industry and environment - DTIE

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plagued industrialized countries over the past century,”
says Dr. Lee Schipper, EMBARQ’s research
director. “This project presents forward-thinking
city governments with the opportunity to get it
right as they develop what will soon be the largest
transport markets on the planet.” Established in
2002 with the support of the Shell Foundation,
EMBARQ -The World Resources Institute Center
for Transport and the Environment acts as a
catalyst for socially, financially and environmentally
sound solutions to urban transport problems.
It is currently engaged in sustainable transport
planning projects in Mexico City and Shanghai,
two of the world’s largest cities, which have a population
of 18 and 15 million people, respectively.
For more information, contact: Adlai J. Amor,
Media Director, World Resources Institute (WRI),
10 G. Street, NE, Washington, DC 22203, USA,
E-mail: aamor@wri.org.
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Mediterranean freshwater
threatened
Tourism is damaging freshwater in the Mediterranean
basin, while growing water demand for
golf courses, hotels and aquaparks will further
strain resources, says the environmental group
WWF in its recent report Freshwater and Tourism
in the Mediterranean. A hotel visitor uses on average
one-third more water than a local inhabitant.
Annual water consumption by a golf course is
equivalent to that of a city of 12,000 inhabitants.
“The tourism industry depends on water, and at
the moment it is destroying the very resource it
needs,” said Holger Schmid of WWF’s Mediterranean
freshwater programme. The damage
includes pollution, shrinking of coastal wetlands
that are tourist attractions (and havens for endangered
species of animals and plants) and tapping
of non-renewable groundwater in some regions.
The problem is compounded by the fact the peak
summer season for tourists coincides with the period
when agricultural irrigation needs are greatest.
The number of tourists heading for Mediterranean
coastlines is expected to be between 235
and 355 million per year by 2025, or roughly double
1990 levels. On Spain’s Costa Brava, a
favourite destination for visitors from Northern
Europe, the population of 27 urban areas jumps
from 150,000 in winter to 1.1 million in summer,
causing water demand to surge. On Cyprus,
where water resources are already very tight, eight
golf courses are under construction.
WWF says local authorities tend to tackle the
booming demand for water by increasing supply,
which is not sustainable in the long term. Governments
are forced to look for increasingly drastic
and costly measures to obtain large quantities of
water in arid regions. WWF cites a Euro 3.8-billion
(US$ 4.58 billion) Spanish plan to divert
water from the Ebro River in the fertile north to
the dry southeast.
The WWF report contains a long list of ways
that tourists, hotels and governments could cut
water consumption, from turning off the tap
while shaving to choosing drought-resistant native
plants for landscaping.
For more information, see: www.panda.org/ downloads/europe/medpotourismreportfinal_ofnc.pdf.
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Generating energy from
rapeseed in the UK
The world’s first commercial venture to generate
electricity from rapeseed is planned in northern
England. Production is set to begin in July of next
year. The pilot power plant at Great Driffield,
Yorkshire, will burn oil extracted from rapeseed
grown by local farmers, generating an initial
1 megawatt of electricity (enough to power 1000
homes). If successful, the scheme will be extended
to several former collieries that already have turbines
capable of producing electricity and direct
access to the national power grid. Rapeseed,
whose bright yellow flowers are part of the spring
landscape, is being used across Europe to make
“biodiesel”, which is added to petroleum-based
fuels. However, this will be the first time the crop
is harnessed commercially for electricity.
The Swiss-based agrochemicals group Syngenta
is providing seed for the project. Farmers will sign
a contract to furnish harvested crops to Springdale
Energy, a local firm, which will run the power
plant. The electricity generated will be sold on to
SmartestEnergy, an independent energy trader that
is part of Japan’s Marubeni group. The programme
involves an initial 4000 hectares of crops. Andrew
Coker, a spokesman for Syngenta, said the project
was the first of its kind. However, he noted that
there are some non-commercial schemes in operation,
including a subsidized rapeseed power plant
in the Reichstag, the German Parliament building.
Until now, schemes using “green” or renewable
sources of fuel for electricity have focused on burning
straw or biomass crops, such as willow coppice.
Governments around the world are under pressure
to provide sustainable energy sources to meet their
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. In the
United Kingdom this requires 3-5% of electricity
to be generated from renewable sources by 2010.
For more information, see www.syngenta.com.◆
European forum on CSR
makes recommendations
At the end of a 20-month European Commission
forum, business leaders have agreed that social and
environmental issues are a key part of modern
business, but that corporate social responsibility
(CSR) should not be a legal obligation. At the
forum’s half-way point, whether principles should
be mandatory or voluntary was the main bone of
contention between business, trade unions and
NGOs.
The forum’s report, European Multistakeholder
Forum on CSR – Final Results and Recommendations,
identifies barriers to the wide diffusion of
CSR, especially in the case of small and medium
enterprises (SMEs). These include scarcity of
information and support, the “steep learning
curve” facing any company that wants to take
account of social and environmental concerns,
and the unfamiliar language often used by CSR
proponents.
Nine recommendations are made, ranging from
the establishment of a web site for all interested
parties to including CSR in the curriculum of business
schools and universities. In addition, companies
should be encouraged to report on their CSR
experiences and make this information freely available.
EU Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen,
who said the report’s conclusions are in line
with Commission thinking, added that “it is also
healthy that the report points to the boundaries of
the CSR concept and to the limits of what it can
achieve. CSR is only one instrument among others
to achieve sustainable development outcomes.” To
this end, he said, CSR policies should be integrated
with broader efforts to promote economic,
social and environmental progress. The responsibility
for this cannot just be left with businesses,
but should also fall to public authorities.
Forum members have suggested a review meeting
in two years, which would focus on putting the
recommendations into practice. The European
Commission will issue a communication on CSR
before the end of this year. In September it will also
begin a campaign intended to boost awareness
among SMEs.
For more information, see: www.europa.eu.int/
comm/enterprise/csr/documents/29062004/EMSF_
final_report.pdf.
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UNEP Industry and Environment April – September 2004 ◆ 77