07 December 2011

Ex-ACT Seminar 2011-12-07

A Business Perspective

on Sustainable Land-use

Niclas Ihrén

Strategic Advisor, SustainabilityNiclas.ihren@respect.se

+46 70 49 11 499

Land

Peak oil

Peak fosfor

Planetary Boundaries

Stockholm Resilience

Center

Rockström et al

December 2011

The road to change

Niclas Ihrén

Strategic Advisor, SustainabilityNiclas.ihren@respect.se

+46 70 49 11 499

Sustainability - Sustainable Development

Brundtlandkommissionen, 1987

”For thirty years, I have been preaching to corporations that

What is good for business is good for society.

However, times have changed, and so has the logic. What we

need to understand today is that,

What is good for society is good for business”

- Michael Porter, HBR interview, Feb 2011

Time

Ch

an

ge

Ändrat perspektiv

www.plantagon.com

Cities and food production…

Bosco verticale

Land-use provides many services to society

Raw

materials

Food

Fuel

Energy

Biodiversity

Recreation

Carbon SinkInfra structure

…but efficient land-use is under serious pressure

Living

standards

Peak

PhosphorousBiofuel

markets

Soil

degradation

Population

Ecosystem

failures

Climate

change

…and many stakeholder’s push their claims

InstitutionsNGO’s

Smallholders

Governments

Companies

Principles for Cradle to Cradle(William McDonough & Michael Braungart)

Emulate nature:

– Waste is Food

– Use Solar Income

– Celebrate Diversity

ECO-EFFECTIVENESS

ECO-EFFICIENCY

DEFINE,INCREASE,SUPPORT, OPTIMIZE

Cradle to Cradle: maximize positive output instead of

minimizing negative

Reduce, Avoid,Minimize,Prevent

”Do things right”

”Do the right thing”

MRCosts for

Maintenance of status of Resources RR

Costs for Replacementof Resources

DRCosts for

Destructionof Resources

Society’s perspective:

Cost MR < Cost DR + RR

But who carries the cost?

<

Source: EPEA Int. Umweltforschung GmbH

Competing Strategies: Economic cycles

Conclusions for companies

• Set a bold sustainability strategy

• Calculate footprint and scenarios

• Proactive investments will pay off

• Maximize positive ecosystem services output

– Biodiversity

– Water cleaning

– Air cleaning

– Soil improvement

– Attractive landscape

• Minimize negative effects by using C2C principles:

– Waste is food

– Use solar income

– Celebrate diversity

niclas.ihren@respect.se, +46 70 49 11 499