Time Ticking On

The Test Drive for journalists of the Green Post electric vehicle was just some of the summer fun we’ve been having at Sustainability Consult.  But it wasn’t all about fun and games, there was a serious message to promote about greening the fleet of postal vehicles in Europe.  You can see the YouTube video of our exploits outside the European Parliament at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMY7_0pyMwI.

In many ways it is hard to believe that we’re already over half-way through 2010.  The summer break is fast approaching and we’re tidying things up to be able to escape for a few weeks to relax and discover new places.  2010 has already been quite a year and we consider ourselves very fortunate to be working in such an interesting environment in Brussels.  We’ve seen some changes already this year.  Ellie Haag went to work at the European Association of Business in Society (EABIS) where she’s doing very well and keeping us posted on her activities promoting CSR with business schools and the international business community.  Then fresh from business school herself, Faye Shanley took over from Ellie on a part-time basis.

We’ve been happy to welcome a number of new clients on-board and after nearly two years in business, expansion is very much on the cards.  We’ve tested working with the members of the Network and it’s gone well so we’re now formalising the relationship and bringing the Network on-board in a much more concrete way.  We may even stop talking about a ‘Network’.  After all, these consultants are our team. 

There are so many ideas about next steps and expansion but I’ll be letting it all tick over in the back of my mind during the holidays and we’ll see what comes out in September.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer,

Kathryn

Sustainable Materials Progress

The Belgian Presidency is getting straight to the point with EU Environment Ministers due to discuss ‘sustainable materials management’ (SMM) at the informal Environment Council on 12-13 July.  Ministers will discuss a Presidency working paper which sets out the scope of SMM and discusses ways to better integrate it, for example into industrial systems and wider policy approaches.

According to the document, SMM, as the Belgian Presidency sees it is all about ‘the efficient and environmentally responsible use of materials, independent of whether they are raw materials, products or waste’ and happily is based on a lifecycle approach.

The Presidency argues that because of its own large footprint, Europe has an obligation to work towards a more sustainable management of materials.  It also recommends the establishment of a European, multi-actor transition platform on sustainable materials management, which ‘could develop a joint future vision on SMM’.

In more detail, the informal Council will discuss:

• How can EU policy promote waste reduction and recycling?
• How can EU policy increase the efficient use of raw materials?  How to stimulate cooperation between policymakers, industry and consumers to achieve sustainable material chains, the development of new business models which are compatible with a complete lifecycle
• How to best coordinate current EU initiatives on raw materials, production, consumption and waste etc.  and how new EU policy tools could contribute to SMM.

We’ll follow this issue with interest.