The impact of the US recession was felt in South Africa too, illustrating the need for sustainability globally. Paris Arey, President of GCX USA, discusses the influence of the recession and its impact on paving the way for sustainable business, in part 2 of a 6 part series on the rising importance of sustainability in the US.

GCX MD Ed Gluckman was interviewed on the importance of energy efficiency in greenhouse gas emissions mitigation by Trading Carbon, the world's leading carbon market magazine. This special report highlights energy efficiency as being a low cost area for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation and explores why energy efficiency doesn’t feature high on the carbon market agenda.

Over 150 people have been trained by GCX since last July! Metropolitan, Brandhouse, and Just Trees share how attending the Carbon Footprint Analyst course has added enormous value to themselves and their organisations. GCX firmly believes the foundations of a resource efficient, low carbon world is knowledge and green-skills development.

 

15 June:  Cape Town - GCX Carbon Literacy Course
19 July:  Johannesburg - GCX Carbon Literacy Course
19 - 21 July: Johannesburg - GCX Energy Efficiency Auditor Course
20 - 22 July: Johannesburg - GCX Carbon Footprint Analyst Course
04 – 06 August:  Cape Town -GCX Carbon Footprint Analyst Course

The first 1.8MW turbine of the 25 turbine Coega wind farm project in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in the Eastern Cape was officially connected to the Eskom grid on Friday 21st May in order to provide free power to the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The official switch on day was 30th May with completion of the project scheduled for 2011.Once complete the wind farm will supply the NMBM with about 45MW of green energy yearly.

 

COMPANIES listed on the JSE will be required, from this month, to integrate their sustainability reports with their annual reports.The new requirement for companies to deliver more transparent and relevant reports to stakeholders is expected to place a more onerous burden on them. Mervyn King, chairman of the King committee, said: “SA is among the first countries in the world to require integrated reporting of listed companies. This puts us ahead of the game.”

A “Green Economy Plan” to be completed in July will outline the work required to develop the key elements of a green-economy strategy and take SA on the road "Towards a resource efficient, low carbon and pro-employment growth path”. This was the commitment made by the participants of the Green Economy Summit in Johannesburg last month.

Eskom is at “severe regulatory risk” from climate change, nationally and internationally, with the greatest risk nationally being the introduction of carbon pricing, states a recent report. Internationally, Eskom could face emissions caps as well as financial penalties within a global sector-based agreement.

Charges were laid against three ministers by The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TauSA) at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria in a landmark move last month; Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Mining Minister Susan Shabangu and Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica all face criminal charges over the pollution of the country’s water supply.

Seventy percent of firms with revenue of $1 billion or more say they plan to increase spending on climate change initiatives in the next two years in a global survey released recently. The companies surveyed are taking action despite the lack of regulatory frameworks as they see climate change as a business issue with opportunities to create new revenue streams through new products and services, to save money through enhanced efficiency as well as to limit their risks.

Take a critical look at green marketing, what works and what doesn’t, what media is most used and most effective and which companies are doing all the spending on green marketing. This report from Environmental Leader allows us a glimpse into future trends around green marketing. One particular finding is that more than 80% of respondents indicated that they would spend more on green marketing in the future. Click here to download the executive summary.

Forests have been viewed as “a simple and uncomplicated solution to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere, when they are not” says Mike Ryan from the US Department of Agriculture. Ryan and colleagues looked at eight separate strategies currently in effect or proposed in the United States, their risks, uncertainties and the individual tradeoffs.

 

If you’re only just embarking on your carbon management strategy, or considering it, this article will help show you where to start on your journey. The 45 best practices are divided into; setting targets, engaging with stakeholders, carbon information management, energy efficiency and aligning carbon and financial management strategies, and are based on successes achieved by leading companies in carbon management. Included in the article are three downloadable reports by CDP and IBM, Deloittes and Verdantix.

The recently established Lib-Con coalition vowed to make the formation of a low-carbon economy one of the centerpieces of their coalition government. They agreed to implement a full programme of low carbon and eco-friendly measures. Included in their plans are a smart grid, smart meters, a green investment bank, a green home scheme, a high speed rail network, electric vehicle charging network amongst many others.

 

"Business needs to begin to draw the dots between natural resources, their supply chain, consumer demand and the future value of their business," warned Malcolm Preston, a partner in the sustainability and climate change practice at PwC. "Like the impact of the recession, there is simply no sector that will be immune to biodiversity and ecosystem loss."

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