The US Government has published as a draft for public consultation a National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy. The goal of the strategy, which is not an operational plan but does provide themes for new policy and program initiatives, is to “inspire and enable natural resource administrators, legislators and other decision makers to take action to adapt to a changing climate.” The Strategy has been prepared by an interagency task force with state and aboriginal participation. One of the lead participants is the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies which includes Canadian Federal, Provincial and Territorial members as well as ngos.

The Strategy includes seven goals:

• Conserve habitat to support healthy fish, wildlife and plant populations and ecosystem functions in a changing climate.
• Manage species and habitats to protect ecosystem functions and provide sustainable cultural, subsistence, recreational, and commercial use in a changing climate.
• Enhance capacity for effective management in a changing climate.
• Support adaptive management in a changing climate through integrated observation and monitoring and use of decision support tools.
• Increase knowledge and information on impacts and responses of fish, wildlife and plants to a changing climate.
• Increase awareness and motivate action to safeguard fish, wildlife and plants in a changing climate.
• Reduce non-climate stressors to help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate.

The Strategy includes a second and third level of detail, including lists of projects and policy opportunities to achieve the suggested goals as well as some recommendations to reprioritize existing funding to help achieve goals. Engagement of the private sector is also discussed in many of the action recommendations.

Details, including webinar and physical consultation events, are available at http://www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov/public-review-draft.php The deadline for comments is March 5, 2012.

A recent report in Environmental Science & Technology, a peer reviewed journal, suggests that office workers may be exposed to enhanced levels of polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). PFCs are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals. Both PFOA and PFOS are associated with increased risk of kidney disease in humans. The new study, from researchers at the Boston School of Public Health, Duke University, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Environment Canada, shows that, in many of the sampled office situations, levels of polyfluorinated compounds in the blood of workers correlate with levels of the same compounds in the air. The authors suggest that potential sources include carpeting, furniture, and/or paint.

The study is available, abstract free, full article fee applies, at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es2038257

Dupont Sustainable Solutions has published a slide deck which makes a powerful case for industrial energy efficiency and describes a coherent path for implementing an energy efficiency program.

In the deck Dupont states that “Overall, the health and welfare of the organization [Dupont] and its product lines would be at risk if we didn’t act”. The Dupont goal is to achieve 5% ($50 Million USD) annual decrease in energy use, consistent with sustainability goals. The Company achieved 19% decrease in energy use, 20% increase in production and $5B in cost savings between 1990 and 2009. Co-benefits include reductions of 92% in air carcinogens, 77% in releases of US Toxic Release Inventory substances, and 75% in releases of air toxics.

The approach described in the slides involved:

• Identifying and elevating energy cost as a strategic business issue
• Implementing a vertically integrated management approach to drive results
• Developing skills and capabilities of people in the organization
• Identifying and executing the right projects to drive highest gain results

Flow charts in the slide deck provide further analysis of the approach which is somewhat similar to the Managing for Sustainability program often recommended and applied by GallonDaily’s parent sustainability consultancy, CIAL Group.

The Dupont slide deck, prepared by Davide Vassallo, Global Practice Leader for Dupont Sustainable Solutions for the 2011 International Energy & Environment Fair and Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, can be viewed at http://www.icci.com.tr/dosya/2011sunumlar/O19_Davide_Vasallo.pdf

Last week US Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu announced an Innovation Hub “to develop fresh concepts and new approaches to making batteries that last longer, go farther, and cost less”.  This new research centre is intended to dramatically improve battery and energy storage technologies for vehicle and grid applications and to ensure that the United States wins the race for dramatically new energy storage technologies. GallonDaily commends the US for taking the lead on a technology leap that is vital for the transition to a low carbon economy.

Some of Chu’s targets, which he admits may not all be met, include:

• increasing the fuel economy of light-duty vehicles by more than 50 percent.
• supporting research and development of high-tensile strength steels, aluminum and magnesium alloys, and carbon fiber composites with the goal of reducing body and chassis weight by 50 percent.
• recovering waste heat in automobiles, with the goal of increasing fuel efficiency by up to 10 percent.
• significant progress in reducing manufacturing costs for automotive fuel cells.
• returning leadership in battery manufacturing shift from Asia to the United States, pushing the limits of energy density and cost for lithium-ion batteries and exploring even more advanced battery concepts such as lithium-air, lithium-sulfur, and a whole class of metal-air batteries.

The Obama Administration has proposed standards that will increase U.S. fuel economy to nearly 55 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025.

Secretary Chu’s speech to the Detroit Economic Club can be read in full at http://energy.gov/articles/secretary-chus-remarks-detroit-economic-club-prepared-delivery

For Canadians accustomed to the lack of green enthusiasm of many major corporations and our federal government the idea that a leading industry association is pushing for green growth comes as something of an unusual situation but such is the situation in the UK where the country’s leading manufacturing association has published a report on “Green and Growth: solutions for growing a green economy”.  The legend on the front cover states:

Manufacturers will provide the building blocks for
low‑carbon technology and innovative production.
Government green and growth policies must
complement each other by rebalancing the economy
and delivering the UK’s contribution to tackling global
carbon emissions.

Contained within this recently published report are the following industry proposals to itself and to government:

1. Establish a 2030 energy decarbonisation target to drive future energy policy: Government should establish a 2030 carbon reduction target for energy supply to set long term ambition and certainty. The target must encompass all forms of low carbon energy on a time frame consistent with R&D and investment horizons. Unless the long-mooted industrial benefits of the renewables target materialise soon, it will become increasingly difficult to justify that cost. So the government needs to subject the costs and benefits of the target to close review.
2. Focus energy policy on Feed in Tariffs and scrap Carbon Price Floor as soon as fiscally possible: Feed in Tariffs (FITs) provides a more cost-effective mechanism than Carbon Price Floor (CPF) as consumers pay for low-carbon electricity only when it is generated. The government should scrap the CPF as soon as fiscally possible and deliver FITs based on Contracts for Difference (CfD) planned as part of the on-going electricity market reform programme.
3. Adopt just one UK carbon reduction scheme: By 2015, the government should establish just one UK carbon efficiency scheme aimed at all significant energy users regardless of energy intensity. It should achieve this by scrapping the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) and extending Climate Change Agreement (CCA) to all sectors prepared to agree to deals to improve their energy efficiency.
4. Promote life cycle analysis: The government should address the barriers faced by many SMEs when seeking to collect and share carbon footprint information with suppliers and customers by working with industry to develop a national database for carbon footprint data of commodity products.
5. Move to Carbon Intensity Targets for certain sectors: The government should support the contribution sectors such as steel can make to reducing global emissions by developing carbon intensity targets for globally traded sectors.
6. Promote global action through International Sector Approaches: Globally agreed sector targets can be a stepping stone to a full global agreement on reducing carbon emissions. The government has an important role to play in driving forward progress by working in partnership with industry to establish global sector agreements.
7. Ensure the Green Investment Bank delivers for UK manufacturing: The ambition of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) should be expanded to include support for a wider range of projects including environmental technologies and not just infrastructure. In order to get the most out the GIB’s initial funding of £3bn, government should expand the scope of the fund to help manufacturing invest in further energy efficiency and low-carbon product development.
8. Seek to become a global leader in Carbon Capture and Storage: It is vital that we capitalise on the UK’s major strengths that could enable it to be a World leader in CCS technology, which has significant global potential. The government should support industrial CCS by opening up its CCS competition and funding to industrial projects.
9. Supporting Investment: The government must help industry bring forward the investment it wants and needs to make. Key areas for it to address include ensuring that the tax system provides effective and immediate support for investment in capital equipment, improving the costs and availability of finance both from banks and outside the banking sector and ensuring that skills provision and qualification respond rapidly to manufacturers’ changing needs.
10. Working more closely with public sector suppliers: The government must deliver on its commitment to use public procurement to develop the capacity of domestic suppliers by giving them greater visibility of future order flows and working more closely with them ahead of placing major orders.

While GallonDaily can criticize the details of some of these proposals the overall approach is so compelling compared to anything yet seen from large Canadian industry groups that detailed nitpicking is rendered almost irrelevant.

More detailed analysis of these UK industry association proposals can be found in the report available at http://www.eef.org.uk/manufacturingagenda/green-and-growth.aspx

The Province of Saskatchewan has introduced a draft Environmental Code, part of its move towards results-based environmental regulation to replace its current permit-based system. This approach is one that has been long supported by Gallon Environment Letter. Instead of providing detailed instructions to industry on equipment and operations through environmental permits, industry will be able to operate without environmental permits but will be required to meet specified environmental performance criteria. This will allow much greater opportunity for technology innovation and efficiency in industry and should mean that the provincial environment ministry spends more time enforcing environmental performance rather than dealing with permit applications.

However, the success or failure of a results-based system depends on the adequacy of the performance standards set by the government. The draft document published by Saskatchewan Environment has standards for  industrial air sources, spills, management of hazardous materials, contaminated sites, water and sewer mains, many aspects of forest management, waste management, liquid waste, and other aspects of environmental management. Comments on the draft code are being solicited until March 16, 2012. Once approved, the Saskatchewan Environmental Code will have the full force of law.

Details of the new Code are available at http://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=02fe0486-85da-472d-9bc5-ed8f8bb7d24c  For the details, important to affected industries, click on the draft code link followed by the full text of the first edition of the code link. We provide this additional information on links because most other links lead only to the Code Summary which is useful but does not adequately explain the environmental performance standards that industries will be required to meet or exceed.

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio + 20 in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Summit, has released a “draft zero” of the outcomes document.

This draft zero contains the following material outcomes in addition to a multitude of aspirational goals:

• a call for a global policy framework requiring all listed and large private companies to consider sustainability issues and to integrate sustainability information within the reporting cycle.
• an international knowledge-sharing platform to facilitate countries’ green economy policy design and implementation,
• establish a capacity development scheme to provide country-specific advice and, where appropriate, region and sector-specific advice to all interested countries and to assist them in accessing available funds.
• transforming of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development into a Sustainable Development Council that will serve as the authoritative, high-level body for consideration of matters relating to the integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development.
• establish a UN specialized agency for the environment with universal membership of its Governing Council, based on United Nations Environment Program (this is especially bracketed text which may yet change)
• propose to build on the Sustainable Energy for All initiative launched by the Secretary-General, with the goals of providing universal access to a basic minimum level of modern energy services for both consumption and production uses by 2030; improving energy efficiency at all levels with a view to doubling the rate of improvement by 2030.
• implement an international observing network for ocean acidification and to work collectively to prevent further ocean acidification
• strengthening the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), to step up efforts towards a more robust, coherent, effective and efficient international regime for chemicals throughout their lifecycle.
• establish a 10-Year Framework of Programmes on sustainable consumption and production

Several among the 128 paragraphs include such statements as  “We strongly encourage business and industry to show leadership in advancing a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.”

The Conference is being held from 20 – 22 June in Rio de Janeiro. A number of world leaders are expected to attend. A copy of the complete draft zero outcomes document, which may be subject to significant changes over the next five months, can be found at http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=12&nr=324&menu=23

In a just published report, the UK’s largest manufacturer association is asking government for more effective waste policy. Amongst the highlights of the report:

• 80% of manufacturing executives regard a shortage of raw materials as a risk to their business.
• 1 in 6 companies said that a shortage of raw materials is now a brake on growth
• the legislative framework for waste is confusing, disjointed and can inadvertently act as a barrier to resource efficiency. We need a new cohesive policy framework centered on valuing waste as a resource, whilst ensuring the environment is protected.
• regulators can stimulate resource efficiency by outlining what is permissible, rather than what is not.
• where a materials market is functioning well, government should reduce packaging and producer responsibility regulation, and shift the focus to materials that need more market intervention.
• resource efficiency can give our businesses and the UK a real competitive edge whilst securing essential environmental outcomes.

While packaging and material resources issues differ somewhat between the UK and Canada, GallonDaily is convinced that Canada’s manufacturing industry could benefit from following a similar environmentally aggressive approach as UK industry.

See the UK industry association analysis at http://www.eef.org.uk/environmentblog/post/Government-must-show-more-ambition-on-waste-as-resource-crunch-looms.aspx

Many companies have been reluctant to embrace true social networking where ordinary folks have a chance to ask questions and make comments. In our experience the reasons are:

• legal, because companies are worried that employees may post something inappropriate; and
• fear of being overwhelmed, because even existing media comment opportunities can frequently attract hundreds of comments.

GallonDaily, and many social networking gurus, believe these concerns are somewhat overblown. The vast majority of citizens are sensible and will only use social networking sites to pass on real comments and ask sensible questions. Companies can take simple measures to reduce legal liability risks associated with answers posted on their social networking sites. Simple moderation of comments can eliminate inappropriate comments from the few users that are seeking to create mayhem.

It seems that multinational Walmart has come to the same conclusions as GallonDaily. A new Walmart sustainability social networking site, The Green Room, provides ordinary people with an opportunity to engage in conversation with the Company about sustainability issues and topics, and vice versa. GallonDaily is impressed, though we will be watching closely to see how this experiment unfolds.

The Walmart Sustainability Green Room can be found at http://www.walmartgreenroom.com/about/

Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, GallonDaily’s parent, offers similar services to other companies interested in setting up a sustainability-based social networking site. CIBE has no connection with Walmart’s The Green Room.