(SERI) - Sustainable Europe Research Institute

SERI at ISEE 2002 in Sousse Tunisia

SERI intends to launch a couple of sessions/workshops for the Biannual Conference of the ISEE, 6-9 March 2002 in Sousse/Tunisia. The workshops will circle around a general theme like "Sustainable use of environmental space, employment and growth - a european perspective" but also other topics are possible.
Time is pressing so that we invite those interested in participating in one of our sessions to write to Fred Luks at [email protected].

See also the conference announcement in category 5 below.

Marcus Stewen in China

SERI member Marcus Stewen hold a one-week-lesson on Ecological Economics at Dongbei University of Economics and Finance in Dalian (Liaoning, North-East of China). 40 students visited the lecture as a part of a German-Chinese exchange programme. Dongbei University is ranged within the top-third of the universities in China and well known for its international contacts.

Dalian University Press will publish a Chinese translation of Hinterberger/Luks/Stewen´s Ecological Economic Policy at the end of 2001.

News on Stefan Giljum and Mark Hammer

Between June and August 2001 Stefan Giljum and Mark Hammer participated in the Young Scientist's Summer Programme (YSSP) at the International Institute for Applied System Analyses (IIASA) in Laxenburg (Austria).
Stefan Giljum has worked on the compilation of a physical trade balance for the European Union in terms of both material flows and land appropriation. For that he developed a methodology, which links material flows and land use accounting to input-output analysis based on physical i-o tables.
Mark Hammer accounted the Total Material Requirement (TMR) of the Hungarian economy for the years 1993-1997 and thereby followed the methodological guide recently published by EUROSTAT.

The results of their studies will be published as IIASA interim reports in autumn 2001.

Volunteers at SERI

This summer, Astrid Beilke, Daniela Joelli, Stanislav Larski, Stephan Judge and Ursula Wolf are working with SERI at the Vienna office as volunteers (interns). In the following short paragraphs you can read some more on each of them, in their own words:

Astrid Beilke, student of Geography and Latin American Studies in Berlin is volunteering at the SERI office in Vienna for a period of six weeks, working on GLOBALIZATION, which will be the main topic for the month of October on the www.nachhaltigkeit.at website.
Email: [email protected]

Daniela Jölli studies biology and ecology at the university of Vienna. She works on the various aspects of the use of water in Europe.
Email: [email protected]

Stanislav Larski comes from Russia. He recently graduated from the London School of Economics with BSc in Philosophy and Economics. He is working as a virtual intern from London on "Linking material flow considerations to sustainable finance considerations".
Email: [email protected]

Stephan Judge, studying for a BA in 'Politics, Economics and Philosophy' at Brunel University in West London, works on the 'rebound effect' with regards to the so-called New Economy, and the implications modern technology has and can have on sustainability.
Email: [email protected]

Ursula Wolf, student of 'Political Economy' in Tübingen, Germany, originally from Stuttgart stays with us for a period of three months, working on 'Ecological Economic Policy', as well as the project on "Arbeit und Ökologie in Österreich" (work and ecology in Austria).
Email: [email protected]

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

First SERI study a success!

The study "From Helsinki to Gothenburg" on the European environmental policy integration process had met remarkable interest among European policy makers. Thanks to the Austrian Ministry for Environment which had commissioned the study by Philipp Schepelmann, Benjamin Görlach, Fritz Hinterberger and Stephan Moll had been promoted all over Europe. In addition to a presentation at the European Institute for Public Administration in Maastricht, both the Austrian ministry and the European Commission organised a conference with up to a 100 participants where the findings of the study were presented by Philipp Schepelmann.
The study was also quoted in the official synthesis report by the European Commission presented at the meeting of the European heads of government in Gothenburg. There is also a link to the study (and the SERI website) from the European Commission (DG Environment) website.

The study is available for download at: www.seri.at/europe/completed/environmentalintegration.htm

ESTO Project: National Research Activities and Sustainable Development

SERI got invited to participate in the ESTO (European Science and Technology Observatory) project: "National Research Activities and Sustainable Development". Five European research organizations will survey and assess national research initiatives in support of sustainable development in Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Portugal. They will map the key players in these countries, identify research programs which either focus on sustainable development or have sustainable development as one major reseach criteria. An analyses of these programs will identify good practices and gaps in current sustainable development related R&D activities in Europe. SERI will perform these tasks for Austria (Gisela Bosch and Fritz Hinterberger) and Portugal (Suhita Osorio-Peters). The project is planned to finish in January 2002.

The ESTO Newletter Issue 17 describes the project in details and can be obtained under the following address: http://sun.vdi-online.de/tz-pt/zt/english/esto.html or email to [email protected]

SERI study on unpaid work and standard of living

At the ESEE's first Frontiers Conference held in Cambridge, UK, in July this
year, Joachim Spangenberg presented the results of a little Study SERI has
completed for the Science Centre Northrhine-Westphalia. The study analyses
the contribution of unpaid work to the standard of living now and according
to different scenarios, using Germany as a case study. While under a
stylised neoclassical cost-cutting strategy the contribution from
unpaid work tends to shrink, it is rather constant in a growth oriented scenario and increases with integrated sustainability strategies.

The paper:
"The contribution of non-market services to the standard of living" by Joachim H. Spangenberg and Sylvia Lorek is available for download at:
www.seri.at/personendaten/js/cambridge_unpaid.pdf.

Household Consumption Project completed

Sylvia Lorek completed her case study on german household energy and water consumption and waste generation for Germany as an input to the OECD programme on Sustainable consumption. The project was accompanied by a parallel project for Mexico, Greece and the Netherlands and will be made available later this month for download from the SERI website.

Contact: [email protected]

MIPS Academy

This virtual academy created by the Society Factor 4 + in cooperation with SERI introduces you into the world of environmental protection and dematerialisation. Main concept of the dematerialisation is to create products and services with a reduced use of natural resources. This saves the environment, helps to reduce costs and leads to innovations and new market opportunities.

You can learn more about this exciting concept at www.seri.at/MIPSAcademy.

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

SERI is looking for interns

Students of economics, ecology, geography, sociology, psychology or other areas interested in working with a young and innovative team on themes around sustainable development and spending some time (6 weeks minimum) in Vienna are warmly invited to contact us.
We usually pay for travel and help with accommodation.

Please see https://www.seri.at/Ausschreibung_Praktikantenstelle.pdf for details.

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

Niki Rosinski:

"Financial Markets - The Strategic Challenge of Sustainability"

Abstract:
The article uncovers the business case for sustainability by exploring a scenario for the financial markets. The key message for businesses is: sustainability is a major driver for economic benefit and shareholder value. The challenge ahead is to create added value by integrating sustainability into the core strategic and management processes of a company.

Published in: The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 3, Autumn 2001, p. 32-36. Greenleaf Publishing, London.

The article is available for download as pdf-file by clicking the link below:
www.seri.at/personendaten/nr/jcc3ros.pdf.

To read more about the current issue of this journal please click:
www.greenleaf-publishing.com/jcc/jcc3.htm

New paper by

Joachim H. Spangenberg and Sylvia Lorek:

"Indicators for Environmentally Sustainable Household Consumption"

The International Journal of Sustainable Development in its first Volume
2001 published this paper by Sylvia Lorek and Joachim H. Spangenberg presenting an innovative way to develop indicators for sustainable household consumption.
Based on resource input analysis, the paper identifies the core
environmentally relevant fields of household consumption. They are
construction and housing, mobility and nutrition, but neither washing and
cleaning nor textiles and fashion affairs. That provides the opportunity to
stay clean and beautiful but still become sustainable (or vice versa).

You can download the paper at: www.seri.at/personendaten/js/IJSD.pdf

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

Frithjof Staiß:

"Jahrbuch erneuerbare Energien 2000"

A fruitful source for all issues around renewable energies. It answers questions of technology, selling rates and jobs as well as funding options, political framework and future perspectives. The year book is completed with a broad chapter of various table and figures.

Published by Stiftung Energieforschung Baden Württemberg, Radebeul (2000)
(in German only).

Please click www.jahrbuch-erneuerbare-energien.de/ for more information on the yearbook (in German only).

New publication by

Helmut Saiger:

"Konturen der Wissensgesellschaft. Fakten, Konzepte, Strategien"

In present-day discussions on society development influenced by the IT-revolution the term of the "knowledge society" has become a shimmering keyword to describe this process. No doubt - several challenges are related with this e-phenomenon offering risks and chances for human and organizational development.
The author outlines the "knowledge society" in five chapters and discusses how to deal with knowledge for business, work and education and last, but not least, the consequences for democracy through eGovernment and eDemocracy. The dossier concentrates knowledge about knowledge and offers an overview on facts, strategies and perspectives to support decision making processes in a knowledge based society. Each chapter is completed with links and literature advices for extended information.

Z_Dossier 01, published by Z_Punkt GmbH, Büro für Zukunftsgestaltung,
Essen (2001) (in German only).

For more information on this publication and on Z_Punkt please surf to:
www.z-punkt.de.

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

Workshop announcement:

"The Challenge of the Digital Divide - promoting a Global Society Dialogue"

Sept 25th and 26th in Vienna

To be online or not to be - Will that be the question tomorrow ?

The new information society technologies have created a world wide web which contains a steadily growing quantity of information and much of this information is available for free. There are new chances for education by telelearning. And NGOs and other civil society groups are following business onto the global stage.

For more on this workshop click:
www.global-society-dialogue.org/workshop.htm.

The event will be broadcasted live by www.sustainability.tv

Conference announcement:

"5th Environment Conference of the Regions of Europe"

September 27-28, 2001 / Villach, Carinthia, Austria

In former days, environmental protection was sometimes associated to higher production costs and economic obstacles. Nowadays, we have realised that the environment could be a very strong economic driving force by initiating innovative processes.

In order to promote and foster the idea of the environment as a driving economic force, particularly now that we are facing problems related to EU-enlargement, the Regional Ministers of the Environment of the Province of Carinthia, Austria, would like to cordially invite all regional ministers and political leaders in the environmental field from all regions within the European Union and the Candidate Countries to participate in the Conference.

For more information on this conference please click: www.encore2001.at.

The event will be broadcasted live by www.sustainability.tv

Conference announcement:

7th Biannual ISEE Conference on
"Environment and Development -
Globalisation & the Challenges for Local & International Governance"
6-9 March 2002 in Sousse/Tunisia

For more than 30 years, environmental questions have been brought to the forefront of international development concerns. Since the 1970s, researchers from various economic, social and natural science domains have sought to formulate new approaches to the fundamental challenges of poverty, health, food security, environmental quality and economic and social justice, in the changing world context of international trade, technological innovation and communication (phenomena now often summarised under the heading "globalisation"). These are the sorts of preoccupations that led to the creation, more than 10 years ago, of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), and to the emergence of ecological economics networks world-wide.
The year 2002 for those working in international environment and development fields, is 'Rio+10'. There is to be an important World Summit on Sustainable Development later in 2002, probably taking place in South Africa. We hope, therefore, that the 7th ISEE Conference can provide an important moment of focus, preparation and impetus for the Rio+10 international discussions.

For more information and for participation details please visit the conference website at: http://193.51.42.100/eee/ISEEtunisia2002.html.