Insights from the CarbonExpo

Opportunity or threat for the food and agriculture sector?

Identifying opportunities related to a well-designed carbon price rather than dwelling on potential negative implications were discussed in a panel at last week’s Carbon Expo in Melbourne. Deborah Kerr, Manager for Natural Resource Management from Australia's National Farmers Federation, talked about their members looking for opportunities to increase productivity based on carbon management. Initiatives leading to better soil health and therefore higher productivity and less cost for fertiliser, such as increasing soil carbon, are popular with farmers. Overall, she sees a great opportunity for farmers in the Carbon Farming Initiative.

“More food – fewer emissions” was the key message from Jack Holden, Sustainability Strategy Manager at Fonterra. To achieve this, Fonterra is working closely with their farmers to identify profitable options to reduce the “on farm” contribution. Jack explained how Fonterra supports its farmers in identifying energy savings options in the milking shed and how results from the Dairy Australia carbon footprinting project that was undertaken by PE INTERNATIONAL will help them move beyond on their emissions reductions journey.

Olivia Tyler from Treasury Wine Estates explained their holistic approach to carbon management both locally in Australia and globally across the sixteen countries in which it operates. While Treasury Wine Estates are not liable under Australia’s carbon tax, they put great effort in reducing carbon in their products by using a full life cycle approach. They successfully communicate their efforts through voluntary Carbon and Water Disclosure Project reporting, as well as having achieved the carboNZero certification for one of their wines.
Summarising the session, Barbara Nebel from PE INTERNATIONAL commented, “It is good to see a positive attitude towards the carbon price and that industry focuses on the related opportunities.”

One of the other highlights of the conference was when Australian’s Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, announced that Australia will sign up for a second commitment to the Kyoto Protocol which is to be discussed at global climate talks in Doha in December.  In his view the protocol, which covers less than 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and only from developed nations, was not enough on its own. Therefore, Australia will push for a broader deal which will be concluded by 2015. Without taking action to reduce emissions, the Australian economy would face a "severe economic shock" beginning in the year 2020 and so it was better to tackle it now, said Greg Combet.

New Zealand’s Climate Change Minister Tim Groser announced at the same time that New Zealand will not be following Australia but will instead make voluntary pledges under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, meaning that New Zealand will no longer have a legal obligation to reduce emissions.

Deka-Bank: A business case for environmental and sustainability management

Many large organizations are facing demands to adopt environmentally responsible and sustainable business practices. Various stakeholder groups including investors and customers are calling for a stronger focus on sustainability. But can a business take ecological and social good into account and be economically successful at the same time?

Read how DekaBank saved half a million Euros in two years by implementing an Environmental Management System and centralizing sustainability management using the SoFi Software solution. To the Case study or contact Markus Michalzik

Real estate investors are fishing for green building portfolios

A big shift in the real estate market is looming on the horizon: the investment in Green Buildings has dramatically increased in recent years. Green Buildings offer tenants energy-efficient, eco-friendly and healthy office or living spaces with lower operating cost. That’s why more and more investors opt for real estate that meets this growing demand so that they can reap the benefits of higher rents and lower risk premiums.

Along with market demand, the importance of voluntary Green Building certification systems has grown rapidly. Additionally, governments around the world are demanding the integration of energy efficiency and sustainability into new building regulations. In order to meet market demand and compliance with legislation, asset managers require sound insights into the sustainability performance of complete building portfolios.

Together with our Partner Drees & Sommer, PE INTERNATIONAL has developed Portfolio Carbon Management (PCM), the solution for sustainable asset management. PCM measures real estate performance holistically, uncovers opportunities and risks, enhances the building attractiveness and elevates the long-term value of the portfolio. PCM is the only solution that has been designed specifically for asset managers to achieve portfolio sustainability targets.

Download: Portfolio Carbon Management.pdf (780kb)

For more information please contact Matthias Münzing

New Arabian online platform for suppliers of green building products released

The first portal of its kind to originate in the Arab world, The Future Build assists architects, engineers and contractors in identifying and sourcing building products and materials that have been independently assessed to ensure they deliver the environmental benefits claimed. It also provides the latest green building news, as well as sustainable procurement and supply chain consulting and training services.

The Future Build is an initiative of Masdar City and offers an unrivalled platform for suppliers of green building products to bring their products and materials to the attention of all elements of the construction industry, particularly in the United Arab Emirates and wider Arab world, concerned with sustainable construction.

As LCA consultants to MASDAR City, PE INTERNATIONAL supports suppliers with its knowhow in Life Cycle Assessments  and tailored solutions like Portfolio Carbon Manangement (PCM).

More information: www.thefuturebuild.com

PE opens office in Switzerland

Sustainability management, both on a product and on a corporate level, is steadily becoming an essential element of today’s business strategy. To service the growing number of clients in Switzerland, PE is pleased to announce that we have opened the doors of a new office in Zurich.

Annette Koehler, newly appointed Managing Director of the Swiss subsidiary has 10 years of experience in the field of life cycle assessment and sustainability management. Annette has collaborated with numerous companies from various industrial sectors, international organizations (e.g. WBCSD, UNEP) and authorities and research institutes in the international arena.

Prior to joining PE INTERNATIONAL, Annette worked as lecturer and senior scientist at ETH Zurich and as sales and marketing manager of the ecoinvent Center. Annette´s primary mission will be to help develop the sustainability of businesses in Switzerland and to establish PE’s solution cluster for water footprinting, both on the strategic corporate and product level, using her international leadership position in this field.

PE INTERNATIONAL becomes CDP gold partner and launches CarbonExplorer

PE INTERNATIONAL has signed a gold partnership agreement with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the leading independent registry for climate change information. PE INTERNATIONAL has been working with the CDP since September 2009 and the gold partnership will further strengthen the collaboration between the two organizations.  For the growing number of companies participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project PE INTERNATIONAL has launched the SoFi CarbonExplorer solution. SoFi CarbonExplorer enables clients to develop a high-performance carbon management and reporting program quickly and in a cost-effective way. The new solution combines the proven carbon management capabilities of the SoFi Software solution with PE’s leading carbon consulting to help clients overcome challenges such as resource constraints, lack of internal expertise and dispersed incomplete greenhouse gas emissions data. With the easy and secure web access SoFi CarbonExplorer enables an easy start for a solid carbon management program that supports strategic company objectives.

Learn more about SoFi CarbonExplorer

CO2 - the new currency

1.2 tons of carbon dioxide have been caused by Andreas Große Habuer, Tobias Bayer and Joachim Zepelin through their research for the story „CO2- the new currency“, published in the november edition of the business magazine Capital. PE INTERNATIONAL calculated a carbon footprint of about 1.2 tons as the result of every journey, telephone call and piece of paper, which the journalists needed for their research.

Among others, they communicated with Deutsche Post, one of our SoFi software customers. „Years ago, as we were experimenting with carbon- accounting, we were even sneered“, says Michael Lohmeier, CO2 manager of Deutsche Post. Nowadays, nobody laughs. „Because of the extensive system of numbers we now exactly know how to save CO2 and therefore money“.

The big problem in accounting CO2 is, that Deutsche Post is just able to detect and have an effect on 20 percent of their emissions. The big rest arises from the suppliers, who have to make up the balance for the emission of CO2 for themselves to enable Deutsche Post to provide significant data. „We just started to ask our business partners for their emissions of CO2“, says Lohmeier.

Factoring primary products and supply chains which provoke emissions of CO2 into the own accounting of C02 gains immensely in importance. In the future, the huge trading company Wal-Mart claims C02 data of its 100.000 suppliers, for instance. Therefore, selecting a supplier will become a question of C02 emissions.

„Now, questionnaires are sent back and forth around the world“, says Michael Spielmann, Coordinator Carbon Management at PE INTERNATIONAL. „It will not take much longer and  the smallest companies will have to expose their C02 emissions“, mentions Spielmann. „Soon each company will be affected by the topic of C02 – in effect, carbon dioxide is developing itself into a currency. The sooner companies adapt themselves to it, the better“.

read the full article (german)