Rob Cameron, Executive Director, SustainAbility will be speaking at the 7th Global Dairy Congress, 19 – 20 June 2013 in Lucerne, Switzerland on a ‘global approach to sustainability’. He will be presenting some the work that SustainAbility has done with the Global Dairy Platform to develop a dairy sustainability framework.

Hammer? Check. Nails? Check. Straw bale? Cob? Natural paints? Passive solar? Deep Energy Retrofit? Increasingly, homeowners are integrating homes into the natural landscape, building with natural materials or boosting the energy efficiency of an older house as a way to tread lightly on the environment and live more comfortably. Books for Green Builders: On Sale [...]

Changing Tack is the final output of The Regeneration Roadmap. The project seized 2012’s major sustainability milestones – particularly the Rio+20 summit in Brazil – as an opportunity to assess progress on sustainable development, to examine the evolution of the role of business in delivering this agenda to date, and to consider what and how might be done, particularly by the private sector, to accelerate and scale progress in the urgent manner required. The Regeneration Roadmap team conducted interviews with pioneers in this field, held dialogues with thought leaders around the world, and undertook extensive research including multiple surveys testing expert, public and consumer attitudes and expectations regarding sustainable development.

While optimistic about what is possible to achieve, Changing Tack finds sustainability challenges to be great and growing, and that solutions are not yet proliferating at the speed and scale needed to avert widespread environmental, social and economic disruptions. It finds low expectations that governments alone will provide the leadership needed to change course and looks to other institutions, particularly business, to fill the gap.

While recognizing and encouraging proliferation of existing sustainability best practice from business, the policy realm and civil society, Changing Tack argues the need for shifting both the focus and degree of effort applied—a change of tack—in order to integrate sustainability considerations into the global economic system.

The report suggests that the private sector has both the capability and reason to play a catalytic leadership role where collective action and change to underlying system conditions are required. This will demand that businesses improve and evolve their own strategies and practices, as well as stimulate and support the shifts in policy, capital markets and consumption that will be required to achieve sustainable development.

Here’s the scenario: You decide to start selling the goods from your farm so that your community can enjoy fresh, unprocessed food from a local source. Somehow, the government finds out. How do they respond? Do they… A)  Applaud you for your entrepreneurial spirit? B)  Ask you to help them spread the word about other cow shares [...]

It was most definitely not a day like any other…Thursday June 13, 2013 saw the webcasted launch of Changing Tack, the culmination of our 18-month Regeneration Roadmap research program in collaboration with Globescan. The webcast was preceded by the annual Marks & Spencer Plan A Conference at which former U.S. Vice President Al Gore gave a barnstorming speech. Meanwhile, across London, the B Team launched its Plan B. Not a usual day by any means. Most certainly, something stirs…

Our Regeneration Roadmap analysis sees us poised between a sustainable future and catastrophic collapse. So Changing Tack recognizes the intensely pressing need to accelerate progress towards sustainable development. No less than transformation is needed. The enabling context for such transformation is trust, collaboration and leadership.

Business must find new ways to build trust, new models for collaboration and, above all, provide a new type of leadership – Extended Leadership. The six characteristics of Extended Leadership are new forms of vision, goal setting, offer, brand, transparency, and advocacy.

Alignment from companies as diverse as SC Johnson, BMW, and Cisco is surely rare; therefore, it is all the more striking when leaders from those companies are so strongly agreed on the need to build this enabling context.

But we must move fast, especially since it is often said that the pace of change is too incremental. SC Johnson’s Chief Sustainability Officer Kelly Semrau pointed out that actually we need both incremental and systemic change – we must do both. It is in the DNA of business to think in terms of continuous improvement so the journey continues day-by-day. Systemic change can be addressed too, but it must be through collaboration. The industry’s joint response to the CFC challenge in the 1990s points the way as an example of what can be achieved.

Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Protection at BMW Group Ursula Mathar reflected the notion that both incremental and transformative change is needed—evolution and revolution. BMW is revolutionizing at the same time as it evolves its existing range.

Its BMWi electric vehicle initiative is an example of what can be achieved with committed leadership and a small team collaborating towards a common goal. It can even see a future for electric vehicles as a new means of power distribution as well as usage. Its “HomePark” service is another example of the sharing economy gathering momentum.

Another example of the benefit of Extended Leadership can be found at Cisco where leadership’s insistence on adopting its own video conferencing technologies has slashed the travel budget and cut CO2 emissions. But it has also increased collaboration across the company rather than reduced it, and enabled the creation of the Networking Academy which as scaled up to 165 countries.

While such examples give hope, we know we are a long way from success. The reality according to a recent survey quoted by Guardian Sustainable Business editor and Changing Tack moderator Jo Confino is that 75% of CEOs make decisions to meet short-term earnings that they know may have long-term damage to long-term prospects.

As Cisco’s Senior Director, Corporate Affairs Kathy Mulvany pointed out, the big commitments are going to take at least five years. Executives across the company need to understand the need for longer-term investment horizons. Business is, by its very nature, competitive, and the visible demonstration of progress by others does make a difference. It is Extended Leadership in action if you will.

Changing the context is not only about shifting the investment community; it is also about the public policy and regulatory arena. SC Johnson didn’t wait for government to update regulation; it went ahead on its own and created its green list for itself. Such an act changes the dynamic in the industry. It is a form of advocacy, a form of Extended Leadership.

The Guardian’s Jo Confino, who so ably chaired the discussion, posed the question, “Are we at a defining moment?” Given the consistent themes from all of the day’s events including this webcast, I believe we are.

From the leadership that Marc Bolland and Al Gore described at the PlanA event, it is evident that both are already putting Extended Leadership into practice. And they are in good company with leaders at Cisco, SC Johnson and BMW. Changing Tack describes choppy waters, but as the gathering storm becomes clearer, we’re gaining clarity on how we can navigate to something better.

Download the report / Watch the webcast

See Also

• The Regeneration Roadmap

  Project Website

Thousands of business and sustainability professionals tuned in to a public webcast of the launch of Changing Tack, the outcome of months of global engagement on the sustainability agenda. Conveners GlobeScan and SustainAbility hosted a live-streamed panel discussion on the report’s key findings. Jo Confino of Guardian Sustainable Business moderated the discussion with senior executives from BMW, Cisco and SC Johnson.

The report forms the final output of The Regeneration Roadmap, an 18-month collaborative and multi-faceted thought leadership initiative designed to engage the private sector in advancing sustainable development by improving strategy, increasing credibility and delivering results at greater speed and scale.

In the process, The Regeneration Roadmap team conducted interviews with sustainability pioneers, held dialogues with thought leaders around the world and undertook extensive research including multiple surveys testing expert, public and consumer attitudes and expectations regarding how to accelerate the transition to sustainable development.

Download the report / Watch the webcast

About Changing Tack

Changing Tack finds cause for optimism about what is possible to achieve, but that sustainability challenges remain great and growing, and that solutions are not yet proliferating at the speed and scale needed to avert widespread environmental, social and economic disruptions. It finds low expectations that governments alone will provide the leadership needed to change course, and looks to other institutions, particularly business, to fill the gap.

The report argues that the private sector has both the capability and reason—rooted in self-interest—to play a catalytic leadership role through what it calls extended leadership, that not only focuses on individual business performance but also on how to most effectively change underlying system conditions. The authors explain that extended leadership consists of concurrently manifesting six corporate attributes related to having a unique vision, setting ambitious and concrete goals, an evolved corporate offer, a compelling brand, true transparency and active advocacy functions.

Finally, the report concludes that enhanced trust, collaboration and leadership each directly contribute to stronger corporate performance. Together they can help reset the operating context for business and enable the system changes necessary to deliver sustainable development.

”We have long felt that businesses have a leading role to play when it comes to advancing sustainable development, and Changing Tack not only reinforces that belief but helps chart the course,” said Kelly M. Semrau, SC Johnson Chief Sustainability Officer. “By building trust and fostering collaboration, companies like SC Johnson can use its scale and reach to drive critical progress.”

“Nearly 20 years ago, Ray Anderson challenged Interface and all of business and industry to aspire to a sustainable future, placing his confidence in our ability to innovate our way to a more sustainable world,” said Erin Meezan, Vice President of Sustainability for Interface, Inc. “The Changing Tack report reminds us that Ray’s vision is even more relevant, and our need to accelerate even more urgent.”

“We support collaboration projects like The Regeneration Roadmap to help inform Cisco’s strategy for addressing issues such as access to healthcare, under-performing education systems, or increasing greenhouse gas emissions,” says Kathy Mulvany, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs at Cisco. “Together we can find answers to some of our most difficult leadership challenges.”

“The pursuit of sustainability is in our long-term self-interest”, says Ursula Mathar, Vice President Sustainability and Environmental Protection at BMW Group. “Global challenges such as climate and demographic change, resource scarcity and population growth are in need of a more comprehensive, integrated and sustainable approach. Changing Tack lays out how business can take the helm and provides inspiration on unlocking greater financial and sustainable value to shape a sustainable economy.”

“The Changing Tack report paints a picture of why action is needed now and the important and unique role that the private sector will play in shaping a sustainable future,” said Linda Fisher, Vice President – Safety, Health & Environment and Chief Sustainability Officer, DuPont. “DuPont has moved beyond just focusing on our own environmental impact to identifying the sustainability challenges that our science and innovation can help address. We believe this is crucial to our long term growth strategy.”

Download the report

About the Webcast

On June 13, 2013 viewers tuned into the live-streamed webcast launch of Changing Tack which was followed by an interactive Q&A via Twitter. You can watch the webcast in full on The Regeneration Roadmap website.

The following recipe is an excerpt from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz. “Wine made from flowers preserves the exquisite flavors and benevolent properties of the blossoms from which it is made. It also preserves the memories of fine, clear, sunshiny days—alone or with Someone Else—in woods, meadows, and hills, picking millions of tiny flowers for hours [...]

Frances Buckingham is featured in the Financial Times 2013 Responsible Business report in an article exploring how campaigners have turned to collaboration to shape business best practice.

Frances Buckingham responds to the Oxfam Behind the Brands work which reflects a new era in the relationship between companies and campaigners, “It’s not just naming and shaming – it’s a combination of praising and shaming.”

The article also reflects on how this by no means signals the end of corporate activism. NGOs such as Oxfam and Greenpeace are continuing to hold companies to account as “there’s a realisation that no one is moving fast enough and there’s a need to continue to push companies in the right direction”.

For more on multi-stakeholder collaboration download the GlobeScan / SustainAbility Survey on Collaborating for a Sustainable Future or read the article on How to Make Progress on Collaboration for Sustainability.

Read the full article on the Financial Times website.

In his new book, Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land, author Gary Paul Nabhan draws on the knowledge and expertise of traditional and visionary desert farmers, compiling stories of resilience and adaptation that urge readers to plan for uncertainty, acquire knowledge, and take action. The following exchange between Nabhan and Chelsea Green Senior Editor Ben [...]

Sustainable Brands 2013

I had occasion this week to be in San Diego for Sustainable Brands 2013, where I offered opening remarks on the first full day of the conference, June 04. Conclusions from Changing Tack, the final output of The Regeneration Roadmap, were top of mind as I did so.

Sustainable Brands’ theme this year was “From Revolution to Renaissance.” I love the implications behind the words. To me, it suggests that we have broken through into a creative, hyper-productive phase of sustainable development progress and the role brands will play. But, as in the title above, I put the theme to the conference audience as a question – not to query where we are going, but to allow us to step back and look at where we are on the journey, and to consider how we can chart a path forward. And, based on Changing Tack’s conclusions, I suggested that we need to incite still far more people toward revolution at the same time as we push forward the renaissance.

Things are getting better

There is good news. Forty years since the founding of the modern SD movement, there are many signs of progress. Sustainable development as a concept has mainstreamed.

Companies are getting hyper-efficient. Scarcity is shaping business planning and investment, and eco-efficiency targets are being expressed in absolute and science-based terms instead of relative ones. Think of Walmart and its ambition to reduce waste going to landfill to zero, and Ford, where future product plans are tied to keeping rising temperature due to climate change at or below 2 degrees C. A handful of companies like Kingfisher and BT in the U.K. are even aiming beyond zero, aspiring to ‘net positive’, which will require engaging and activating their customers and value chain partners.

There is policy momentum. Though more regional than national or international, it is real. For example, while Europe’s flagship Emissions Trading System falters, new and energetic carbon trading systems, taxes and permits are emerging in jurisdictions from California, to British Columbia and Quebec, to South Korea, China and Australia.

Cities have emerged as critical sustainable development labs. Look at Chicago’s plan to repave its network of alleyways with permeable pavement. This will save money on traditional water infrastructure, and the city will benefit from cooling on hot days when the water stored under the alleys evaporates, lowering ambient temperature.

And there is tremendous energy in civil society. People are being drawn to fight for sustainability – to demand it. Think of the Keystone Pipeline protests. We are blessed with what I think is the most energized environmental movement in decades.

Things are getting worse

But there is bad news, too. The environmental movement has reason to protest. And there are social and economic challenges also.

If we are honest in our assessment of all the progress being made by companies, policymakers, cities and the rest, it’s just not enough in aggregate. Metrics on CO2 emissions, bio-diversity, water, demographics and equity paint this picture. CO2 emissions are rising, cresting 400 ppm earlier this year. Biodiversity is declining. Fresh water access is more and more constrained. And as population ticks towards 9 or 10 billion by mid-century, there is growing inequity, with the worst of it often located where the population is growing fastest. This is historically a recipe for instability and unrest.

Couple all this with an uncertain economic outlook, and it suggests that the revolution may not yet be over, even though there is evidence that a renaissance has begun.

A key part of the lesson is that even the existing best practices aren’t connecting, scaling and replicating fast enough. Sustainable development is a system problem, beyond what any one institution can do alone. It requires collective action and/or change to underlying system conditions in order to guarantee future societies and ecosystems the opportunity to thrive.

Changing Tack

With governments still falling short in terms of providing effective guidance on the national and international stage, Changing Tack concludes that companies, alone and in combination with other actors, face both the expectation and opportunity to chart the route forward on sustainable development in the near term, and that the question of the moment is: How?

Changing Tack suggests that it will be integrated and systemic approaches that turn things – and that companies can lead on sustainable development and improve the resilience of their own businesses by improving and better integrating performance across six key leadership attributes: Vision, Goals, Offer, Brand, Transparency and Advocacy.

If Vision states a company’s ambition, and Goals express the points on the journey, Offer calls on companies to evolve their products, services and business models to deliver on that vision for sustainability and a better future. This requires developing products and services that are the optimal combination of “different” and “better.”

By our definition, better brings cleaner, more efficient, more socially conscious products and services like concentrated laundry detergents and energy efficient appliances to market, while different entails fundamentally new approaches to value creation like we are seeing in the nascent sharing economy. We see a need for plenty of both.

We need every company and every industry to push the boundaries of better and different, to help make the case for change, and then spur the innovation needed to deliver it. Please join us on June 13 at 11 am Eastern for the Changing Tack launch webcast to continue the discussion.

High energy bills got you down? Worried about the future of planet Earth? Fear not! Green building expert Jeff Wilson is here to help you save money and the environment this Father’s Day, and beyond. “Weatherization on steroids” is how Wilson describes the deep energy retrofits (DERs) outlined in his book, The Greened House Effect. Drawing [...]

Resilience, Regeneration, and Rights — these are the three “Rs” covered by several recent releases. Whether you want to read an in-depth guide to personal preparedness and homestead resiliency; how to grow food in hotter, drier climates; save money (and the environment) with a green home makeover; or learn more about the emerging battle over food [...]

Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands, name-giving location of the first conference in 1954

Thursday 6 June, 2013

Dear Bilderberg members

For 59 years you have been meeting regularly to discuss the issues that most affect Europe and the USA. Looking back to the mid-50s, your original inspiration, to promote an “Atlanticist” approach to help bridge the gaps between the two continents, was no doubt well conceived as the wearisome post-war recovery period dragged on.

But it was not this aim that was most prescient. Your founders realized the potential of a cross-sector approach to international challenges. This approach brings policy makers, business, and civil society together in ways not possible in the normal discourse. As we look to the challenges the world faces now, it is clear that this is the very type of collaboration that is so badly needed – one that cuts across traditional boundaries.

Just yesterday, at an event hosted by the UK’s Confederation for British Industry, Shell’s CEO Peter Voser voiced his concern that we have failed to grasp (so far) how best to unite the three domains of business, government and civil society to address civilization’s most urgent challenges. I believe he is right. Your organization was created to bring these domains together and, although you have been subjected to much (often justifiable) criticism over the years, maybe you could be an organization whose time has come.

You are criticized most notably for your lack of transparency. Surely it is time to address this? You do, at least, publish the topics you will be discussing, but the outcomes of your conversations are never disclosed. And it is stretching credulity to think that a group of this type does not reach some sort of conclusion and decision for action. Is it not time to be more transparent about your conversations?

But such criticism, however well founded and justified, is to miss a larger point: A review of your agenda over the past few years suggests that you are missing society’s biggest need and your biggest opportunity.

You discussed climate change back in 2007 and you explored feeding the world in 2010. But in the main, your agenda appears to be an update of 1954 rather than a reinvention for the world of tomorrow.

As you settle into your hotel suites, it may be challenging for you to contemplate the distinct possibility that our civilization is under threat – not from Islamist revolutionaries, or austerity, or the Euro, but from systemic social and environmental pressures that our existing institutions are, by their nature, predisposed to ignore.

Pause and consider. Tonight, while you enjoy the hospitality of The Grove, around a billion people will go to sleep hungry. Remember too that a billion people are obese. This double burden of nutrition is well known and its health impacts increasingly understood. Now consider that almost two billion people are suffering from nutrient deficiencies, be they Vitamin A, iron, iodine or zinc. Add a population expansion from our present 7bn to between 8.6 and 10bn by 2050, and the prospects for nutrition and health are stark.

We are now locked in to a 2 degree increase in global warming, with a real prospect of 4 degrees with all its commensurate challenges. The models show that each 2 degree step condemns another 220m people to hunger, to name but one of the egregious effects of climate change.

We face a stress nexus that by 2030 demands 30% more water, 40% more energy, and 50% more food. This is what should be on your minds, along with lesser-publicized but acute problems, such as insufficient potassium and phosphorous for the fertilizers upon which today’s agriculture depends.

These systemic challenges are real and they are clear to us now. The truth is that if we are to enjoy anything like our present-day levels of comfort over the next 100 years, we urgently need new forms of leadership from those in positions of power, and new forms of collaboration initiated by those that can drive them forward.

It is too late to impact this year’s Bilderberg agenda, but during your time together, undoubtedly your minds will turn to your 60th anniversary meeting just one year from now. Are you willing to use this anniversary as a marker point? Can you bring fresh leadership to addressing our global challenges that business, policy makers, and civil society cannot address on their own? Are you willing to promote new forms of collaboration? Are you willing to embrace transparency and show the world that leaders such as you appreciate your responsibilities, even outside of the democratic process? In short, are you ready to take your place as a force for sustainable prosperity for all? Or, are you locked into the paradigm of thinking and being that is precisely what got us here in the first place? It is time for you to make your true mark on the world; a mark that defines you as global citizens and leaders.

Good luck with your discussions, and we look forward to seeing the agenda for next year’s 60th anniversary meeting with interest.

Yours sincerely

Rob Cameron
Executive Director
SustainAbility

Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands, name-giving location of the first conference in 1954

Thursday 6 June, 2013

Dear Bilderberg members

For 59 years you have been meeting regularly to discuss the issues that most affect Europe and the USA. Looking back to the mid-50s, your original inspiration, to promote an “Atlanticist” approach to help bridge the gaps between the two continents, was no doubt well conceived as the wearisome post-war recovery period dragged on.

But it was not this aim that was most prescient. Your founders realized the potential of a cross-sector approach to international challenges. This approach brings policy makers, business, and civil society together in ways not possible in the normal discourse. As we look to the challenges the world faces now, it is clear that this is the very type of collaboration that is so badly needed – one that cuts across traditional boundaries.

Just yesterday, at an event hosted by the UK’s Confederation for British Industry, Shell’s CEO Peter Voser voiced his concern that we have failed to grasp (so far) how best to unite the three domains of business, government and civil society to address civilization’s most urgent challenges. I believe he is right. Your organization was created to bring these domains together and, although you have been subjected to much (often justifiable) criticism over the years, maybe you could be an organization whose time has come.

You are criticized most notably for your lack of transparency. Surely it is time to address this? You do, at least, publish the topics you will be discussing, but the outcomes of your conversations are never disclosed. And it is stretching credulity to think that a group of this type does not reach some sort of conclusion and decision for action. Is it not time to be more transparent about your conversations?

But such criticism, however well founded and justified, is to miss a larger point: A review of your agenda over the past few years suggests that you are missing society’s biggest need and your biggest opportunity.

You discussed climate change back in 2007 and you explored feeding the world in 2010. But in the main, your agenda appears to be an update of 1954 rather than a reinvention for the world of tomorrow.

As you settle into your hotel suites, it may be challenging for you to contemplate the distinct possibility that our civilization is under threat – not from Islamist revolutionaries, or austerity, or the Euro, but from systemic social and environmental pressures that our existing institutions are, by their nature, predisposed to ignore.

Pause and consider. Tonight, while you enjoy the hospitality of The Grove, around a billion people will go to sleep hungry. Remember too that a billion people are obese. This double burden of nutrition is well known and its health impacts increasingly understood. Now consider that almost two billion people are suffering from nutrient deficiencies, be they Vitamin A, iron, iodine or zinc. Add a population expansion from our present 7bn to between 8.6 and 10bn by 2050, and the prospects for nutrition and health are stark.

We are now locked in to a 2 degree increase in global warming, with a real prospect of 4 degrees with all its commensurate challenges. The models show that each 2 degree step condemns another 220m people to hunger, to name but one of the egregious effects of climate change.

We face a stress nexus that by 2030 demands 30% more water, 40% more energy, and 50% more food. This is what should be on your minds, along with lesser-publicized but acute problems, such as insufficient potassium and phosphorous for the fertilizers upon which today’s agriculture depends.

These systemic challenges are real and they are clear to us now. The truth is that if we are to enjoy anything like our present-day levels of comfort over the next 100 years, we urgently need new forms of leadership from those in positions of power, and new forms of collaboration initiated by those that can drive them forward.

It is too late to impact this year’s Bilderberg agenda, but during your time together, undoubtedly your minds will turn to your 60th anniversary meeting just one year from now. Are you willing to use this anniversary as a marker point? Can you bring fresh leadership to addressing our global challenges that business, policy makers, and civil society cannot address on their own? Are you willing to promote new forms of collaboration? Are you willing to embrace transparency and show the world that leaders such as you appreciate your responsibilities, even outside of the democratic process? In short, are you ready to take your place as a force for sustainable prosperity for all? Or, are you locked into the paradigm of thinking and being that is precisely what got us here in the first place? It is time for you to make your true mark on the world; a mark that defines you as global citizens and leaders.

Good luck with your discussions, and we look forward to seeing the agenda for next year’s 60th anniversary meeting with interest.

Yours sincerely

Rob Cameron
Executive Director
SustainAbility

From an eco-city in China to a coffee producer in Uganda to ‘towers of power’ in Spain and California, some good news from the green frontier.

Climate change looks as if it’s coming quicker than previously imagined. The strongest response that our politicians can manage may actually be worse than taking no action. And a huge chunk of one state is expected simply to disappear — even if we do manage to take effective action against global warming.

With news like that, it’s easy to lose sight of hopeful news that’s lurking just outside the media’s spotlight. Often, it’s those hopeful stories — the ones that are about steady, quiet progress rather than political conflict — that make the larger difference in our lives.

And you don’t read about them after they’ve had their effect either. Who cares, for example, that “persistent organic pollutants” no longer show up in the bloodstreams of American women because the chemicals were banned 40 years ago and industry was able to find substitutes; or that new diesel engines required by the EPA put out just 10 percent of the soot and smog that they did just a few years ago.

Here are seven developments that may play a role in solving climate change and other burning problems of the future — and that may never get the headlines they deserve:

1) China’s building an eco-city. If you’ve been to China, “eco” isn’t the prefix you’d use before the word “city”: Some of the world’s worst smog. Neighborhoods that look like landfills. Landfills that look like somebody’s neighborhood. Toxic dumping into drinking-water sources. And an unfortunate, burgeoning love affair with sprawl. Oh, great.

An earlier attempt to wed New Urbanism to authoritarian planning on a mega-city scale flopped. But now, with the help of financiers from Singapore, the Chinese government is mapping out an ecotopia of 350,000.

Among the goals: recycle 60 percent of garbage; design the city and its buildings to conserve water; and cut down on car trips by 90 percent by building neighborhoods around an extensive light-rail network.

An eco-city in China would be a more relevant model for the rapidly growing cities in other developing countries than say Portland, Oregon. According to the Guardian, “investors said the 10-year scheme was intended to be ‘scalable and replicable’ so it could be used across China, India and other developing nations.”

2) Third World efforts to lock up carbon in trees may not be a Ponzi scheme after all. Exhibit A has got to be a project already underway in Ghana that’s designed to grow 24 million trees in exchange for carbon credits. The BBC reports:

The first million seedlings are being planted in a pilot scheme in an area that has been heavily logged in recent years. The trees are all tropical hardwoods, mostly indigenous, and it is believed this project could eventually become the largest of its kind.

Ghana — a West African democracy highlighted favorably this month in a visit by President Obama — has lost 80 percent of its tree cover over the last half century. That deforestation threatens to bring desert conditions to the small country and badly diminishes one of its most valuable natural resources.

Carbon-credit trading is derided by some as a shell game that allows multinational firms to pretend they’re offsetting emissions when they’re really doing what they’d do anyway. And some local environmentalists have expressed misgivings about the Ghana project. But ArborCarb, the British firm that’s behind this so far seems to be taking the right steps: It’s planting biologically diverse seedlings of indigenous trees, and is promising not to buy up land, but instead to empower local owners.

In the project’s life cycle, ArborCarb says, the new trees will suck up nine million metric tons of carbon.

3) Renewable energy is getting closer to “grid parity.” By their very nature, renewable systems suffer from a competitive disadvantage: They have a hard time storing energy to use when the wind’s calmed or the sun’s down.

But Yale University’s Environment 360 website reports that new storage approaches — among them advanced lithium-ion batteries, networks of batteries in homes, and “schemes to store energy as huge volumes of compressed air in vast geologic vaults” — are becoming more economically viable.

That’s a big step toward leveling the playing field between clean systems and the carbon-intensive systems that are so 20th century. Says Environment 360: “Large-scale electricity storage promises to be a game-changer, unshackling alternative energy.”

4) Large-scale solar plants seem to have a future. Grid parity certainly helps. But one of the brightest lights in the solar field is California-based BrightSource Energy, which is starting construction on the first of 14 planned plants that are expected to generate enough electricity to power 1.8 million homes.

Rather than using photovoltaic cells, BrightSource relies on mirrors that aim solar heat toward a central tower, where it’s used to create steam that then drives a turbine to generate electricity. Another company has operated a similar “tower of power” system near Seville, Spain, since 2007.

But plans for “concentrated” solar-energy farms of all sorts improves the odds that one technology could emerge as a replacement for coal.

5) At the same time, the prospect for solar systems in many homes looks better than ever. One reason is a 30 percent tax credit approved this year by Congress. Another reason is that manufacturers are finding less costly ways to make photovoltaic cells.

But grassroots ingenuity and marketing is an important part of bringing the solar panels to market. One Block of the Grid (1BOG) is a year-old San Francisco non-profit that helps neighbors join together to demystify the solar-installation process and to increase bargaining power with solar suppliers and. That can lower the cost to each home by around 30 percent.

1BOG already is expanding from California — where it claims to have helped nearly 12,000 homes move to solar — to Denver and New Orleans, with plans eventually to go national.

6) China is making a big commitment to clean energy. Yes, this is one story that’s gotten a bit of coverage — finally. But didn’t news that China’s invested $12 billion in renewable energy kind of sneak up on you?

The world’s most populous nation is supposed to be the place that’s putting a lump of coal in every pot and a dirty-coal power plant in every garage, right? And more development there threatens to swamp the combined carbon-reduction efforts of Western nations. That’s still the case.

All the more reason though that China’s seriousness about alternative energy truly is heartening. Utilities there already are supposed to generate three percent of their energy from renewables, and 15 percent by 2020. So far, projects range from household bio-digesters to laying the groundwork for the world’s largest wind farms.

The Chinese need to do more and to do it more quickly. But if the country’s investment in renewables results in breakthroughs that drive the cost of wind and solar below that of conventional methods, maybe the world’s biggest carbon-emitting country will be able to say bye-bye to coal plants someday.

7) We’re all in this together. That’s the only thought I can come up with to characterize what simply is the inspirational story of a smalltime Uganda coffee roaster who produces non-char briquettes made from agricultural waste. No wonder Kampala Jellitone Suppliers Ltd. just won the Ashden International Award for Avoided Deforestation.

Abasi Musisi, the head of the coffee company, started using agriculture waste to create a briquette that burns cleaner and more efficiently that wood or charcoal. He started selling the briquettes to area businesses, and is now working to market them to homes.

In the award citation, Ashden International cites the company for reducing carbon dioxide emission by around 800 tons a month, while it also reduces deforestation in the Ugandan countryside and air pollution in the capital city of Kampala.

 

Ken Edelstein’s interest in the environment stems from hours of idle thoughts that drifted by while staring at the sky from a reclining position in a canoe. He’s been the editor of Creative Loafing, Atlanta’s alternative newsweekly; an environmental and political reporter for the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer; and the host of a radio talk show. His work, and the articles he’s edited, have won more than 40 journalism awards. He blogs on the environment in media and pop culture at cultofgreen.com.  He also writes for MNN.com where this article was originally published.

The Louisiana Green Corps and the Alliance for Affordable Energy have joined forces to create a rap video advertising a green jobs training program in New Orleans.

Although Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans nearly four years ago, many segments of the city have not been rebuilt yet.  The Louisiana Green Corps and the Alliance for Affordable Energy have joined forces to help rebuild New Orleans with energy efficient housing.  In order to provide skilled workers for these projects, the organizations have created a 14-week training program to provide green jobs training for the youth of the city.

Green jobs training programs for at-risk youth have received a lot of attention, as well as funding, from the Obama administration.  In order to help spread the word about the New Orleans’ program, the two organizations created a rap video, which was uploaded to YouTube last week.

The “Going Green” video shows members of the Louisiana Green Corps providing weatherization upgrades to houses in the city.  The video is a great motivational tool targeted at getting the at-risk youth of the city into a green collar job in just a few short months.  After completing the 14-week training series, graduates of the program will be prepared to start either an apprenticeship or gain entry-level employment. 

The Louisiana Green Corps is part of the Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans (CCGNO).  “Participating CCGNO project sites will collaboratively train up to 800 court involved youth annually in the Greater New Orleans Area. The Corps is based on a Civic Justice Corps model that educates and trains court involved youth through proposing, leading, implementing, and exhibiting projects to communities in need. “  Source: LA Green Corps

This program is just one of many programs across the country aimed at providing a pathway out of poverty for our nation’s at-risk youth.

Photo by greenforall.org

These are the companies with the right mix of the right stuff — business acumen, a great plug-in product and a marketing plan. Don’t be surprised if at least one of these companies becomes as big as (or bigger than) General Motors.

The Tesla Roadster: Already selling. (Credit: Tesla Motors)

We’re in Silicon Valley, and the setting is a nondescript industrial park. The office looks like all the rest, though it invariably has a garage attached to it. This is the scene for numerous electric vehicle (EV) startups, many of them headed by California tech refugees. I hear from them nearly every day now. It’s an entrepreneurial field day not seen since, well, the tech startups of the 1990s—which took place in exactly the same place.

The cast of characters and their ranking changes daily, but here is my listing of the eight that I think—right now—are most likely to make it (in roughly descending order):

Tesla Motors. What’s not to like about the ultra-sexy Tesla Roadster, which reaches 60 mph in 3.9 seconds on battery power alone? Well, there is that $109,000 price, but believe it or not it took relentless expense-cutting to get the materials cost down from $140,000 to the $80,000 it is now. So Tesla, which will introduce its four-door Model S in 2011, is finally poised to make money. “Combined with a steady production volume of 20 to 30 per week in the third quarter this year and a good take-up rate of the higher-priced Roadster Sport,” CEO Elon Musk said in June, “we expect to cross over into profitability next month.”

There’s also the $465 million that Tesla got through the federal advanced technology loan program, which will be used to produce the Model S, and also to build a powertrain plant in California.

Bright Automotive. Bright doesn’t do sexy. Its vehicle is a plug-in hybrid panel van, intended for fleet use. Headed by John Waters, the guy who designed the battery pack for the General Motors EV-1 electric car, Bright has laser-like focus on just the fleet market, and is talking to big players like Coca-Cola. Launched just last year, the Bright team built its vehicle from the ground up in a year. On the road, the Bright Idea (which I have not yet seen) achieves a reported 100-mpg equivalent. Production is set to begin in 2012, with a target of 50,000 annually, but that’s pretty ambitious.

Brammo. There’s something about a distribution deal with Best Buy that gets people to take you seriously. This is a cool-looking electric motorcycle that can be fixed by the Geek Squad. The $12,000 Enertia, which has a lightweight carbon-fiber frame carrying lithium-iron-phospate batteries, weighs just 280 pounds. Fast it isn’t, with a top speed of 50 mph from its 18-horsepower electric motor, but Brammo is claiming the equivalent of 300 mpg. It recharges in three hours on regular house current. CEO Craig Bramscher says, “What we’re selling is a lot closer to consumer electronics than to transportation.” I second that emotion.

Fisker Automotive. German-born Henrik Fisker is an industry veteran who knows how to create a business plan, in this case to finance the 2010 Karma, a Tesla-rivaling four-seat plug-in hybrid exotic with a 50-mile range on its battery pack, and the fuel economy equivalent of 100-mpg once the engine kicks in. The car, to be built in Finland, will sell for $87,900. If it’s a Tesla-like tiger on the road (I haven’t driven it) the Karma will have a good chance in the marketplace. Fisker thinks it will be producing 15,000 annually, and again that’s a big number. (Tesla has only delivered 500 cars so far.) Deposits are $5,000, but if you want the more-exclusive Karma S convertible that will be $25,000 please.

BYD. The fact that financier Warren Buffett bought into this Chinese company (10 percent for $230 million) caused a lot of people to sit up and take notice. And when BYD got a plug-in hybrid car on the market before any other world manufacturer, they noticed even more. I saw the car at the Detroit Auto Show, and the F3DM is not exactly showy, but on the other hand it can reportedly go 60 miles on a charge, and the one-liter gas engine recharges on the fly. BYD says it will come to the U.S. in 2011. BYD is not technically a startup, but cars are a relatively recent development for this world-leading battery company.

Think Global. This Norwegian company has had a fascinating history. From a startup in Norway it went to becoming part of Ford, but the automaker sold out in the 1990s. The company has had serious cash flow problems, but is reportedly soon to announce a reorganization plan that will include U.S. sales. Think’s major asset is a lightweight, plastic-bodied electric car with sodium or lithium-ion batteries (from a variety of manufacturers, including U.S.-based Ener1) that it has already started delivering in Europe. According to its website, “Think is getting closer to resuming production of the Think City and to honoring its commitment to start delivering vehicles to customers before the end of the year. Think’s customers are eagerly awaiting their new Think EV in cities across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Spain.” Think is technically not a start-up either, but for the few cars it has ever sold its re-launch certainly counts as one.

Coda. I drove a Coda in Greenwich, Connecticut recently, my first time behind the wheel of a Chinese-made car. Coda’s Corolla-sized car is based on the Saibao sedan, with a big battery pack built by the Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-Stock Company. Porsche Design Studio gave it a makeover (necessary, if the $45,000 asking price is to find buyers). The Coda reaches 60 mph in less than 11 seconds, is speed-governed at 80 mph, and has 100-mile range. CEO Kevin Czinger is a smart player, with a long business resume, and his car has cemented strong relationships with Chinese and European supplier that should make the car more than the sum of its parts. The plan is to sell 2,700 in 2010, and then ramp up to a full production capacity of 20,000 annually.

Wheego. This Atlanta-based startup makes the whimsically named Wheego Whip, a low-speed vehicle that’s not allowed on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or more. Unlike other LSVs, this $19,000 entry with 55 miles of range is fully finished, with four-wheel discs, air conditioning, a stereo and other amenities that take it beyond golf-cart status. There are reportedly 40,000 LSVs on American roads, but Wheego will soon introduce a fully road-worthy EV and that’s when the company could really become a player. CEO Mike McQuary is, like Elon Musk at Tesla, a former investor who liked what he saw. “The Whip is the best electric car in the world,” he says.

Jim Motavalli is the transportation blogger for the Mother Nature Network, where this article was originally published.