16 | SUSTAINABILITY WORDS | Gordon Miller
for others it’s about responsible business growth (see research below), some hold it as a way to save resources (and money). For many the two are mutually compatible but some still beg to differ. Unarguably, whatever your position is, energy provision and its consumption are sustainability issues as we vie with the challenges of vast population growth, increasing resource demand and a shift towards urbanization in developing nations.
So, what’s the alternative to our resource depleting, fossil fuel based and atmosphere polluting energy mix? Renewable sources of energy – solar, wind, geothermal, hydro. We’ve known that much for a generation or more now. So, what’s the problem with the implementation of renewables? There are several, which vary from country to country, as the Ernst & Young CAI (renewable energy country attractiveness indices) 2012 annual report notes.
Grid issues, strong partisan views, mixed policy signals and austerity measures are just some of the tensions that are slowing the pace of expansion across the top 5 countries – Germany and the USA included; the UK is 6th ranked – in its indices. In the “emerging” countries of China, India and the Middle East, rising demand,
What’s next? S
ustainability means different things to different people. For some it’s an environmental issue,
robust fi nancial markets and strong government initiatives are reported to be driving investment in renewable energy.
Overall, however, the total investment in renewables in 2012 is likely (the lag in data means full results will be announced in Q1, 2013) to be lower than the previous year. Should this come to fruition it will be the fi rst time in the past eight years investment has not increased year on year. On the upside, China tripled its share of global clean energy investment from 6% of investment in 2004 to 20% in 2011. However, China has also doubled
“We’ve known the alternatives for a generation or more now. So, what’s the problem?”
its consumption of global energy over the last decade – jumping from 11% in 2001 to 21% by 2011. Between 2007 and 2011 alone its consumption rose 34%. India’s consumption grew by 35% over the same time period, while use increased by 22% across the Middle East. Over the next fi ve years double digit growth in consumption is forecast in each of the above. Usage is predicted to remain at its current level in North America and Europe. To meet the growing demand
Gordon Miller is the Co-founder of leadership organisation Sustain Worldwide (
www.sustainworldwide.com). He is a licensed BREEAM International Assessor and contributes to national newspapers including the Financial Times and The Guardian.
gordon@sustainworldwide.com
whilst not commensurately increasing the reliance on fossil fuel sources, renewable energy generation over the past decade has experienced double-digit growth, averaging 11% for developed markets and 15% in emerging markets. The trend, however, since 2011 has become divergent: North American and European markets forecast an average 5% year-on-year growth in renewable energy generation; emerging markets predict a 13% incremental annual increase. Looking ahead, the report predicts
the emerging markets will be at the forefront of the sector growth, which is driven by resource scarcity, population growth and urbanization, national energy security and economic development opportunity. Cost too, of course, is a major factor. The cost of renewable energy is falling rapidly. Grid parity (the price of purchasing renewables = that of the grid (from non-renewable sources) it is argued will be achieved by 2020. (Although some argue solar already has – it depends how you calculate.)
The day when it does across the world cannot come soon enough. Global energy consumption is expected to grow at an average of 3% per annum for the next decade. To meet this growing demand – whilst not increasing CO2 emissions beyond 380 parts per million (which is deemed the upper safety level) is both a huge challenge (for governments and policy makers) and opportunity (for sustainable business growth). Further reading: The Ernst & Young CAI report can be downloaded at:
www.ey.com/renewables
Green Earth | Could we see the fi rst dip in sustainable investment for eight years?
Research fi nds sustainability drives new business opportunity Results of research, carried out by Lloyds TSB Commercial, found that 70% of SME’s are adopting sustainable
practices to secure new business; 54% said they are becoming sustainable to save money on utility bills. The survey also found that 52% are undertaking sustainable initiatives to generate good staff morale, while 22% of respondents look to fulfi ll a personal interest in environmental matters. Considering corporate social responsibility (CSR), the research noted 60% of SME’s said that they had implemented some sort of sustainable practice into their company/organisation, while 48% of these acknowledged that they could do more. However, 42% of the UK’s small businesses surveyed said that they had little or no understanding of sustainability.
Taking baby steps towards a cradle to cradle future You may have heard the phrase cradle to grave? Well, the latest thinking in sustainability is cradle to cradle, implying a continuous, even infi nite, cycle or recycle of products. The movement has been coined the circular economy. A recent study commissioned by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which is leading advocate of the circular economy, has concluded that there is an annual net material cost saving opportunity of up to $380bn (£237bn) in a transition scenario and of up to $630bn (£393bn) in an advanced scenario, and that is only based on a subset of EU manufacturing sectors. “It’s not about using less and less,” the Foundation concludes. “It’s about fi nding a cycle that works.” It further underpins the message that
sustainability and business (growth) are far from mutually exclusive. Indeed, they are inexorably linked and will only become more so in the future as we seek to maintain and even improve our standard of living in the face of huge population growth, resource demand and urbanization.
BUSINESS
It’s not exactly a secret – the way we use energy, and what we use, has to change. But will it actually happen? Gordon Miller peers into the coming months and years to get an idea of where we’re going with this...
www.opp-connect.com | FEBRUARY 2013
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