The practice of eco-labelling may be on the brink of saturation point and is becoming as confusing for companies as it is for consumers, a major new study has warned. Joint research by IMD, the International Institute for Management Development, and EPFL, the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, suggests the process has become so fragmented that the current industry perception is dominated by wide-ranging reappraisal.

Germany’s Ministry of the Environment introduced the world’s first eco-label, the Blue Angel, in 1978 to highlight products’ environmental and sustainability credentials. Now well over 400 are used across 25 industries, prompting growing concerns over proliferation, credibility and consumer understanding.

IMD and EPFL researchers surveyed more than 1,000 executives around the globe about their attitudes towards eco-labels.

“It’s not just consumers who are confused. Selecting an eco-label has become a highly complex decision for firms,” says IMD Professor Ralf Seifert, the study’s co-author. “The trend towards fragmentation, which is made worse by a lack of consensus over qualifying criteria, is clearly causing ever more opposition and frustration. The fact is that the initial momentum and high expectations of more than 30 years ago are giving way to different challenges – ones that urgently need to be addressed.”

Major international companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Nestlé, Canon, Sara Lee and E.ON took part in the study, which first sought to investigate why firms adopt eco-labels.

Respondents listed brand-strengthening, addressing consumers’ sustainability demands and protecting against pressure-group attacks as key benefits of the practice. But they also expressed what the study called ‘substantial scepticism’ over eco-labels’ enduring credibility and the rigour of the criteria and certification procedures.

The research found continuing fragmentation, consumer confusion and lack of consensus on qualifying criteria are viewed as the greatest challenges to hopes of eco-labelling continuing in its current form.

The findings highlight a desire for improved consolidation and standardization as industry adoption of eco-labelling moves towards saturation. The study warns that companies and customers alike risk being ‘overwhelmed’ unless there is greater dialogue and cooperation among stakeholders.

Finding ways to value ecosystem health economically and to engage the world’s indigenous peoples in the process is key to saving biological diversity, a Worldwatch author suggests in the Institute’s most recent book. Such efforts are all the more urgent because the addition of more plant and animal species to lists of those threatened or endangered shows no signs of slowing down, despite rising public awareness of the importance of biodiversity.

The Worldwatch Institute is raising awareness of biodiversity losses worldwide and what individuals and institutions can do to confront these trends. The current rate of species extinction is up to 1,000 times above the Earth’s normal extinction rate, a level of loss that has not occurred since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The Worldwatch Institute, in its recently released report State of the World 2012: Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity, highlights the threats to biodiversity and methods for combating the exploitation and degradation of ecosystems and their services.

From 1980 to 2008, an average of 52 species per year moved one category closer to extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Endangered Species – a rate that shows no signs of slowing. Although mass extinctions have occurred on Earth throughout geologic time, the current loss of biodiversity is the first to be caused overwhelmingly by a single species: humans. The five principal pressures causing biodiversity loss are habitat change, over exploitation, pollution, invasive alien species, and climate change, all of which are almost exclusively human driven.

“The current model of consumer societies is destroying the planet and its resources,” says Bo Normander, director of Worldwatch Institute Europe and a contributing author to State of the World 2012. “This must change in order for the planet to sustain future generations.”

At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, leaders made a commitment to preserve biological resources by signing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), but there remains a fundamental lack of political will to act on biodiversity threats. In 2002, the CBD promised “a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss” by 2010, yet within those eight years, most countries failed to meet their targets.

To combat the loss of Earth’s natural capital, scientists strive to assign concrete values to natural resources with the hope that an economic appreciation of ecosystem services may facilitate improved planning and management of Earth’s systems. Yet progress on developing accurate, straightforward, and widely accepted measures for assessing ecosystem values remains slow.

“Accurate valuation of ecosystem services is vital to create greater accountability and awareness of the ecological impact of our actions,” comments Erik Assadourian, Worldwatch senior fellow and State of the World 2012 project co-director. “By understanding ecosystem services in monetary or physical terms, leaders can assess and improve the sustainability of their policies.”

Current international practices discount future generations by effectively valuing ecosystem services at zero. Such undervaluing is often a result of society’s ignorance of the full benefits that humans derive from an intact ecosystem. Thus, individuals make decisions based on the immediate financial gains of logging a forest, for example, instead of considering the “invisible” benefits of the forest, such as carbon sequestration, flood protection, and habitat for pollinators.

To truly protect biodiversity and value ecosystem services effectively, multinational cooperation is required. Worldwatch’s State of the World 2012, released in April 2012, focuses on steps in biodiversity protection and other areas that can be taken at Rio+20, the 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 Rio Earth Summit, to make progress toward sustainable development.

This year, not-for-profit organisation GIY Ireland is encouraging families to stick a seed in the ground as part of Operation GIY Nation, which is being supported by AIB Bank. Each month between April and September, GIY will be publishing a simple growing project for families on the Operation GIY Nation website – www.giyireland.com/giynation.

Operation GIY Nation projects are simple and easy to understand, and accessible to all, regardless of the level of expertise and the amount of space available. They start at a very basic level, and each month will build up your experience level.

All six projects can be done with the minimum of fuss and investment – basically a few pots, some seeds and some compost. Operation GIY Nation retail partner Woodies DIY will be helping with offers in store.

GIY patron Ella McSweeney comments: “Sow it, Grow it, Eat it: three easy steps that will save your money, your time and your health! I’m thrilled to be part of Operation GIY Nation. People throughout Ireland can follow the simple growing projects on giyireland.com that will transform what they can eat. Healthy, affordable fresh fruit and vegetables should be available to everyone and this is exactly what Operation GIY Nation is about: helping Ireland grow.”

Six ‘pioneer’ families have been chosen to lead the way and to compete for a top prize of Eur1,000 worth of GIY goodies. Anyone taking part in Operation GIY Nation can follow the progress of the pioneer families via their blogs, photos and videos that will be uploaded to the Operation GIY Nation website.

GIY’s vision is for a healthier, more connected and more sustainable world where people grow their own food. There are over 100 GIY community groups and the organisation will reach approximately 30,000 people with GIY projects in 2012. GIY is a registered charity. For more information visit www.giyireland.com.

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Pictured at the launch of GIY’s campaign to get families growing food together, Operation GIY Nation, were GIY patron Ella McSweeney and Fern Stewart (7).

Spending by large UK firms on energy, environment and sustainability initiatives will grow at an average of 16% a year between 2012 and 2015, according to a new market forecast from independent analyst firm Verdantix. The growth in sustainable business spending in 2012 will be 12% which is twenty times faster than the forecasted growth of the UK economy at 0.6%. The study finds that spending by 421 firms in the UK with revenues greater than £750 million will grow from £4.3 billion in 2012 to £6.8 billion in 2015. With current GDP assumptions, annual growth rates will accelerate from 15% in 2013 to 17% in both 2014 and 2015.

“Despite the sluggish economy, spending by large firms in the UK on energy, environment and sustainability initiatives is set to increase by 12% in 2012. By contrast the UK economy is only expected to grow by a paltry 0.6% in 2012,” comments Susan Clarke, Verdantix analyst and author of the report. “The UK’s sustainable business market is continuing to grow at a healthy rate because firms have aligned sustainability strategies with operational efficiency. Energy cost savings and more efficient use of natural resources now underpin sustainability investments – not philanthropic commitments to fight climate change.”

The Verdantix study, UK Sustainable Business Spending 2010-15, finds that three value chains account for three-quarters of the entire UK market. In 2012, retail and consumer brands will account for 34% of total spend representing £1.5 billion. The emissions intensive sectors – oil and gas, transport and utilities – will spend £1.1 billion on sustainable business initiatives representing 25% of the 2012 market. Technology, telecoms and high-tech engineering firms will represent a further 18% of the market in 2012, reaching £792 million. Over the 2010 to 2015 period, compound annual growth rates will vary between 17% for sectors at the top end like automotive, telecoms and utilities, and 9% at the bottom end in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Industry growth rates diverge over the 2010-15 period because each industry is impacted differently by four market drivers. 1) The relative maturity of organizational structures designed to deliver sustainability strategies, for instance, the presence of a Chief Sustainability Officer. 2) The scope to generate revenues in markets for on-site renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building materials, environmental product stewardship and sustainable waste management. 3) The impact on business operations of policies for energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon management. 4) The potential to differentiate on sustainability, which is significant in sectors like grocery retail, data centre services and consumer products but not in industrial sectors.

In the context of the 16% compound annual growth rate, some initiatives will experience significant growth and others will barely keep pace with inflation. Fast growing areas of spend between 2010 and 2015 are smart meters (23%), electric vehicles (22%), on-site renewable energy (22%), product stewardship (21%) and sustainable solution marketing (21%). Initiatives which will experience slower growth rates are: spending on social responsibility (5%), employee engagement (5%), environment, health and safety (6%), regulatory affairs and lobbying (6%). Taken as a whole, strategic energy management will be the largest area of spend in sustainable business budgets.

The conservation and sustainable use of our agricultural biodiversity is critical to future sustainable development, both in Ireland and internationally. In response to this, on Thursday, 9 February, the NUI Galway Plant and AgriBiosciences Centre is hosting AgBioDiv2012. The free event is Ireland’s first Annual AgroBiodiversity Conference. Agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity refers to all biological and genetic diversity which is directly relevant to agriculture and food production.

Agrobiodiversity concerns the variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture, including crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries. It comprises the diversity of genetic resources (varieties, breeds) and species used for providing the food, fodder, fibre, fuel and medicines that we depend on for our everyday lives.

AgBioDiv2012 organiser Professor Charles Spillane, Head of Plant and AgriBiosciences at NUI Galway, highlights that: “Since the early 1990s there has been a tremendous upsurge in activity to conserve Ireland’s rare livestock breeds and threatened crop varieties. A coalition of activities by the Department of Agriculture and Food, universities, NGOs, and dedicated individuals across Ireland has led to a vibrant community now involved in agrobiodiversity conservation and sustainable use.”

He continues: “The time is right for an annual conference to bring everybody together to take stock of what has been done, what can be done and what is necessary to do over the coming years to ensure that agrobiodiversity contributes to a vibrant and sustainable food and agriculture sector in Ireland.”

Such agrobiodiversity conservation efforts have ensured that native livestock rare-breeds such as Galway sheep and Kerry bog ponies and many threatened plant varieties have not become extinct over the past decade. Many such rare-breeds and varieties have become eligible for REPS (Rural Environment Protection Scheme) support. Ireland now has a national genebank, and we now store Ireland’s threatened crop varieties in the long-term Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the island of Spitzbergen inside the Arctic circle.

The line up of 19 invited speakers assembling for AgBioDiv2012 includes international speakers from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Bioversity International, and the National History Museum in Paris. A wide range of speakers from Ireland will cover agrobiodiversity topics including rare breeds of livestock, rare and threatened crops wild relatives, seed saving, forestry and tree conservation, seaweed diversity, horticultural and ornamental plants, energy crops, and honey bees.

The recent ‘State of Knowledge, Ireland’s Biodiversity 2010’ report highlights the importance of biodiversity to the national economy with an estimated contribution of over Eur2.6 billion.

AgBioDiv2012 will be held at NUI Galway on Thursday, 9 February, 2012 and is open to all who are interested. Registration is available at the conference website http://agbiodiversity.org, and is supported by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, the NUI Galway Plant and AgriBiosciences Research Centre, and Genetic Heritage Ireland.

University College Cork (UCC) is truly Ireland’s green university, a fact testified by being declared in fourth position in the UI World Green Metric University Rankings. UCC beat off stiff opposition from 178 universities worldwide, renowned for their environmental credentials, to attain this outstanding achievement. The award was based on information submitted by universities around the world on criteria that demonstrates commitment to the ‘green agenda’ and sustainability, in areas such as space utilisation, energy efficiency, water use, transport, etc.

UCC’s commitment to the Sustainability and Green Agenda is clearly demonstrated with the university having become the world’s first Green Flag Campus for third level institutions in 2010 awarded by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and, more recently, the first third level institution worldwide to be awarded certification for ISO 50001 Standard (Energy Management Systems). Implementation of this standard can lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, energy cost, and other related environmental impacts, through systematic management of energy.

UCC also achieved success at the recent Sustainable Energy of Ireland Awards (SEIA) with the Western Gateway Building (WGB) selected as the winning entry under the Renewable Energy Systems category.   In addition, the Project Management Group, the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering designers of the WGB won the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Sustainable Design and Research Award 2011 for a research paper on the design of the mechanical systems in the WGB.

The online ‘green’ ranking for world universities was spearheaded by Universitas Indonesia (UI). This is the second year of this ranking system which allows universities in both the developed and developing world to compare their efforts towards campus sustainability and environment friendly university management.

The first-ever global assessment of the environmental costs of aquaculture shows that farmed seafood is less ecologically damaging than livestock production, and that there is great potential for improvements in efficiency.

A new and comprehensive analysis released by WorldFish Center and Conservation International (CI) has investigated the environmental impact of the world’s major aquaculture production systems and species, and offers a first-ever global assessment of trends and impacts of cultivated seafood. The analysis has found that, from the 75 species-production systems reviewed, more production means more ecological impact, but that compared to other forms of animal protein production such as livestock, aquaculture is more efficient.

The report, ‘Blue Frontiers: Managing the environmental costs of aquaculture’, along with a companion policy recommendations paper, concludes that the demand for aquaculture products will continue to grow over the next two decades as a key source of animal protein for growing urban populations, and that the industry needs to meet this demand with improved efficiencies and reduced environmental impacts.

Among the landmark report’s major findings are two key highlights: (1) the environmental impact of aquaculture varies dramatically by country, region, production system and species , and (2) a review of published information found that aquaculture is more efficient and less damaging to the environment, compared to other animal protein production systems such as beef and pork, and is likely to be among the most important sources of protein for human health and nutrition in growing urban populations in many parts of the developing world. The report also highlights that there is great room for improvement, by identifying and sharing best practices, increasing investment in innovation, and strengthening policies and regulations.

$100+ Billion Industry

Driving the scientists’ research was the recognition of aquaculture as one of the fastest growing food production sectors in the world. It has grown at an average annual rate of 8.4% since 1970 and total production reached 65.8 million tonnes in 2008 according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Today, aquaculture is a $100+ billion industry that now provides more than half of all seafood consumed in the world, surpassing wild-caught seafood.

Using all available data from 2008, the study compared aquaculture’s global demands across a wide variety of species groups (13), geographies (18 countries), feed types (5) and numerous production systems in use today, allowing scientists to compare and contrast 75 different types of species-production systems, to determine their environmental impacts on acidification, climate change, energy demand, land-use demand, and other ecological factors.

Findings

Following almost two years of data gathering and analysis, researchers found that:

* China and the rest of Asia collectively supply an overwhelming majority of the world’s cultivated seafood, at 91% of global supply. China alone accounts for 64% of global production.

* On the other end of the supply chain, Europe produces 4.4%, South America produces 2.7%, South American produces 1.9%, and Africa produces 1.6%.

* Most popular aquaculture by country: carp tops the list for China and the rest of Asia; salmon is number one for Europe and Latin America, finfish (tilapias) rank highest in African aquaculture.

* Aquaculture with the highest environmental impact include: eel, salmon, and shrimps & prawns, due to significant energy and fish feeds required for production – these represent greatest opportunities for improvement.

* Aquaculture with the lowest/least environmental impact include: bivalves (mussels and oysters), mollusks, seaweed (those toward the bottom of the food chain; don’t require additional feed).

* Efficiency of salmon production methods: while salmon production trends toward the high end of the environmental impact scale due to the use of wildfish for feed, production methods in northern Europe, Canada and Chile were found to be more efficient than those in China and other Asian countries (in terms of acidification, climate change, energy demand and land occupation).

* Efficiency of shrimp and prawn production methods: cultivation in China was found to be much less efficient than other producer countries (e.g. Thailand) in terms of acidification, climate change and energy demand.

* Aquaculture vs wild-caught fisheries: aquaculture today accounts for a significant majority of all consumed seaweeds (99%), carps (90%), and salmon (73%), and also delivers half (50%) of the total global supply of tilapia, catfish, mollusks, crabs and lobsters.

Looking toward the future of seafood cultivation, ‘Blue Frontiers’ projects that global aquaculture production will continue to grow at current rates, with conservative estimates of 65-85 million tones produced in 2020, and 79-110 million tones by 2030. By comparison, 69 million tonnes of cultivated seafood were produced in 2008.

“China, India and the rest of Asia with their growing middle classes are where we can expect demand for fish to rise most significantly,” says co-author Mike Phillips, a senior scientist at WorldFish. “Current trends indicate that the majority of the increase in global production will come from South and Southeast Asia, with a continued drive by major producer counties such as China and Vietnam towards export to European and North American markets.”

The Environmental Pillar of social partnership has called on Fine Gael and Labour to restate their commitment to the continued public ownership of Coillte. This follows Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin’s indications that he would not delay in moving on the sale of state assets identified in the recent McCarthy Report.

Speaking on behalf of the Environmental Pillar, Andrew St Ledger, of the Center for Environmental Living and Training (CELT), comments: “Ireland cannot afford to lose its 1.1 million acres public forest estate in these difficult times. The cash generated from the sale of Coillte will be a meagre drop in the ocean of debt that Ireland owes, and it makes no sense to sell an asset that managed differently can potentially earn the State a sustainable income in the long run, to help pay off its debts.”

Andrew St Ledger, one of the co-authors of the Environmental Pillar’s Treecover Policy, claims that “the current forestry model has been very one-dimensional and therefore very restrictive. The Environmental Pillar believes that there is an opportunity to create a new forestry model which is multi-dimensional and will lead to increased rural development by harnessing the EU Rural Development funding that exists to develop such a sustainable treecover/forestry plan.”

The policy calls for the continued public ownership of State forestry. The potential for sustainable forestry is examined, with recommendations that a viable industry with long-term employment opportunities could be established within five to ten years.

In April 2009, Minister for the Environment John Gormley announced the inclusion of environmental groups as part of the Social Partnership process to “ensure that economic decisions have at their very core the concept of sustainability.” The Environmental Pillar has twenty-seven member groups.

The European Commission is asking Ireland and France to comply with EU legislation requiring Member States to draw up marine strategies to protect their seas. Neither Member State has informed the Commission about the transposition of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which should have been in place by July 15th 2010.

If France and Ireland fail to comply with their legal obligation, the Commission may refer the cases to the EU Court of Justice and may ask the Court to impose financial sanctions at this stage.

Europe is committed to protecting marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Marine activities such as fishing, tourism and recreation rely on good quality waters. Europe’s marine waters are protected by a central piece of European legislation, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC which aims to ensure that Europe’s seas achieve good environmental status by 2020.

The Directive requires Member States to draw up coordinated strategies to protect and restore Europe’s marine ecosystems, and to ensure the ecological sustainability of activities linked to the marine environment.

Member States assess the ecological status of their marine waters and the impact of human activities, before granting ‘good environmental status’ for these waters. This is determined on the basis of criteria including biodiversity, fish stock health, concentrations of contaminants and the presence of eutrophication (excessive growth of algae that chokes life in other organisms), non-indigenous species, marine litter and underwater noise pollution. Targets and indicators are then set to achieve this good environmental status, with a programme of measures to achieve the objectives.

Delays in implementing the Directive lessen the chances of good status being achieved within the timeframe, with potentially serious implications for the users of Europe’s seas.

The timely transposition of EU legislation is a priority for the Commission. Under its new infringement policy, in cases where Member States have failed to transpose EU legislation into national law within the required deadline, the Commission can now ask for financial sanctions to be imposed at the first referral to the Court. This policy was adopted in November 2010 and entered into force on January 15th 2011.

A partnership of six newspaper and magazine bodies has been nominated for a prestigious environmental award in recognition of their efforts to reduce waste and increase efficiency in Ireland’s paper supply chain. The Green Press Partnership (GPP), which represents the main newspaper and magazine groups in Ireland, is one of eight finalists in the Supply Chain category of the Green Awards 2011.

The awards are designed to promote sustainability and ‘green best practice’ among organisations and individuals. The Green Supply Chain Award is awarded to companies and services that are assisting their customers in achieving measurable sustainability goals.

The GPP was formed when all the key stakeholders in Ireland’s newspaper and magazine industry joined forces, for the first time ever, to agree a new set of environment standards designed to bring more co-operation and efficiency to the paper supply chain.

Thanks to the efforts of the GPP, Ireland’s rate of newsprint recycling has risen to 79% – among the best in the world – while the ‘wholecopy returns’ initiative with the significant assistance of wholesalers has helped to divert more than 65,000 tonnes of newsprint from landfill since its inception.

The final of the Green Awards 2011 takes place on April 14th in Dublin.

Greenside Up, a small business based in Old Leighlin that was set up to help people grow their own food, has been shortlisted in the SME (small to medium enterprise) Category of the 2011 Irish Green Awards.

Greenside Up was launched at the Old Leighlin Pride of Place celebration in June 2009, just as the recession was starting to bite. Since then business has taken off. Owner/manager Dee Sewell offers workshops both privately and funded through the VEC, gives advice to people wanting to grow vegetables in their own gardens, and is currently working with three community gardens in Carlow, Kilkenny and Kildare. Dee’s husband Ian makes raised vegetable beds and provides drawings to help customers develop their own vegetable gardens.

The Coca-Cola Company and HJ Heinz have announced a strategic partnership that enables Heinz to produce its ketchup bottles using Coca-Cola’s breakthrough PlantBottle packaging. The PET plastic bottles are made partially from plants and have a lower reliance on non-renewable resources compared with traditional PET plastic bottles. The partnership is an industry-first, and one that both companies hope others will follow to transform how food is packaged around the world.

PlantBottle packaging looks, feels and functions just like traditional PET plastic, and remains fully recyclable. The only difference is that up to 30% of the material is made from plants. The plant material is produced through an innovative process that turns natural sugars found in plants into a key component for PET plastic. Currently, PlantBottle is made using sugarcane ethanol from Brazil, the only source widely recognised by thought leaders globally for its unique environmental and social performance.

Muhtar Kent (left), chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola, with William Johnson, chairman, president and chief executive of Heinz.

“PlantBottle is revolutionising plastic, and our partnership with Heinz is paving the way for industry-wide collaboration,” says Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola. “This partnership is a great example of how businesses are working together to advance smart technologies that make a difference to our consumers and the planet we all share.”

Heinz’s adoption of the PlantBottle technology will be the biggest change to its iconic ketchup bottles since they first introduced plastic in 1983.

“The partnership of Coca-Cola and Heinz is a model of collaboration in the food and beverage industry that will make a sustainable difference for the planet,” adds William Johnson, chairman, president and chief executive of Heinz.

The launch of PlantBottle is another important step in Heinz’s global sustainability initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste, water consumption and energy usage at least 20% by 2015.

Coca-Cola first launched PlantBottle in 2009 on brands that include Coke, Sprite, Fresca, and Dasani water. By using PlantBottle packaging across multiple brands, the company is able to significantly reduce its dependence on non-renewable resources. An initial life-cycle analysis conducted by Imperial College London showed that the use of PlantBottle packaging provides a 12-19% reduction in carbon impact.