Haroldo Sustainab Develop 0607

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Slide1: Sustainable Development Haroldo Mattos de Lemos Vice Chair, ISO/TC 207 Green Olympics Sustainable Development Forum ISO/TC 207 XIV Plenary Meeting Beijing, 26 June, 2007

Slide2: Global Environmental Change “Earth’s environment has been a bountiful source of resources as well as a remarkably stable life support system that has allowed human civilisations to develop and flourish*. * “Global Change and the Earth System – A Planet Under Pressure”, IGBP, 2004.

Slide3: Transformation of the BIOSFERE during the last 100 years: Human population: soared from 1,5 (1900) to 6.1 billion (2000) Economic activity: increased 10-fold between 1950 and 2000 Most of the world’s fisheries: over exploited Atmosfere: sharp increase in GHGs concentrations 40% of the known oil reserves were exausted Source: Global Change and the Earth System – A Planet Under Pressure, IGBP, 2004.

Slide4: Global problems we are facing now Global Warming POPs: Persistant Organic Pollutants Energy Oil scarcity

Slide5: Sustainable Development “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Source: Brundtland Commission Report, “Our Common Future”, 1987

Slide6: Sustainable Development What does it mean, in practice? You can not find a solution unless you understand the problem!

Slide7: Biosphere- Global Ecosystem “Beyond the Limits”, Meadows, D., 1992 Solar energy Planetary Sources Planetary Sinks Economic Subsystem (population & capital) materials & fossil fuels wastes & pollution high-grade energy low-grade energy Heat loss

Slide8: 1 Three Main Challenges to achieve Sustainable Development We must guarantee the availability of natural resources - First Report of the Club of Rome, Limits to Growth, 1972. - Stockholm Conference, 1972.

Slide9: Resources Industrial output Food Population Pollution First Report of the Club of Rome, Limits to Growth, 1972.

Slide10: Sustainable use of natural resources*. Renewable resources: The rate of use can be no greater than the rate of regeneration of its source. 2) Nonrenewable resources: The rate of use can be no greater than the rate at which a renewable resource, used sustainably, can be substituted for it. * Herman Daily “Toward Some Operational Principles of Sustainable Development”, 1990.

Slide11: 2 Three Main Challenges to achieve Sustainable Development We should not exceed the limits of the biosphere to recycle and absorb residues and pollution. - Global Environmental Problems, Special Session of UNEP GC, Nairobi, 1982. - Beyond the Limits, Dennis and Donella Meadows, J. Randers, 1992.

Slide12: Residues and pollution in the Biosphere (Beyond the Limits, 1992)

Slide13: 3 Three Main Challenges to achieve Sustainable Development We must reduce poverty worldwide - Third Report, Club of Rome, Reshaping the International Order, 1976; - Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, 1987;

Slide14: Social problems: “Well before reaching the physical limits of our planet, severe social disturbances will occur due to the huge economic gap between poor and rich nations.” Third Report of the Club of Rome: “Reshaping the International Order”, 1976.

Slide15: Sustainable Development (II) Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Living within the earth’s carrying capacity (availability of natural resources and limits to absorb residues and pollution). Reducing poverty.

Slide16: Business and the first two challenges (carrying capacity of the Earth): First Phase: Improvements in the production process: Environmental Management and Auditing Systems (ISO 14001, ISO 19011); Environmental Performance Evaluation (ISO 14032); Cleaner Production (UNEP, 1989); Ecoefficiency (BCSD, Changing Course, 1992);

Slide17: Business and the first two challenges (carrying capacity of the Earth): Second Phase: Improvements in the design and development of products: - Environmental Labelling (ISO 14020 Series); Life Cycle Assessment (ISO 14040 Series); Ecodesign (ISO TR 14062);

Slide18: Business and the third challenge: Social Responsability.

Slide19: “Corporate Social Responsibility is the business commitment to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community, and society at large to improve their quality of life.". World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 1998.

Slide20: UNEP Overview Report* “Ten years after Rio 92” “There is a growing gap between the efforts of business and industry to reduce their impact on the environment and the worsening state of the planet”. *It draws on the 22 global sustainability reports by industry sectors (including Aluminium, Automotive, Chemicals, Coal, Electricity, Fertilizer,Food and Drink, Iron and Steel, Oil and Gas.)

Slide21: UNEP overview report* 10 years after RIO 92: (continuation) Main reasons: 1) only a small number of companies are actively striving for sustainability; 2) improvements are being overtaken by economic growth and increasing demands for goods and services (“rebound effect”).

Slide22: Living Planet Report 2006 “For two decades, people have used more resouces than the Earth can produce, and consumption now exceeds production by about 25%”. At current rates, “by 2050 humanity will demand resources at double the rate at which the Earth can generate them”.

Slide24: The global economy is now so large that society can no longer safely pretend it operates within a limitless ecosystem. Herman Daly, “Economics in a Full World”, Scientific American, 09/2006

Slide25: “Humankind must make the transition to a sustainable economy, one that takes heed of the inherent biophysical limits of the globe ecosystem, so that it can continue to operate long into the future. Herman Daly, 2006

Slide26: If we do not take that transition, we may be cursed with an ecological catastrophe that would sharply lower living standards”. Herman Daly, 2006