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Cambridge Module 2

Sustainabililty

Sustainabililty

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Flashcards 57
Language English
Category Macro-Economics
Level University
Created / Updated 07.05.2021 / 14.05.2021
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Actions to make food production more S

  1. Efficient use of resources (fossils, water,,,)
  2. Protecting quality of natural resources (appropriate use of fertilizers and p, reverse soil loss, biodiversity)
  3. Protecting marine sources (reduce coastal pollution)
  4. Food ingredients from S sources
  5. Reducing food waste.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a third of the food produced is lost or wasted at different points in the value chain – most of it in developed countries 

Plus altering consumer demand (less meat)

the Earth does not have the carrying capacity to support a population of nine billion people if they are to enjoy the same levels of consumption as developed economies”

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Pro Sustainable Behaviours of Consumers PSB

However, it is clear that developing “niche” products with sustainable attributes (usually at premium prices), will not generate significant enough progress towards sustainability. Rather, it will require changes to mass markets and the broad spectrum of consumption behaviours.

Consumer choice editing (eg. only S product options) has been shown to achieve significant changes in PSB on a large scale, but it still emphasises consumption. Truly sustainable consumption is also about reducing overall consumption

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For example, while market research in Brazil has identified an increase in consumers’ awareness of environmental issues over the last 20 years, this has not resulted in any major changes to their buying habits and preferences, at least not at the same rate of change.

Here, we’ll look at three main areas of action: shaping supply, creating demand, and using shortcuts from behavioural economics to influence consumers.

The first place to start is on the supply side, and the need for products and services that are cleaner, healthier, better priced and more convenient

The second challenge is to create demand. But when companies and organisations run sustainability campaigns, they always tend to focus on these far-off problems and forget about the role of sustainable behaviour in our everyday lives.

The third issue is to make the most of shortcuts from behavioural economics to influence consumers.Exploiting these social norms and rules is one shortcut to influencing consumer behaviour. This approach can support the shaping of supply and the creation of demand for new products and services. In most cases, the solution can be found in adjusting people’s choice architecture and in providing so-called ‘nudges’ for these products and services. (eg. opt out donor card)

Difference between regular and S business model

S Bus. Model: triple bottom line (Planet, people, profit)

Not just customers, but many stakeholders (systems view)

E Bus. Model:  Closing the loop, efficiency, Recycle, renewables

Social Bus. Model: leasing instead of selling, stewardship, encouraging sufficiency

Closing the loop post-industrial or post-consumer.

What is necessary for loop?

  • Material suitability (segregation, not compromised etc.)
  • Value chain network (all aspects in value chains and avoid "downcycling") beyond scope of one single org, although not zero sum game (often winners and losers)
  • Progressive leadership

5 ways to shift consumers towards S behavior

  • Social influence (~peer pressure, brand ambassador)
  • Break bad habits (especially effective during life changes...) and build new ones with prompts
  • Individual self (benefit)
  • Feelings and cognitions (beware of too much fear or guilt)
  • Tangible consequences (not abstract future ones)

Typical elements of ecodesign

  • Efficiency (more/same with less resources)
    • Durability
    • Longevity 
    • Dematerialisation
  • Effectivess (add value)
  • Substitution
  • Mitigation (prevention)

Designing for the future:

In the realm of sustainability, “future-proofing” is used to describe the ability of a design to resist the impact of climate change due to global warming (Georgiadou, Hacking & Guthrie, 2012). Two characteristics describe this impact. Firstly, dependency on fossil fuels will more or less be eliminated and replaced by renewable energy sources. Secondly, society, infrastructure and the economy will be well adapted to the residual impacts of climate change

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Design frameworks

Cradle-to-cradle

  • Waste = Food (like in nature)
  • Use solar income
  • Celebrate diversity

Circular economy

  • reusing waste (mit aufbereitung)

The natural step (???)

  • The Cambridge value mapping tool: The Cambridge value mapping tool is based on the approach to identify “value uncaptured” in the form of value missed, destroyed, surplus and absence. The tool provides a deeper understanding of value and how to implement economic, social and environmental benefits for a business.
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More than 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage.

Incremental/Radical change of technology and design matrix

A distinction can be made between principles that aim to define sustainability and general principles that underpin design practice (principle: what is S? how are these principles "umgesetzt"?

Life cycle thinking: Adopting a long-term perspective and considering the full life cycle from the outset. Life cycle thinking was developed to challenge the more common approach to design in practice, which is to prioritise reducing upfront manufacturing or construction costs (especially when the target market is price sensitive). Prioritising consumer preference for low cost products is often done even if it causes increased costs and environmental impacts during use (for example, due to poor energy efficiency) or at the end of its useful life (due to non-recyclable materials used to produce the product, for example).

What tools to assess product design and technology

  • Impact Assessment techniques (EIA, SIA, Health Impact Assessment, SA, etc.)
  • Analytical techniques
    • Cost benefit analysis 
    • Multi-criteria analysis
    • Risk assessment
    • LCA (cradle to grave, ISO 14040+4 can be expensive therefore Streamlined LCAs)
    • E P&L
    • Material Flow Analysis
  • Futures thinking techniques

Stages of LCA

  • sourcing (raw material)
  • (design) my addition
  • production
  • distribution
  • consumption
  • end of life

Examples of technologies shaping the sustainability agenda:

 

 

  • Public electric transport: China is leading the world in widespread eBus adoption.
  • Cheap energy storage: With the rise of electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries and battery storage are the next disruptive technologies in the power sector.
  • Plastic recycling: The plastics industry must move to a circular model such as pyrolysis to tackle the 260 million tons of plastic waste generated around the globe every year.
  • Carbon capture and storage (CCS): CCS describes the potential to reduce GHGs and use carbon dioxide to make plastics such as polyurethane.

To attain the required level of sustainability needed on a planet-wide scale, large and rapid improvements are needed; this can only be done through disruptive and radical innovation 

what is innovator's dilemma

Disruptive innovations are generally introduced by a new entrant rather than an incumbent company. This phenomenon is called “innovator’s dilemma” because introducing a new innovation could potentially destroy the existing market 

Other types of innovation than Incremental, Sustaining, Radical and Disruptive?

  • Frugal (West learning from India, etc.)
  • Open innovation (crowdfunding, open source)
  • Social Innovation...

The reality is that much of this “low hanging fruit” remains unpicked (i.e. many easy opportunities have not been pursued). This is not because they involve untested technologies that increase costs, but rather due to a variety of mostly non-technological barriers.

While it is impossible to anticipate all potential barriers, according to the BCG 2019 Global Innovation Survey, the top barriers relate to:

 

 

  • Development times that are too long;
  • Selecting the right ideas;
  • Risk-averse culture;
  • Lack of coordination;
  • Not enough great ideas; and
  • Marketing innovations.

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