Justmeans's blogshttp://www.justmeans.com/editorials/sustainable-finance-and-responsible-investment/241.htmlWed, 22 May 2013 20:26:52 GMThttp://www.justmeans.com en hourly 1http://www.justmeans.com/Mabuhay--Business--Sustainable-Development-and-Foreign-Direct-Investment-in-the-Philippines/59293.htmlWed, 15 May 2013 10:06:38 GMTReynard Loki No longer the "sick man of Asia," the Philippines proved to be economically resilient through the global financial crisis, emerging as a good place to do business. But will increased foreign direct investment inflows support the nation's sustainable development goals?During the 19th and early 20th centuries, after it was forced into semi-colonial status through a series of unequal treaties negotiated by the Great Powers, China was known as "the sick man of Asia." In more recent times, however, t Read Full Article ]]> No longer the "sick man of Asia," the Philippines proved to be economically resilient through the global financial crisis, emerging as a good place to do business. But will increased foreign direct investment inflows support the nation's sustainable development goals?During the 19th and early 20th centuries, after it was forced into semi-colonial status through a series of unequal treaties negotiated by the Great Powers, China was known as "the sick man of Asia." In more recent times, however, that phrase has been used to describe the Philippines, which for decades has remained the region's economic laggard. Though Corazon "Cory"Aquino's "People Power" Revolution put an end to Ferdinand Marcos' two-decade-long dictatorship in 1986 and brought democratic self-rule to the island nation, corruption and mismanagement has been a chronic problem, cramping the government's ability to create jobs and a growth economy. In recent years, however, thanks to improved fiscal management and government transparency under the leadership of president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who held office from 2001 to 2010, the once economically sluggish South Pacific archipelago has emerged as a desirable location for investors.During the Arroyo administration, the nation's economy expanded each quarter, logging an average annual growth rate of 4.5%, higher than her three immediate predecessors.[1][2] Arroyo's policies have generally been continued under the current president, Cory Aquino's son Benigno S. Aquino III, who recently had a new reason to smile: In March, the Philippines received its first-ever investment-grade rating from Fitch Ratings, one of the world's premier ratings agencies. The move lifted the nation's ratingwhich applies to long-term foreign currency-denominated debtout of junk status, upgrading it from BB+ to BBB-.STOCKS SOAR THROUGH RESILIENT ECONOMYThe Fitch report states:"The Philippines' sovereign external balance sheet is considered strong relative to 'A' range peers, let alone 'BB' and 'BBB' category medians. A persistent current account surplus (CAS), underpinned by remittance inflows, has led to the emergence of a net external creditor position worth 12% of GDP by end-2012, up from 6% at end-2010. Remittance inflows were worth 8% of GDP in 2012 and proved resilient even through the shock of the global financial crisis. The Philippine economy has been resilient, expanding 6.6% in 2012 amid a weak global economic backdrop. Strong domestic demand drove this outturn. Fitch expects GDP growth of 5.5% in 2013. The Philippines has experienced stronger and less volatile growth than its 'BBB' peers over the past five years."[3]The country is on a roll. Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its Asia-Pacific economic outlook and included the Philippines among seven emerging economies in Asia to look out for, along with Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore. Out of this group, the Philippines experienced the highest GDP growth last year at 6.6 percent. And since January 2012, the Philippines' stock market has experienced the second-most growth in the region, following only Japan.[4]GOOD HOUSEKEEPING LEADS TO MORE HOUSEGUESTSThe improved rating and solid projections certainly make the nation a more favorable place to do business, particularly for foreign investors seeking stable and growth-oriented shores. But what will it ultimately mean for the Philippines?"This investment-grade rating is a seal of good housekeeping and a resounding vote of confidence in the Philippine economy," hailed an official statement from the president's office. "It is strong affirmation that the Philippines is on the right path toward sustainable and inclusive growth. It also closes the gap between our market rating and our credit rating. This upgrade was achieved due to sound macroeconomic fundamentals, underpinned by good governance reforms as well as the Philippines' good economic prospects moving forward."[5]"This means much more than lower interest rates on our debt and more investors buying our securities," Mr. Aquino said. "This is an institutional affirmation of our good governance agenda: Sound fiscal management and integrity-based leadership has led to a resurgent economy in the face of uncertainties in the global arena. It serves to encourage even greater interest and investments in our country."[6]Norio Usui, country economist for the Philippines at the Manila-based Asian Development Bank called the upgrade overdue. "Financial markets have already fully incorporated it," he said. "Bold governance reforms under the current administration have changed consumers' and investors' sentiment. Prudent macroeconomic management has laid the foundation for the strong growth. This rating will give investors the confidence they need to give the Philippines a much closer look."[7]FACING CYNICSAND CHALLENGESRenato M. Reyes Jr., secretary-general ofBayan, aleftist political coalition, was less than enthused and even cynical. "It will not necessarily generate jobs and lead to sustainable growth," he said. "It looks good only on paper and will only benefit big business. Expect Aquino to milk this for the 2013 elections."The president's office did concede that the upgrade "poses a challenge to all of us to maintain it," but added that the government would remain focused on maintaining a "sustainable fiscal position," that "[f]oreign and local businesses can rely on a government that will continue to be transparent" and that"[d]omestic and foreign businesses would be more encouraged to increase investments in the country's productive capacity such as in the manufacturing industry and in agribusiness, thus generating more employment."[8]But some politicians have expressed concerns about how economic development will stay on the sustainable track with the expected increase in foreign direct investment (FDI). In a statement released on Earth Day last month, Senator Loren Legarda, the chair of the Climate Change Oversight Committee of the Senate, said, "If we are to pursue sustainable and resilient development rightly, we need a new attitude towards our environment and our worldone of genuine concern and care, one of respect and fairness." Legarda, a staunch environmentalist who was the principal author of the Climate Change Act (Republic Act 9729), said the Philippines, like other countries, is feeling the effect of climate change.[9]CALLING FOR A NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD MOTHER EARTHIf the government encourages FDI to pump up the nation's manufacturing and agricultural sectors, but fails to support sustainability, the environment or the rights of workers and indigenous people through strong regulation and enforcement, then Senator Legarda is correct is saying a new attitude is needed.I visited the Philippines just days after the Fitch upgrade and witnessed some of that new attitude. The last time was in Manila was in 1991. At the time, Cory Aquino had been in office for some five years; democracy was still fresh. FDI was limited at best: Under 20 years of the Marcos regime, the nation was not very welcoming of foreign investors.Manila today is just as loud, colorful and overcrowded as it was two decades ago, but there are changes that are apparent: vertical gardens lining major highways to suck up CO2 emissions; recycling containers separating paper, glass and plastic; and public signage promoting civic green programs. Posters across Pasig City in Metro Manila proudly state the municipality's status as "The Recycling Industry Capital of the Philippines," urging residents to "plant a tree, they are the lungs of the city."Even on the island of Marinduque, where I visited my father's small sustainable farm, today's visitors are greeted with large signs explaining the province's bamboo-planting and river conservation programs (see the image above). Eco-tourism is growing. A local grassroots movement on the island even succeeded in giving a mining company its walking papers.[For more on how unsustainable mining by foreign business has negatively impacted the nation, see my 2008 editorial, "Mining for Answers in the Philippines."]But as Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Investment (UNCTAD), flatly observed earlier this year, "promoting FDI for sustainable development remains a challenge."[10]The IMF noted that in the Philippines, "robust remittance flows are expected to underpin private consumption and investment."[11] In 2012, Filipino OFWs sent $24 billion back home in remittances, behind only China ($65 million) and India ($70 million), and clearly punching well above its weight in terms of population.[12]FDI IN THE PI: FROM LEAST ATTRACTIVE TO MOST ATTRACTIVEThe People Power Revolution was able to topple an entrenched dictator. Maybe the nation needs a Green Revolution to ensure that all the expected new investmentwhether it comes from foreigners or citizensshould be sustainable. [One small sign that people in the Philippines are interested in doing business better: The nation ranks in the top ten for monthly visitors to Justmeans.com.]This week, Pew Research's Global Attitudes Project reported that the new "sick man of Europe" is the European Union: "Positive views of the European Union are at or near their low point in most EU nations, even among the young, the hope for the EU's future."[13] In an op-ed last week on Truthout.org, Cliff DuRand, a research associate at the Center for Global Justice, opined, "The American Dream of upward mobility is dead, thanks to the neoliberal ministrations of capital and government."[14] As the United States and the European Union stagnate, Asialed by economic juggernaut Chinais poised to be a region of global growth and opportunity. For investors looking into this part of the world, the friendly shores of the Philippines are looking pretty sunny. But concerns that the path to economic health will leave a trail of environmental degradation are valid.Economist Solita Collas-Monsod, who served as the Director-General of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) under Cory Aquino's administration wrote in July of last year: "The Philippines is among the least attractive of countries to inflows of FDI, and the FDI it attracts contributes the least (relative to other countries) to our development."[15]We now know that the first part of her statement is no longer true. But what about the second part? That all depends on whether or not the Philippines' new investment-grade rating will be joined by a new attitude.NOTES[1] CIA World Factbook. Philippines. Updated May 7, 2013. Accessed May 10, 2013.[2] Reference.com. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Accessed May 13, 2013[3] Fitch Ratings. RPT-Fitch upgrades Philippines to investment grade; outlook stable. Reuters.com. March 27, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[4] International Monetary Fund. Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific. April 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[5] Official Gazette. Q&A on Fitch Ratings' announcement declaring the Philippines Investment Grade, March 27, 2013. Edited at the Office of the President of the Philippines. March 27, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[6] Bettina Wassener and Floyd Whaley. Philippines Gets Investment-Grade Credit Rating. The New York Times. March 27, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[7] Ibid.[8] Ibid., 5.[9] Ricky Bautista. Lawmaker calls for sustainable, resilient environment development. Manila Channel. April 22, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[10] United Nations Conference on Trade and Investment. Global Investment Trends Monitor. No. 11. January 23, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[11] International Monetary Fund. Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific. April 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[12] World Bank. Migration and Development Brief. November 20, 2012. Accessed May 10, 2013.[13] Pew Research. The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union. Pew Research Global Attitudes Project. May 13, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[14] Cliff DuRand. The American Dream Is Dead; Long Live the New Dream. May 10, 2013. Accessed May 13, 2013.[15] Solita Collas-Monsod. On a Roll, But Not Quite. Per Se. July 9, 2012. Accessed May 13, 2013.image: Public sign welcoming visitors to Marinduque, Philippines, promoting the province's "Plant Bamboo" river conservation campaign (credit: Reynard Loki, March 26, 2013)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/The-Co-operators-Group-and-Desjardins-Group-Ranked-Number-One-and-Three-Most-Sustainable-Cooperatives-in-the-World/58906.htmlWed, 17 Apr 2013 09:45:09 GMTRobyn Hall Two Canadian cooperative leaders have been ranked in the top three of a Corporate Knights' ranking of the Most Sustainable Cooperatives in the World. The Co-operators Group Limited provides insurance and other financial services, and The Desjardins Group represents a number of cooperative financial service entities, from caisses to credit unions to other subsidiary companies.Cooperatives have a built-in orientation to the triple bottom line with their mandate to support the needs of their member Read Full Article ]]> Two Canadian cooperative leaders have been ranked in the top three of a Corporate Knights' ranking of the Most Sustainable Cooperatives in the World. The Co-operators Group Limited provides insurance and other financial services, and The Desjardins Group represents a number of cooperative financial service entities, from caisses to credit unions to other subsidiary companies.Cooperatives have a built-in orientation to the triple bottom line with their mandate to support the needs of their member-owners and by extension their communities and environment. And, the system of financial cooperatives in Canada provides a solid alternative for consumers. Credit unions affiliated with Credit Union Central of Canada represent over $152B in assets1 with unaffiliated, Quebec-based Desjardins alone accounting for over $196B. Both the sizes of The Co-operators Group and Desjardins Group, and their orientation to cooperative values, have given them a clear path forward on sustainability.Embedding sustainability in operations, products and moreBasing their sustainability program on the on The Natural Step principles, The Co-operators has embraced an advocacy role on climate change over the past several yearsnot surprising with catastrophic, mostly weather-related, events costing $1.6B in insured losses in 2011 alone in Canada.2 The insurer works with planners and other bodies such as CERES and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative to support strong building standards and infrastructure, overall reduction of GHG emissions and other advancements.Client and youth engagement is also part of the program. Sustainability is embedded as an incentive in some products: clients get a 5% discount on their auto policy if they drive a hybrid or electric car, and 10% savings on a LEED certified dwelling. Also, really inspiring is IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Program for Sustainability Leadership, training young green leaders from across the country.The Desjardin Group is ubiquitous in Quebec with caisses in many communities and 6 million members. The Desjardin Group is working a twelve point program of sustainable development, including building energy efficiency, fair trade and ethical purchasing, a focus on reducing the impact of employee travel andinterestinglysetting up partnerships to develop a network for community-supported organic agriculture.This Corporate Knights ranking uses similar criteria to the Global100 such as energy, water, waste and GHG productivity, employee turnover, and percentage of women on the Board and in senior management. As Corporate Knights notes there is a challenge in measurement and disclosure. Of the 35 coops reviewed, little data was available on these indicators below the top 20.Ultimately, it is great to see these Canadian CR leaders getting recognizedas well as the strength of the cooperative model. I hope to bring more to you on Canadian coop innovations and activities!Footnotes1http://www.cucentral.ca/SitePages/Publications/FactsAndFigures.aspx, see 4Q 2012 System Results, Jan 20, 20132http://www.ibc.ca/en/natural_disasters/documents/mcbean_report.pdf]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Canadian-Benchmark-Jantzi-Social-Index-Announces-Fund-Changes/58357.htmlTue, 12 Mar 2013 14:18:07 GMTRobyn Hall Sustainalytics has announced changes to the Jantzi Social Index (JSI) based on an annual review. The index of 60 Canadian ESG leaders acts as a performance benchmark for institutional investors and financial institutions, and is based in the TSX 60 Index.The new company additions, added effective March 18, 2013, are Corus Entertainment, Enerplus Corporation, Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation, New Gold, Inc., and ShawCor Ltd.According to Sustainalytics, Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation r Read Full Article ]]> Sustainalytics has announced changes to the Jantzi Social Index (JSI) based on an annual review. The index of 60 Canadian ESG leaders acts as a performance benchmark for institutional investors and financial institutions, and is based in the TSX 60 Index.The new company additions, added effective March 18, 2013, are Corus Entertainment, Enerplus Corporation, Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation, New Gold, Inc., and ShawCor Ltd.According to Sustainalytics, Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation reflects the strong ESG performance of joint venture partner Rio Tinto and has a high representation of women in senior management, while New Gold is known for strong community relations and health and safety records. Media company Corus is noted for establishing a whistleblower program, and seeking LEED Gold certification for their headquarters Corus Quay on Toronto's waterfront. Enerplus, a five-year Carbon Disclosure Project participant, is actively working to improve GHG emissions tracking. And ShawCor actively and extensively audits its strong Health Safety and Environment policy, correcting any deficiencies.For more details, go to the Jantzi Social Index.]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Q-amp-amp-A-with-Ory-Zik--CEO--Energy-Points/57855.htmlThu, 14 Feb 2013 15:54:39 GMTReynard Loki From heating buildings to consuming water to keeping supply chains running, businesses are extremely resource intensive. But with so many different metrics to measure the various resources, making decisions to benefit both the environment and the bottom line ends up being well-intentioned guesswork. Physicist and entrepreneur Dr. Ory Zik wants to change all that with his latest venture, Energy Points. By analyzing big data and putting it through rigorous mathematical equations, he has developed Read Full Article ]]> From heating buildings to consuming water to keeping supply chains running, businesses are extremely resource intensive. But with so many different metrics to measure the various resources, making decisions to benefit both the environment and the bottom line ends up being well-intentioned guesswork. Physicist and entrepreneur Dr. Ory Zik wants to change all that with his latest venture, Energy Points. By analyzing big data and putting it through rigorous mathematical equations, he has developed a universal metric for sustainability that is able to translate every resource, such as water, gas and electricity, into something we can all understand: a gallon of gasoline. Founded in 2011, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company has grown globally, expanding into Europe, China and Australia. For Dr. Zik, empowering sustainable-minded decision-makers with simple, accurate and actionable data can go a long way towards reducing both environmental impact and capital expense.I talked to him about his innovative concept, the state of science in the United States, his advice for young entrepreneurs and one of his favorite television programs, Masterpiece's Downton Abbey.You founded Greenpeace Israel in 1994. What first inspired you to become concerned about the environment?I grew up by the Mediterranean. As a kid, it was full of fish and had some kind of purity to it. As I grew up, it became more brown and depleted of fish. And then I had an opportunity to start Greenpeace there as a clean seas campaign, while I was studying to get my doctorate in physics. It was something that I wanted to do emotionally.What was your biggest lesson from that experience?The reason I left Greenpeace was that as a physicist, I felt that while everyone may understand the problem, we need solutions that are quantifiable. So that's my biggest lesson.Does that lesson connect to the inspiration behind Energy Points?In 2009, when I was the CEO of HelioFocus, which I started to augment conventional power plants with solar energy, I became curious about my environmental footprint, since we were building the world's largest solar collector. When I started to calculate it, I found out that when you do a lifecycle analysis, you get numbers that no one really understands. So I decided to develop a system that allows people to understand their footprint in a way that is both accurate and simple. I spent a year as an MIT affiliate to develop the technology, and then in 2011, my partner and I launched Energy Points.In a nutshell, what's the goal of Energy Points?Essentially, we provide decision-makers, notably CEOs, COOs, CFOs, with a way to analyze the environmental impact of their companies to make more informed decisions. Energy Points converts all the resources that a business uses into energy numbers that are simple, accurate and actionable.Why is a conversion necessary?Without a conversion, you can't compare kilowatt hours (kWh) versus gallons of water versus billions of BTUs versus tons of waste versus tons of CO2. You can't make a logical decision about your resources. The location in which resources are consumed also plays a role, but you don't have any way to incorporate this data. So what you have is a list of numbers that are not at all meaningful for making decisions. It's like running a business in five different currencies without a currency converter.So Energy Points is a resource consumption converter?It sounds easier that it is. You need to solve three fundamental problem. First, the units themselves are not intuitive. Second, water and electricity and fuel are considered to be in different silos. Third and most important is that things are not calculated accurately.What do you mean by inaccuracy?For example, when we think about how we use resources, we ignore location and time. Water in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and water in New York should be rated differently, due to the variances in availability. Also, the time you draw the water is important due to weather factors like drought. For electricity, time plays a factor in terms of peak and off-peak usage.Doesn't the market value these resources properly?It turns out that the market doesn't do a good job in pricing natural resources. If you would like to make environmental decisions based on pricing, you would expect water in Boston to be cheaper than water in Albuquerque because Albuquerque is in constant drought and Boston has six years worth of water in its reservoirs. But water in Albuquerque is five times cheaper.What's the reason behind that?Water prices in the United States are based on the amount of money invested in the infrastructure. So it's a paradox. If you have a new infrastructure, water is more expensive. But consuming it is less of a deal. Electricity is a similar example. Electricity from coal is cheaper than electricity from wind. So if you just want to save money, you would buy coal. But if you want to be better to the environment, you would rather choose wind. So the market doesn't work when it comes to natural resources.Why did you make an Energy Point equivalent to a gallon of gasoline?Because it is the most intuitive energy-related unit in the US. We wanted to build a system that is intuitive from the outset so that people can easily understand it. If I tell you that you consume a million Energy Points, you would know it's costing you somewhere in the range of $2-5 million. So it's familiar, intuitive and makes sense. It's also the right sizeand people care about fuel. But in order to develop an accurate system, what we need to do is not define it by the energy embodied in a gallon of gasoline, but the amount of energy that is required to create a gallon of gasoline, namely primary energy.Can you explain the reasoning behind that decision?If you just count the end-use energy, you basically ignore all the losses in the system. And we want a system that takes losses of the entire system into account because we want to show people how heavily or how lightly they step on Earth's strained resources, the infrastructure and consumer resources and allow them to make decisions based on the financials that they're already familiar with. We count the amount of natural resources that are being used as energy, whether its fuel or water or waste. This way, you can understand your impact in way that is simple, accurate and actionable.Can Energy Points determine the efficiency of all energy sources?Behind every electrical plug, you can have an efficiency rating, just like every car has an MPG. If I want to reduce the number of gallons I consume, I either drive less or drive a more efficient car, or a combination of both. By the same logic, if I want to reduce the number of Energy Points I consume, I either have to use more efficient technology, like LED lighting or energy-efficient appliances, or have a more efficient energy generation, or a combination of both. So for example, we start with an Energy Point of coal or natural gas and we count the kWh we have at the end to arrive at the MPG of the plug: how many kilowatt hours I have per Energy Point. This way, we can compare the kWh of coal versus natural gas accurately.What are the best and worst sources of electricity in terms of efficiency?Typically, coal will be 8 kWh per Energy Point, which is the least efficient. Solar and wind are the most efficient at around 80 kWh per Energy Points, depending on location.You mentioned that location and time are generally not considered. How do you incorporate these variables?In terms of the "big data" aspect of what we do is we take all the power plants and all the electric grids in the US and convert that data into what we call efficiency maps, which are dynamic because you consume electricity differently at different times of day. If you're in Colorado, for example, most of your electricity comes from coal, so the efficiency rating is low, while in California, the number is high because most of their electricity comes from natural gas. So every CFO who also drives a car all of a sudden understands energy efficiency because it's just like the MPG of your car. You consume 50 kWh in Colorado, it's 5 points. In California, it's 2 points. So it's very simple but very accurate because it takes into account information down to the building level. For example, if you installed solar panels, your efficiency rating changes.How do you handle carbon emissions?The way we account for CO2 is by asking how much energy you need to invest in order to mitigate CO2 emissions, such as carbon capture or sequestration, so it's already included. Even if I ask experts to give me CO2 numbers, it's highly non-intuitive for them. But if you embed it into the energy efficiency, you take care of the CO2 problem without forcing people to learn it. In addition, our system allows people to report carbon emission.So much of your business is based on big data. Are there some kinds of data that you're not able to get now that you wish you had?First would be waste data. People tend not to document the kind of waste they create and dump. And also, organizations don't assign waste to where it's generated so it's very hard to improve. When companies send us waste data, in the best case, they just tell us how many tons of cardboard and steel waste, for example. But we want them to assign it to location so we can enable them to improve. Also, it's pretty hard to get electricity and water data per ZIP code and building. In general, it's possible, but we're investing a lot of effort to get this data, but in principle, it should be free to anyone. In general, the US is by far the best place in terms of data availability. Try to build these detailed maps in China and it's very difficult to get to the same level of accuracy.Are you still involved in environmental activism?I see my activism as doing the numbers right and allowing other people to make the right decisions. I teach Energy Points wherever I can and have time just because I want people who study sustainability to be able to discuss it in a quantifiable way. In order to reduce our impact to the minimum possible level, we need to have numbers we can trust and use.If you could enact one law that all countries and all companies had to abide by, what would it be?All organizations, whether governmental or commercial should accurately measure the consumption of all energy resources (electricity, fuel, water, material, etc). Accuracy means taking into account local resource scarcity, efficiency and emissions.As a successful entrepreneur, what advice would you give to a young entrepreneur?You need to have an idea that you're really passionate about. Without that, the chances of succeeding are pretty low.The US has been lagging behind other nations in terms of math and science. One of President Obama's goals is to get more American students interested in these fields. As a scientist, what would recommend to achieve this goal?I think that the educational style in the US is based too much on description and not enough on critical thinking. For example, my younger child is in elementary school. They studied optics and I went to see a show-and-tell of what they studied. And instead of arranging lenses to see how the beams move to inspire questions, they simply dissected fish eyes and sheep eyes and doing things that are purely descriptive. So I think that instead of describing problems, you need to really analyze problems. In a way, it's like you do physical training. You need to be trained in analyzing problems and solving them.What's the biggest challenge facing Energy Points?No idea can be better than our ability to execute it. We focus on execution and are pretty good at it. The challenge in every startupand we are not differentis to optimize the path between funding and traction to create maximum market share at minimum funding and time.Beyond converting resources, Energy Points provides a complete energy ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, correct?Yes. We call it "from the boardroom to the boiler room" because the board wants visibility on the organization, but some of the actions need to be taken on the boiler room level.It's like Downton Abbey. The decisions of how to run the house are made upstairs, but the work to make it happen occurs downstairs.Yes! My wife and I love that show.Considering how mismanaged the estate is, they probably could use Energy Points to make their decisions.Well, let's say the butler Mr. Carson wanted to present the estate's environmental impact to Lord Grantham. This would be very easy with Energy Points. They can see all resourcestravel, electricity, waste, water, etc., translated into a gallon of gasoline. They can make more informed decisions that help keep their costs down and also are better for the environment. They can use the Energy Points portal to assign goals and formulate a plan that gets the most environmental bang for the buck.###About Ory ZikPrior to founding Zik Energy Points Inc., Dr. Zik was the founding CEO of HelioFocus where he currently serves on the board of directors. The company develops solar thermal augmentation for conventional power plants and is now growing internationally. Prior to HelioFocus he was the founding CEO of QuantomiX Inc., a microscopy company based on his invention, which he led from inception in 2001 to commercialization. QuantomiX was the first to visualize cells and tissues in their native wet state with an electron microscope. In 1992, he spent a year as the curator of Israel's National Museum of Science and in 1993, while a Ph.D. student, he founded Greenpeace Israel. Dr. Zik Holds B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics from Tel Aviv University as well as M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he received the Feinberg physics award and the national Amos De Shalit physics prize. He holds worldwide patents and has extensive experience in founding startups based on university innovations (Weizmann Institute, Stanford, Harvard, Boston University, Purdue). Currently, Dr. Zik is an MIT research affiliate. He is also active in education, coaching first-time entrepreneurs, and environmental protection.For more about Energy Points, visit: http://www.energypoints.com.]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Raising-Capital-in-the-Capital--Kiva-s-Microlending-Program-Comes-to-Washington/57635.htmlWed, 23 Jan 2013 08:00:46 GMTReynard Loki Now anyone in the world with an Internet connection and $25 can help fund loans to support small business entrepreneurs in America's capitalWhen you think about Washington, DC, you probably think about the things that make it America's seat of power: The Capitol Building, the Pentagon, the White House. But part of what keeps the city running are the some 60,000 small businesses that help grow the fourth-largest metropolitan economy in the US.[1][2]And while the federal government accounts for ar Read Full Article ]]> Now anyone in the world with an Internet connection and $25 can help fund loans to support small business entrepreneurs in America's capitalWhen you think about Washington, DC, you probably think about the things that make it America's seat of power: The Capitol Building, the Pentagon, the White House. But part of what keeps the city running are the some 60,000 small businesses that help grow the fourth-largest metropolitan economy in the US.[1][2]And while the federal government accounts for around 29 percent of the capital's jobs, the city's small firms generally rely on commercial banks for small business loans.[3] But there's a problem: According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), over the last decade of so, the number of banks in the District of Columbia has declined.[4]Help is on the way, but quite in the opposite form of a commercial bank: a microcredit non-profit called Kiva.KIVA: INSPIRED BY THE FATHER OF MICROFINANCESoon after Matt Flannery, a software engineer, and Jessica Jackley, a staffer at Stanford Business School's Public Management Program, got engaged in 2003, they attended a talk by Dr. Mohammed Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist, Nobel laureate and founder of Grameen Bank known as "the father of microfinance."[5]For Flannery, who at the time had a goal of coming up with a new business idea every day for a year, Yunus's presentation about how he started Grameen Bank to help people escape poverty through microlending was a revelation. After interviewing entrepreneurs in East Africa, the pair saw a common theme: a lack of access to start-up capital for launching new ventures. Two years later, they founded Kiva, a non-profit organization that gives anyone with access to the Web the opportunity to lend money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Unlike traditional microfinance firms, Kiva powers microlending with crowdfunding.What also makes Kiva different is that, being a non-profit, it does not collect any interest on the loans it facilitates. Instead, the San Francisco-based company is supported entirely by grants, loans and donations. Additionally, it doesn't make the loans directly, instead connecting individual microlenders with microfinance institutions around the world (called "field partners"). Also, Kiva has succeeded in making microfinance about individuals, sharing the personal stories of each person seeking a loan to potential lenders.To date, Kiva has distributed almost $400 million in loans from more than 960,000 lenders. The average loan size is $402.24 and the current repayment rate for all its partners is over 99 percent.[6]A GLOBAL BUSINESS FOR LOCAL GROWTHFrom Azerbaijan to Bolivia, Iraq to the Philippines, Kiva has over 100 field partners around the globe. And the firm has taken its success helping entrepreneurs in developing countries and applied it to small business entrepreneurs in the United States, launching metropolitan microlending programs in Los Angeles, Detroit and New Orleans.Now, Kiva is introducing small business owners in Washington, DC, to a global audience with a new microlending program in partnership with Capital One Bank and the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC). LEDC's Community Asset Fund for Entrepreneurs will identify qualifying DC-area borrowers, administer the loans and post profiles of each small business owner online at kiva.org. Throughout 2013, Capital One will match every dollar lent to small businesses posted by LEDC (estimated to reach a $150,000 matching commitment). In addition, the bank has donated $100,000 to support the launch of Kiva City DC.[7]"Capable entrepreneurs of diverse backgrounds are often excluded from accessing business loans through the formal financial sector," said Manny Hidalgo, LEDC's executive director, noting that these loans "will make a big difference in the lives of their families and the health of their communities."[10]The DC region is a logical choice for supporting small business. According to the SBA, "The region boasts the most-highly educated workforce in the country, with a higher percentage of residents employed in the 'knowledge industries' of communications, IT, biotech, and aerospace than in California's Silicon Valley or the well-known tech belts outside Boston and Seattle...[and] is also home to the United States government, the world's largest customer."[9]"This initiative gives everyone a chance to help make a difference in the life of D.C.'s economy...making it possible for each of us to support local small business owners and hear their stories as they work to serve their communities," said co-founder Flannery, who serves as Kiva's CEO.[10]WHY WOMEN: KIVA'S FOCUS ON FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIPRecognizing the added socioeconomic value of supporting women, Kiva has a strong focus on female entrepreneurship. As they note on their website, "Research shows that when a woman contributes to her family's income, she reinvests at least 70% of her earnings to build a better future for herself and her children."[10] Businesses owned by women represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the US economy.[12]The SBA further notes that research done by the National Women's Business Council (NWBC) has found that "more than half women business owners use their personal or family savings to start or acquire their business." And studies conducted by the SBA and the US Department of Commerce have shown the "importance of lower dollar loans to small business formation and growth in underserved communities."[13]There's another reason that Kiva and DC are a perfect match: There are more women-owned local businesses in Washington, DC, and the neighboring counties that anywhere else in the United States, according to the US census.[14]Kiva was named after the Swahili word for "unity." But it also has another meaning: For modern Hopi and other Pueblo people, a kiva is a room used for spiritual ceremonies and other purposes that are communal in nature. This other meaning also fits the organization's theme of bringing people together under a shared goal. There is one main difference, however. The Puebloan kiva is for males only.###NOTES[1] Small Business Administration. District of Columbia Small Business Profile. SmallBusiness.com. February 20, 2010. Accessed January 22, 2013.[2] United States Bureau of Economic Analysis. Gross Metropolitan Product. BEA.gov. September 29, 2011. Accessed January 22, 2013.[3] District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. Wage and Salary Employment by Industry and Place of Work. DC.gov. 2012. Accessed January 23, 2013.[4] Ibid., 1.[5] Matt Flannery. Kiva and the Birth of Person-to-Person Microfinance. MIT Innovations. Winter & Spring 2007. Accessed January 22, 2013.[6] Kiva. Kiva City D.C. Launches to Bolster Small Business Growth in Greater Washington, D.C. Area. Kiva.org. January 8, 2013. Accessed January 23, 2013.[8] Ibid.[9] Small Business Administration. Small Business Resource. SBA.gov. Accessed January 22, 2013.[10] Ibid., 8.[11] Kiva. Educate a Woman: Watch the Ripple Effect. Kiva.org. September 12, 2012. Accessed January 23, 2013.[12] Small Business Administration. SBA Celebrates Women's History Month. SBA.gov. March 27, 2012. Accessed January 23, 2013.[13] Small Business Administration. Women Entrepreneurs Summit Series Report. SBA.gov. March 22, 2006, Accessed January 23, 2013.[14] Ibid., 9.image: Aerial view of the Washington Monument with the White House in the background, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2003 (credit: U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway, Wikikmedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Up-in-Smoke--The-Tobacco-Industry-Is-Getting-Burned-by-Taxes-and-Ethical-Investors/57517.htmlWed, 16 Jan 2013 08:00:16 GMTReynard Loki Cigarettes are a multi-billion-dollar business that kills people and the planet. Lawmakers and socially responsible investors are taking a standAs a former smoker, I am sometimes envious when I watch people enjoying a long drag after a delicious meal. For the initiated, it is a well-known and singular delight. But I don't envy the health risk or the ever-increasing price of a pack of cigarettes.The most recent increase in New York, where I live, came in 2010, when the state raised the cigarette Read Full Article ]]> Cigarettes are a multi-billion-dollar business that kills people and the planet. Lawmakers and socially responsible investors are taking a standAs a former smoker, I am sometimes envious when I watch people enjoying a long drag after a delicious meal. For the initiated, it is a well-known and singular delight. But I don't envy the health risk or the ever-increasing price of a pack of cigarettes.The most recent increase in New York, where I live, came in 2010, when the state raised the cigarette tax by $1.60 to $4.35, the highest in any state. With a local New York City tax of $1.50 per pack, the total cigarette tax hit $5.85, pushing the price of a pack to $14.50 in some parts of the city.[1][2]The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids hailed the move, writing in a press release:"New York can expect the $1.60 cigarette tax increase to prevent 170,500 New York kids from becoming smokers; spur 86,100 current adult smokers to quit; save 77,300 New York residents from premature, smoking-caused deaths; save $3.8 billion in future health care costs; and raise $210.3 million a year in new state revenue. In New York, tobacco annually claims 25,400 lives and costs the state $8.2 billion in health care bills. While New York has made significant progress in reducing smoking, 14.8 percent of New York high school students still smoke, and 85,000 kids try cigarettes for the first time each year."[3]"I think it's wonderful," said Peter Slocum of the American Cancer Society about the tax hike. "Increased cigarette taxes have been one of the major successful public health interventions in the last decade in driving smoking rates to record lows in New York City and a lot of other parts of the country, too."[4]In 2009, President Obama signed a federal cigarette tax increase of 39 cents. In September 2012, USA Today published an analysis that found the measure to have led to at least 3 million people kicking the habit.[5]PAYING FOR THE RIGHT TO BEHAVE BADLY: TAXING NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIESThe drive to reduce smoking isn't just about reducing the rates of cancer or emphysema or chronic bronchitis or low birth-weight babies among those who smoke. Second-hand smoke is a proven carcinogenic. And many people who get sick from smoking end up putting a strain on public health services in general, driving up healthcare costs, which are passed on to people who don't smoke.These other effects are known as negative externalities (also known as "external diseconomies"), which occur when a decision made by an individual or company negatively impacts others or society in general. In other words, part of the full cost of a personal or corporate decision (like smoking, drinking sugary drinks or polluting the air) is paid for by society (in the form of increased health care costs or dealing with bad air quality).In Sunday's New York Times magazine, Adam Davidson wrote an interesting piece entitled "Should We Tax People for Being Annoying?" about taxing such negative externalities, specifically referring to the "Pigovian tax," named after early 20th-century British economist Alfred Pigou, who argued that if people had to pay for their bad behavior, they would do them less.[6]Davidson, the co-founder of NPR's "Planet Money" podcast, wrote that many Republican economists who normally recoil at the thought of increased taxes "support Pigovian taxes because, in some sense, we are already paying them." In discussing the pros and cons of a traffic congestion tax to get people to carpool or drive less, he notes that "[w]e pay the tax in the form of the overcrowded roads, higher insurance premiums, smog and global warming. Adding an extra fee at the pump simply makes the cost explicit."[7]PIGOVIAN PROBLEMS: THE TROUBLE WITH TAXATIONBut there are several issues with Pigovian taxes. For one thing, while there is no question that they generate revenue for public coffers, they can lack efficiency, cause other problems and may not actually reduce or eliminate the externality in question. To help pay for a pollution tax, for example, a company may decide to lay off workers. Additionally, the government must invest in regulators to monitor externalities, an expense paid for by taxpayers.According to the Public Economics wiki maintained by the University of North Texas: "Although [cigarette] tax acts as an additional cost of consuming cigarettes, certain individuals still choose to consume this good because they may simply adjust their spending or may have a higher amount of income reserved for discretionary spending. In this situation, the tax acts more like a source of government revenue rather than a solution to the negative consumption externality."[8]And as with all vices, there is a dark side to the Pigovian tax. Last week, the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation released a report that found that New York sells the most bootlegged cigarettes of all states, with over 60 percent of the cigarettes sold smuggled across its border.As Tax Foundation economist Scott Drenkard said, "Dramatic increases in state cigarette taxes have yielded additional revenue for priorities like public health, but have also fueled the rise of organized crime and law enforcement corruption."[9]LIVE GREEN LEAVES ARE BETTER THAN DEAD BROWN ONESBesides the healthcare costs, the tobacco industry impacts the environment in a multitude of ways. Long before a smoker lights up, much damage to the environment has been done: Producing an estimated 6.3 trillion cigarettes a year contributes a significant amount of environmental degradation, such as deforestation, a major driver of global warming through the release of carbon stored in trees. And the clearing of forests isn't just to make room to grow tobacco, but also for wood for fires to cure harvested tobacco.Here are some environmental facts about tobacco gathered by the UK-based Action on Smoking and Health (ASH):Tobacco cultivation is responsible for biodiversity losses, land pollution through the use of pesticides, as well as soil degradation, deforestation and water pollution.Tobacco plants consume nutrients at a higher rate than most crops.Cigarette-manufacturing machines use up to four miles of paper an hour to roll and package cigarettes.Cigarette butts are washed into rivers, lakes and the ocean where they are eaten by birds, animals and fish.While the global share of agricultural land used for tobacco growing is less than 1%, its impact on global deforestation is 2-4%, making a visible footprint for climate change.[10]"All stages of cigarette production and consumption contribute to global warming, from the growing and curing of tobacco (and associated deforestation) to manufacturing and promotion and to the smoking and disposal of tobacco products," asserts ASH, which also adds a nefarious note: "Internal tobacco industry documents released through litigation in the United States have revealed that the tobacco industry was involved in initiatives that cast doubt on the evidence supporting climate change and may have hindered progress towards tackling the problem."[11]A study by Mwita M. Mangora of the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, published last year in Current Research Journal of Social Sciences, found that in Tanzania, for example, more than 61,000 hectares of forests are lost each year to support tobacco plantations.[12]Over 120,000 cubic metres of trees killed every year in the Tabora region alone. In recent years, thousands of hectares of the Miombo foreststhe region's primary source of rainfallhave been cleared. A local alternative farming group called Igembe Nsabo has been trying to convince farmers to abandon the destructive tobacco industry and switch to crops like sunflower, cotton and maizecrops which not only help feed and clothe people, but are also more environmentally suitable for the region. But as they enjoy governmental support for the revenue generated by tobacco exports, most farmers are reluctant to make the switch.[13]KICKING UNETHICAL INVESTMENTS: DIVESTING TOBACCOFor smokers, the solution to all the ills of smoking is clear, though extraordinary difficult: quit. But for socially responsible investors, kicking the habit means shedding investments in the tobacco industry. Like fossil fuel, arms and pornography, it is a main target for socially responsible divestment campaigns.Last week, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that HESTA, a superannuation fund for health and community services workers in Australia, confirmed it has begun dumping tobacco from its investment portfolios this year. The fund, which has more than 750,000 members, will be rid of all its tobacco investments by April, according to HESTA chief executive Anne-Marie Corboy, who noted that less than $35 million of the fund's $20 billion was tied up in tobacco concerns.[14]"If a health fund invests in the tobacco industry, they are part of the tobacco industry," said Anne Jones, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health Australia. "It's clearly unethical," she said, adding, "You can't have Australia being a leader in tobacco control driving down smoking rates at home but saying it's OK for us to be investing in getting poor people addicted in other countries."[15]PEOPLE POWER IN 2013Rebecca Tarbotton, the executive director of the non-profit environmental organization Rainforest Action Network (RAN), recently died in a tragic swimming accident in Mexico. She had been working on a letter to supporters that she planned to send in the new year. In a recent email, RAN's communications director Nell Greenberg said that they decided to publish Tarbotton's full letter on their blog.[16][17] In the letter, Tarbotton wrote, "This is a community that can see windmills replacing coalfields. That believes a tree is worth more standing than cut down for paper. That knows people power can trump corporate power."[18]Those beliefs are coming to the fore in 2013.Hank Boerner argues that this year we will see a "sharp rise in SRI [socially responsible investing] and consumer activism in the U.S. and abroad." Boerner, who is thechairman of the Governance & Accountability Institute,writes that "[t]he organized protests we'll see in the coming corporate proxy-voting season [is] where issues [will] play out in shareholder-corporate showdowns. The annual election process in publicly owned companies is where certain societal and governance issues come into focus."[19]With ethical investing and public pressure on corporate responsibility on the rise, Tarbotton's vision of people power may very well leave tobacco companies up in smoke. And after learning a lot more about the tobacco industry's effects on the environment, I'll probably be less envious next time I see someone taking a long, slow drag after dinner.###NOTES[1] Dennis Cauchon. Tax hike cuts tobacco consumption. USA Today. September 13, 2012. Accessed January 14, 2013.[2] Tonya Moreno. New York Increases Cigarette Tax. About.com. August 1, 2010. Accessed January 14, 2013.[3] Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. New York Cigarette Tax Increase Delivers Victory for Kids and Taxpayers, State Needs to Increase Funding for Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Programs. PR Newswire. June 22, 2010. Accessed January 14, 2013.[4] Nicholas Confessore and Danny Hakim. New York Reaches Deal to Raise Cigarette Tax. The New York Times. June 19, 2010. Accessed January 14, 2013.[5] Ibid., 1.[6] Adam Davidson. Should We Tax People for Being Annoying? The New York Times Magazine. January 13, 2013. Accessed January 14, 2013.[7] Ibid.[8] Susan Dadres. Negative Externalities and the Environment. University of North Texas. Fall 2010. Accessed January 14, 2013.[9] Hilary Russ. New York State ranks first for smuggled cigarettes in U.S.. Reuters.com. January 10, 2013. Accessed January 14, 2013.[10] Action on Smoking and Health. Tobacco and the environment. ASH.org.uk. August 2009. Accessed January 14, 2013.[11] Ibid.[12] Mwita M. Mangora. hifting Cultivation, Wood Use and Deforestation Attributes of Tobacco Farming in Urambo District, Tanzania. Current Research Journal of Social Sciences. 4(2): 135-140. March 20, 2012. Accessed January 14, 2013.[13] Kizito Makoye. Tobacco farms drive major deforestation in Tanzania. Alternet.org. December 26, 2012. Accessed January 14, 2013.[14] Dan Harrison. ]]>http://www.justmeans.com/PTC-Renewal-Is-a-Victory-for-American-Wind--but-Only-Short-Term/57433.htmlWed, 09 Jan 2013 09:00:10 GMTReynard Loki America's wind energy sector is breathing a sigh of relief after the on-again, off-again Production Tax Credit was extended. But the nation still lacks a long-term renewable energy policyLike many other renewable energy advocates over the past few years, I sent letters to my senators urging them to support the extension of the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), one of the primary finance policy vehicles for the wind energy industry. So I was relieved when the PTC was given a one-year Read Full Article ]]> America's wind energy sector is breathing a sigh of relief after the on-again, off-again Production Tax Credit was extended. But the nation still lacks a long-term renewable energy policyLike many other renewable energy advocates over the past few years, I sent letters to my senators urging them to support the extension of the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), one of the primary finance policy vehicles for the wind energy industry. So I was relieved when the PTC was given a one-year extension at the last minute as part of the fiscal cliff deal. Now, wind energy investors and developers can get some financial assistance for wind projects that begin construction in 2013, getting tax relief for the first ten years of a wind farm. As we all know, weaning ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels and fighting climate change by curbing carbon emissions requires investing in clean, renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydro.The credit has been critical to the nation's wind industry, and has been central to the sector's growth over the past several years.Peter Kelley, vice president of public affairs for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), a wind trade lobbying group, described the PTC as "the business incentive that has reinvigorated American manufacturing, diversified our electricity portfolio, driven down electricity costs for consumers, and stimulated much-needed rural economic development."[1] And AWEA's manager of grassroots advocacy Yelena Viner recently pointed out that the wind industry "installed the most electrical generating capacity in America last year."[2]What helps is that many parts of the United States are excellent places to harness the natural and sustainable power of the wind.According to the US Department of Energy, regions that experience annual average wind speeds of at least 6.5 meters per second at a height of 80 meters height are good locations for wind energy installations.[3][Click here for the DOE's excellent high-resolution wind resource map of the United States.]"The Atlantic Coast has been called the 'Saudi Arabia' of offshore wind power because wind could power 9 states from Massachusetts down to North Carolina," notes Katie Parrish of Oceana, a non-profit environmental group. "That's enough to replace 300 dirty coal plants."[4]FLIP-FLOPPING ON A CRITICAL RESOURCEBut while the PTC remains a valuable financing tool that has been in existence in various forms since the Energy Policy Act of 1992, there is a problem: Congress has regularly flip-flopped between renewing and retiring it."This 'on-again/off-again' status contributes to a boom-bust cycle of development that plagues the wind industry," notes the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit environmental advocacy group. "In the years following expiration, installations dropped between 73 and 93 percent, with corresponding job losses."[5]As with so many other years, the PTC was set to expire on December 31, 2012. The AWEA estimates that some 3,000 American workers were laid off last year due to this fact.[6]PTC BY THE NUMBERSThe PTC assists renewable energy developers in securing private financing for wind installation projects, setting off demand throughout the supply chain, from blade designers to gearbox manufacturers to generator firms.[7] Not only does the PTC give wind farm producers continuous tax relief for installations that start construction this year, but it will support the production of American-made turbines and components and will also bolster both offshore and land-based wind energy projects.According to the AWEA, the PTC has helped the wind industry pump more than $15 billion in private investments into the American economy annually for the past five years, growing the manufacturing sector through the production of almost 500 wind energy-related facilities.[8]Specifically, the PTC reduces the amount of taxable income for qualified owners of renewable energy projects based on kilowatt-hour, grid-connected electricity output, amounting to 2.2 cents per kWh over the first 10-year period that an approved utility-scale turbine facility is in operation.[9]"Just simply, 30 percent of the value of a project is derived from the tax credit," said Florian Zerhusen, CEO of WKN USA, a San Diego-based wind developer.[10]BACK ON TRACK, AT LEAST FOR NOW"We believe that factories that had a lack of orders for 2013 will start to get orders as contracts are signed and as development companies agree with utilities that they're going to provide more wind energy," said Kelly. "It may take a few months; it won't be an instantaneous call back."[11]So wind developers can go invest in wind projects this year. But the whole wait-and-see drama will begin again as 2013 draws to a close. In the long run, this is no way to run a businessor a country trying to get off its dirty oil addiction. Worryingly, foreign wind manufacturers, acknowledging the lack of a mature wind industry in America, have shifted their investments overseas. In May of last year, for example, the global wind giant Gamesa abandoned plans for a wind project in Virginia and moved its interest to Spain's Canary Islands."The fact is, Virginia and Gamesa did their parts," said Virginia governor Bob McDonnell. "But this project will not move forward due to the ongoing lack of a true national energy policy and a global market that has become more difficult for offshore wind the past few years. That is disappointing."[12]For supporters of renewable energy, the one-year extension of the PTC was a victory that required untold man-hours and funds lobbying in Washington, not to mention the public outpouring of support in the form of petitions and letters to Congress. But do we have to go through this every year? Do wind sector workers have to get laid off every year? Do wind installations have to pause in mid-construction? These annual Capitol Hill battles miss the larger picture: We don't have a long-term American policy that moves the country to a low-carbon economy. Somehow, that idea is seemingly gone with the wind.###NOTES[1] Peter Kelley. American Wind Energy Association. Email received December 13, 2012.[2] Yelena Viner. American Wind Energy Association. Email received January 2, 2013.[3] United States Department of Energy. Utility-Scale Land-Based 80-Meter Wind Maps. windpoweringamerica.gov. September 12, 2012. Accessed January 8 2013.[4] Katie Parrish. Oceana. Email received September 5, 2012.[5] Union of Concerned Scientists. Production Tax Credit for Renewable Energy. ucsusa.org. January 4, 2013. Accessed January 8, 2013.[6] Power of Wind. Save USA Wind Jobs. January 12, 2012. Accessed January 8, 2013.[7] Wind Energy - The Facts. "blank">Supply Chain Key to Delivery. wind-energy-the-facts.org. November 1, 2008. Accessed January 8, 2013.[8] Ibid., 6.[9] Jenna Goodward and Mariana Gonzalez. Bottom Line on Renewable Energy Tax Credits. World Resources Institute. October 2010. Accessed January 8, 2013.[10] K. Kaufman. 'Fiscal cliff' deal includes extension to tax credit for wind industry. The Desert Sun. mydesertsun.com. January 1, 2013. Accessed January 8, 2013.[11] Rebecca Williams. Congress extends production tax credit for wind. Michigan Public Radio. michiganradio.org. January 8, 2013. Accessed January 8, 2013.[12] Steve Szkotak. Wind giant Gamesa passes on Va. wind project. Bloomberg Businessweek. businessweek.com. May 7, 2012. Accessed January 8, 2013.image: On the 35th anniversary of Earth Day 2005, the Department of the Navy debuted its largest wind energy project to datefour 275-foot wind turbines with blades spanning 177 feet, making them visible throughout the base and surrounding areas of Cuba. The wind energy project saves taxpayers $1.2 million in annual energy costs, reduces the consumption of 650,000 gallons of diesel fuel and reduces air pollution annually by 26 tons of sulfur dioxide, 15 tons of nitrous oxide and greenhouse gas emissions by 13 million pounds per year. (credit: US Navy, Kathleen T. Rhem, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/2012--My-Year-of-Learning--Talking-and-Writing-About-Sustainability/57261.htmlFri, 28 Dec 2012 08:00:21 GMTReynard Loki What I learned, who I talked to and why we need to rethink the idea of a "quantum leap" to get to a sustainable futureIn 2012, the world's biggest and most important meeting on sustainable development was Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which was meant to establish the global sustainability agenda for the next decade. Sadly, it's become clear that leaders of the world can't lead when it comes to making any meaningful progress in the climate fight. To witness the Read Full Article ]]> What I learned, who I talked to and why we need to rethink the idea of a "quantum leap" to get to a sustainable futureIn 2012, the world's biggest and most important meeting on sustainable development was Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which was meant to establish the global sustainability agenda for the next decade. Sadly, it's become clear that leaders of the world can't lead when it comes to making any meaningful progress in the climate fight. To witness the onslaught of disappointment, outrage and resignation, simply Google "Rio+20 failure." Or think a moment about the fact that a Google search for "ocean acidification" turns up 1.5 million results, while a search for "Snooki" gives the intrepid knowledge-seeker more than 23 million pages of animal print-loving, orange-tanned splendor. (The two, of course, are connected: The first, brought on by our increased carbon emissions, is destroying coral reefs and marine food chains. If we don't do something soon to stem it, the second will no longer have her beloved Jersey shore.)So while the Rio+20 outcome document may be weaker than a virgin caipirinha, the expectations were admittedly pretty low, especially considering that the United States and the European Union have been tangled in other niggling concerns, like the economy and jobs. And while those issues may be more immediate, they are no less pressing than (and, like so many of society's most intractable problems, actually closely connected to) achieving a sustainable future, the door of which is closing fast.But one thing that was made clear in 2012 is that the world's climate negotiators aren't the planet's only hope. A growing army of young social entrepreneurs, emerging design innovators and cleantech companies are not only building the stairway to sustainability with bold ideas, but are spreading the gospel of sustainability through social media. Not to be undersold, conscious consumers are having their day at the register. And the rise of the ethical investor continues apace. To be sure, corporations are listening. In the four years since the onset of the global financial crisis, there has been a period of waking up. And while humans generally continue to exist in an unsustainable way,sustainability is possible, butasInternational Land Coalition directorMadiodio Niasse cautioned in Mayonly with a "quantum leap."While Niasse means an abrupt major advance, the word "quantum" in physics actually means the smallest possible change that makes a difference. Perhaps those focused solely on large-scale, systemic sustainability might see the value in this other meaning: The leap to sustainability could be made up of a collection of small leaps, ones made by individuals through their behavior as consumers, investors and leaders, whether it's at home, at the office or in the community.With that in mind, herewith is a recap of some leaps (quantum or otherwise) during a year of learning, talking and writing about sustainability.BAD CLIMATE FOR A CLIMATE ACCORDFor world of sustainable business, the year opened with a rude awakening. "For the first time we have made no improvement in our rate of decarbonization," stated the 2012 State of Green Business Report, which was released on January 18 by GreenBiz. "We have in fact increased the carbon intensity of growth."So when President Obama said just a week later in his State of the Union Address, "I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here," it sounded good, but without legislation to back it upand a bickering, do-nothing Congress continually keeping the nation's green power industry in limbo with the on-again, off-again Production Tax Creditit rang hollow.On a global level, little progress was made toward a meaningful climate accord. A January 25 New York Times article about the UNFCCC's climate talks in Durban quoted Trevor Houser, a climate and energy analyst at the Rhodium Group, as saying, "There is no mention of historic responsibility or per capita emissions...There is no mention of economic development as the priority for developing countries. There is no mention of a difference between developed and developing country action. Rather it calls for urgent action by everyone and the widest possible collaboration."OLD EXECS STUMBLE WHILE YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS SHINECrisis mode is the mode in which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants leaders to be operating. As he told executives gathered at the KPMG Global Summit Opening Address on February 14: "Trust in government and the private sector is declining dramatically. A series of disasters, scandals and business-as-usual have made people increasingly skeptical of the corporate worldWhat I see is a crisis of leadershipa lack of imagination in looking at old problems with fresh eyesand a lack of urgency as the clock keeps ticking down. In these uncertain and tumultuous times, we need to work together to deliver solutions for sustainability."Those who worry about leadership in the private sector would have had something to cheer had they attended Harvard University's 13th Annual Social Enterprise Conference, a two-day meeting in early February. I spoke to conference co-chair Tony Muljadi, who said, "A successful social enterprise makes a positive and sustainable impact on the world. If you're not making a positive impact, you're just using resources." The conference's young entrepreneurs keynote brought together Lauren Bush, who co-founded FEED Projects, which sells products with built-in donations to provide school meals to children around the world through the World Food Programme; Taylor Conroy, who developed an online social network platform to raise money for schools in Africa; and Kavita Shulka, who founded Fenugreen, which produces all-natural biodegradable paper.THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPATHY AND CHOICEOn March 8, I attended the International Women's Day conference at the United Nations and was able to spend some time talking withMs. Bush, who gave a presentation about FEED. "True human empathy and connection and the level of dedication that can follow from that," she said, "comes from personal interaction."The following week, I caught up with Talya Bosch, the senior director of social ventures at Western Union, and asked her about how cross-sector collaborations help create financial opportunities for women and other underserved groups around the world. "The question becomes choice," she said. "And giving people in every market as much choice as possible is powerful. As more people move money through traditional bank accounts, prepaid cards, mobile phones, cash and eventually through technologies that are yet to come, the potential for positive social change becomes even more interesting and powerful as we look ahead."ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND LESSONS FROM DENMARK AND INDIAAs usual, April showers brought May flowers, but for how long? "Healthy ecosystems provide us with fertile soil, clean water, timber, and food. They reduce the spread of diseases. They protect against flooding. Worldwide, they regulate atmospheric concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide. They moderate climate. Without these and other 'ecosystem services,' we'd all perish," wrote David C. Holzman in an excellent paper published in the April issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. However, he pointed out that the "value of ecosystem services typically goes unaccounted for in business and policy decisions and in market prices. For commercial purposes, if ecosystem services are recognized at all, they are perceived as free goods, like clean air and water."While clean water is not something that the 400 million people who live along India's extremely polluted Ganges River can always access, "Indian companies have much to teach the rest of the world about sustainable finance, argued Financial Times correspondent David Gait in an April 15 op-ed. "There are many for which sustainable business practices have always come naturally, but also some with particularly questionable practices. This combination of best and worst throws up lessons for investors willing to learn."On April 25, Justmeans hosted the 2012 Social Innovation Awards in Boston in conjunction with the 2012 Ceres Conference: Igniting Innovation, Scaling Sustainability. The Best Sustainability Performance Award went to Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company based in Denmark recognized for the success of its energy-saving partnership with DONG Energy and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The company has committed to reducing energy consumption from its production sites around the world so that by 2014, their total CO2 emissions are 10 percent less than they were in 2004. "The main foundation for Novo Nordisk is the triple bottom line because that is what's protecting our license to operate," said president and CEO Lars Rebien Sorensen. "That begs and obliges everybody in the company not only to see that we become a good businessthat's the financial bottom linebut that we do so in a way that is socially and environmentally responsible."SPECIES DIE-OFF AND NUCLEAR PHASE-OUTReducing consumption was a main message on World Biodiversity Day, held on May 22 to raise awareness of global biodiversity loss. As the Worldwatch Institute noted, "The current rate of species extinction is up to 1,000 times above the Earth's normal extinction rate." And if we connect the dots, the root cause is the destruction of ecosystems for human consumption. "The current model of consumer societies is destroying the planet and its resources," said Bo Normander, director of Worldwatch Institute Europe and one of the report's contributing authors. "This must change in order for the planet to sustain future generations."Philippe Cousteau (grandson of legendary oceanographer Jacques Cousteau) was definitely thinking about the welfare of future generations on May 23. That's when he launched the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF (GIVE) fund, which has a built-in donation (40 basis points of the fund's 1.7% annual operating expense) that goes to the Global Echo Foundation, a 501c3 charitable foundation founded by Cousteau that invests in women's and children's rights, energy efficiency, technology, renewable energy and, of course, ocean conservation.TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONSThe state of the world's water is also a concern for Robert Johnson, the executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and one of the speakers at the New Economics Institute conference, which was held June 8-10 at Bard College in New York. In an interview, he echoed Holzman's critique of the devaluing of ecosystem resources," saying, "Water and air are priced at zero. On the other hand, if you cut off my air and water, I would be willing to pay to get it turned back on. So there's something amiss in a theory of value that doesn't value these common resources, the common pool on which we all base our lives."Developing those common resources in a sustainable way was the fundamental principle of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (aka "Rio+20"), held June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro. During the conference, the world's largest development banksincluding the Asian Development Bank and the World Bankwere roundly praised after announcing plans to invest $175 billion in sustainable transport, a critical piece of the sustainability puzzle as the human population swells to a staggering 9 billion by the year 2050.SOWING THE SEEDS OF SUSTAINABILITYClothing such huge numbers of people requires a lot of cotton: 25 million tons of it are produced worldwide every year. So we better start thinking more about sustainable cotton, a concept that was front and center at the Second Ethical Fashion Show, held July 4-6 in Berlin. An international gathering of sustainable fashion industry professionals, it served as a powerful reminder that green fashion is not only a rapidly growing market, but thatas the event's organizers noted"urban lifestyle and a feeling for fashionable and tasteful design can be combined with high ecological and ethical standards."As the fashion show entered its last day, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released the 2012 World Investment Report, in which sustainability was a main theme. In the previous year, the report mentioned the word "sustainability" 62 times. In this year's report, the word appeared 274 times. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon wrote in the report's preface, "A broader development policy agenda is emerging that has inclusive and sustainable development goals at its core."SYSTEMIC CHANGE MUST INCLUDE ASIAOne of 2012's most awesome quantum leapers is Cheryl Heller, chair of the new Design for Social Innovation program at the School of Visual Arts in New York, which launched this fall. When I asked her what she wanted to bring to the world of social innovation for a Justmeans Q&A published on August 1, she replied, "A sense of beauty and hope." But she also acknowledged the monumental scale of change that is required. "Changing any one part isn't enough," she said, "It has to be systemic. We have to be doing all the things we've been doing, but should be doing more of these things in collaboration instead of in competition." Now there's an idea.And while all parts of the global system require retooling, it's clear that the road to sustainability must go through Asia: The majority of the world's people live there. So it was nice to learn that funds managed under sustainable and responsible investing in Asia recently hit the $24 billion mark, according to the Asia Sustainable and Responsible Investment Trends Survey, released on August 22 by the Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia.FOOD, FORESTRY AND FISHINGIn September, a few days after the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) called on the private sector to inject massive investment into agriculture, I investigated the effect of commodities speculation on hunger, looking ahead to World Food Day in October. "There can be no freedom from hungerthere can be no food securitywithout the active participation of all sectors of society, including the private sector," said FAO director-general Jos Graziano da Silva.Also in September, WWF released the 2050 Criteria, a "field guide for investors" targeting the long term sustainability of ten high priority global commodity sectors. The guide identifies responsible companies and projects in key industries dealing with at-risk global commodities across agriculture, forestry and fishing. It provided a stern reminder that if we do not up the sustainability factor significantly in these areas, a sustainable future will simply not be possible, and the year 2050 will be a very bad time for most living things.THE GIVING TREESOn October 11, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) in association with the Conference Board released the annual Giving in Numbers report. Now in its eight edition, the field's leading analysis of corporate giving delivered some much-needed good news: total corporate giving increased across all industries, with the Consumer Staples and Health Care sectors at the top of total giving growth.A few days later, the Oxford, UK-based forest protection think-tank Global Canopy Programme (GCP) released The Little Forest Finance Book, which highlights ways to increase forest-friendly sustainable finance, at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, in Hyderabad, India.HEDGE FUNDS AND HEMLINESin November, the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) initiative released a discussion paper that seeks to apply the tenets of responsible investing to the high-flying world of hedge funds, because, as PRI's director of responsible investment Rob Lake pointed out, "There is currently no clear consensus on what being a responsible investor in hedge funds actually entails."In December, global retail fashion giant H&M gave conscious consumers an opportunity to add to the sustainability quotient when it announced its new used clothing collection initiative, making it the first fashion company to have such a program. Starting in January, anyone can drop off used clothes at selected H&M stores across the world and get a discount coupon to use in the store. Now there's a fashion trend that we can all get behind.RETHINKING SUSTAINABILITY'S QUANTUM LEAPWhile the world is still on a dangerous road, there have been leaps of various sizes towards a more sustainable future. After a year of learning, talking and writing about sustainability, it's clear to me that while significant changes on a systemic level must be made, the big "quantum leap" to sustainability isn't something we can bet on. But the small, individual quantum leaps that we as individuals make each and every daycan make a difference.Earlier this month, sustainability consultant Vicky Grinnell-Wright encapsulated the predicament that even the most ethical consumers tangle with when, in an article for The Guardian entitled "Consumerism Christmasthe sustainability dilemma," she asked herself, "If the most sustainable choice is a gift not manufactured, not transported, not purchased, not wrapped, not opened, not sent to landfill, or discarded in some toy box, why do I seek to find ways to fill up my children's Christmas lists?"It's a fair question, and one we should all ask ourselves about every purchase, not just during the holidays. But a more incisive question that gets to heart of the power of individual choice on the grand scheme of things is one that appeared in a headline for the satirical newspaper The Onion a few years ago: "'How Bad for the Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder."Have a happyand more sustainablenew year.###image: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a swirling gyre of marine litterprimarily plastic wastein the central North Pacific Ocean. It is about twice the size of Texas. (source: blogs.newzealand.usembassy.gov)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Look-Sharp--H-amp-amp-M-Launches-Clothing-Collection-Initiative/57084.htmlMon, 24 Dec 2012 08:00:05 GMTReynard Loki Here's a fashion trend we can all get behindThe average American throws away an estimated 68 pounds of clothing every year, but 99 percent of that trash can be recycled.[1] According to the Council for Textile Recycling, an estimated 1.3 million tons of clothing textilesfabrics like cotton, wool, leather, nylon, rayon and polyesterwere recovered for recycling in 2009.[2] It may seem like a lot, but that's just a fraction of the more than 13 million tons of textile trash that was generated in 201 Read Full Article ]]> Here's a fashion trend we can all get behindThe average American throws away an estimated 68 pounds of clothing every year, but 99 percent of that trash can be recycled.[1] According to the Council for Textile Recycling, an estimated 1.3 million tons of clothing textilesfabrics like cotton, wool, leather, nylon, rayon and polyesterwere recovered for recycling in 2009.[2] It may seem like a lot, but that's just a fraction of the more than 13 million tons of textile trash that was generated in 2010, representing about 5.3 percent of total municipal solid waste (MSW) generation.[3]REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLEAND RECLAIMWhat can be done with all the discarded clothes? According to the EPA:"Some recovered textiles become wiping and polishing cloths. Cotton can be made into rags or form a component for new high-quality paper. Knitted or woven woolens and similar materials are 'pulled' into a fibrous state for reuse by the textile industry in low-grade applications, such as car insulation or seat stuffing. Other types of fabric can be reprocessed into fibers for upholstery, insulation, and even building materials. Buttons and zippers are stripped off for reuse. Very little is left over at the end of the recycling process. The remaining natural materials, such as various grades of cotton, can be composted."[4]The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR)founded in 1948 as the first federation to promote the global recycling industrycalculates that if all of the 60 million citizens of the United Kingdom purchased just a single reclaimed wool garment each year, it would save an average of 1,686 million liters of water and 480 metric ton of chemical dyes.[5]A NEW DESTINATION FOR YOUR OLD CLOTHESNow, thanks to a new initiative by the Swedish clothing retailer H&M, you'll have an easy way to make sure your used clothing doesn't end up in a landfill: Just drop it off at selected stores across all of the company's 48 markets in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and North Africa.With their announcement of this new program, H&M has become the first fashion company to launch a global clothes collecting initiative. The retailer will hand off the collected clothes to their partner, I:Collect, which provides a system to reprocess consumer goods, starting with clothing bins near the checkout area at H&M stores. The program launches in February 2013, and they'll take any clothing made by any manufacturer. And if being a more green consumer isn't enough of an enticement to participate, you'll get a discount voucher for an in-store purchase.[6]"Our sustainability efforts are rooted in a dedication to social and environmental responsibility," said Karl-Johan Persson, H&M's CEO. We want to do good for the environment, which is why we are now offering our customers a convenient solution: to be able to leave their worn out or defective garments."[7]CONSCIOUS CONSUMPTION, CONSCIOUS PRODUCTION"Long-term, H&M wants to reduce the environmental impact of garments throughout the lifecycle and create a closed loop for textile fibres," according to a company statement. "The aim is to find technical solutions to reuse and recycle textile fibres on a larger scale, which is why H&M has set up its Conscious Foundation: to support innovation on closing the loop on textiles and social projects along H&M's value chain."[8]Founded with a donation from H&M of SEK 60 million (USD 9 million), the Conscious Foundation was set up in 2007 to coincide with the company's 60th anniversary. Its goal is to support projects that improve the lives of those residing in the countries where H&M operates.The foundation has donated funds to a variety of social organizations in recent years, such as Hand in Hand, a charitable trust in Tamil Nadu, India, that is working to eradicate extreme poverty through education and empowerment; the Save the Children's Centre for Children's Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (CCRCSR) in China, which helps businesses in and around China to address the issue of children's rights; and the FRANK Water Project, a charity based in the United Kingdom that provides access to clean water for the poorest communities around the world.[9]SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEWH&M's clothing collection announcement follows their recent commitment to remove perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) from their products, with the ban to go into effect on January 1. These ubiquitous pollutants don't degrade easily, and have been found in the Arctic, in food and in almost all of the human blood samples that have been tested.[10] The decision to ban PFCs came after Greenpeace released their 2011 "Dirty Laundry" report that found a range of toxins throughout the supply chains of several major clothing retailers.[11]By cleaning up the toxins in their new clothing, recyclingused clothing and giving back to communities around the globe, H&M has made some powerful fashion statements that will never go out of style. Fashion retailers that don't "follow suit" suddenly seem like a shabby fit.###NOTES[1] Lexa W. Lee. Recycled Clothing Facts. Demand Media via National Geographic. Accessed December 20, 2012.[2] Environmental Protection Agency. Textiles Common Wastes & Materials. EPA.gov. November 19, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2012.[3] Ibid.[4] Ibid.[5] Bureau of International Recycling. Textiles. bir.org. May 23, 2010. Accessed December 20, 2012.[6] Connie Wang. Trade In Your Old Clothes To H&M For In-Store Discounts. Refinery29.com. December 6, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2012.[7] H&M. H&M first fashion company to launch global clothes collecting initiative. hm.com. December 6, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2012.[8] Ibid.[9] H&M. Conscious Foundation. hm.com. January 19, 2012. Accessed December 19, 2012.[10] Jasmin Malik Chua. H&M Bans Toxic Perfluorinated Compounds From Clothing Line. Ecouterre.com. September 4, 2012. Accessed December 19, 2012.[11] Greenpeace. Dirty Laundry: Unravelling the corporate connections to toxic water pollution in China. July 13, 2011. Accessed December 19, 2012.image credit: Nicolettemayer, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Creating-Value-with-Values--Social-Innovation-Leaders-Share-Successes-and-Look-Ahead/57186.htmlSat, 22 Dec 2012 08:00:54 GMTReynard Loki The recent Social Innovation Summit demonstrated the power of values-led creationIn the past, pediatrician William Kennedy would get in his car and drive for two hours to see some of his young patients. But now, thanks to so-called "telehealth" technology, Dr. Kennedy, who is the chief of pediatric urology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, can consult with out-of-area patients in a clinical setting using video communication and collaboration technologies.He and his Read Full Article ]]> The recent Social Innovation Summit demonstrated the power of values-led creationIn the past, pediatrician William Kennedy would get in his car and drive for two hours to see some of his young patients. But now, thanks to so-called "telehealth" technology, Dr. Kennedy, who is the chief of pediatric urology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, can consult with out-of-area patients in a clinical setting using video communication and collaboration technologies.He and his patients both benefit from Cisco's HealthPresence technology, which has ushered in a new era of healthcare that focuses on the importance of the doctor-patient relationship by providing connectivity to high-definition video, audio and third-party medical devices for an enhanced doctor-patient remote consultation. In particular, this technology extends medical services to underserved groups for whom access to a doctor is not easy.Being far away from urgent medical care is something that Dr. Kennedy knows personally. Getting his brother, who suffered from metastatic Ewing's sarcoma, to a hospital 25 miles away from home was a difficult undertaking for his family back in the 1970s.[1] Four decades later, patients can rely on technology to bridge the gap.Dr. Kennedy shared his experiences when he and Kathy English, the global senior director of Healthcare and Public Sector Marketing at Cisco, spoke to the attendees at the recent Social Innovation Summit in Mountain View, California. Presented by Landmark Ventures, this annual gathering brings together leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to drive the ongoing discussion around collaborative social transformation strategies like Cisco's HealthPresence.[2]LEADING SOCIAL INNOVATORS SHARE THEIR STORIESTheir presentation was just one of many excellent ones at the summit, which can all be watched in their entirety online at Fora.tv.Barbara Bush, executive director and co-founder of Global Health Corps, gave concrete examples of today's global health leaders who are creating innovative and systemic health solutions that are improving health in some of the neediest places, such as the architects who designed a new hospital in Rwanda, making changes in airflow to prevent the spread of tuberculosis.Sal Khan, a former hedge fund analyst and the founder of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit with the mission of providing free, high-quality education to "anyone, anywhere" in the world, discussed how his programteaches about 6 million students a month through online videos, 200 million of which have been viewed over the last two years alone.Kristen Titus, the executive director of Girls Who Code, described how hands-on education and mentoring can get girls thinking about a future in computer science.Mary Anne Petrillo, global senior marketing manager for CSR at Cisco, a sponsor of the event, and Brian Sirgutz, senior vice president of Social Impact at AOL/Huffington Post, discussed ImpactX, an editorial hub at the Huffington Post website that presents content about the convergence of people, technology and social impact.[3]VALUE CREATION MEETS VALUES-LED CREATIONBut the overarching goal of the private, invitation-only forum wasn't to regale attendees with successes (though there was a lot of that), but to look forward to the future across the world of social innovation. For anyone seeking inspiration to develop a good idea, these videos are an excellent place to start. And while the socially-minded innovators showed that problems have been solvedand there are many more to tackleone fundamental theme undergirded all the presentations: Making a difference and making a profit aren't mutually exclusive ideas.The doubled-edged conceptof social innovation was perfectly encapsulated by Jonathan Greenblatt, a special adviser to President Obama and the director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, who, at the recent Good Deals 2012 conference in the United Kingdom, described it as "values-led creation as much as value creation."[4]The word "value" first appeared in English in the 13th century, from the Latin valere, meaning "be strong, be well, be of value." But its other meaning of "social principle" didn't emerge until some five centuries later. Today, that double meaning is at the center of social innovation, and gives new life to a sentiment that all of us can cheer: Getting more bang for your buck. Hopefully it won't take centuries for all businesses around the world to embrace this important idea.###NOTES[1] Alexis Raymond. The Changing Landscape of Healthcare in the Digital Age. Cisco.com. December 5, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2012.[2] Social Innovation Summit. Social Innovation Summit 2012: Business Innovation Meets Social Transformation. Eiseverywhere.com. September 27, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2012.[3] Social Innovation Summit. Social Innovation Summit 2012: Streaming Videos. Fora.tv. December 5, 2012. Accessed December 20, 2012.[4] Jonathan Greenblatt. Good Deals 12: Obama 'deeply believes' in power of social innovation. PioneersPost.com. November 12, 2012.image: Providing healthcare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (credit: Ahu2, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/C4C-at-COP18--The-Role-of-Business-in-the-Global-Climate-Fight/57123.htmlMon, 17 Dec 2012 12:00:55 GMTReynard Loki The signatories of Caring for Climate, the UN climate action platform for business, met in Doha. Now the real work beginsSince 1997, every four years following the United States presidential election, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) has published the Global Trends Report, a document that provides policymakers with information to aid in "long term planning on key issues of worldwide importance."[1]One of the "overarching megatrends" that will define the world in the year 2030, the latest Read Full Article ]]> The signatories of Caring for Climate, the UN climate action platform for business, met in Doha. Now the real work beginsSince 1997, every four years following the United States presidential election, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) has published the Global Trends Report, a document that provides policymakers with information to aid in "long term planning on key issues of worldwide importance."[1]One of the "overarching megatrends" that will define the world in the year 2030, the latest Global Trends Report says, is "the growing nexus among food, water, and energyin combination with climate change."[2]The report states:"Demand for food, water, and energy will grow by approximately 35, 40, and 50 percent respectively owing to an increase in the global population and the consumption patterns of an expanding middle class. Climate change will worsen the outlook for the availability of these critical resources. Climate change analysis suggests that the severity of existing weather patterns will intensify, with wet areas getting wetter and dry and arid areas becoming more so. Much of the decline in precipitation will occur in the Middle East and northern Africa as well as western Central Asia, southern Europe, southern Africa, and the US Southwest. We are not necessarily headed into a world of scarcities, but policymakers and their private sector partners will need to be proactive to avoid such a future."[3]BOOSTING CLIMATE ACTION IN THE WORLD OF BUSINESSThat kind of proactive thinking involving policymakers and the private sector fueled the recent meeting of the signatories of Caring for Climate (C4C), the UN's climate action platform for the corporate sector, with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, held in connection with the 18th Conference of Parties (COP18) to the UNFCCC in Doha, Qatar. The meeting marked the second COP interaction by C4C signatories following the UNFCCC's agreement in September 2011 to join forces on the C4C initiative.Echoing the NIC's belief in private-public cross-sector collaboration, UNFCCC executive director Christina Figueres affirmed that "the role of business is crucial in the fight against climate change." She added, "By showing leadership and taking significant action on the ground, businesses can create the political space that governments need to raise their respective levels of ambition to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create more climate-resilient societies, which in turn can boost business action."[4]UN GLOBAL COMPACT: THE PIED PIPER OF THE CLIMATE WARC4C was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2007 as a joint initiative of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to promote the corporate sector's role in the fight against climate change by supplying the necessary framework for businesses, public policymakers and the public to align climate strategies and attitudes.In addition, C4C encourages partner businesses to publicly disclose emissions as part of the existing disclosure commitments that exists within the UNGC system. The initiative has been endorsed by almost 400 companies from 65 countries."I encourage each of you to lead by example as a participant of the UN Global Compact," Ban told the business leaders at the Doha meeting. "Other companies and governments will have no choice but to follow."[5]INCREMENTAL PROGRESS, LACK OF POLITICAL WILLThe goal of the Doha climate change summit was to set an actionable plan toward the establishment of a world treaty to be signed in 2015 that would be the global response to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to a level that can prevent the planetary surface temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius. For many years, the scientific community has warned that hitting the 2-degree mark would lead to a host of plagues upon our planet, such as increased glacier melt, sea-level rise, extreme weather events, floods, droughts, forest fires, desertification, mass species extinctions and food shortages. Worryingly, astudy recently published in the journal Nature concludes that the 2-degree rise in inevitable, and could potentially be in the range of 4 to 6 degrees, which would be very scary indeed.[6]Fulfilling the low expectations of the Doha summit, negotiators "were successful in making progress, but only incrementally," reports Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute. "The lack of political will was breathtaking, particularly in light of recent extreme weather events."[7]TIME TO CHOOSE: MARKET FORCES CAN BE GOOD OR BADNow that Doha is over, policymakers have another year to work on the 2015 agreement before next year's COP meeting. On the corporate side, concerns have been amplified by new research released by the Carbon Trust that has revealed that many businesses around the world are not adequately prepared for the resource scarcity that will occur in the coming decades. Over 50 percent of the 475 corporate executives surveyed across the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, China and Korea, for example, have not set carbon emission, water usage and waste reduction goals."The research shows that many organizations are asleep at the wheel when it comes to addressing sustainability and resource scarcity, doing nothing to address a problem they indicate could hit their operations by 2018," said Tom Delay, Carbon Trust's chief executive.[8]Hopefully, initiatives like C4C will entice more businesses to join the sustainability bandwagon, because the quantifiable private sector response to climate change and resource scarcity may ultimately prove more crucial that any internationaland likely unenforceableagreement between nations. As Mark Perry, a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan's School of Management recently noted, the 2012 level of C02 emissions in the United Statesits lowest figure in two decades"happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action."[9]The gathering of corporate executives in Doha was definitely a step in the right direction. But for many businesses, a wake-up call is still in order.###NOTES[1] National Intelligence Council. Global Trends. dni.gov. December 10, 2012. Accessed December 14, 2012.[2] National Intelligence Council. Global Trends Report. Page 30. dni.gov. December 10, 2012. Accessed December 14, 2012.[3] Ibid., p. iv.[4] United Nations Global Compact. Corporate Climate Champions Meet at COP18. unglobalcompact.org. December 5, 2012. Accessed December 10, 2012[5] Ibid.[6] Glen P. Peters, et. al. The challenge to keep global warming below 2 C. December 2, 2012. Nature. Accessed December 14, 2012.[7] Jennifer Morgan. Reflections On COP 18 In Doha: Negotiators Made Only Incremental Progress. WRI Insights. December 14, 2012. Accessed December 14, 2012.[8] Kristine A. Wong and Carbon Trust. Infographic: Companies unprepared to address resource scarcities. Greenbiz.com. December 13, 2012. Accessed December 14, 2012.[9] Mark Perry. Thanks to Market Forces, Technology, and Private Sector Activity, C02 Emissions Drop to 20-Year Low. mjperry.blogspot.com. August 17, 2012. Accessed December 14, 2012.image: UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon (C), joined by Achim Steiner (L), UNEP Executive Director and other delegates at the Doha Climate Change Conference. Credit: sallie_shatz (Flickr)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Stock-Exchanges-Emerge-As-the-New-Drivers-of-the-Global-Sustainability-Agenda/57051.htmlFri, 07 Dec 2012 08:00:46 GMTReynard Loki NASDAQ becomes the first North American Exchange to join the United Nations Global CompactMoving from purely profit-driven investment strategies to ones that take into consideration environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is a paradigm shift that can be seen not only in the behavior of individual investors and fund managers, but also in the creation of sustainable funds, investment vehicles and indices. The shift can also be seen in the fundamental ideological transformation of the wo Read Full Article ]]> NASDAQ becomes the first North American Exchange to join the United Nations Global CompactMoving from purely profit-driven investment strategies to ones that take into consideration environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is a paradigm shift that can be seen not only in the behavior of individual investors and fund managers, but also in the creation of sustainable funds, investment vehicles and indices. The shift can also be seen in the fundamental ideological transformation of the world's stock markets into leaders of sustainability and corporate social responsibility."Stock exchanges are uniquely positioned at the intersection between investors, companies and regulators," said James Zhan, director of the Investment and Enterprise Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). "As such, they can play a key role in promoting responsible investment and sustainable development."[1]As Mark Robertson of the responsible investment research firm EIRIS noted earlier this year:"The sustainability strategies currently in use by stock exchanges and listing authorities around the world fall into three broad categories: 1) requiring that companies meet specific ESG disclosure requirements in order to list on an exchange - either initially or on an on-going basis; 2) providing sustainability products and services in the form of sustainability indices; and 3) creating markets for specialised products such as carbon trading or cleantech investment."[2]RISE OF THE SUSTAINABLE STOCK EXCHANGEJust days before the offical start of Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), which took place in June in Rio de Janeiro, five of the world's stock exchangesNASDAQ OMX in New York, BM&FBOVESPA in Sao Paulo, JSE Limited in Johannesburg, the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) and the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in Cairo and Alexandriaannounced a commitment to promote long-term sustainable investment in their markets. The announcement was made as part of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) 2012 Global Dialogues, held at the Corporate Sustainability Forum in Rio.[3]Together representing more than 4,600 listed companies in both developed and emerging markets, these exchanges have voluntarily committed themselves to promoting long-term sustainable investment and increased ESG performance and disclosure among their listed companies by collaborating with those firms as well as government regulators and investors."By encouraging companies to adopt good corporate governance practices where a social and environment dimension is taken into consideration, and by helping investors to make socially responsible decisions, the SSE initiative can enhance transparency of information as regards capital markets and help create more aware investors," said Edemir Pinto, CEO of BM&FBOVESPA.[4]OPEN FOR SUSTAINABLE, RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSThe SSE initiative was co-organized by UNCTAD, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative in the world. Founded in 2000, UNGC boasts 7,000 corporate signatories from 135 countries committed to syncing their business operations with the broader goals of the United Nations. Established as an international multi-stakeholder policy platform, the compact specifically aims to align private sector strategies with universally accepted principles across the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption."This is the first step of a larger global call to stock exchanges to publicly commit to promoting sustainability" explained Georg Kell, executive director of the Global Compact. "We take this opportunity to call on all stock exchanges around the world to join these leading exchanges in making this potentially transformative commitment."[5]NASDAQ: NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST UNGC MEMBERNASDAQ OMX upped its sustainability ante when it announced at last month's LEAD Symposium in New York that it has joined UNGC. In doing so, NASDAQ, which hosted the event, became the first North American exchange to join the compact. Launched last year, the Global Compact LEAD is UNGC's platform for corporate sustainability leadership. The LEAD Symposium is part of UNGC's goal to integrate ESG communication and sustainability disclosure with mainstream communication to investors."We very much welcome NASDAQ's leadership role in committing to the UN Global Compact," said Kell. "We encourage other major global stock exchanges to help embed sustainability into financial markets and make the critical link between investors and companies in facilitating ESG communication."[6]"Around the world, stock exchanges, particularly those in emerging markets, have adopted a patchwork of sustainability approaches," writes Robertson. "There is a strong business case for stock exchanges to strengthen ESG disclosure requirements. This can provide new business opportunities and potentially increase revenues, safeguard reputation, maximise competitive advantage and mitigate operational risks."[7]FOOL'S GOLD: CHOOSING PROFIT OVER PEOPLE AND PLANETIn 1602, the Dutch East Company founded the Amsterdam Stock Exchange to deal in the firm's stocks and bonds. It is widely considered to be the world's first stock exchange. Perhaps it got a bit of its inspiration from Shakespeare's 1596 play The Merchant of Venice, set at a time when Venetians were Europe's leading moneylenders, who not only traded debts between each other, but also bought government debt issues and traded securities from other governments. (Today, "Merchant of Venice" is even the name of astock market trading software program.)As stock exchanges increasingly drive the corporate sustainability agenda around the world, more investors recognize that just because a company's stock may possess intrinsic financial value, that value can be undermined if the company behind it isn't responsible or sustainable. As Shakespeare duly notes in one of the scenes in The Merchant of Venice, "All that glitters is not gold."###NOTES[1] United Nations Global Compact. Rio+20: Exchanges Listing Over 4,600 Companies Commit to Promoting Sustainability. June 18, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2012.[2] Mark Robertson. How can stock exchanges drive the sustainability agenda? Green Economy Coalition. January 27, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2012.[3] Ibid., 1.[4] Ibid.[5] Ibid.[6] United Nations Global Compact. Global Compact LEAD Symposium Establishes Investors as Drivers of Sustainability. November 27, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2012.[7] Ibid., 2.image: NASDAQ in Times Square, New York City, April 2004 (credit: Kowloonese, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Together-We-Solve--Tackling-Global-Development-Through-Collaborative-Social-Enterprise/56990.htmlTue, 04 Dec 2012 08:00:15 GMTReynard Loki A new public-private collaboration unleashes the power of universities and social entrepreneurship to solve the world's most pressing developmental problems"A core part of my global development strategy is harnessing the creativity and innovation of all sectors of our society to make progress that none of us can achieve alone," said President Obama in a statement released in February that promoted his "all-hands-on-deck" approach to addressing today's global challenges. "The new collaborations w Read Full Article ]]> A new public-private collaboration unleashes the power of universities and social entrepreneurship to solve the world's most pressing developmental problems"A core part of my global development strategy is harnessing the creativity and innovation of all sectors of our society to make progress that none of us can achieve alone," said President Obama in a statement released in February that promoted his "all-hands-on-deck" approach to addressing today's global challenges. "The new collaborations we're launching today will help save lives from hunger and disease, lift people from poverty and reaffirm America's enduring commitment to the dignity and potential of every human being."[1]One of the new private and public cross-sector collaborations that the White House announced is the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and universities, an innovative program that the White House broadly defined as a partnership "to define and solve large development challenges."[2]"The Obama Administration is committed to investing in science, technology, innovation, and education to effect real change," said Dr. John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "The USAID Higher Education Solutions Network will promote excellent research at home while helping partners around the world tackle long-standing development challenges."[3]HARNESSING THE BEST IDEAS: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND COLLABORATIONThe founding academic partners participating in the HESN's launch include: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California-Berkeley, Michigan State University, Duke University, Texas A&M University, The College of William & Mary and Makerere University in Uganda.[4]Specifically, over the course of a five-year partnership, USAID will fund awards (with a total ceiling of $130 million) for these and other single university and consortia centers along with requests that applying universities provide their own funding to leverage the public investment. For every $10 of USAID funding, the founding universities and their partners have contributed an additional $6.60 toward the initiative.[5][6]HESN is "the latest step in USAID's efforts to harness the best ideas from the academic and scientific community and young people worldwide to foster transformational progress in development," said USAID administrator Rajiv Shah. "Through this network of Development Labs, we will recapture the legacy of science, technology, and innovation as core drivers of developmentas well as inspire and support the next generation of development leaders."[7]SEAD: ACCELERATING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIPOne of the granted programs is the recently launched Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke University (SEAD), a development lab for scaling global health innovations to solve health problems in low- and middle-income countries. A joint initiative between the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, the International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery (IPIHD) at Duke Medicine and the Duke Global Health Institute, SEAD was officially launched on November 8 with a $10 million USAID grant.[8]"SEAD epitomizes our mission at CASE to prepare current and emerging leaders, and the organizations that support them, to achieve real and lasting social change," said Matt Nash, CASE's executive director. "With our partners across Duke, we aim to provide social entrepreneurs in global health with the knowledge, systems, networks and tools needed to succeed."[9]Nash described SEAD as "a virtual hub for faculty and students interested in global health, international development, innovation and entrepreneurship and civic engagement" that could "inspire a commitment to change-making in global health among a new generation of students."[10]OPENING DOORS, MAKING DEALS: ENTER THE VENTURE CAPITALISTSInvestors' Circle (IC)a network of venture capitalists and angel investors seeking to increase the flow of capital to early stage companies that address major social and environmental problemshas been selected to partner with SEAD to provide access to capital for social entrepreneurs. With offices in San Francisco, California, and Durham, North Carolina, IC has pumped $152 million with an additional $4 billion in follow-on investment into more than 250 enterprises and funds dedicated to solving issues dealing with the environment, education, health and community.[11]"Our network has been investing in health, wellness and biotech opportunities for twenty years, many that address health challenges around the world," said Tom Balderston, an IC board member and managing principal of SustainVC, an early-stage venture capital management group. "We're excited to apply this expertise to help scale the most promising innovations emerging in global health."[12]To support SEAD, IC will help prepare innovative health enterprises receive capital through workshops and webinars and create a "Global Health Track" vetting process that includes two virtual venture fairs and partnerships that facilitate the flow of deals in the global health sector.FUELING THE FUTURE: SCALABILITY NEEDS CROSS-SECTOR SUPPORT"This partnership brings everything entrepreneurs need to scale their innovationssector-specific business development support, scaling expertise, relationships with corporate partners, and a connection to private capital," said Bonny Moellenbrock, executive director of Investors' Circle. "We're honored to be a part of this effort to effectively address the world's critical health needs, and hope to replicate all this groundbreaking collaboration in other sectors as well."[13]"To successfully identify and scale these innovations, we've learned you need a cross-sector support systemdirect technical support from experienced entrepreneurs, sector and market expertise, corporate partnerships, resources to assess impact and glean best practices, and connections to capital," said Moellenbrock. "That's what's most exciting about SEAD: It understands the role of each player, and is bringing all of them together in a systematic way to provide this support."[14]That's the kind of collaboration that is fueling President Obama's global development strategy, and echoes U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's focus on a cooperative, cross-sector global environment as a prerequisite for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As Ban said in his recent message on United Nations Day, "No single leader, country or institution can do everything. But each of us, in our own way, can do something."[15] Now that's an idea worth accelerating.###NOTES[1] United States White House. Fact Sheet: Harnessing Innovation for Global Development. February 8, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2012.[2] Ibid.[3] USAID. USAID Launches New Network Engaging Students & Universities. USAID.gov. November 9, 2012. Accessed November 30, 2012.[4] Ibid.[5] Ibid., 1.[6] Ibid., 3.[7] Ibid.[8] Duke University. Duke Receives Award for Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator November 8, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2012.[9] Ibid.[10] Ibid.[11] Investors' Circle. Investors' Circle - FAQ. September 7, 2010. Accessed December 1, 2012.[12] 3BL Media. Investors' Circle Tapped by Duke University to Provide Critical Component to New Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator. November 13, 2012. Accessed November 30, 2012.[13] Ibid.[14]Bonny Moellenbrock. Email received December 1, 2012.[15] Ban Ki-Moon. Secretary-General's Message for United Nations Day. October 24, 2012. Accessed December 1, 2012.image: Community members in Ghana perform a scene to educate others on how and why to use bednets to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne malaria. (credit: USAID/Kasia McCormick, 2012, Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/PACE-setter-by-the-Bay--San-Francisco-s-Buildings-to-Consume-Less-Energy/56920.htmlFri, 30 Nov 2012 12:00:53 GMTReynard Loki Armed with a new green financing program, America's 14th largest city makes a bid to become the home of the nation's most energy efficient buildingsBuildings are power hogs, accounting for 40 percent of the world's energy and causing 40 percent of global carbon emissions. In fact, in the United States, they consume more energy than the transportation and industry sectors combined.[1][2]In 2009, America's estimated 4.9 million commercial buildingsmore than 71 billion square feet of floorspaceacco Read Full Article ]]> Armed with a new green financing program, America's 14th largest city makes a bid to become the home of the nation's most energy efficient buildingsBuildings are power hogs, accounting for 40 percent of the world's energy and causing 40 percent of global carbon emissions. In fact, in the United States, they consume more energy than the transportation and industry sectors combined.[1][2]In 2009, America's estimated 4.9 million commercial buildingsmore than 71 billion square feet of floorspaceaccounted for 19 percent of the nation's total energy. And by 2035, commercial building floor space is expected to reach 103 billion square feet, a staggering 43 percent increase over 2003 levels.[3][4]Mitigating the environmental and energy security dangers of such explosive, fuel-hungry real estate development means achieving emission reduction goals that include retrofits to make current buildings more energy efficient. And an added benefit about that part of the solution is more jobs and a giant boost for the economy: The total value of residential and commercial repairs and retrofits reached nearly $400 billion in 2005.[5]RAMPING UP THE PACE OF SMART ENERGY USEThat kind of triple bottom line-thinking of "people, planet, profit"a bulwark of the sustainability movementis behind a new green financing program in San Francisco that seeks to transform the city's large commercial buildings (some 226 million square feet in all) become national energy efficiency leaders.Part of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, GreenFinanceSF is a municipal initiative in which the government offers investors a specific bond and then turn that money into loans to consumers and businesses to put towards energy retrofits and clean energy upgrades of commercial and residential buildings. The loansunique in that they are attached to a property and not an individualare typically repaid over 15 or 20 years through an annual property tax assessment.[6]The program is starting with an energy efficiency upgrade to the corporate headquarters of Prologis, a real estate developer located in a historic property at San Francisco's famous Pier 1. The project will be designed and implemented by Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee-based company specializing in optimizing the energy efficiency of buildings. The company, which also produces batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, has a long history in energy efficiency, having invented the electric room thermostat in 1885.HUGE POTENTIAL FOR BIG RESULTSSome concerns have arisen about PACE financing; in particular the disputed notion of "involuntary subordination," which the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) argues may increase the financial risk of the lender's security, as it is considered a subordinate lien, secondary to mortgages.[7] But for the moment, this issue is primarily impacting the discussion around residentialnot commercialPACE programs.In the long run, such concerns are outweighed by PACE's "potential to achieve dramatic results for our economy and environment," suggests Casey Diehl, project specialist at WegoWise, a Massachusetts-based startup that has launched a Web-based building efficiency analysis platform."Once its lien status under default has been resolved, this progressive financing mechanism could open the floodgates for widespread energy efficiency investment."[8]In an ideal scenario, the program would be the source of lower operating costs for property owners, lower emissions for the environment, more jobs for the green sector and gains for the investor."San Francisco has a whole new claim to famein addition to the Bay and the bridges, it will be known for better buildings, with the help of PACE," said Chuck McGinnis, the director of building efficiency at Johnson Controls. "Billions of square feet of office space could be transformed into more valuable property to save money, create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and it's all beginning at Pier 1."[9]PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE: ENERGY EFFICIENCYEnergy efficiency is an area that has made a significant difference in the California's energy consumption. Better building standards, for example, saved approximately 15,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2006, up from around 5,000 GWh in 1990.[10] In California's 2008 summary of greenhouse gas regulatory strategies, both the state's energy and public utilities commissions noted that energy efficiency is "the least expensive, most preferred strategy to achieve AB 32 goals," referring to the Global Warming Solutions Act, landmark legislation that then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law in 2006.[11] Going into effect on January 1, the act mandates the state's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020.San Francisco's PACE district was established in 2010. Last year, the city became one of the first in the United States tolaunch an "open market" PACE programwhen it made $100 million in bonding capacity available to owners of commercial properties.[12]"Since buildings contribute 53 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in San Francisco, it is essential that we address inefficiencies in the built environment," said Melanie Nutter, director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment. "Projects like this exemplify the successful combination of our policies and programs to both reduce emissions and help save businesses money. As more businesses take similar action, we'll continue to grow our economy while decreasing carbon emissions to help ward off the worst effects of climate change."[13]###NOTES[1] United States Department of Energy. Energy Efficiency Trends in Residential and Commercial Buildings. October 2008. Accessed November 29, 2012.[2] Center for Sustainable Systems. Commercial Buildings Factsheet. September 2011. Accessed November 29, 2012.[3] United States Energy Information Administration. 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption SurveyOverview of Commercial Buildings Characteristics. 2003. Accessed November 29, 2012.[4] United States Energy Information Administration. Annual Energy Outlook 2012 with Projections to 2035. June 2012. Accessed November 29, 2012.[5] United States Department of Energy. Energy Efficiency Trends in Residential and Commercial Buildings. October 2008. Accessed November 29, 2012.[6] PACENow. About PACE. August 16, 2012. Accessed November 29, 2012.[7] United States Federal Housing Finance Agency. Mortgage Assets Affected by PACE Programs. Federal Register. January 26, 2012. Accessed November 29, 2012.[8] Casey Diehl. PACE Financing: Controversial, Innovative Green Lending. WegoWise blog. March 15, 2012. Accessed November 29, 2012.[9] PRnewswire. San Francisco buildings qualify for affordable energy and water upgrades starting with Johnson Controls' project for Prologis at Pier 1. November 13, 2012. Accessed November 27, 2012.[10] California Energy Commission & California Public Utilities Commission. Proposed Final Opinion Summary on Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Strategies. September 2008. p. 4. Accessed November 29, 2012.[11] Ibid.[12] Ibid., 7.[13] Ibid.image: San Francisco at sunset. (credit: Digon3, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Factories--Families-and-Finance--Closing-the-Economic-Gender-Gap/56898.htmlTue, 27 Nov 2012 08:00:01 GMTReynard Loki The new education initiative HERfinance targets female factory workers across global supply chains to increase financial inclusionIn just three years, over 2,000 female factory workers in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Pakistan and Vietnam were trained as peer health educators. In addition, health surveys were filled out by 7,000 of them. This progress was the result of HERproject, a women's health education initiative launched in 2007 by BSR, a global network of nearly 300 companies wo Read Full Article ]]> The new education initiative HERfinance targets female factory workers across global supply chains to increase financial inclusionIn just three years, over 2,000 female factory workers in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Pakistan and Vietnam were trained as peer health educators. In addition, health surveys were filled out by 7,000 of them. This progress was the result of HERproject, a women's health education initiative launched in 2007 by BSR, a global network of nearly 300 companies working to develop, promote and implement sustainable business strategies through research-based cross-sector collaboration.Now, buoyed by the success of HERprojectwhich not only increased women's health awareness, but also women's access to health servicesBSR is tackling another major issue facing women around the globe: financial inclusion. The new project is called HERfinance, an education initiative meant to increase financial literacy for female laborers working in factories across the world's supply chains.[1]CASH-STUFFED MATTRESSES: THE WORLD'S UNBANKEDIn the rich world, having access to banking and other financial resources is such a normal part of everyday life that it's generally taken for granted. According to a 2010 report by the Washington, DC-based Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), an independent policy group focusing on advancing financial access to the world's poor, 81 percent of adults in the developed world are banked; i.e., they take advantage of professional financial services to save and grow their wealth. In contrast, in the developing world, only 28 percent of adults are banked.[2]The previous year, a CGAP survey estimated some 2.7 billion people globally do not use a basic banking service. The group said that this is a major developmental problem, "because poor people need safe ways to send, receive, and save money."[3] Clearly, one of the marks of a developed nation is a population that, for the most part, enjoys the benefits of financial inclusion. It is a critical driver of long-term economic growth, and women in particular are key to that growth.THINKING ABOUT FINANCE ALONG GENDER LINESAt the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit in San Francisco, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who chaired the event, called on APEC members to eliminate the social and systemic barriers blocking women's economic involvement, saying that "unlocking the potential of women by narrowing the gender gap could lead to a 14 percent rise in per capita incomes by the year 2020 in several APEC economies, including China, Russia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Korea."[4]Indeed, there is mounting evidence that investments made in women, such as financial literacy, financial access and higher or even basic education, create a spillover or multiplier effect that occurs more frequently than when similar investments are made in men. Specifically, when women experience positive educational or economic growth through acquiring new skills or knowledge, such fruits directly benefit their families and local communities, even in developed countries."Although they play critical roles in local and global economies, women continue to be left out of the formal banking sector in larger numbers than men," saidHERproject's program managerRacheal Yeager. "This reduces their ability to save and spend their earningsand studies show that women reinvest up to 90 percent of their earnings into their families' health, nutrition and educationso this is a big loss."[5]In addition to supporting better investments in the well-being of families, increased financial participation by women, BSR notes, also helps to "build credit worthiness, invest, and reduce risks related to illness or loss of employment."[6]WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE: YOUR ATTENTION PLEASEIn her excellent paper "Women Hold Up Half the Sky,"Sarah Lawson,senior global economist atthe Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs,noted that"[l]imited financial resources, cultural preferences and government policy all affect decisions about who has access to education and who has the opportunity to reap its full benefits. Greater gender equality will require not only investments in female education, but also changing attitudes in the workplace and new legislation."[7]With HERfinance, BSR is helping to change those workplace attitudes. Considering the legions of women across the developing world working in factories along global supply chains, the initiative smartly targets the workplace as a site for increasing financial literacy."Workplace programs are some of the most effective ways to reach low-income women, and HERfinance will provide essential training on topics like budgeting, saving and using formal financial services," said Yeager.[8]PRIVATE FUNDS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATIONCreated with a founding grant from the Walt Disney Companyone of three major social investments recently made by Disney to support supply chain programs for labor forces in India, China and BrazilHERfinance will start with a pilot program in India and then expand to Asia and Africa. The initiative is also supported by contributing grants from General Electric Foundation, the Levi Strauss Foundation, Fung (1906) Foundation, Primark and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.[9]"If women are more effectively integrated into formal financial systems and provided with basic information on how to use those systems effectively for household and small business finances," argues Yeager, "they will be better able to contribute to poverty reduction and economic growth on a global scale."[10]###NOTES[1] BSR. BSR Launches 'HERfinance': Financial Inclusion Program for Women in Global Supply Chains. November 13, 2012. Accessed November 24, 2012.[2] Jake Kendall, Nataliya Mylenko and Alejandro Ponce. Measuring Financial Access Around the World. Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). March 15, 2010. Accessed November 25, 2012.[3] Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). Boost for Mobile Banking for the Unbanked as CGAP, DFID Announce New Partnership. March 11, 2010. Accessed November 25, 2012.[4] Hillary Clinton. Remarks at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Women and the Economy Summit. State.gov. September 16, 2011. Accessed November 26, 2012.[5] Email from Racheal Yeager received November 21, 2012.[6] Ibid., 1.[7] Sandra Lawson. Women Hold Up Half the Sky. Global Economics Paper No: 164. p. 14. March 4, 2008. Accessed November 26, 2012.[8] Ibid., 1.[9] Ibid.[10] Ibid., 5.image: Women at work in Resco Biscuit Factory in Jessore, Bangladesh. (credit: Peter Casier, Creative Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Hedging-Bets--Can-Hedge-Funds-Be-Socially-Responsible-Investments/56822.htmlTue, 20 Nov 2012 12:00:07 GMTReynard Loki A new discussion paper by the Principles for Responsible Investing Initiative seeks to apply the tenets of responsible investing to the high-flying world of hedge fundsIn July, Robin Greenwood, an associate professor of business administration, and David Scharfstein, a professor of finance and banking, both at Harvard Business School, published a compelling research paper that examines the explosive growth of the financial services industry as fueled by the shadow banking system (i.e., short-ter Read Full Article ]]> A new discussion paper by the Principles for Responsible Investing Initiative seeks to apply the tenets of responsible investing to the high-flying world of hedge fundsIn July, Robin Greenwood, an associate professor of business administration, and David Scharfstein, a professor of finance and banking, both at Harvard Business School, published a compelling research paper that examines the explosive growth of the financial services industry as fueled by the shadow banking system (i.e., short-term, loosely-regulated funding activities involved in the purchase of risky loans and securities). Entitled "The Growth of Modern Finance," the study aimed to assess whether or not the growth of active asset management has been beneficial to society. Their grim conclusion: "The shadow banking system that facilitated this expansion made the financial system more fragile."[1]They zeroed in on one element that has been a major factor in the financial industry's rapid expansion: the exorbitant fees accrued to alternative asset managers; i.e., those who manage venture capital funds, private equity funds and hedge funds. They calculated these fees to represent more than a third of the economic growth in the financial sector. Hedge fund fees, for example, peaked at $69 billion in 2007.[2] That's more than the GDP of 120 countries, about $10 billion more than the GDP of Luxembourg.Addressing this study last month in an article entitled "The Perils of Feeding a Bloated Industry," New York Times business columnist Gretchen Morgenson suggested, "It is worth remembering that the credit crisis and ensuing economic downturn followed a spectacular expansion in the financial business, compared with other industries."[3]PRI: WE NEED BETTER GOVERNANCE FOR HEDGE FUNDSIndeed, hedge funds are big business. Estimates by Hedge Fund Research Indices (HFRI) show that hedge funds are a $2.1-trillion industry.[4] And as we now know, they are also dangerous. But a newly released discussion paper aiming to spark an industry-wide dialogue on how the concept of responsible investment can apply to hedge funds may help this part of the financial sector address the fragility that Greenwood and Scharfstein have highlighted.Published by the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiativea network of international investors working in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) and the United Nations Global Compactthe paper, "Responsible Investment and Hedge Funds," is meant to help its asset owner signatories get a clearer understanding of hedge fund strategy risks while suggesting actions that investors should take to improve hedge fund governance. The authors note the timeliness of this discussion in the paper's executive summary: "A number of recent high profile incidents relating to hedge funds, including a few serious frauds, have caused governance to be raised to the top of the list of concerns for hedge fund investors."[5]"Many signatories have significant allocations to hedge funds and the PRI has a growing number of hedge fund manager signatories,said Rob Lake, Director of Responsible Investment at PRI. "However, there is currently no clear consensus on what being a responsible investor in hedge funds actually entails."[6] A total of 137 PRI signatories have some exposure to investments in hedge funds (74 asset owners and 63 investment managers).[7]ARE RESPONSIBLE HEDGE FUNDS ACHIEVABLE?The paper summarizes the responsible investment practices that hedge fund managers should implement, including: ensuring good governance, considering ESG research data before making investment decisions, managing benefits/risks associated with specific techniques like shorting, derivatives and high-frequency trading (HFT), managing benefits/risks that strategies might present to other parts of an investors' portfolio and maintaining clear communication through a formal policybetween asset owners and investment managers.[8]A sample "Responsible Investment Commitments for a Hedge Fund" document, created by the PRI Hedge Funds Working Group, is also included in the paper as an appendix. The individual statements, 11 in all, certainly sound good on paper. ("We will consider environmental, public health, safety, and social issues associated with target companies when evaluating whether to invest" and "We will respect the human rights of those affected by our investment activities," are two examples.)[9]But how many hedge fund firms will make such written commitments on a voluntary basis?Paulus Ingram, chair of the PRI Hedge Funds Working Group and Senior Portfolio Manager Opportunity Fund and Hedge Funds at APG Asset Management, said that the discussion paper "highlights that responsible investment is achievable in hedge funds as it is in other asset classes."[10] That may be true, but a lot of things are achievable. Whether or not the investment philosophy the paper espouses will actually become a reality remains to be seen.ALIGNING OBJECTIVES: THE TRIPLE-BOTTOM LINETo be sure, the PRIthough backed by the UNembraces a very particular view on the notion of social responsibility, reflecting the fact that the principles themselves were drawn up not by a UN commitee or a group of policymakers, but by members of the international investment commnity: Investors must give due consideration to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues not necessarily because it is ethical or moral to do so, but because such issues have an impact on the performance of investment portfolios.Who says your heart has to be in the so-called "right place" for you to engender a positive impact on society? For the PRI signatories, its about aligning individual objectives (e.g., make gobs of money) with those of society at large (e.g., do no harm, and maybe even some good). Ultimately, that alignment drives towards the so-called "triple bottom line" that has helped define the comtemporary sustainability movement: people, planet and profit.In 2008, Richard C. Wilson, the founder of the Hedge Fund Group, a networking association for hedge fund professionals based in Portland, Oregon, predicted that socially responsible and green hedge funds would "explode in popularity in the next 5-7 years."[11] There are still a few years to go before we know if his prediction will come true, but the PRI's new discussion paper suggests that socially responsible hedge funds are on the horizon.###NOTES[1] Robin Greenwood and David Scharfstein. The Growth of Modern Finance. Harvard Business School. p. 31. July 2012. Accessed November 19, 2012.[2] Ibid., p. 9.[3] Gretchen Morgenson. The Perils of Feeding a Bloated Industry. The New York Times. October 27, 2012. Accessed November 19, 2012.[4] Hedge Fund Research. Hedge Fund Capital Inflows Steady Through Volatile 2Q12. July 29, 2012. Accessed November 19, 2012.[5] Principles of Responsible Investment. Responsible Investment and Hedge Funds: A discussion paper. p. 6. July 2012. Accessed November 19, 2012.[6] Hedgeweek.com. PRI launches discussion on responsible investment in hedge funds. November 12, 2012. Accessed November 19, 2012.[7] Ibid., 5, p. 6.[8] Ibid., p. 7.[9] Ibid., p. 22.[10] Ibid., 6.[11] Richard C. Wilson. Top 5 Hedge Fund Strategies. January 8, 2008. Accessed November 19, 2012.image: The value of $1000 invested in the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, of $1,000 invested in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and of $1,000 invested monthly in U.S. Treasuries at constant maturity. (credit: JayHenry, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/SAP-s-Sustainability-Mission--Business-Technology-for-Positive-Change/56765.htmlWed, 14 Nov 2012 09:00:11 GMTReynard Loki The global IT giant, which is helping thousands of companies execute sustainability strategies, has released its third quarter sustainability report card. Outside of one niggling area, they are at the top of the classWhen the French food giant Danonea 19 billion global leader in water and fresh dairy products (known in the United States for the yogurt marketed under its Dannon brand)decided to cut emissions 30 percent across its operations and supply chain, it turned to another corporate giant: Read Full Article ]]> The global IT giant, which is helping thousands of companies execute sustainability strategies, has released its third quarter sustainability report card. Outside of one niggling area, they are at the top of the classWhen the French food giant Danonea 19 billion global leader in water and fresh dairy products (known in the United States for the yogurt marketed under its Dannon brand)decided to cut emissions 30 percent across its operations and supply chain, it turned to another corporate giant: SAP (NYSE: SAP), the world's third largest independent software manufacturer by market capitalization, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany.[1][2]"We all know that 'when you can't measure it, you can't manage it,'" said Myriam Cohen-Welgryn, vice president of Danone Nature, explaining that "at the beginning, getting the first results on reducing our CO2 footprint was not that difficult to achieve as it was also a driver for productivitybut as we progressed, CO2 reduction became more challenging and detailed measurement a key issue."[3]"Calculating the carbon footprint for one single Danone product can be very complex," she said. "We have to cover multiple categories and full product life-cycles. Thus, managing large volumes of data took a lot of time and we could only do it on an annual basis."[4]CATALYST FOR CHANGE: MEASURING CARBON FOOTPRINTSTogether, the two firms developed a unique carbon footprint measurement model that is able to collect around 80 percent of the life-cycle data it needs automatically. The new system, which covers some 70 percent of Danone's revenue and over 35,000 of its products, will be deployed across 40 business units by the end of the year."This solution makes carbon footprint issues everyone's business," said Cohen-Welgryn. "By making this analysis part of our IT infrastructure, we gain valuable insights for decision-making; it becomes a catalyst for change in the company as a whole."[5]SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE: THIRD QUARTER LOOKS STRONGDanone is one of more than 183,000 companies around the world, many of which use SAP's technology solutions to analyze the relationship between business operations and climate change to better manage opportunities and risk.[6]SAP's clients should be pretty pleased with the company's third quarter sustainability update, which shows significant progress across several fronts. SAP is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which in September ranked it the software sector leader for the sixth consecutive year, as the firm increased its scores in all three areas of sustainability: economic, environmental and social. Theirenvironmental policy and management system, for example, rose from 60 to 80 percent, while corporate citizenship and philanthropy grew from 52 to 86 percent.[7]And because of its major purchase of electricity generated from renewable sources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included SAP America as one of the "Top 20 Tech and Telecom" green power users, recently moving up to 11th place from from 17th, surpassing such large green-focused firms as Apple, Samsung, Xerox and Motorola. The improved ranking demonstrates the positive effect of SAP's participation in the EPA's Green Power Partnership program.[8][9]ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONSWhile continuing to help companies navigate sustainability strategies, SAP has one area that needs more internal focus: The company risks missing its annual carbon target of 480 kilotons due to business travel.While SAP's third quarter greenhouse gas emissions remained steady at 130 kilotons of carbon dioxide from the second quarter of 2012, it represents a seven percent increase from the third quarter of 2011 and newly includes emissions from SuccessFactors, an SAP company. The carbon footprint of SAP's total electricity consumption was reduced by 13 percent compared to the third quarter 2011, through the additional purchase of renewable energy in the U.S. and Canada."Our absolute emissions continue to present a challenge, in spite of the fact that our carbon efficiency continues to improve," said Peter Graf, SAP's chief sustainability officer. "More innovation is required to reduce our emissions in the future."[10]SUSTAINABILITY AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: OPPORTUNITIES, NOT LIABILITIESBut while carbon efficiency is central to overall sustainability goals, it is one aspect of a holistic long-term strategy for corporate social responsibility. And the leaders in this overarching realm are the companies that view doing the right thing as an opportunity, not a liability."At SAP, we believe that the movement towards more sustainable business strategies presents a great opportunity for us to innovate solutions for customers, our internal operations and how we invest into society," said Graf. "For example, during the 3rd quarter SAP rolled out a new, mobile incident management solution that can transform a company's safety culture by allowing everyone to report potentially hazardous situations into one central system across an operation."[11]"Regarding our internal operations, we continued to increase the ratio of woman in leadership, which is an important aspect of our push to even more diversity at SAP," he added, noting that "diversity and inclusion are essential to enhance our ability to innovate even further."[12]Graf also pointed out SAP's commitment to fostering sustainable entrepreneurship in emerging economies, citing the company's new "social sabbatical" program that pairs a team of high-performing SAP employees with a small business to collaborate in finding solutions to critical community- and region-based problems. Not only does this innovative program support emerging economy entrepreneurship, but also develops SAP's own internal talent. Whether or not a company decides to enlist SAP for its sustainability solutions, this program is a simple yet brilliant idea worth copying.###NOTES[1] Business Green. SAP carbon software gives Danone food for thought. March 30, 2012. Accessed November 8, 2012.[2] SAP. SAP at a glance: business overview. July 10, 2012. Accessed November 8, 2012.[3] Ibid., 1.[4] Ibid.[5] Ibid.[6] SAP. SAP Annual Report 2011. March 23, 2012. Accessed November 8, 2012.[7] SAP. Dow Jones Names SAP Most Sustainable Software Company. September 24, 2012. Accessed November 13, 2012.[8] Environmental Protection Agency. Top 20 Tech & Telecom. October 4, 2012. Accessed November 13, 2012.[9] Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partnership. Accessed November 13, 2012.[10] Peter Graf quotes provided by SAP on November 11, 2012.[11] Ibid.[12] Ibid.image: SAP AG Headquarters, Walldorf, Germany (credit: amadeusm, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Celebrating-Changemakers--The-Global-Green-Sustainable-Design-Awards/56569.htmlWed, 07 Nov 2012 00:00:26 GMTReynard Loki From buildings to public policy, organizational leadership to industry, the most innovative solutions in sustainable design are honored every year by Global Green USAWhat do actor Adrian Grenier, Sprint president of operations Steve Elfman, Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker, Starbucks president of global development Arthur Rubinfeld and 350.org co-founder May Boeve have in common? They are the 2011 Global Green Sustainable Design Awards Honorees.Established in 1999 by Global Green USA and held Read Full Article ]]> From buildings to public policy, organizational leadership to industry, the most innovative solutions in sustainable design are honored every year by Global Green USAWhat do actor Adrian Grenier, Sprint president of operations Steve Elfman, Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker, Starbucks president of global development Arthur Rubinfeld and 350.org co-founder May Boeve have in common? They are the 2011 Global Green Sustainable Design Awards Honorees.Established in 1999 by Global Green USA and held annually in New York, the Global Green Sustainable Design Awards recognize innovations that represent significant advancements towards sustainability. This year, the 13th annual awards will be presented on December 3. Global Green USA is the American affiliate of Green Cross International, an international environmental organization founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 to foster global sustainability following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.There are six different categories. The Corporate Design Award honors innovative corporate practices and policies that advance the sustainability and environmental leadership agenda. The Product/Industrial Design Award recognizes products that promote both innovative design and environmental responsibility. The Media Design Award honors designs that inform and inspire the public through innovative environmental messaging. The Organizational Design Award honors groups taking a leadership role in effecting positive environmental change. The Public Policy Design Award honors the design of policies that improve and preserve the environment and reshape governmental approach towards environmentalism. And the Green Building Design Award honors the design, development and construction of green buildings that set a standard for energy efficiency and healthy indoor conditions.[1]Honorees for the 2012 Sustainable Design Awards include playwright and activist Eve Ensler for the design of V-World, a sustainable farm to heal women in the Democratic Republic Congo, where there are an estimated 25,000 cases of rape and other sexual violence against women and children[2]; the Rudin Family for the design and redevelopment of One Thirty West 12th Street, a residential prewar building in New York's Greenwich Village that has been "meticulously reconceived for contemporary living, bringing the benefits of sustainable design to the elegance of prewar architecture"[3]; and industrial packaging manufacturer Greif for the design of the WaterWear backpack, "an innovative solution to the water transportation issue in the developing world."[4]"Whether they are helping to protect our air and water, eliminating weapons of mass destruction, stemming climate change, or raising the consciousness of millions, the 'designs' of these leaderswho were bold and courageous enough to undertake these acts or commitmentsdeserve to be applauded and celebrated to inspire and encourage others," according to a Global Green USA statement.[5]Want to nominate a person or group for a Global Green Sustainable Design Award? They accept nominations all-year round. Click here to submit a nomination.###NOTES[1] Global Green USA. Global Green USA Sustainable Design Awards. December 12, 2008. Accessed October 24, 2012.[2] Eve Ensler. Eve Ensler - Welcome to V-World. Huffington Post. November 30, 2006. Accessed October 24, 2012.[3] Rudin Family. 130 West 12th Street. September 20, 2011. Accessed October 24, 2012.[4] Greif. Buckets to Backpacks - WaterWear Details. October 11, 2011. Accessed October 24, 2012.[5] Ibid, 1.image: Women collecting firewood in Basankusu, Democratic Republic of Congo (credit: Francish7, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Seeing-the-Forest-for-the-Trees--Deforestation-and-Sustainable-Finance/56529.htmlMon, 05 Nov 2012 08:00:25 GMTReynard Loki We are rapidly destroying the world's forests. Sustainable forest financing can helpBetween 12 and 15 million hectares of forest are lost every year. To get a sense of the scale of the devastation, that's equivalent to 36 football fields per minute. Some are lost to forest fires, which have increased along with climate change, but most is the result of deforestation to convert natural forests for other uses, like agriculture (notably for pulp, palm and soy plantations), roads and human developme Read Full Article ]]> We are rapidly destroying the world's forests. Sustainable forest financing can helpBetween 12 and 15 million hectares of forest are lost every year. To get a sense of the scale of the devastation, that's equivalent to 36 football fields per minute. Some are lost to forest fires, which have increased along with climate change, but most is the result of deforestation to convert natural forests for other uses, like agriculture (notably for pulp, palm and soy plantations), roads and human development.And along with the trees go the natural habitats that wild animals need to live: Some 80 percent of all known species live in tropical forests. And that's not the full extent of the damage: Deforestation accounts for 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Also, without trees, which evaporate groundwater, local climates become drier. And without the protection of the tree root systems and tree litter, soil erodes more quickly and the nutrient-rich upper layer of soil is lost, making the land less fertile.[1]LESS FORESTS, MORE CONFLICTThe loss of forests also disrupts lives, as millions of people around the world rely directly on healthy forest ecosystems, from small-scale farming to hunting and gathering. Deforestation has led to social conflict, even violence. Last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, a villager in Bumba territory (the location of the world's second-largest tropical rain forest after the Amazon) was killed and several women were raped in a skirmish with police and soldiers over protests against logging company SIFORCO, a subsidiary of the Swiss group Danzer, which locals claim have not made good on promises for being allowed to log their forest.[2]"The Bumba tragedy proves that once again, we are far from the so-called 'sustainable forest management' celebrated by donors (including the World Bank and national aid institutions, notably from Germany, France and the Netherlands), the Congolese government and its partners," writes Rene Ngongo of Greenpeace International. "How can there be talk of sustainable forest management when covered in such violence, let alone the destruction of the last remaining large blocks of intact forests?[3]LITTLE FOREST FINANCE BOOKThe overall trend involves a simple inverse proportion: As the human population increases, forests decrease. And since the human population continues to skyrocket to reach an eventual 9 billion people by the year 2050, how humanity manages the world's remaining forests is absolutely critical if true sustainable development is to be made a reality.Now, there is a new tool to help: The Little Forest Finance Book, which highlights ways to increase forest-friendly sustainable finance. Officially launched last month at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, in Hyderabad, India, and produced by the Oxford, UK-based forest protection think-tank Global Canopy Programme (GCP), the book is being billed as "a reference for decision makers and project stakeholders within governments, NGOs, the private sector, and forest communities who want to understand where forest finance can be raised, how it can best be managed, and the types of activities that it enables."[4]A CLEARING IN THE WOODS: DEMYSTIFYING FOREST FINANCEPart of set of CGP policy publications launched in 2008 that zero in on some of the key issues within the international policy negotiations, the book "seeks to demystify the forest finance landscape, and presents a clear framework of realistic and widely applicable options for decision makers to catalyse further action and debate in this field," says the GCP. "It is grounded in reality rather than theory, and draws on numerous case studies to indicate emerging ideas, best practice, and innovative ways of thinking about forest finance for the future."[5]The book outlines various specific elements of forest finance, including co-investments, credit guarantees, forward contracts, property rights, insurance, certification and domestic trade laws. It also presents an excellent overview of the international context, defining a host of sometimes confusing acronyms in the global policy space, such as UNFCCC, UNCCD, CBD and UNFF."The book analyzes in a clear and concise manner the various options for forest financing and presents case studies underway in developing countries," writes Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the United Nations Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in the book's foreword. "As such, it will be an indispensible tool, making forest financing options more accessible to all. For this reason, I wish the book a wide readership."[6]EXPANDING SUSTAINABLE FINANCE: COMBINING SOURCES"In an era of diminishing public expenditures for biodiversity conservation, we need innovation, communication and effective partnerships," said Rachel Kyte, vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank, at the Hyderabad conference. "We are seeing more and more good examples of partnership that cross the boundaries between the public, private and non-government spheres to bridge public financing gaps and to deliver effective conservation on the ground."[7]The conference also saw the release of a new World Bank report, "Expanding Financing for Biodiversity Conservation: Experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean," which present five examples across Latin America that show the success of conservation and community development, specifically using a combination of public, private and non-governmental funding. Hopefully, with these examples of success and The Little Forest Finance Book, investors and policy-makers will be able to craft and implement solutions across all the world's forests.In the end, it doesn't matter where the sustainable forest finance comes from. What matters is that it soon overtakes unsustainable forest finance. More humans are on the way. They will want paper, wood, soy and palm oil. To be sure, the trail to and from those and other forest-based products is lined with gobs of money. There's no escaping that. It's how that money is used to extract resources from the Earth's dwindling forests that must be addressed.###NOTES[1] WWF. Deforestation. October 19, 2009. Accessed October 19, 2012.[2] Rene Ngongo. Deforestation and violence in Congo. Greenpeace International. July 15, 2011. Accessed October 19, 2012.[3] Ibid.[4] Global Canopy Programme. The Little Forest Finance Book: 14 catalysts to scale up forest-friendly finance. October 16, 2012. Accessed October 19, 2012.[5] Ibid.[6] Global Canopy Programme. The Little Forest Finance Book. October 16, 2012. Accessed October 19, 2012.[7] World Bank. Financing Successful Nature Conservation in Lean Economic Times: World Bank Report Highlights Latin America's Successes. October 17, 2012. Accessed October 19, 2012.image: Timber from a Malaysian forest at a sawmill where it is being processed for export (credit: Stephen Codrington, Wikimedia Commons)]]>http://www.justmeans.com/Investors-Lobby-Congress-to-Extend-Wind-Production-Tax-Credit/56596.htmlFri, 26 Oct 2012 17:27:13 GMTHarry Stevens Two dozen investors representing over $800 billion in assets under management sent a letter to Congressional leaders today calling for an immediate extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind, set to expire on December 31, 2012.Enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and signed by President George H.W. Bush, the PTC was created to stimulate investment in wind energy, closed-loop biomass, and poultry-waste energy resources. Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, the PTC was exte Read Full Article ]]> Two dozen investors representing over $800 billion in assets under management sent a letter to Congressional leaders today calling for an immediate extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind, set to expire on December 31, 2012.Enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and signed by President George H.W. Bush, the PTC was created to stimulate investment in wind energy, closed-loop biomass, and poultry-waste energy resources. Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, the PTC was extended to include geothermal energy, open-loop biomass, solar energy, small irrigation power, landfill gas and municipal solid waste combustion.Wind power, which receives a tax credit of 2.2 per kilowatt-hour, is the only resource type set to expire this year. The group of investors argues that the PTC strengthens and stabilizes the wind power market, making the renewable energy technology more attractive to investors."We have long-term positions in a variety of suppliers and diversified firms that can link a portion of their success to the wind power industry," said Matthew Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management, an independent firm devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing. "We want to see that progress continue without being bogged down by uncertainty in Washington."Trillium is one of 12 asset management firms that signed the letter. Signatories also included seven state treasurers, controllers, and pension funds, as well as four investment advisors and religious investors.The investors noted that when Congress has allowed the PTC to expire, as it did in 1991, 2001, and 2003, wind installations dropped between 73 and 93 percent in the following year. "Such short-term and inconsistent policy makes this promising sector more difficult to invest in," said the letter.Uncertainty surrounding the PTC's extension has already caused problems for the sector. Vestas Wind Systems (OMX:VWS), the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world, has cut its workforce in the U.S. and Canada by about 20 percent this year due to uncertainty surrounding the PTC extension. In February, the company said it would fire 1,600 workers in Colorado unless the PTC is renewed."Vestas U.S factories are filling export orders for customers in Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America," said Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas-American Wind Technology. "However, the U.S. wind industry has slowed, largely due to the uncertainty surrounding the federal Production Tax Credit extension at the end of 2012."Similarly, Spanish turbine manufacturer Gamesa (BMAD:GAM) announced furloughs of 165 workers at its Pennsylvania factory pending extension of the PTC.Still, the PTC is not without its detractors. In September, 47 House Republicans sent a letter to Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH) encouraging the expiration of the PTC."The Obama administration has poured billions into subsidizing its favored green energy sources," said the letter. "Twenty years of subsidizing wind is more than enough."A recent study commissioned by Exelon (NYSE:EXC), the country's largest producer of nuclear power, found that the PTC is inefficient and wasteful, and that the wind energy industry should be able to function without market-distorting subsidies.Exelon, which produces a small amount of energy through wind power, was expelled from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the industry's trade association in the U.S., for lobbying Congress to allow the PTC expire. According to the AWEA, the PTC has encouraged $20 billion in private investment and has helped create 75,000 jobs."Instead of threatening tens of thousands of wind power jobs, Congress should heed these investors' call and craft long-term policy that supports renewable energy and its workforce," said Mindy Lubber, director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk.One of those investors is Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who oversees the management of $72.5 billion of state funds. Oregon, home to the North American headquarters of Vestas and Iberdrola Renewables, currently generates enough wind energy to power 700,000 homes."The Production Tax Credit is vital to fostering a vibrant renewable power sector, which will improve our economic competitiveness while also reducing our reliance on fossil fuels," said Wheeler. "Renewable energy generation opportunities beckon from border-to-border in Oregon, and they promise to produce not only clean and sustainable power but also crucial employment and investments in key infrastructure."The group of investors is scheduled to meet with Congressional staff tomorrow to discuss their support for the tax credit.Image credit: Lews Castle UHI]]>