Content of the project “Environmental Pressure Index” is the construction of a composite indicator that describes the pressure for the environment on EU territory. It will comprise the major strands of European environmental policy: climate change and energy use, nature and biodiversity, air pollution and health impacts, water use and pollution, waste generation and use of resources.

The purpose and scope of the index are focused on environmental pressures and harm to the environment, bound by the EU political territory and closely linked to evaluating the effects of environmental protection policies. It should concern all major areas of EU environmental policy and reflect decreases of such pressures as a decline in the index value.

During the project decisions will be taken concerning the themes and subthemes of the index as well as the involved indicator and the methodological approach for the calculation of the composite indicator. An expert workshop will help elaborting the best-suited decisions and spreading the concept of the indicator. All choices and decisions made will be incorporated in a detailed report that should function as a handbook for the construction of composite environmental indices.

For more information click here.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

The One Planet Economy Network EU project (OPEN:EU) has just launched a unique new tool for mapping ecological carbon and water footprint data across all the 27 EU member states.

Over the past 2 years the project, in which SERI was one of 8 partners, has carried out evidence gathering, software tool design and network dialogue activities to explore how policy makers can achieve a clear understanding of the effects of policies (or the lack of policy) on the environment, so they can make responsible decisions at national and EU government level.

One of the main outcomes of the project, the EUREAPA tool (EU Resource and Energy Analysis Programme Application), a decision making support tool, is now available for free online, aimed at EU and national government policy makers, NGOs and academics. It is based on the integration of the Footprint Family of indicators with an economic model so that the impact of the EU’s trade on the environment can be demonstrated.

The tool can be used to help inform policy making across several of the policy areas identified as key components of the framework for delivering the Flagship Initiative for a Resource-efficient Europe under the Europe 2020 Strategy, such as agriculture, climate and energy, sustainable consumption and production, transport and water.

The EUREAPA tool can be accessed at www.eureapa.net.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

As part of this year’s annual conference of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Fritz Hinterberger was invited to give a key note speech at a high-level workshop entitled “Promoting innovative industries and technologies for a sustainable future in the Europe and NIS region”, taking place on 30th of November at the UN centre in Vienna.

The workshop, organized by UNIDO’s “Europe and Newly Independent States Programme” aims to identify options for industrial modernization in this region, in order to move towards more resource and energy efficient and low carbon economies in that world region.

For the workshop, SERI prepared a background paper entitled “Resource use and resource efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States”. The paper provides an assessment of material consumption and material productivity in 30 countries across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Newly Independent States (NIS) in the Caucasus and Central Asia between 1995 and 2008.

The results show that material extraction in the 30 countries grew significantly between 1995 and 2008, most notably of construction minerals; the volume of material trade doubled; per capita consumption increased by 25%, from 9.8 tonnes in 1995 to 12.2 tonnes in 2008 and was thus above the global average of 10.4 tonnes but below EU-15 average of 18.6 tonnes per capita in 2008. Material productivity rose by 42 per cent between 1995 and 2008, and most of the countries experienced a relative decoupling between per capita GDP and per capita material consumption.

The paper can be found here.

More information about the workshop can be found here.

The presentation of Fritz Hinterberger can be downloaded here.

The new report “Scenarios towards a One Planet Economy in Europe” is a major outcome of the OPEN:EU project in which SERI was involved. The scenarios describe alternative, albeit not necessarily ideal visions of the transition toward a One Planet Economy in Europe by 2050. They present both an illustration of life in Europe in 2050 and the policy settings that are necessary to support the transition to this common end point under different assumptions about the future.

The scenarios were developed by SERI and the Ecologic Institute on the basis of stakeholder input provided during a two-day workshop in September 2010. The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) was responsible for quantifying and modeling the scenarios.

The four scenarios created were:
Scenario 1 – Clever and caring – a future with a quality-driven mindset towards development with dynamic technological innovation.
Scenario 2 – Fast forward – a future with a quantity-driven mindset towards development with dynamic technological innovation.
Scenario 3 – Breaking point – a future with a quantity-driven mindset towards development with technological stagnation.
Scenario 4 – Slow motion – a future with a quality-driven mindset towards development with technological stagnation.

The results of the scenario modelling exercise suggest that the transformation of Europe into a One Planet Economy by 2050 would require very aggressive policy action even under the most beneficial circumstances.

The report can be downloaded here.

Der Uranabbau erfolgt meist unter unmenschlichen Bedingungen, und die Bevölkerung wird ungeschützt den Gefahren ausgesetzt. Zum Beispiel hat die Regierung in Niger Schürfrechte an ausländische Konzerne verkauft. Die betroffenen Gebiete wurden den Nomadenvölkern weggenommen. Die Folgen sind bewaffnete Aufstände, Menschenrechtsverletzungen und verseuchte Wasserquellen. In den USA und in Kanada erfolgt der Uranabbau in den indianischen Siedlungsgebieten. Die Ureinwohner sind gegenüber den Uran-Konzernen praktisch rechtlos und die Grubenarbeiter sind ungeschützt und unaufgeklärt bezüglich der gesundheitlichen Gefahren. Unter dem autoritären Regime in Kasachstan wird das Uran in bereits durch Atombombentests verseuchten Gebieten abgebaut. Weitere Bespiele in der Art gäbe es zur Genüge.

Der Transport
Die Uranproduktion und der Uranverbrauch finden örtlich getrennt statt. Dort wo abgebaut wird, wird meist nicht konsumiert, weshalb kürzere oder längere Transportstrecken entstehen. Die Uranabbauländer profitieren also nicht einmal von dem geförderten Rohstoff, sind aber von den Umweltbelastungen des Abbaus stark betroffen. Das heißt, dass das abgebaute Uran quer durch die ganze Welt transportiert wird. Unfälle, mit verheerenden Auswirkungen für Mensch und Umwelt, sind bei den Transporten einfach nicht auszuschließen.

Im Atomkraftwerk
Es wird angenommen, dass in einer Nähe zwischen 20 und 50 km rund um ein Atomkraftwerk ein erhöhtes Krebsrisiko besteht. Im Normalbetrieb! Je nach Studie gibt es dazu aber unterschiedliche Ergebnisse. Je nachdem wer die Studie finanziert hat…

Ein weiteres Risiko ist ein technischer Störfall bei dem es zum Austritt von radioaktivem Material kommen kann. Im schlimmsten Fall passiert eine Kernschmelze wodurch große Mengen an radioaktivem Material freigesetzt werden. Die Atombefürworter verwenden seit Jahrzehnten das gleiche Argument der „nächsten Generation“ an Atomkraftwerken, in denen es so gut wie nicht mehr zu technischen Problemen kommen kann. Schon in den sechziger Jahren gibt es „die nächste Generation“. Technische Störfälle gab es trotzdem und wird es höchstwahrscheinlich weiterhin geben.

Ein Störfall kann auch aufgrund von Naturkatastrophen ausgelöst werden, wie im Jahr 2011 in Fukushima. Ein Tsunami, ein Hurrikan oder eine Überschwemmung sind Beispiele. Die Annahme, dass Atomkraftwerke in Gebieten errichtet werden, welche weniger vulnerabel sind, kann jedoch nicht getroffen werden. Unzählige Atomkraftwerke stehen zum Beispiel auf seismisch aktivem Boden oder küstennahe.

Ein weiteres Argument dafür, keine weiteren Atomkraftwerke zu errichten und die vorhandenen abzuschalten sind Terroranschläge. Nicht auszumachen sich vorzustellen, dass ein Atomkraftwerk in Europa vorsätzlich in die Luft gesprengt wird! Da kann auch die „nächste Generation“ an AKWs nicht mehr abhelfen.

Lagerung des Abfalls
Bis dato gibt es kein Endlager für radioaktiven Abfall. Es ist anzuzweifeln, dass es dieses je geben wird. Es wird vom „Zwischenlager“ gesprochen. Zwischenlager bis man heraus gefunden hat wie sich Atommüll von selbst auflöst und während des Auflösungsprozesses das CO2 aus der Luft aufsaugt. Nein, im Ernst, ein Endlager müsste unter Tage geschaffen werden, jedoch auch nicht zu tief, da es zu heiß werden kann. Des Weiteren müsste dieses Endlager für Millionen von Jahren wasserdicht sein und eine Rückholmöglichkeit der Behälter muss (sogar gesetzlich) bis 500 Jahre nach Verschluss der Behälter gegeben sein. Und noch etwas: wie markieren wir (also, wir die Menschheit), dass an dieser Stelle ein „Endlager“ ist. Das muss eine Markierung sein, welche Millionen von Jahren haltbar und sichtbar ist. Ein Bauwerk?

Die Verwendung von Atomenergie fördert gleichzeitig die Proliferation von atomaren Massenvernichtungswaffen. Neben der Verwendung des radioaktiven Materials zur Erzeugung von Energie wird an einer Weiterentwicklung von Atomwaffen gearbeitet und die Technologie weiter verbreitet. Die militärische und zivile Nutzung ist kaum zu trennen, da im Verborgenen des Atomkraftwerkes nur schwer eine flächendeckende Kontrolle stattfinden kann. Es gibt zwar den Atomwaffensperrvertrag, welcher ein Verbot der Verbreitung und eine Verpflichtung zur Abrüstung von Kernwaffen beschreibt, jedoch ist der längst nicht von allen atomaren Mächten unterzeichnet (zB: Israel, Pakistan, Nordkorea).

Noch ein weiteres Argument abschließend, welches mir Wolfgang Pekny einmal erklärt hat. Für all jene die das Europa 2020 Ziel mit Atomkraft erreichen wollen. The Triple 7: Sieben Jahre für die Planung, sieben Jahre für den Bau und sieben Jahre Stromerzeugung bis sich Planung und Bau wieder energetisch amortisiert haben. Ja, jetzt rechne mal nach.

Abschließend muss ich noch die millionenschwere Atomlobby erwähnen. Wahrscheinlich ist das nicht einmal 1/10 der Probleme mit der Atomkraft die wir haben, weil wir vom Rest nicht einmal etwas wissen…

Ok, jetzt will ich doch nicht so negativ aufhören. Wie schon am Anfang gesagt ist es möglich Atomkraftwerke abzuschalten, wenn wir uns ein bisschen einschränken. Wirklich nur ein bisschen und dafür jeder! Wie wärs?

Zum Projekt: Im Jänner 2012 wird das “Global Feedback Netzwerk” SLASH gestartet, welches BüroX initiiert hat und mit SERI durchführt. Damit wird der Einzelne “visuell” erfahren, dass wir alle gemeinsam mit kleinsten Maßnahmen Großes erreichen können. In der ersten Phase werden wir den Beweis antreten, binnen weniger Wochen ein AKW in der Größenordnung von Mühleberg in der Schweiz (oder Temelin in Tschechien) einsparen können. Das Globale Feedback Netzwerk SLASH verwandelt auf diese Weise unser Gefühl von Ohnmacht in eine “Grüne Revolution”.

On November 8th and November 9th Stephan Lutter gave two talks at a conference at the European Parliament. As a part of the REdUSE project Friends of the Earth was organising the conference “Responsible or Irresponsible? Europe’s Resource Use and its Impacts”.

On the first day Stephan Lutter presented a comprehensive report which has been published just recently on the connection between material use and water consumption. The report is called “UNDER PRESSURE. How our material consumption threatens the planet’s water resources” and was translated into eight different languages. The report explains also by the means of specific examples of, for instance, Lithium extraction in Chile how Europe’s current thirst for raw materials is threatening the water resources of the countries rich in resources.

On the second day, Stephan Lutter gave insights into the results of a study SERI carried out for Friends of the Earth on actual land demand related to the resources and products consumed in Europe. The study illustrates that to satisfy Europe’s consumption requirements large quantities of land are used in different parts of the world. Hence, Europe has a considerable land “footprint” all around the globe.

Lutter S., Polzin, C., Giljum, S., Pálfy, T., Patz, T., Dittrich, M., Kernegger, L., Rodrigo, A. (2011)

This report looks at material consumption and water use and how they are interrelated. An increasing number of studies look at the levels of material extraction, trade and consumption. Yet, so far, the connection between materials and other resources, such as water, tends to be less well understood. This report, the second in the natural resource consumption series (following the 2009 report “Overconsumption? Our use of the world‘s natural resources.”), aims to raise awareness of these connections, and to contribute to the debate on resource use through various examples illustrating how water is consumed.

Water is required for almost every step of material flow. Around half of all renewable and accessible freshwater is used for growing food, providing drinking water and producing energy and other products. In Europe, almost half of all water abstracted is used for cooling processes by the energy sector. The rest is used for agriculture, public water supply and industry.

There are vast regional differences in material and water consumption. For example, the average North American citizen consumes the largest amount of water (7700l per day) and materials (100 kg per day) in the world. In comparison, the average African citizen is consuming least – 3400l of water and 11 kg of materials per day. The water footprint from our consumption habits is significantly greater than that from our direct water use. Significant amounts of goods consumed in Europe, such as food and other agricultural products, are grown and produced elsewhere. Paradoxically, many countries with low levels of fresh water use a large part of their water supply on the production of exports to water rich countries. Rising material extraction and water abstraction is linked to growing international trade in recent decades. As worldwide trade steadily increases, so does the amount of embedded or virtual water used, as many goods require water for their production processes. Industrialised countries and, more recently, emerging economies have increased their net imports of resources, which tend to come from the developing world.

In most cases, the most material-efficient countries also have the highest consumption levels. Resource efficiency improvements alone have so far been insufficient in achieving absolute reductions in resource use. As water resources are becoming increasingly scarce in many regions of the world, it is critical that we use them more efficiently and economically at every level – in industry and agriculture, at home and also in water supply systems.

In a world of finite resources, we must address the link between resource use, economic growth and prosperity in our societies. Our model of growth depends on high levels of continuous consumption. However, this system is characterised by growing inequalities acrossthe world and by alarming levels of resource use by a smallminority of the global population. Urgent and fundamental changes are required to the way our economies manage natural resources and the services these provide. It is therefore essential that decision-makers create a policy framework that penalises unsustainable practices and rewards resource-efficient behaviour, making a decrease in resource use both economically and politically more attractive.

Download PDF.

Europe’s material consumption is threatening the world’s water supply, according to new research launched this thursday by Friends of the Earth Europe and the Sustainable Europe Research Institute in the new resource report “Under Pressure. How our material consumption threatens the plantes water resources”.

Europe’s high levels of water use are characteristic of alarming levels of resource use by a minority of the global population. On average each European consumes 4,750 litres of water per day (direct and indirect use), whereas in Africa the average is 3,350 litres. The findings come with a warning that Europe is neglecting the catastrophic consequences that water stress and scarcity will have in Europe and in the rest of the world, and with a call to governments to start measuring Europe’s overall water and material use.

The report highlights how little consideration is given to the impact on local communities and the local environment of production processes, such as the case of water usage in lithium extraction in Chile.

You can download the report here.

Lugschitz, B., Bruckner, M., Giljum, S. (2011)

As fertile land areas to produce agricultural and forestry products are only available in a limited amount on our planet it is very important to use this resource thoughtfully. A number of conflicts are coupled with the global land use. In developing countries conflicts arise on the issue whether arable land should be used for the production of exports or for domestic consumption.

In a recently finished research in co-operation with Friends of the Earth, SERI analysed the land footprint of 112 countries and regions, i.e. the land used to produce the agricultural and forestry products consumed by a country.

Let’s have a look at the European footprint:

* EU average land consumption per capita is 1.3 hectares, while countries such as China and India use less than 0.4 hectares per capita.
* Europe is the continent most dependent on imported land: Nearly 60% of the land used to satisfy the demand on agricultural and forestry products comes from outside the continent.
* Six of the top 10 land importing countries/regions are European – Germany, UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain. Germany and the UK each import more than 80 million hectares a year.

You can download the report here.

On 17 October 2011, the award ceremony of the Energy Globe Vienna 2011 took place. This award honours projects that conserve and protect our resources or that employ renewable energy.

SERI was nominated for the SERI set of indicators, which covers the categories of materials, water, land area, and GHG emissions. It allows a comprehensive analysis of resource use at different scales. The indicator set identifies potential savings in companies and was used for products and companies and on a national level as well. The European Commission has recently defined this set as a central set of resource use indicators.

Our society and our economy are based on the use of natural resources. Today’s resource use has reached a dimension which cannot be sustained in the long term and which causes serious environmental and human impacts. The SERI set of indicator set contributes to measuring resource use and – based on this information – to apply appropriate measures. Therefore, the SERI set of indicators was selected by the jury and received the 3rd place at the Energy Globe Vienna award.

Here you find an article about the application of the set of indicators on measuring Europes resource use.

photo: wkw/ Florian Wieser

As fertile land areas to produce agricultural and forestry products are only available in a limited amount on our planet it is very important to use this resource thoughtfully. A number of conflicts are coupled with the global land use. In developing countries conflicts arise on the issue whether arable land should be used for the production of exports or for domestic consumption.

In a recently finished research in co-operation with Friends of the Earth, SERI analysed the land footprint of 112 countries and regions, i.e. the land used to produce the agricultural and forestry products consumed by a country.

Let’s have a look at the European footprint:

• EU average land consumption per capita is 1.3 hectares, while countries such as China and India use less than 0.4 hectares per capita.
• Europe is the continent most dependent on imported land: Nearly 60% of the land used to satisfy the demand on agricultural and forestry products comes from outside the continent.
• Six of the top 10 land importing countries/regions are European – Germany, UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain. Germany and the UK each import more than 80 million hectares a year.

You can download the report here and a short summary of the key findings here .

On Tuesday, 20th of September, the European Commission presented its new “Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe”. It is the detailed EU policy implementation plan in the area of resource efficiency for the coming years. In this document the EU adopts the suggestion of SERI and Friends of the Earth (FoE) to monitor European progress towards resource efficiency with 4 indicators, representing the key categories of our natural resource use: materials, water, land area and greenhouse gas emissions.

For the past 3 years, SERI has been cooperating with Friends of the Earth on measuring Europe’s resource use. In this context, SERI developed a suggestion for a set of indicators to properly measure, which amounts of resources Europe uses both within its borders and in other parts of the world (see the report for FoE here – and the corresponding scientific publication here).

This indicator set is based on earlier approaches such as Environmental Space, MIPS (Material Input per Service), TMR (Total Material Requirement) and so-called “Footprint” indicators and comprises indicators, which either already exist or are currently being developed.

In its new “Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe”, the European Commission adopts SERI’s suggestion for a set of indicators, which cover our use of materials, water, land area and the emissions of greenhouse gases.

To quote from the document (page 20/21): “The Commission proposes using, as a provisional lead indicator, resource productivity, measured by the ratio of GDP to Domestic Material Consumption (expressed in Euro/tonne). A higher ratio would indicate better performance, with growth consuming relatively fewer resources. This, however, only captures the material resources aspects and does not deal with other resources or the potential shift of burden across countries. Because this provisional lead indicator only gives a partial picture, it should be complemented by a ‘dashboard’ of indicators on water, land, materials and carbon and indicators that measure environmental impacts and our natural capital or ecosystems as well as seeking to take into account the global aspects of EU consumption.”

This marks a big success for our work in the area of indicator development and properly measuring our natural resource use. This also allows us to further push the EU debate towards achieving an absolute reduction of our resource use and its global environmental and social impacts.

On September 21st , Eva Burger presented results of the EVES project, which dealt with the ecological impacts of the last mile of groceries, textiles and electronic devices in Austria. Her second presentation on September 22nd concerned the project EcoFIT, which calculated the ecological footprint of a data centre to identify hot-spots of energy and resource use.

Additionally, two SERI projects were shown at the poster session. EcoChange, where the process of the Integrated Sustainabilty Assessment has been described, and KlimaNetz, which assesses the role of human and social capital in a changing climate.

Further information on presentations and posters you find here.

You can download Eva Burgers presentations here:

• EVES-project
• EcoFIT