Presentation Meeting 1 Crawford

Baltic Sea Region rides on the green economic waveBy Mia Crawford, Senior Adviser & Head of Baltic 21Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea StatesPresented at the BSPC Working Group on Green Growth & Energy Efficiency12 December 2011, Stockholm, SwedenMadame Chair,Distinguished Parliamentarians,Ladies and Gentlemen,I am very pleased to be able to address this most important topic of green growth in the Baltic Sea Region and to present the perspectives from CBSS-Baltic 21. Thank you to the BSPC Secretariat for inviting me to this conference.The biggest economic opportunity in a generation is heading our way! The next economic wave is that of the green economy. We already see great new creative innovation and development in our region in the field of renewable energy, sustainable food, transportation, forestry and low carbon building, clean technologies and so much more. The financial and economic crises that hit the region hard in 2008 have paved the way forward for new green thinking about economy, one in which material wealth is not delivered at the expense of growing environmental risks, ecological scarcities and social disparities. Many governments are in these times of financial and economic crises looking into ways and means of levelling the play filed for greener products and services such as reforming policies and providing new incentives, redirecting public investments and greening public procurement.Green economy focuses primarily on the intersection between the environment and the economy. The United Nations Environment Programme defines a green economy as one that results in “improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”[1]. In a green economy, growth in income and employment are driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.Despite great progress on sustainable development, it is apparent that a global economy based on the current patterns of consumption and production is placing heavy stress on many ecosystems, not only in our own region, but also throughout the world. Sustainability challenges in the Baltic Sea Region are linked to climate change, demographic change and a growing gap between urban centres and rural communities, and the lack of integrated natural resource management, to mention just a few pressing areas of concern[2]. In order to tackle these challenges, we need to foster solutions that consider all three pillars of sustainability, namely economy, environment and society. Strengthening energy efficiency is one such example. Investing in energy efficiency not only benefits the environment and climate, it is increasingly paying off economically as well. In addition, energy efficiency, such as that in the building sector, can create jobs for a great many people with a wide range of qualifications and it also improves the living conditions for people. Good examples of how to do this are now readily available and should be scaled up and disseminated throughout the region[3]. Moreover, the Baltic Sea Region has a great potential for sustainable production and use of bioenergy[4]. There are vast biomass resources at hand in our region and only a fraction of these are utilized. However, it is important that the production of bioenergy has to be sustainable, and in balance with production of food and fiber, and other products and services that the forests and agriculture land offers. Sustainable bioenergy production can stimulate positive developments both in terms of economy and socially in rural areas in our region and at the same time ensure healthy ecosystems.Growing prosperity has made it possible for us in the Baltic Sea Region to invest in solutions to many environmental problems. In fact, no other region in the world has such a strong track-record when it comes to sustainable development, in both principle and practice. But despite the Baltic Sea Region’s clear commitment to sustainability, we still have a long way to walk towards ensuring prosperous economies, healthy societies and dynamic ecosystems in a balanced and integrated manner. This is the overarching objective for the CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Development – Baltic 21 and during the German Presidency in 2011-2012, Green Economy will be one of its priorities. During the upcoming year, we will focus on five areas of critical importance to fostering green economy, namely green public procurement, corporate social responsibility, public private partnerships, integrated natural resource management and sustainable production through eco-innovations.We want to promote green public procurement. Local public authorities are often large economic actors in local markets with many employees and a great demand for energy, goods and services. By using the criteria of sustainability in their purchasing practices, public authorities trigger a growing supply of sustainably produced goods and services. A Green Public Procurement network has been set up in the Baltic Sea Region and a project has been developed to increase the level and uptake of green public procurement in the Baltic Sea Region by increasing the knowledge and expertise amongst procurement professionals.We want to strengthen Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among SMEs. Business impact on society and environment can be improved through CSR. Fostering CSR activities among SMEs can contribute to more competitive enterprises and the development of more sustainable business models, as well as numerous advantages in terms of staff retention and motivation, in addition to reduced energy costs. In this area we are currently in the process of developing a new project. The initial phase of this project will be funded by the Swedish Institute.We want to enhance Public Private Partnerships for sustainability[5]. Public Private Partnerships are often referred to as cooperative ventures between public and private sectors. We see a potential in fostering Public Private Partnerships to support, amongst others, modernization in Russia and the South East Baltic Area.We want to move towards a more resource efficient region. The aim is to use all types of resources in a more efficient way. In particular, we will stress integrated natural resources in the agriculture and forestry sector. We have to gather climate smart solutions in these sectors, as well as to explore the full potential of renewable energy, such as bioenergy. The Baltic Landscape project seeks to work with these integrated solutions at the landscape level in a handful of model areas in many countries in our region.Finally, we want to support sustainable production through eco-innovations. Eco-innovations can create competitive advantages and new business opportunities, which at the same time reduce negative environmental impacts. Through the SPIN project, we will test appropriate incentives for SMEs to apply eco-innovations and to increase the exploitation of the innovation potential of SMEs. Best practices or eco-innovation highlights have been collected and are being disseminated throughout the region[6].Next year, the international community will come together in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to reinforce our global commitment to sustainable development. Green economy will be one of the main themes of the conference. One possible outcome of this high-level meeting is a UN Green Economy Roadmap. The tools and good practices on green economy that have been devised and tested in the Baltic Sea Region may constructively contribute to this Roadmap. In Baltic 21 we are currently collecting policy recommendations on green economy stemming from Baltic 21 Lighthouse projects and we are planning to make a publication in the Spring 2012 with the policy recommendations and best practices from the region. We would of course be very happy to share this publication with you all.Green economy presents an opportunity for the Baltic Sea Region to create thousands of new green jobs. It is an opportunity for us to leverage our knowledge and experience in clean technologies to a world desperate to seek new solutions to climate change and ways to cut carbon emissions. I say let’s ride on the green economic wave!-----------------------[1] Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication. Published by UNEP in 2011 and available on-line: www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_synthesis_en.pdf[2] Council of the Baltic Sea States Strategy on Sustainable Development 2010-2015. Published by CBSS in 2011 and available on-line: www.cbss.org/Environment/baltic-21[3] City of Tallinn has improving energy efficiency in apartment buildings. A description of the good practice used is available on-line in the EcoRegion good practice database: www.baltic-ecoregion.eu/index.php/Reconstruction-of-an-apartment-building-in-Ta;110.52/1[4] Baltic 21 Lighthouse project Baltic Sea Bioenergy Promotion serves as a platform for cross-sectoral and transnational networking to facilitate information and knowledge exchange, policy development and application of bioenergy promotion instruments. More information on the project is available on-line: www.bioenergypromotion.net/[5] 8th Baltic Sea State Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2010. Vision for the Baltic Sea Region 2020. The declaration is available on-line: www.cbss.org/Summits-and-Council-Ministerials[6] The eco-innovation highlights are available in a database on the SPIN website: www.spin-project.eu/