Counting the cost

Puma is one of the largest business brands to date to publish the estimated cost to nature of a year's trading - which they've estimated as EUR94 million for water and CO2 and an additional EUR51million for land use, pollution and waste.

It's a bold, important move that they've taken, and one that in time, must be followed by many if not most large businesses as we start to count the true cost of living the way we do. As Wales develops the Natural Environment Framework, Accounting for Sustainability and TEEB publish their data, the legislative and operational frameworks needed to make change will become clearer, stronger and more compelling.

A new Single Environmental Body for Wales

Today, the Welsh Government confirmed its commitment to create a new environmental organisation for Wales that would include the present services being delivered by the Countryside Council for Wales, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission. The road to get to this point hasn't been straightforward (I sit on CCW Council and know the effort that been expended by many officers from all three organisations) and will, I'm confident, lead to a stronger future.

Minister for Environment & Sustainability, John Griffiths said: "We know the natural environment is crucial to the Welsh economy and that modern life means pressure on our natural resources is constantly increasing. It is more important than ever our environment is managed as effectively and efficiently as possible to ensure the best outcomes for Wales...having carefully considered the business case, I am convinced the establishment of a single environmental body will ensure the most sustainable and effective management of Wales' natural resources."

Morgan Parry, chairman of the CCW, said the new body would provide a "great opportunity" for a more "joined-up approach" in managing Wales' environment in a sustainable way. EAW director Chris Mills and Jon Owen Jones, chair of FCW, also welcomed the announcement.

Following the minister's decision, a consultation on the role and functions of the new body will begin in January 2012, with the aim of it being fully functional from April 1, 2013.

World Energy Outlook

The International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2011 is unsettling, at best:

On planned policies, rising fossil energy  use will lead to irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change. Global energy-related emissions of  carbon dioxide (CO2)  – the principal greenhouse gas  – jumped by 5.3% in  2010  to a  record  30.4  gigatonnes (Gt). In the New Policies Scenario, our central scenario, emissions continue to rise, reaching 36.4 Gt in 2035 – an increase of 20%. This trajectory is consistent with a long-term global temperature increase of more than 3.5°C.

On planned policies, rising fossil energy  use will lead to irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change. Global energy-related emissions of  carbon dioxide (CO2)  – the principal greenhouse gas  – jumped by 5.3% in   2010  to a  record  30.4  gigatonnes (Gt). In the New Policies Scenario, our central scenario, emissions continue to rise, reaching 36.4 Gt in 2035– an increase of 20%. This trajectory is consistent with a long-term global temperature increase of more than 3.5°C.

Roaring Dragons

Roaring Dragons: Prototyping a Country for Sustainability

With business leading the charge in many areas of sustainability and climate action, progress is being demonstrated, yet not yet at sufficient scale or speed to create optimism. Only when ambition matches the scale of the challenge can we rebuild the spring, energy and creativity that is needed to unleash action in employees, communities and organisations. Changing teams, departments and whole companies is laudable, yet not enough. It is time to explore radical new approaches to sustainability, forge new collaborations and rapidly share insights, practices and opportunities. It's time to go to scale and prototype a country.

In May 2012, Hay on Earth will host leaders from a dozen of the largest international businesses, working             alongside the Welsh Government and industry experts to transform energy, food security, recycling, resource management and biodiversity at a level that shows what can be done.

Wales was the first industrialised nation in the world and is well placed to be a workshop for the world organisations to understand and practice what works. With sustainability already embedded as a central organising principal of government, a new Natural Environment Framework being developed that will put ecosystem thinking into decision making, and a Sustainability Bill in 2014 making sustainability a legal duty, there are few if any places where rapid change is more possible.

When business, government and community demonstrate that they can catalyse change in one small, connected country, they will build confidence and capability to magnify solutions and share them globally.

It's time to demonstrate what's possible. If you want to be part of the journey, drop a note.

Tomorrow's Natural Business

Co-running Tomorrow's Natural Business at ICAEW in London, with Tomorrow's Company and Atos. Currently on is Michael Bremans, Chairman of Ecover International - currently used by around 1.2m households in the UK.

'80 - founded

'92 - first ecological factory

'93 Roll of Honour UNEP

All of these were part of the evolution of consciousness of toxicity of products on our environment, that probably started with the publishing of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in the '60s

Our work on sustainability started with our products, and we relied on our own staff. We learned the hard way about who needs to do the measurement - half of our lab staff are now biologists, and we've developed our own model as we couldn't find what we needed in the market. The Ecover Diamond model looks at:

1. Sourcing, 2. Usage, 3. Absorption 

Usage is important but 7 out of the 13 elements are part of the Absorption phase, not the other two. One key element is CDV - critical dilution volume - the theoretical minimum level to neutralise the effect of the amount of product that you've just used. A standard 60g of Ecover washing powder needs 2500 litres of water to neutralise; the standard for the European eco label it's 4500, and the standard is 10-15000 litres. 50,000 litres of water needed to neutralise one dose of shampoo, as the minimum European standard.

Fermentation using naturally occurring bacteria to create surfectants is the process we use to get the products we need. Ecover are using bottles made out of 'Plantastic' sugarcane derived PET. 

Ecover give triple travel benefits to people who travel by bike, double to those who car share. They've used social media a lot to get a voice out to the market that would have been too expensive within traditional comms channels.

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future" JFK