Process magazine: June issue

Source: CSIRO
"The June 2009 issue of Process looks at a diverse range of projects that aim to improve the environmental, economic and social sustainability of Australia's minerals and coal industries."

Green building and development as a public good

Source: Canadian Policy Research Networks
"In Green Building and Development as a Public Good, Mike Buzzelli argues that green building and development faces a classic policy paradox: we collectively agree that improvements are needed in the built environment but we are caught in a whirlwind of information and debate about how to move forward. We are motivated to “be green” but challenged by implementation."

Do LEED-certified buildings save energy? yes, but..

Source: Institute for Research in Construction
"An analysis was carried out of data supplied by the New Buildings Institute and the US Green Buildings Council on measured energy use data from 100 LEED certified commercial and institutional buildings. These data were compared to the energy use of the general US commercial building stock. The authors also examined energy use by LEED certification level, and by energy-related credits achieved in the certification process. On average, LEED buildings used 18-39% less energy per floor area than their conventional counterparts. However, 28-35% of LEED buildings used more energy than their conventional counterparts."

The environment

Time magazine special edition on the environment.

Sustainable manufacturing and eco-innovation: towards a green economy

source: OECD policy brief
"This Policy Brief examines how innovation can result in new technological and systemic solutions to environmental challenges and contributes to a wider range of OECD work aimed at analysing the policies that can efficiently support the development and diffusion of eco-innovation. While industries are showing greater interest in sustainable production and are undertaking a number of corporate social responsibility initiatives, progress falls far short of meeting these pressing challenges. Moreover, improvements in efficiency in some regions have often been offset by increasing consumption in other regions, while efficiency gains in some areas are outpaced by scale effects. Without new policy action, recent OECD analysis suggests that global greenhouse gas emissions are likely to increase by 70% by 2050."

Clean energy lead by example guide

source: U.S. EPA
"EPA’s Clean Energy Lead by Example Guide helps states identify key strategies, resources and tools best-suited to their energy needs. Each strategy has been tested and is proven to be cost effective. The guide was created as part of EPA’s State Climate and Clean Energy Program, which assists states in developing and implementing clean energy policies and climate change solutions."

Transitioning to water sensitive cities

Source: International Water Centre
"This report summarises the key findings, issues and actions arising from five national capacity building and leadership workshops on Transitioning to Water Sensitive Cities in Australia The five workshops, each of two days, were held in each of the state capitals during February 2009. A further workshop was held in Canberra in May 2009 to report on the findings of the state capital workshops and to facilitate a faster take-up of water sensitive cities projects and initiatives."

Corporate responsibility index 2008

Source:St James Ethics Centre
"Companies say they're committed to improving their performance on environment, climate change and waste management but few can show practical improvements. That's the latest outcome the St James Ethics Centre's Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) 2008 appears to show. A total of 35 companies representing more than $46bn in revenue and more than 700,000 jobs participated in the CRI. Only 14% scored 95% and above on environmental management".

Corporate ecosystem evaluation: a scoping report

Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development
"All businesses, regardless of their location on the value chain, both impact and depend on ecosystems and ecosystem services. This in turn presents both risks and opportunities, and securing the business license to operate in a world where we are exceeding biocapacity (or the capacity of the Earth to meet our needs), will require companies to develop clear strategies of how to measure, manage and mitigate their ecosystem impacts and dependence. The scoping study report reaches the conclusion that any attempt to advance corporate ecosystem valuation should focus on new ways of valuing ecosystem dependencies and impacts and incorporating these values within existing financial and business planning tools, drawing where relevant on the existing methods that have been developed specifically to value ecosystem services."

Sustainability 3.0: building tomorrow's earth-friendly communities

source: Planning, vol.75,no.5 (May 2009)
"Sustainability has been described as the next wave of innovation, following on the heels of the digital and infonnation age and taking us in profoundly new directions in renewable energy, green chemistry, and resource efficiency. There can be little doubt that we are on the cusp of entirely new ways of producing and living in our resource-constrained world. If history is any guide, these innovations may have consequences for many years to come. Profoundly new ways of envisioning cities and urban life art already emerging, and cities hold the greatest promise for addressing global sustainabiliiy."

Sustainability report 2009

Source: Asian Development Bank
"ADB is continuing a shift in its emphasis and resources toward reducing poverty and, simultaneously, promoting environmentally sustainable growth in the Asia and Pacific region, according to a new report. Sustainability Report 2009 focuses on ADB`s efforts to integrate environmental management, improved governance, and social inclusiveness into its development programs. The report highlights how ADB is supporting environmentally sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific."

Retrogreening offices in Australia

source: Green Building Council of Australia
"Thousands of construction jobs could be created by "regreening" old office blocks across Aust, a consultant has told the Green Building Council of Aust (GBCA). Refurbishing office stock could create10,000 jobs in the construction sector alone, consultant Davis Langdon estimated in a report for the council."

Wasteful consumption in Australia

source: Australia Institute
"Landfill data and analysis by the Aust Institute suggested 3m tonnes of food worth $5bn was discarded annually in Aust. That wasted inputs eg water used to produce food. Discarding 1kg of beef wasted the 50,000 litres of water the CSIRO estimated it took to produce the meat and throwing out 1kg of rice wasted 2,385 litres. In addition, food dumped in landfills released methane into the atmosphere."

Bound to burn

source: City journal, vol.19,no.2 (2009)
"Like medieval priests, today’s carbon brokers will sell you an indulgence that forgives your carbon sins. It will run you about $500 for 5 tons of forgiveness—about how much the typical American needs every year. Or about $2,000 a year for a typical four-person household. Your broker will spend the money on such things as reducing methane emissions from hog farms in Brazil..."

Energy efficiency: the first fuel

source: eJournal USA, vol.14,no.4 (2009)
The whole issue is devoted to energy efficiency.

Living sustainably: the Australian Government's national action plan for education for sustainability

source: Dept. of the Enviroment, Water, Heritage & the Arts
"Part 1 of the document sets out the work to date on education for sustainability in Australia, the present situation and the issues to be addressed over the coming years. Part 2 comprises the plan’s vision and mission, with strategies and actions to achieve the plan’s objectives."

Climate entrepreneurs: revolutionary innovations for a carbon-free future

Source: GlobalFOCUS
"There is immense potential for both climate and business success in technology innovations coming forward – what we need to do is to remove obstacles to successful commercialization and wide diffusion that innovative entrepreneurs and companies are faced with,” said Stefan Henningsson, Director of the Climate Change Programme at WWF Sweden.

Green power superhighways

Source: American Wind Energy Association
"The United States is home to vast quantities of clean energy resources – wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower. Yet it lacks a modern interstate transmission grid to deliver carbon-free electricity to customers in highly populated areas of the country. President Obama has called for the United States to double the production of renewable energy in three years and to secure 25 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025. Achieving this will require a cohesive effort from local, state, and federal officials and significant new investment in our transmission infrastructure. This paper will highlight the barriers that hinder investment in transmission infrastructure and identify potential policy solutions to overcome those barriers."

Green Star documentation guidelines

Source: Green Building Council of Australia
"New streamlined guidelines for the Green Star environmental rating system for buildings, which are expected to reduce the time and cost required to document a submission by about 15%, have been released by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). The Green Star system evaluates the sustainable attributes of building projects based on nine criteria, including energy and water efficiency, indoor environment quality and materials conservation.The new guidelines reduce the requirements for a Green Star – Office Design v3 submission by about 90 pieces of documentation. Green Star – Office As Built v3 submissions have also been reduced by about 70 pieces of documentation."

Materials use across world regions: inevitable pasts and possible futures

source: J. of industrial ecology, vol.12, nos.5-6 (2008)
"In their contribution to Australia's resource use trajectories, Schandl and others portray the economic, social and environmental impacts of the Australian resource boom and discuss future pathways for Australia's resource use, patterns and policies."