought about by human emissions which are heating up the atmosphere faster than normal. Scientists who study the monsoon will tell you that they are beginning to make that distinction between a “normal” monsoon and what is now showing up in abnormal extreme rain events.

Clearly, it is time to accept that we are beginning to see the impact of climate change. It is also time that the world changes its ways so that this devastation does not reach catastrophic levels.

It is equally important that we change the way we deal with water in the future. We know rain is the real finance minister of India. So we need to make sure that every drop is harvested. Holding and channelling rain must become a mission. It is our only way to the future.

This means there is a need to safeguard every water body, every channel, drain and nullah, and every catchment area. These are the temples of modern India, built to worship rain, built for our future.

Source: www.business-standard.com

CER or CER? NZ & European Carbon Schemes under Pressure

Closer Economic Relations or Certified Emissions Reductions? One reason for the fall in prices of international carbon credits is mounting concern about the economic situation in Europe. New Zealand – with its pioneering Southern Hemisphere emission scheme – is under strain, as the carbon market’s credibility, and purpose, is at risk if dubious overseas carbon units flood in.

Carbon price fall big issues for ETS review

By Brian Fallow in NZ Herald (15 September 2011):

One reason for the fall in prices of international carbon credits is mounting concern about the economic situation in Europe.

NZ market’s credibility, and purpose, at risk if dubious overseas units flood in.

While emitters fill their boots with CERs, trading in NZUs is very light and the bid/offer spread for NZUs on the online carbon marketplace Carbon Match, for example, is wide. A slump in carbon prices over the past three months raises the stakes for the Caygill review of the emissions trading scheme, due any day now, and the Government’s response to it.

Since July 1 last year the ETS has imposed a modest price for carbon emissions on domestic energy users.

Several features of the scheme were designed to ensure a soft start to carbon pricing.

One is the half obligation – buy one, get one free – under which firms with obligations under the scheme, including oil companies and power companies as proxies for consumers, only have to surrender one tonne of carbon credits for every two tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted.

In addition there are in effect two levels of price cap.

There is a formal cap of $25 a tonne (effectively $12.50 while the transitional half obligation applies).

The other ceiling is the price of internationally traded carbon credits which New Zealand emitters can use to meet their obligations instead of the New Zealand units (NZUs) the Government allocates free to forest owners or to trade-exposed industrial emitters as a form of protection.

These international units called CERs (certified emission reductions) are generated by UN-approved emission-reducing projects in developing countries.

The idea is that the atmosphere does not care where or how emissions are reduced. If it is cheaper for emitters to fund, via the CER market, emissions reductions elsewhere more cheaply than they can reduce their own, that is fine.

For the first year of the ETS the price of New Zealand units held steady at around $20 a tonne.

For most of that period NZUs traded at a discount to the international price of CERs.

It allowed the Government, in the scheme’s first annual report, to hail the fact that almost all the units emitters bought and surrendered to it were ones which had been allocated to forest owners.

The flow of money was from domestic energy consumers to New Zealand foresters, providing at the margin a signal to burn less fossil fuel and to plant more trees.

Since the middle of this year, however, that happy picture has collapsed.

The price of CERs has plunged to around $14, a level at which few forest owners are prepared to sell.

As a result New Zealand emitters have been “gorging” on cheap imported carbon, not only for this year’s obligations but next year’s as well, says NZ Forest Owners Association chief executive David Rhodes.

Carbon brokers agree.

While emitters fill their boots with CERs, trading in NZUs is very light and the bid/offer spread for NZUs on the online carbon marketplace Carbon Match, for example, is wide.

The forest owners have been lobbying for restrictions on the use of imported carbon. It is one of the questions the ETS review panel, chaired by David Caygill, was asked to consider.

In addition, the longer carbon prices remain low, the weaker becomes the case for extending the half obligation, currently due to expire at the end of next year.

The demand side of the international carbon market is dominated by Europe.

One reason CER prices have tumbled is mounting concern about Europe’s economic prospects.

The momentum of its recovery from the global financial crisis is faltering and there is an obvious risk that it will be the epicentre of another such crisis, unless the political handling of its sovereign debt issues becomes a lot less maladroit than it has been so far.

In addition there is a surplus of units allocated under the European ETS’s second phase, which can be carried forward to the more stringent Phase III which begins in 2013.

Both of these factors on their own would reduce demand from European emitters for CERs.

In addition Europe is scaling back the extent to which its emitters can use CERs to meet their obligations.

And crucially it is banning CERs arising from projects which destroy certain industrial gases with high global warming potentials – hydrofluorocarbon-23 and nitrous oxide.

In the case of HFC-23 the value of the CERs vastly exceeds the cost of producing the gas in the first place, leading to the accusation that countries, especially China, have been ramping up production of the gas in order to pocket the profit from then destroying it.

About 75 per cent of the CERs issued so far have related to those industrial gases.

“If New Zealand does not take similar action [to the EU's ban] it is likely the New Zealand ETS will become a prime destination for these ‘homeless’ units, of which tens of millions of tonnes a year will be available,” the Forest Owners Association said in its submission to the ETS review.

Left unchecked these environmentally dodgy CERs threaten to swamp the New Zealand market, damaging its credibility and snuffing out an incipient recovery in forest planting, it said.

The counter argument is that enabling lowest-cost compliance is one of the merits of emissions trading, as against a carbon tax, and the ETS is not intended simply to be a support mechanism for the plantation forest industry.

But the purpose of the scheme, to reduce emissions and begin the transition to a low-carbon economy, is subverted if the price is too low.

And under Kyoto’s rules reliance on imported carbon credits is supposed to be “supplementary” to domestic action.

If dubious CERs are allowed, didymo-like, to crowd out domestic emissions reductions and an expansion of the forest estate, we will be left with a Clayton’s ETS, which threatens rather than reinforces the clean, green brand.

It would also be likely to pose a high if not insuperable barrier to linking the ETS with an emerging archipelago of similar schemes overseas.

Linkage is important because New Zealand’s emissions profile, with half of it arising from the bodily functions of livestock but comparatively little for electricity generation, limits the potential for cost-effective reductions within our shores.

Unfortunately there is little prospect of linkage with the mainland of the archipelago, the European ETS, as the EU’s commissioner of climate action, Connie Hedegaard, reaffirmed while in New Zealand last week.

Not only is the New Zealand scheme too small to offer them much by way of additional liquidity, but also the Europeans don’t like its reliance on forest offsets and consider that too small a proportion of our emissions are actually subject to a carbon price.

Whether embryonic carbon markets in, for instance, China and the western United States are as fastidious remains to be seen, however.

It also remains to be seen whether the Australian Government’s carbon pricing policy survives long enough to morph from a tax into an ETS on schedule in 2015.

If it does, the Australians may find themselves with a choice between linking with the EU or the New Zealand schemes.

What price CER – in the other sense of Closer Economic Relations – then?

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz

Slash-and-Burn in Drought Stricken Indonesia, Exporting Pollution

Indonesia’s Burning Season. A prolonged dry spell has caused water shortages and failing harvests across Indonesia, forcing the government to put together a relief plan for victims. But farmers in the in the world’s third most populous country are continuing the practice of clearing land by burning, despite local and international efforts to wean them off the traditional slash-and-burn practice. And is also the main cause of the pervasive smoke haze that continues to bring health and environmental impact on neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja  in Straits Times Indonesia (16 September 2011):

Farmers in the Indonesian province of Jambi are continuing the practice of clearing land by burning forests, setting off fires that have been raging for the past few weeks.

Despite local and international efforts to wean them off the traditional slash-and-burn practice – which is banned – it is the cheapest and easiest way to clear land for farming, and is also the main cause of the haze that recently enveloped parts of Singapore and Malaysia.

When The Straits Times visited the province on Sumatra island yesterday, the strong smell of burning vegetation hung in the air, and some residents could be seen going around with masks.

In Jambi city, the provincial capital, reports of respiratory ailments had almost quadrupled from 127 to 479 in the past two weeks.

But there were no fires to be seen. Intermittent showers in the past two days have helped to put out forest and plantation fires, bringing the count of hot spots in Jambi – which hit 88 last Thursday – to zero yesterday.

A hot spot is a fire covering at least 1ha that can be detected by satellite.

The heavy smoke over the area, however, bore testament to the size of the fires that had been burning here just last week. It was only because of the unseasonal heavy rain, that the province – and the rest of the region – enjoyed a temporary respite from the fires and resulting haze.

Fires in Jambi – 330km south of Singapore – and other Sumatra provinces are blamed for the haze that envelops Singapore and peninsular Malaysia each year.

This year, Jambi was one of the worst provinces hit by fires. Some 1,530ha of oil palm plantations and 420ha of forest area were destroyed in the past few weeks, according to its forestry agency.

Indonesian officials and weather forecasters, however, say the clear skies may not continue. The dry season here could last till early next month, and another dry spell could allow fires to be restarted.

Singapore’s National Environment Agency said on its website that winds that have helped to blow away the haze are expected to continue to do so next week, but Singapore could still be affected by haze if there are fires in Sumatra.

Senior government weather forecaster Kurnianingsih, however, sought to ease concerns, telling The Straits Times yesterday: ‘But we will not likely see a haze situation as intense as the one that just passed, because that was a result of an accumulation of hot spot activities that started in early August.’

The burning in Jambi suggests that efforts to wean farmers off clearing land using fire have not taken hold.

Singapore has tried to help through a $1 million collaboration with Jambi officials aiming to mitigate fires by teaching farmers zero-burning practices and training local officials to monitor hot spots.

Singapore now funds four air and weather monitoring stations that help to detect fires quickly. ‘We have been using them and found them quite useful,’ said a local forest protection agency official.

The Indonesian government has also started programs to encourage aqua-culture, which does not require extensive forest clearing. And in the latest effort, Jambi’s provincial government has been distributing equipment to turn unburnt tree logs into ‘arang’, a local version of charcoal that can be sold. ‘But our problem is the funding,’ said the official. ‘Not every farmer gets this.’

But the authorities continue to struggle in their annual battle against the slashing and burning. Enforcing bans, officials say, is difficult because of the huge areas involved. And besides, poor farmers often have few other options when they need to clear land for agriculture. ‘We’re farmers,’ said one Jambi resident. ‘We can’t hire tractors. Only corporations use tractors.’

For many, it’s thus much easier – and cheaper – to just throw a match.

‘It’s a huge challenge because it’s about people’s economy,’ said the senior Jambi forest protection agency official.

Some farmers do try to prevent the fires from spreading. One told The Straits Times that he digs ditches around his land and fills them with water before burning bushes and logs between them.

But this is still very risky, as Mukri Priatna at the Indonesian Environmental Forum pointed out. A sudden and strong wind could spread the fire, he said.

‘And these ditches can sometimes dry up unnoticed and lose their effectiveness as separators,’ he said.

www.thejakartaglobe.com

Zubaidah Nazeer on The Straits Times (15 September 2011):

A prolonged dry spell has caused water shortages and failing harvests across Indonesia, forcing the government to put together a 3 trillion rupiah (US$345 million) relief plan for victims.

Long queues have been reported at water points throughout the country, from Sumatra in the west to Lombok in the east. At least six of the 16 main reservoirs in Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi are close to critical status and will dry up if it does not rain by the end of the month, officials say.

Rice harvests have also been threatened and more than 100,000 people are reported to be coping with severe food shortages in Nusa Tenggara region. Residents in some districts have gone to forested areas to dig for yam while children were seen helping their parents catch fish in swamps.

Elsewhere in Indramayu, West Java, villagers have resorted to recycling sewage water to wash their clothes and shower, with some even using it to drain their rice and to drink, said a report on Metro TV.

Mr Saprudin Jepri, the headman of Bogor’s Ciherang Pondok village, said: “It’s not enough for the roughly 1,200 households here. We get people fighting over water for bathing and washing.”

Bringing a piece of good news, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) says the rainy season has begun in Aceh and North Sumatra, and will spread to other areas by the end of the year.

“Water in some parts of Java has become scarce due to the drought but we do not think it is bad enough to say it is a national emergency,” Mr Edvin Aldrian, director of the Centre for Climate Change and Air Quality at BMKG, told The Straits Times.

The government has moved to deal with the situation.

Coordinating Minister for Economy Hatta Rajasa told reporters that there is 3 trillion rupiah in food contingency funds, and only about 10 per cent has been utilised to cover crop-harvest losses and provide rice to the poor.

The remaining 1.7 trillion rupiah will be used to develop water pump projects.

The crisis has sparked renewed debate on the nation’s water management policies.

Mr Hamong Santoso of the People’s Coalition for the Right to Water says the imbalanced impact of the dry season shows up poor water management programmes.

He said only about 47 per cent of the population had access to clean water and less than half of those had access to piped water in their homes. The rest sourced water from rivers, springs and wells.

Said Mr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency: “This situation needs special attention and urgent efforts. Measures to increase the water supply such as building more water catchment of rainwater and land conservation are needed.”

Source: www.asianewsnet.net

WEF Names New Sustainability Champions; DJSI Lead for Siemens Again

The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which focused on a group of 16 exemplary companies – New Sustainability Champions – that are creating unconventional and profitable solutions that positively impact economic growth and enhance overall sustainability in their regions. And Siemens has been ranked the most sustainable company in the Diversified Industrials category for the fourth time in a row in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

New Sustainability Champions Share Three Characteristics

SustainableBusiness.com News (16 September 2011):

The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched a new report this week focused on a group of 16 exemplary companies that are creating unconventional and profitable solutions that positively impact economic growth and enhance overall sustainability in their regions.

The report, prepared with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), highlights innovative business practices of these “New Sustainability Champions” operating in emerging markets.

According to the report, these companies exhibit three broad sets of characteristics:

Proactively turn constraints into opportunities through innovation

The New Sustainability champions are finding ways to overcome lack of material resources, customer education or customer financing. For instance, Shree Cement developed the world’s most energy-efficient process for making its products to overcome a lack of low-cost energy. Similarly, Broad Group, a large Chinese producer of air chillers, uses waste heat from buildings to power its range of non-electric air-conditioning units.

Jain Irrigation of India uses dance and song to explain the benefits of drip irrigation to local communities. And Kenya’s Equity Bank is expanding its presence among small rural farmers through a mobile phone banking platform.

Embed sustainability in their company culture

The New Sustainability champions are defining bold visions for sustainability, integrating that vision into operations and engaging their workforces in the process. Sekem, an Egyptian organic food producer, is using a profit-sharing methodology to reclaim desert land, produce food for the local market and reinvest in the community.

Masisa, a wood products manufacturer in Chile, developed a balanced scorecard on sustainability that measures performance in all dimensions, including non-financial indicators. Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics company, trains and rewards its managers for identifying socio-environmental challenges and turning them into business opportunities.

Actively shape their business environments

The New Sustainability Champions actively share their own business environment, partnering to achieve mutual goals and influence policies and standards. Brazilian organic sugar producer Grupo Balbo wants to turn the entire sugar industry into an organic sector and is collaborating on the creation of Brazil’s first national organic certification system.

New Britain Palm Oil, operating in Papua New Guinea, worked closely with local NGOs to smooth negotiations involving land rights – a critical issue since conflicts with suppliers and landowners are the largest barriers to palm oil operations in the region.

“The New Sustainability Champions are more than just symbols. Their overall performance matters because emerging markets in total are set to contribute more than three-quarters of global growth by 2025 – and because those markets will likely feel resource scarcity most,” says Knut Haanaes, Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group, Norway.

The 16 New Sustainability Champions are:

Broad Group, People’s Republic of China

Equity Bank, Kenya

Florida Ice & Farm, Costa Rica

Grupo Balbo, Brazil

Jain Irrigation Systems, India

Manila Water Company, Philippines

Masisa, Chile

MTR Corporation, Hong Kong SAR

Natura, Brazil

New Britain Palm Oil, Papua New Guinea

Sekem, Egypt

Shree Cement, India

Suntech, People’s Republic of China

Suzlon, India

Woolworths, South Africa

Zhangzidao Fishery Group, People’s Republic of China

The New Sustainability Champions will be showcased at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2011 in Dalian, People’s Republic of China, from September 14 -16. The Meeting is held in close collaboration with the Government of the People’s Republic of China and with the support of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Under the theme Mastering Quality Growth, over 1,500 influential stakeholders will convene in Dalian to gain strategic foresight on key economic, industry and technological developments that are reshaping consumer behavior, business models and financial markets.

Source: www.reports.weforum.org/new-sustainability-champions/

Siemens again No. 1 in sustainability

Company awarded top ranking in Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Siemens has been ranked the most sustainable company in its industry for the fourth time in a row. In the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) – the sustainability rating established by Dow Jones and SAM – Siemens has again taken first place in the Diversified Industrials category, which includes companies like 3M, General Electric, Toshiba and Thyssen Krupp.

Out of a possible 100 points, Siemens received 90 – its highest overall rating to date and a further improvement over last year’s result of 87 points. The company has now been honored by the DJSI twelve times in a row for its sustainable activities.

“By capturing the No. 1 position once again, we’ve proven just how rigorously the company is oriented to sustainability and how our employees put sustainability into practice on an everyday basis. For us, this is a competitive advantage,” said Barbara Kux, the Siemens Managing Board member responsible for sustainability.

In addition to the economic and social dimensions, Siemens is focusing intensively on the expansion of its Environmental Portfolio, emissions reduction and the efficient use of natural resources.

The company planned to generate revenue of $33 billion AUD (€25 billion) with its Environmental Portfolio in fiscal 2011. With revenue from the Portfolio totaling $37.3 billion (€28 billion) in fiscal year 2010, Siemens not only achieved this target a year earlier than planned; it considerably exceeded it. The company now wants to generate more than €40 billion in revenue with green technologies by the end of fiscal 2014.

Siemens. Innovation for generations.

Siemens commenced operations in Australia in 1872 and in New Zealand in 1876. Siemens is now recognised as of one of the most reliable and trusted brands in the region. With well-established businesses in both Australia and New Zealand, Siemens is a diversified technology-based solutions provider specialising in the areas of water, energy, environment, healthcare, productivity, mobility, safety and security.

At the end of fiscal 2010 (September 2010), Siemens in Australia and New Zealand achieved AUD2.2 billion in sales with 2800 employees. Globally at the end of fiscal year 2010, revenue from the Environment Portfolio totalled EUR28 billion, making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of ecofriendly technologies. In the same period, the company’s products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their CO2 emissions by 270 million tonnes. This amount equals the combined annual CO2 emissions of New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin. Siemens in Australia and New Zealand is part of the Siemens global network of innovation which operates in 190 countries throughout the world.

Source: www.siemens.com.au

For SMEs, Size Shouldn’t Matter when it comes to CSR

Smaller firms should take up the challenge of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and not leave it purely to multinationals and large companies, Minister S. Iswaran from the Prime Minister’s Office, told the Singapore Compact CSR Summit, suggesting that all enterprises can benefit from paying more attention to the social and environmental aspects of their businesses. CSR Asia hosts a two day summit in Kuala Lumpur with the theme “Asian Growth: Global Responsibility”, 27 /28 September.

Jonathan Kwok  in The Straits Times (6 September 2011):

Smaller firms urged to focus on social responsiblility too

SMALLER firms should take up the challenge of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and not leave it purely to multinationals and large companies, Cabinet minister S. Iswaran said yesterday.

Mr Iswaran, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry, suggested that all enterprises can benefit from paying more attention to the social and environmental aspects of their businesses.

“Well-considered and implemented CSR programmes can help companies engender confidence and goodwill among diverse stakeholders, strengthen brand equity, and enhance their standing as preferred employers,” he said.

Mr Iswaran cited the example of pest management company Origin Exterminators as a local small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) that has embedded CSR in its operations.

Instead of traditional methods of pest control, which release large volumes of insecticides and other chemicals into the environment, Origin develops new methods that reduce environmental damage, said Mr Iswaran.

“In turn, such sound business practices that promote sustainable development have won Origin support from the more discerning customers, at home and in the region,” he added.

“Origin’s CSR activities have also earned the loyalty and fuelled the passions of its staff.”

Many large firms also have CSR programmes. For example, energy giant Royal Dutch Shell established the Shell Foundation as its CSR arm.

“CSR is Shell’s way of giving back to the community, and in turn, a strong CSR culture has enabled Shell to continue to attract and retain top talent,” said Mr Iswaran.

He quoted the chief executive of Shell in saying that responsible behaviour and the profitability of companies go hand in hand.

Mr Iswaran was speaking to about 365 delegates at the two-day International Singapore Compact CSR Summit at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

CSR, or the focus of businesses on the social and environmental impacts of their operations in the bid for sustainable development, has been gaining traction in recent years.

Mr Iswaran noted that many countries have set specific sustainable development targets.

A 2009 blueprint for Singapore set a target of a 35 per cent improvement in energy efficiency from 2005 levels by 2030.

By that year, the country also wants a 70 per cent recycling rate and a reduction of fine particles in the air and sulphur dioxide levels.

Singapore Compact for CSR, the national organisation charged with promoting CSR, has reported a 60 per cent increase in the number of members over the past two years, to 366.

More than 70 companies now provide a sustainability report in some form or other, said the Singapore Compact in a statement yesterday. Three years ago, there were no such reports.

In June, the Singapore Exchange introduced a Sustainability Reporting Guide to encourage listed companies to get in on the act.

Singapore Compact vice-chairman Simon Tay called the guide “a significant step in encouraging public-owned companies to look at business strategies and risk management in a more holistic way”.

Source: www.spring.gov.sg

CSR Asia Summit 2011 Themed “Asian Growth: Global Responsibility” To Be Launched in Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia

Singapore, July 22, 2011 — The ninth CSR Asia Summit, the annual flagship event of CSR Asia, will be

launched at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 27th

September 2011. Themed “Asian Growth: Global Responsibility”, the two-day Summit will take place from 27thto 28th

September 2011. The CSR Asia Summitaims to be the most innovative and thought-provoking on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Asia.

More than 400 delegates from multi-disciplinary backgrounds around the world are expected to attend the Summit to discuss key CSR issues and strategies, as well as provide new insights for businesses, governments, CSR practitioners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Delegates of CSR Asia Summit 2011 will understand the latest CSR issues, address challenges and opportunities, learn from leading sustainability practitioners, and acquire crucial tools and resources to build sustainable business strategies in Asia.

The CSR Asia Summit 2011 is designed to address findings from “CSR in 10″, a research project by CSR Asia that provides insights into emerging trends and issues for CSR over the next decade. The research revealed that according to 80 interviewees, who are CSR experts in the Asia-Pacific region, the top CSR concern from companies in Asia is Climate Change and Water Issues, while others are Corporate Governance, Disclosure and Reporting, as well as Supply Chains.

Based on these findings, renowned speakers from local and international corporations as well as NGOs will focus on four themes at the CSR Asia Summit this year. They are:

1. Asian CSR Strategies

2. Environmental Issues

3. Community Investment

4. Sustainable Supply Chains and Food Security

An annual highlight of the CSR Asia Summit is the announcement of the results from the 3rd”Asian

Sustainability Rating™” (ASR™). Since its launch in 2009, the ASR™ has built a strong track record in becoming an ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) benchmarking tool for use by Asian companies, investors and other stakeholders. It is an essential reference that has helped to add value and enable companies to integrate a sustainability dimension to their business models through the years.

Richard Welford, Co-Founder and Chairman of CSR Asia said, “With the robust economic growth of Asian countries such as China and India, the spotlight is cast on the region to start taking the lead on CSR efforts. We believe the CSR Asia Summit will provide insights as to where the CSR opportunities lie in Asia, especially for growth markets, to enable companies to model their businesses to take on CSR responsibility on a global level.

The CSR Asia Summit is also tailored to empower companies to meet industry experts to exchange CSR ideas, innovative solutions and experiences. It is CSR Asia’s goal to ensure each CSR Asia Summit is an effectiveplatform that thought leaders can benefit from to develop long-term CSR solutions or initiatives, which would help them meet the growing expectations of their stakeholders.”

In Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia will launch an Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Index in late 2012.

While in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited will draft an ESG Reporting Guide which outline recommended best practices for listed companies in Hong Kong. Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) also launched its Sustainability Reporting Guide on 27thJune (1). All initiatives demonstrate how governments and corporations in Asia are stepping up to take on greater responsibility to build a more sustainable world. Both have roles to play in their contributions as they build regulatory and business policies around CSR. To enable governments and corporations to make more informed decisions on sustainability, the CSR Asia Summit 2011 will cover topical issues across four different themes. Some of the topics at the Summit are “Reporting and issues management”, “Adapting to climate change – addressing the real challenges”, “Should companies invest in schools?” and “Food Safety and Stakeholder Trust”.

More than 30 speakers from a wide range of industries are already confirmed for the CSR Asia Summit 2011.

Darrel Webber, Secretary General, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and Paul Hoff, Director of Business Development, Asia, FTSE Group will be the keynote speakers at the Summit. Other opinion leaders from local and global corporations as well as NGOs have also confirmed their speaking participation at the Summit.

Other than networking opportunities and speaking sessions, delegates of the CSR Asia Summit 2011 will get to view exhibits of CSR projects and initiatives.  Delegates also have access to the Summit’s unique “CSR Bazaar”session on the second day, where a selection of eight CSR presentations and case studies will be presented concurrently in different plenary rooms.  On the final day, delegates will be brought together in roundtables at “The World Café”, which is yet another special feature of CSR Asia Summit and a highly commended sessionsince its inception in 2009. A table host will facilitate group discussion on the key outcomes of the Summit so delegates can enjoy a valuable session where they are able to consolidate and discuss their learning from the Summit.

For more details about CSR Asia and the Summit, please visit www.csrasia.com/summit2011.

Source: www.csr-asia.com

Electric Vehicle Challenges & Carbon Neutral Products for Australia

“Electric vehicles are being introduced worldwide while governments, cities or utilities still have to resolve challenges around building charging infrastructures, establishing new policies and managing electricity demand,” says Philippe Reboul organiser of the third EV Conference in Brisbane 26 October 2011.  Meanwhile, Meg McDonald, CEO of Low Carbon Australia, said the development of carbon neutral products by Keytek – two laser toner cartridges – is another example of Australian business understanding the market desire for carbon neutral alternatives.

EV Conference, Brisbane

For its 3rd edition, the Australia Electric Vehicle Conference will take place again in Brisbane on 26 October 2011 at the Sebel & Citigate Hotel.

This conference which, last year, attracted 250 attendees from all over Australia and overseas, is a unique opportunity for participants to listen to renowned professionals and network across this fast growing industry. 3 different full electric cars were on display and available for test drive.

The official conference video can be seen on the home page of www.evconference.com .

The program will be focussing not just on electric vehicles and their introduction on the Australian market but as importantly on their potential impact onto the electricity grid, the provision of charging infrastructure, the development of appropriate policies, the economics of EV and the role EV will play in making a transition to cleaner and greener transport.

A wide range of key industry leaders will be speaking about their latest experience using EV’s and their objectives from short to long term. CEOs such as Energex’ Terry Effeney or Chargepoint’s James Brown will be presenting along side senior representatives of state government EV programs from WA, VIC and QLD.

“Electric vehicles are being introduced worldwide while governments, cities or utilities still have to resolve challenges around building charging infrastructures, establishing new policies, managing electricity demand etc. Fleet owners ask to better understand the true economics and many other industries are keen to be involved or at least prepared” says Philippe Reboul, Managing Director of EV Conference, the event organiser. “Our conference offers a unique forum where these points will be addressed with all the key professionals in one place”.

Other aspects surrounding electric vehicles will be discussed such as the Smart Grid, energy storage/batteries, new technologies and the production of renewable energy to recharge EV’s.

More information can be found at www.evconference.com.au

7 August 2011:

Low Carbon Australia has certified as carbon neutral under the Australian Government’s NCOS Carbon Neutral Program, two laser toner cartridges produced by Melbourne based company Keytek.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Mark Dreyfus welcomed the addition of printer cartridges to the list of carbon neutral products certified under the Government’s NCOS Carbon Neutral Program.

“The Carbon Neutral Program is a voluntary scheme which allows Australian businesses to measure, reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions associated with business operations or products.”

“Cutting carbon pollution across our economy is going to be a significant challenge. It will require a coordinated effort from all levels of government, businesses, like Keytek as well as individuals if we are to achieve a clean energy future,” Mr Dreyfus said.

Chris Watts, National Sales Manager for Australian owned Company, Keytek Pty Ltd, said the opportunity to develop an alternative product was worth the investment.

“Keytek has been selling a printer cartridges and other printer consumable items and for almost 20 years. In response to demands for recycled and remanufactured printer cartridges, Keytek developed two products, Greentec and Keytek Green, exclusively for the Australian market,” Mr Watts said.

“And the great news for our clients is Greentec and Keytek Green are up to 30% cheaper than the original product,” he said.

Meg McDonald, CEO of Low Carbon Australia, said the development of carbon neutral products by Keytek is another example of Australian business understanding the market desire for carbon neutral alternatives.

The Australian Government established Low Carbon Australia to work with business and the public sector to develop and deliver energy efficiency finance solutions, and to help business and consumers identify goods and services which are carbon neutral.

Source: www.cleanenergyfuture.com.au, www.lowcarbonaustralia.com.au & www.keytek.com.au