A Transatlantic Partnership for Sustainable Development TPN - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
A Transatlantic Partnership for Sustainable Development TPN Transatlantic Policy Network JANEZ POTONIK Co-chair UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP) Partner SYSTEMIQ 21 nd November 2019 Lets start the story in my home country
21nd November 2019
JANEZ POTOČNIK Co-chair UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP) Partner SYSTEMIQ
A Transatlantic Partnership for Sustainable Development
TPN – Transatlantic Policy Network
“It is clear that we are approaching the ecological and digital apocalypse … but we should not loose nerves.” “Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.”
Let’s start the story in my home country Slovenia
Slavoj Žižek
more wealthy than the rest of the world
2030 to limit warming to 1.5˚C
mammals living in the nature has been reduced in recent decades for 82%
incinerated, 79% landfills or environment). If drinking only bottled water one consumes 130,000 plastic particles per year from that source alone, compared to 4,000 from tap water
infectious disease
For the first time in a human history we face the emergence of a single, tightly coupled human social-ecological system of planetary scope. We are more interconnected and interdependent than ever. Our individual and collective responsibility has enormously increased.
Safe Operating Space - "doughnut" perspective
Basis human needs
Outer limit by Planetary Boundaries
Adapted from Raworth 2017
Empty World and Full World
Source: Club of Rome: Simplified after Herman Daly
Labour and Infrastructure limiting factors of human wellbeing Natural resources and Environmental sinks limiting factors of human wellbeing
Our Economy
DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORY …
Source: Global Footprint Network, 2012; UNDP, 2014a
Source: UN, 2018 Inclusive Wealth Report 2018
Inclusive Wealth (IW) Index (and its components) evolution - 1992 to 2014
IW – Inclusive Wealth PC – Production capital HC – Human capital NC – Natural capital
Growth of GDP in the past decades has been achieved at the cost of depleting natural capital
Economic, social and environmental (in)balance
Natural capital not valued Human capital undervalued Production capital
Producers/Consumers Rational Behaviour Market Economy
LIVING WELL WITHIN ECOLOGICAL LIMITS
ECONOMIC SYSTEM FUNCTION OF ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem services
ECOSYSTEMS
Policy Values Technology Science Market Industry
SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
providing social needs and value
Environmental externalities Withdrawals from the ecosystems
Deposits Emissions Pollution system system system Food system Energy system Mobility system
Environmental externalities
Profits privatized Costs socialized
One is to believe what isn’t true. The other is to refuse to believe what is true.
Soren Kierkegaard
There are two ways to be fooled …
Importance of creating the critical mass of science, which can hardly be disregarded by politicians and policy makers
Common Conclusions Drawn from IPCC, IPBES, GEO, IRP reports
accelerating in the last decades. The challenge is unprecedented in human history and bears extreme risks for human wellbeing around the world. Impacts on human safety are already perceivable and will accelerate to dangerous levels very soon. Causes and impacts of environmental change are highly unequal around the world.
mitigated to avoid reaching tipping points of global catastrophe; the investment need for action is clearly lower than the cost of inaction.
current economic systems of production and consumptions, we need to change the fundamentals.
around before 2030 to avoid irreversible levels of impact.
benefits that are very likely to lead to better economic progress underpinned by a global innovation wave and close cooperation.
Common Conclusions Drawn from IPCC, IPBES, GEO, IRP reports
and institutions need to improve. Countries must cooperate more closely, and so need
across health, economic, financial, industrial and technological decision makers.
reports:
Prices of products and services must move to incorporate environmental and health costs, and other so called “externalities” across value chains.
indicators for sustainable production and consumption. The 1.5oC target for limiting global warming is an important start and similarly clear targets must be set for all those areas that crucial for humanity’s safe operating space. Ideally, these targets would cover all fundamental impacts, such as air pollution or water stress, as well as link to their causes, such as material use.
that are currently causing high adverse impacts.
related to stability, conflicts, wars (land, water, oil, precious minerals …)
resource shortage will not be the core limiting factor of our (economic) development …
and health consequences caused by excessive and irresponsible use of resources will be!
SDGs DIRECTLY DEPENDENT ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Trade-offs among various SDGs are unavoidable. Sustainable Consumption and Production is the most efficient strategy to mitigate trade-offs and create synergies to resolve the development and environmental challenges articulated in the SDGs.
FOCUS ON SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
Resources:
Fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) Biomass (wood, crops, including food, fuel, feedstock and plant- based materials) Metals (such as iron, aluminum and cooper…) Non-metallic minerals (including sand, gravel and limestone) Provide the foundation for the goods, services and infrastructure that make up our current socio-economic systems
Relentless demand: Global resource use, Material demand per capita and Material productivity
than tripled since 1970
capita grew from 7.4 tons in 1970 to 12.2 tons per capita in 2017
to decline around 2000 and has stagnated in the recent years
Biomass Fossil fuels Metals Non-metallic minerals
Environmental impacts in the value chain
resource extraction and processing phase
50% of global climate change impacts 1/3 of air pollution health impacts 90% of global biodiversity loss and water stress
Unequal consumption: Disparities across country income groups
Consumption (DMC), upper-middle income countries are the largest per- capita material consumers. Key driver: new infrastructure and cities buildup in developing countries
high-income countries are by far the largest consumers per capita and are increasing their resource import dependence by 1.6 % per year. Key driver:
intensive production from high-income countries
*measured in Material Footprints
Decoupling concept
Achieving decoupling is possible and can deliver substantial social and environmental benefits, including repair
also supporting economic development and human well-being
IRP Scenario modelling
Should be seen as an instrument to deliver decoupling and as a part of the bigger picture of economic, societal and cultural transformation needed to deliver the SDGs
OUTLINE OF A CIRCULAR ECONOMY SYSTEM
Foster system effectiveness by revealing and designing
Optimise resource yields by circulating products, components and materials in use at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles
Principles
2 3
Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing renewable resource flows
1 Minimise systematic leakage and negative externalities Refurbish/remanufacture Reuse/redistribute Share Stock management Restore Virtualise
Technical materials
Maintain Biochemical feedstock Cascades Extraction of biochemical feedstock Soil restauration Biogas Farming/ collection Renewables Biological materials Renewables flow management
Biosphere
Product manufacturer Service provider Parts manufacturerCollection Collection Substitute materials Finite materials Renewable materials Consumer User Recycle Regenerate Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation; McKinsey Center for Business and EnvironmenStiftungsfonds für Umweltökonomie und Nachhaltigkeit;
We do not need light bulbs … We need light We do not need chairs … We need to sit We do not need cars … We need mobility We do not need refrigerators … We need chilled and healthy food We do not need CDs … We want to listen to the music We do not need pesticides … We want healthy plants
From Quantity Driven Profits to the Consumer’s Needs Dematerialisation, Rethinking Ownership, From Efficiency to Sufficiency
PRODUCER CONSUMER SOCIETY
Real Extended Producer Responsibility
Better Connecting Producer with his Product
PRODUCER CONSUMER PRODUCER
Production Consumption End of Use Design, business models Retaining the Value, Rethinking Ownership, aligning Incentives with Regulation
Waste Framework Directive Waste Hierarchy
From Waste Policy to Product Policy
From End of Pipe to Life Cycle Approach
Product Framework Legislation
From Waste Hierarchy to Product Hierarchy Product Value Retention System End of Product Status Producer Ownership Concept Design for Sustainability Requirements Public Procurement Requirements Product Passport Registration for Market Access ….
in people, technologies and processes
transatlantic partnership
Industrial Vision for the European Union
and narrative of opportunity demonstrating a long-term strategic approach to competitiveness and peace and the new investment and innovation paradigm
position to work together and use their combined leverage
§ Cooperation on a country level is important but there are substantive actions being taken at the City, State, and even Federal Government, to tackle the effects of unsustainable development and climate change which should be exploited; § Precautionary principle is an important ingredient of European reality
Join and reinforce the efforts on wellbeing and sustainable development measurement and reporting
institutions and their hierarchical authority structures. Problems like climate change, destruction of ecosystems, growing scarcity of water, youth unemployment, embedded poverty and inequity require unprecedented collaboration among different organisations, sectors and even countries.
systemic change at a scale commensurate with the scale of problems we face, and all of us see but dimly.
THE DAWN OF THE SYSTEM LEADERSHIP
Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton, John Kania Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2015
anymore; rather it is one of cooperation and implementation.
actors with responsibility for those environmental governance mechanisms to be able to consider and experiment with both new forms
multi stakeholder cooperation, more agile governance (including sub- state actors, such as cities, states and provinces), the use of new technologies, and enhanced accountability and transparency.
Sharing sovereignty instead of owning sovereignty
and impact can be gained. Recent increases in bilateral trade cooperation cannot fully answer the inherently global challenge of climate change.
economic activity towards environmental, economic and social effects
new institution that strategically monitors, and potentially manages, the systemic interaction between agendas - one of the options is International agreement for sustainable natural resource management
international policy making that revives democratic values in a new globalized context and increase the likelihood of their success
forthcoming UNCBD should be exploited
MORE OR LESS REGULATION?
We should continue working actively to bringing together the leading business actors. Many businesses express that they are not afraid of more regulation but of unfairness, free riders and uncertain risk. If we make policies fair, consistent and reliable – we can work together across policy and business actors for a real transition.
building them into a framework for regulatory cooperation and build on progress already made in TTIP
Standards are driven by business … pioneer standards in new economic areas and for new technologies that could push the boundaries on what is possible for sustainable development (avoid the vested interests)
§ Create a transatlantic alliance between scientists for SDGs § Promote greater and easier labor mobility between the US and the EU § Exploit possibilities given by Horizon Europe – “Horizon missions” could be compelling ventures for cooperation of scientists, innovators and companies. § Consider establishing joint financial investment mechanism which can fund everything from early stage research to scaling start-ups focused on solutions for sustainable development § Encourage dialogue, information/best practice, exchange on tackling climate change and accelerating sustainable development between different levels § There is a strong and healthy bases for a collaboration on AI (Center on Data Innovation) § Support efforts to develop and share in each other’s talent pools
commitments agreed in SGDs
degradation with the migration and security
§ In the area agriculture and international development, there is a scope for collaboration - technical assistance, finance, and R&D - particularly in Africa § There is a huge need for financing infrastructure for sustainability in developing countries - the infrastructure for plastic waste management in South East Asia
This contribution is part of a wider series looking at the balance of geo- political power and the challenges to a rules-based system; security and defence; trade and economics; and digital transformation. All of these topics are interlinked and impact on one another! This is why the effort by TPN, to look across all of them, to renew and strengthen the transatlantic partnership and agenda through to 2030, is so important.
“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”
efficiency, provision of goods & services etc. This can be either a push to a linear growth and consumption, or to a circular one.
major part of the solution in a transition to a more sustainable economy and society.
needed to place digitalization at the service of sustainable development.
neutral as soon as possible.
Transition to a more sustainable economy and society
Humans are supposed to be intelligent. It is high time to prove it.
We have to fix a broken compass!
When asked why it is that mankind has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom, but we have not been able to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us he replied: “That is simple, my friend. It is because politics is more difficult than physics”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
to a large extent also private companies, have inbuilt short-term focus and logic. This inconsistency limits our ability for efficient and strategic action.
quantity-driven profits and growth measured by GDP. GDP could be best explained by saying, that one will not reach the goal by walking faster, if walking in the wrong direction! We have to fix a broken compass! There is a lack of strategic identification of risks and long-term, even mid-term, risk management and there is a clear lack of understanding what really matters for our wellbeing.
fair and inclusive. We have to make our societies more equitable and do more in the fight against poverty. Social unrest is growing even in high-income countries and it is high time to hear the echo of the streets and the voice of a frustrated young generation.
“North Star” guiding our policies and behaviour
INTER-GENERATIONAL AGREEMENT
A Program for the Future Generations “Sustainability First”
In essence the most important question we have to answer:
Do we agree that we humans are part of the nature too?
When asked why he is speaking about himself always in a third person he replied something like that: If one is such a genius like myself, it is very important to establish a healthy distance to himself.
Advise from EU side: (most famous Belgium detective Hercule Poirot)
Advise from US side: (Prof. Guy McPherson) ”If you think the economy is more important than the environment (and health), try holding your breath while counting your money".