(SERI) - Sustainable Europe Research Institute

How we deal with the terror

The terrorist attacks in the United States and the strikes on Afghanistan have provoked questions about the sense that our kind of work for sustainable development may have these days. We think, however, that it is more than ever urgent to work against global arguments and clashes between the North and the South.
Our way of doing that is to point out that the distribution of global resources is more than unfair but also that there are opportunities available to reduce this gap by reducing OUR ecological footprints in the North: in Europe, in the U.S. and in the metropolitan areas all over the world.
This should also reduce the basis for all those argueing for a clash between nations, cultures and religions.

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker's visit at SERI

On Tuesday, 18th of September 2001, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, the former president of the Wuppertal Institute and currently chairman of the German parliamentary committee on "Globalisation of the World Economy" visited for a 2 hours breakfast.
We discussed our work (especially in the field of globalisation) in the light of the current geo-political situation. According to Weizsäcker, facing the latest alarming events in the US should make us even more determined to work against global inequality. Since mechanisms to compensate the huge gap between rich and poor are getting weaker and weaker, terrorism is arising due to the lack of global equity.

To find more about our work for globalisation see www.seri.at/globalisation.

2. Project-Overview: News from our projects, our other work and new research fields

Globalisation at www.nachhaltigkeit.at

"Globalisation" will be the topic of the month of October on www.nachhaltigkeit.at. What is "globalisation"? Globalisation is not only an acceleration of economic trends (expansion of trade, investment) and information flows among states which have been made possible by increasingly rapid communications and transportation technologies, but also does effect many other parts, even of daily life (e.g. the fact that we all seem to listen to the same music via the music channel MTV).
Has globalisation increased inequality and has it lead to a further polarization of the world or can it be considered a way out of poverty? Its primary winners are both trans-national corporations as well as privileged classes.
Taking into account the recent conflicts after the terrorist attacks in the US, it becomes even more obvious that this process of globalisation has to be pushed into a direction that will support a sustainable development in the industrialized countries as well as in the so called developing countries which will be an urgent and challenging task that has to be faced by all of us.
The "theme of the moth" (in German language only) will be dealing with these issues, presenting positions and commentaries of NGO's, organisations and political institutions.

New project on eco-efficiency

SERI participates in a new project on "Development of new possibilities for companies by using a methodology of initialisation, creation and implementation of eco efficient Product Service Systems"

This project plans to contribute to the development of new, innovative product service systems and will take special interest in the realisation of such concepts together with companies, involved in the project. The resulting new products and services will be evaluated, so that the criterias of a sustainable development are implemented.

This project is funded by the programme of the Austrian BMVIT (Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology): "Fabrik der Zukunft" ("factory of tomorrow").

See www.fabrikderzukunft.at for more information on this research programme.

3. Friends: Seri and ... (News about co-operation and partnerships)

Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker received the Takeda World Environment Award 2001

The Takeda Foundation in Japan is a new foundation that promotes the creation and application of engineering intellect and knowledge. The monetary value for the award is 100 million Japanese yen in three fields. Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek received the "Takeda World Environment Award" for the "Proposal, promotion and implementation of the MIPS and ecological rucksack concept", together with Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker.

You can contact Bio Schmidt-Bleek at: [email protected].
To visit the website of the Factor 10-Institute click: www.factor10-institute.org.

To get more information on the Takeda-Foundation please surf to:
www.takeda-foundation.jp/e/award/ana/wo/index.html

SERI would still like to invite post-doc researchers intending to apply for Marie Curie Fellowships to work with SERI or members of the SERI network in other parts of Europe.

See www.cordis.lu/improving/src/hp_mcf.htm for more, or try the links below for detailed information:

http://www.cordis.lu/improving/src/hp_ncp.htm
http://www.cordis.lu/improving/src/mc_tsf_pg.htm
http://improving-mcf.sti.jrc.it/project/
http://www.mariecurie.org/
http://www.cordis.lu/tmr/src/grants1.htm

But we are also looking for interesting places of research to which our researchers could go for some time!

4. Selected publications: Book reviews and announcements from SERI members and related writers and publishers

New publication by

Friedrich Hinterberger:

"Towards an Ecological Economic Policy. Contribution to the Panes Discussion on Sustainability and New Economic Policy Options."

Abstract:
One of the major challenges when it comes to the question of sustainability and new economic policy options is the integration of environmental policy into the realm of economic policy. The paper describes policy options on the micro, meso macro and meta levels. If economists want to shape policy in a certain direction they must become part of the process triggering innovation towards sustainable development. A pluralistic approach, including various views on the issue is therefore appropriate for an "ecological economic policy".

Published in: "Internationalisation of the Economy and Environmantal Policy Options", ed. by Paul J.J. Welfens. Berlin (2001), Springer. ISBN: 3-540-42174-2, pp. 197-201.

New paper by

A. Federico; F. Hinterberger; F. Musmeci:

"Application of the MIPS Concept in Italy: Two case studies."

Abstract
The massive use of material and energy extracted from the environment is estimated, in EU, to be about 45 Tons/year per capita. This flow comes from a variety of different activities offering a growing set of products and services. To achieve the necessary dematerialization, decision-makers in politics and economics, but especially the individual consumers, need valid, understandable, and internationally compatible information about the ecological qualities of goods and services on the market. The MIPS is the sum of the primary natural resources including their "hidden flows" or ecological rucksacks. The computation can be extended to the phases of production, use and disposal of products. The paper present the MIPS concept applied to two case studies in Italy. The MIPS for cars are estimated to be around 0.2 Kg/(passenger Km). A first comparison of the business as usual and the scrapping scheme scenario shows a negative impact of the politic with around 3% of increasing the MIPS. The rucksacks of the mobile telephone devices and of the network are of the same order of magnitude. As service as units we consider both the minute of telephone call and the SMS message. This gives estimated Material Input per Unit of Service (MIPS) of 0.207 Kg/(minute of telephone call) and 0.632 Kg/SMS. If we assume one SMS is the substitute of 10 sec of telephone call then a final MIPS of 0.196 Kg/minute can be obtained.

Poster prepared for the
3rd International Congress on Environmental Indices and Indicators:
Systems Analysis Approach
INDEX2001: Quality of Life Indicators
October 2-5, 2001, Rome, Italy

PLEASE NOTE:
Due to the international situation the conference was cancelled.

The Paper is available for download at: www.seri.at/personendaten/fh/mips_italy.pdf

Please click below for the conference website:
www.sinanet.anpa.it/novita/Convegni/Roma/INDEX2001/index2001l.htm

New paper by

Joachim H. Spangenberg:

"Investing in Sustainable Development -
The Reproduction of Man Made, Human, Natural and Social Capital"

In its second issue 2001 the International Journal of Sustainable
Development published a paper by Joachim H. Spangenberg, Investing in Sustainable Development. The paper agrees to the need to maintain all four capital stocks (man-made, natural, human and social) by means of regular
investments, but asks what kind of investment this can be and which currency the systems will accept - most probably not money in all cases, but rather
communication and time.

The abstract is available for download at:
www.seri.at/personendaten/js/investing_abstract.pdf.

New publication by

John Elkington:

"The Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and their Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation."

The Chrysalis Economy is three things in one. First, it is an early guide to new forms of capitalism that will eventually dominate the global economy. Second, it is an exploration of the evolving roles of Citizen CEOs and other business leaders in making sense of the new business environment - and in breaking through both the Values and Value Barriers. Third, it is an introduction to three simple management tools designed to help business leaders understand and manage the emerging sustainability agenda.
The book raises important questions about the capacity of major companies to make the necessary transitions, suggesting the growing importance of incubating new, market-disrupting business models and technologies.

For more information - and to order the book - please visit:
www.sustainability.com/publications/latest/chrysalis-economy-more.asp

Published 2001 by Capstone, a Wiley company - ISBN 1-84112-142-8, £20.00 Hardback (Special online price of £16.99).

New publication by

Carolin Baedeker; Michael Kalff; Maria J. Welfens:

"Clever leben: MIPS für KIDS
Zukunftsfähige Konsum- und Lebensstile als Unterrichtsprojekt."

Published by:
Ökom-Verlag, München 2001, ISBN 3-9282-4471-X, 144 Seiten, kartoniert mit CD-ROM, DM 30,90 / EUR 15,80 (www.oekom.de/verlag/german/books/index.htm).

More information on this book are available at:
www.wupperinst.org/Publikationen/buecher/mips-fuer-kids.html.

5. Links + Other: News about other activities, hints and advice on dates, workshops etc.

TABD Counter-summit, October 12-13, Stockholm
"Stop the TABD - Democratic Alternatives to Neoliberal Governance"

From October 11 - 12, several hundred CEOs and high-level government representatives will meet in Stockholm for the annual gathering of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD). Behind closed doors, the largest EU and US-based corporations will present joint industry demands and discuss their implementation with EU Trade Commissioner Lamy, US Commerce Secretary Evans and an estimated 100 other European Commission and US government officials. Arguing that "the new obstacles to trade are now domestic regulations", the TABD produces deregulation hit lists that include numerous democratically established environmental, health or safety rules on both sides of the Atlantic. Recent targets include a Danish policy to phase out ozone-depleting HFC gasses and a proposed a EU-ban on animal testing for cosmetics.
The TABD's prime aim for the Stockholm meeting is to shape EU-US consensus on the launch of a new round of trade and investment deregulation talks at the WTO's Ministerial Conference in Qatar in early November.

With ATTAC Sweden and other progressive groups, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is co-organising a two-day counter-summit to protest the power of this deeply undemocratic corporate-state alliance. Speakers include Susan George (ATTAC), Mary Bottari (Public Citizen) and Ronnie Hall (Friends of the Earth).

A detailed program and other updates will be available soon on www.xs4all.nl/~ceo and www.attac.nu.

Congress announcement:

"Globalisierung ist kein Schicksal - eine andere Welt ist möglich"
(Globalisation is not Destiny - a different World is possible)
Congress of the international Attac-Movement
Berlin, 19.-21. October 2001

Since the protests in Genoa, the critic on Globalisation impacts is emerging through all groups of society. The Attac-Congress will be a meeting-point and a forum for this movement. Several workshops offer the possibility to participate in the debate on Globalisation to develop new ideas and campaigns for more social and ecological justice - to make a different world possible.

For more information on this congress, for participation details and on Attac Germany please surf to: www.attac-netzwerk.de/kongress/index.html (in German only).

Information on www.cdm-connect.org - The new CDM Portal

CDM-Connect is a targeted online community for people working in the environmental sector and in particular those that have an interest in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). CDM-Connect is endeavouring to deliver a cleaner global environment through the ability to contact the right person with the right skills across the globe on-line. CDM-Connect was created to allow this transfer of knowledge and for individuals to promote themselves, their skills and to create and join groups of common interest.

To find out more about CDM-Connect please visit: www.cdm-connect.org.