donderdag 8 mei 2008

Amsterdam sustainable metropolitan area

Woensdag u mei was ik te gast bij een pre-conference seminar georganiseerd door de kenniskring Amsterdam, kvk, en abnamro.

Het thema was duurzaamheid. In een mond vol: Amsterdam a ustainable metropolitan area.

Sinds vorig jaar wil Amsterdam voorop lopen als een van de grote steden in de wereld.

De dag werd geopend door Douglas Grobbe van de

Abnamro. Zij zijn sponsor van dit thema en het congress sinds al gore kickstarted.

Douglas Grobbe is verantwoordelijk voor special projects bu nl en betrokken bij de ontwikkeling van de regio op een duurzame manier (energievriendelijk, etc).

Het publiek bestaat uit vertegenwoordigers van zowel de politiek, ngo’s als bedrijven.

De Kvk Amsterdam is mede sponsor, evenals de Kenniskring Amsterdam.

Ludo van Halderen lid van het bestuur van de kenniskring en treedt op als voorzitter.

Marijke Vos van de gemeente Amsterdam geeft een korte inleiding (voorgelezen van papier) over de uitgangspunten en beleidsdoelstellingen van de gemeente. Zij is ex wageningen student en wethouder voor zorg en milieu.

Haar pointe: Adam strives toward Livelyhood for everyone and anyone which results in a targeted 40% co2 reduction by 2025.

Martin Rocholl is policy director of the European Climate Foundation and is the first keynote speaker. His pointe: Preventing co2 will be cheaper than dealing with the consequences!

And that’s something to chew on…

Emerging markets brasil, china, and india are very inefficient (they have a low gdp per co2). The US is an average producer, whereas Japan, Germany, and – unexpected - Italy are very efficient.

If we look at the co2 emissions from 1990 versus 2005

The old EU countries (eu15) have a - 1,5% track record.

Including the new EU countries (eu27) the EU score -8%

How is this possible since less modern countries tend to produce less efficient?

According to McKinsey the technical potential for energy efficiency is 40%.

That same study says that a 20% efficiency increase is profitable in the long run.

But with a price on carbon emission (taxes, etc) 40% is profitable. So govenments must come into action. Martin recalls that German car manufacturers are currently pushing the German government not to come into action. Level playing fields is of course their excuse. It think the EU should move first!

Second key note speaker of the day is Josephine Green from strategic foresight at Philips.

She is also director of Philips design and holds a very lively and inspiring presentation about doing it differently.

According to her it’s about putting people at the center.

We have passed he industrial age but we are still thinking and acting like we are in the middle of it. For example schools are not functioning properly since kids can get info on the click of a button. Hospitals have been aimed in curing accute illness. But we ared continually facing chronic illnesses like obesis, heart, diabetics, etc.

Metrics like Gross domestic Produce (gdp) measure productivity and consumption.

Metrics like sustainable economic welfare (isew) show that higher gdp results in lower isew. Thus it is not making us happier in the end.

It’s time we face the fact that we cannot continue to consume the future...

We should all read Wolfgang Sachs’ globalization and sustainable economy (from the Wuppertall institute).

The context economy is about putting people in the middle.

How can I act, achieve what I want in the environment I'm in ....

Ergo: social innovation and looking at social needs instead of economic needs.

Market versus social

Market innovation versus social innovation

Consumer needs versus stakeholder needs

Experts/professionals versus partners and value network

This seminar was finished with a short discussion with David Cadman chairman of Iclei Canada.

Iclei has been founded at Rio (1990) to support cities around the world to achieve sustainable growth. Presently 650 cooperate. It’s all about thinking global but acting local.

Jan stoutenbeek, ceo project Zuidas explains the common problems when trying to be sustainable. The value chain of real estate consists of a project developer, owner, rental company. For a constructing company, building sustainable is more expensive while the result of a lower energy bill will be checked by the company that rents the office space in the end.

How can we make sure everyone in the chain has the same benefits/focus on sustainability?

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