APPLIED SUSTAINABILITY TOPIC

Febbraio 2014

BAA Munich Chapter

BAA Applied Sustainability Topic

Our work in BAA is to promote attention onto all the company functions that may be involved in the development of a sustainable culture and

stimulate the further analysis of this topic.

To date, in most companies in the world, only Marketing is seen and the other functions behind it are not yet active.

In the company, all the functions are involved in this process:

Strategy (company management) Personnel Finance Production Purchasing Internal communication Marketing

What does ‘sustainable development’ mean?

For modern companies, ‘sustainable development’ means

being able to develop covering their needs

without compromising the chances for future generations

to be able to do the same.

Two concepts are cardinal points of this development

• NEEDS: especially the fundamental requirements of the poor peoples of the planet; •EXHAUSTIBILITY according to this, our planet does not have unlimited resources and is not able to dispose of increasing quantities of refuse and emissions.

The sustainable development model has three dimensions

• economic efficiency – the most important decisional lever • social solidarity • ecological responsibility These aims interact and should not be considered in isolation.

Sustainable development (Rio Conference 1992) pursues three aims:

Green Economy: IWI beyond GDP

Indicators relevant for the environmental and social dimension of economic growth must flank the GDP to measure green growth and the progress of society.

The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI), presented in 1992 at the conference in

Rio (which required Targets and Indicators), is a sustainability index

which enables evaluation of the variations in productive capital,

human and natural. At last, from 2015, after 23 years, it will help to define the new aims of sustainable development

in the framework of the overall strategy of the United Nations.

This shows how slow changes to cultures and procedures

introducing sustainability to international processes have

been to date.

Sustainable development is more topical than ever.

The principle of sustainability is

entering national and international political

agendas dictating aims, priorities and constraints for

national governments.

(Data: Wealth Report 2012 UNU-IHDP)

Various indices have been created over the years

SEEA (System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting), used today by the United Nations.

EPI (Environmental and Sustainability Index) of the World Economic Forum. These are constructed quantitatively, based on the stocks of natural resources, according to a view of ecologic and economic balance.

HDI or Human Development Index, used in the Report on the United Nations Development Programme, is offered as a measure of the quality of life of individuals starting from the analysis of three dimensions - life expectancy, education and gross national income.

Green Economy Indicated by various bodies as a possible accelerator of an economic upturn

and, at the same time, a panacea to present and future climatic and environmental problems.

The primary objective of governments remains a return to pre-crisis growth

rates (or higher ones) but increasing industrial production could easily translate into the use of greater quantities of natural resources and energy (fossil fuels, raw materials, etc.) and, as a result, the generation of higher

emissions of greenhouse gases.

The recent choices of many countries to dedicate significant financial resources to the energy sector and, in particular, green technologies such as: • renewable sources (wind, photovoltaic, geothermic, solar thermic, etc.), • energy efficiency, • sustainable mobility etc. should be seen in this light.

Progressive greening

There is still much to do in these terms:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - the quota of those employed in green industrial sectors in the strict sense is generally less than 1% of the total of the economy. A greening of the overall economic system (the so-called ‘traditional’ industries - refineries, steelworks and cement factories, etc.), and the possible gains in energy efficiency that can be achieved through new organisational methods or the creation of products which consume less energy while in use, is in progress. OECD, one of the main players in this international debate; it is the leading promoter of the distinction between emissions (or environmental services) originating from ‘production’ and those attributable to ‘consumption’.

Current situation in Europe

2012: CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels in the EU fell by 2.1% compared to 2011 (4.1% in 2011 compared to 2010) (data Eurostat, the European Union Statistical Office).

CO2 emissions make a significant contribution to the warming of the planet and account for about 80% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. They are influenced by factors like climatic conditions, economic growth, population size, transport and industrial activity. In 2012, CO2 emissions fell in 23 EU states. The countries with the highest levels of emissions in absolute terms were: Germany (728 million tonnes = +0.9%), Great Britain (472 million t.), Italy (366 million t.), France (332 million t.), Poland (297 million t.) and Spain (258 million t.).

These 6 countries account for more than 70% of CO2 emissions among the EU with 27 members. Malta +6.3%, Great Britain (+3.9%) and Lithuania (+1.7%).

Problems with Climate Change CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use and cement production per capita

(Data: EDGARq.2 source of population data UNPD 2011)

Institutional and individual responsibility

Europe The family sector has the greatest external environmental costs, with Euro 15.2 billion (31%), followed by industry, with Euro 12.9 billion (27%), agriculture, forestry and fishing with Euro 10.9 billion (23%) and services with con Euro 9.4 billion (19%). The rest is from transport (data: ECBA Project).

Families 31%

Industry 27%

Agricolture 23%

Services 19%

Institutional and individual responsibility

Within these macro areas, the environmental and health damage of family vehicles (7.8 billion), family heating systems (7.2 billion) and the manufacturing industry (7.1 billion) can be identified and underlined. The external costs of transport and logistics services (3.9 billion), the electricity and gas sector (3.7 billion) and commerce (3.1 billion) are also high.

€-

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€4.000.000.000,00

€5.000.000.000,00

€6.000.000.000,00

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health damage offamily vehicles

heating systems manufacturingindustry

transport andlogistics services

electricity and gassector

commerce

The greatest damage is by the property sector

If you look at the sum of these factors, to see where the greatest responsibility lies, it is obvious that the property sector, with all its ancillary industry and life cycle (materials industry, construction, transport, maintenance, heating, cooling and

demolitions), is by far the most responsible of all.

industry transport construction

CO2 emissions by sector

Causes and effects

Balance sheet of general costs: 27% of the costs are due to greenhouse gases (climate change) 72% for the main atmospheric pollutants (health): alteration of biodiversity, air, water and wildlife pollution 1% for the emissions of heavy metals (health) (Data: Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis Project)

From this it can be deduced that the greatest DAMAGE of all of NON-SUSTAINABILITY of national economic systems is TO HUMAN

HEALTH, physical and psychological, above all other costs.

27%

72%

1%

greenhouse gases

main atmosphericpollutants

heavy metals

What to do

We have seen how responsibility is shared between institutions, companies and the behaviour of families.

There are five things to do that, if co-ordinated, move in the direction of reducing sustainable development, without exclusion, about which we need to talk, and talk, and talk in: • politics • companies • families

CASE HISTORIES

Companies are the most important drivers, ahead of institutions and families. Many international companies have introduced true sustainability protocols in many steps of the production chain, although moving in the direction of obvious economic benefits and welfare of people. Despite this, the interventions have not been painless - the greatest obstacle has always been a conservative culture in the company population. Every change towards sustainability should be accompanied by a major internal communications campaign and change management because every process of innovation has always started from a radical change of structure of headquarters with the certification criteria Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

Microsoft In recent years, it has always won:

Milan office: Park of 60,000 m2, car parks of 40,000 m2, and total surface area of 50,000 m2, canteens, restaurant, bar, conference centre and auditorium, fitness centre, fitness and jogging trails, crèche and kindergarten. It features high efficiency, functionality and flexibility of the spaces, technology and high construction standards. In the construction: - use of high yield systems active (installations that adapt to the most innovative solutions); - passive (use of low environmental impact systems and technologies) such as, for example, district heating, geothermics, photovoltaics, recovery and reuse of rainwater and the careful use of high energy efficiency materials.

The building guarantees a saving of 30% on management costs.

Microsoft

Unicredit

• latest generation property discipline

aimed at the optimisation of work spaces (11-14 m2/per person);

• quality of life there – desk-sharing, paperless, Wi-Fi, no telephone, park, laundry, privacy, meeting rooms and smart-working, also for top management.

The most debated criteria but also most promoted by the company were (new office in Milan)

Although the criteria are indicatively the same as those at Microsoft, the process started more recently and is taking longer to reach full operation.

3M The same process as Unicredit was started earlier by 3M in an effective way with the transfer to a new office in Milan with the same criteria, designed by MCArchitects, one of the leading international studios of sustainable architecture.

Also like iGuzzini.

STATEMENTS

1. Keep pressure on public institutions firm

so that they maintain the commitments made at Kyoto and confirmed during the 18th United Nations conference of December 2012 in Doha (Qatar) (reduction of emissions). Not all countries are respecting them in an aligned manner.

STATEMENTS

2. NON-CONSUMPTION is the most effective renewable source

Before any renewable source It is completely useless talking about renewable sources before a general education of companies and families on non-consumption and the reduction of the energy requirement. For example, in Italy, an enormous awareness-raising campaign was conducted on alternative consumption with incentives reaching 65% to make buildings more efficient (purchase of photovoltaic panels) but nothing was done to grant these only after a change in consumption habits. This is the central theme. The residual requirement must be covered with renewable sources.

How much does not using them cost? According to the World Future Council, an independent body set up in Germany in 2007 to promote policies against climatic change, the figure is not just large but enormous - 3.4 trillion (i.e. 3,400 billion) dollars a year, or 9.3 billion a day in the world.

STATEMENTS

3. Companies as the driver

The economy is driven by companies rather than families. There are examples of companies which have implemented virtuous behaviour in the direction of: • reducing the space necessary for their business; • improvement of the quality of life and general well-being of their

employees.

Although this requires time, ALL THESE EXAMPLES had serious problems with internal obstacles caused by the change of culture required in their company populations.

Meat from conventional agriculture

Meat from organic agriculture

Vegetarian from conventional agriculture

Vegetarian from organic agriculture

Vegan from conventional agriculture

Vegan from organic agriculture

STATEMENTS

4. Education of families

In addition to great awareness of the costs of transport and the home, more attention should be given to the origin of food and its environmental cost Annual emissions per capita linked to different eating habits

Emissions expressed in km covered by car (at 119 gm CO2/km)

STATEMENTS

5. Education of the young

• at school • at home • at work • in the media

more renewable sources = saving

ARCH. ISABELLA GOLDMANN

Goldmann & Partners srl Piazza Mondadori 3, 20122 Milano tel. 02 87281409 – 02 87280478

mail. info@goldmann.it web. www.goldmann.it

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