SERI InfoMail

Dear friends and colleagues,

welcome to the 1st edition of SERI's InfoMail in 2010!

Find the past editions of our InfoMail on www.seri.at/infomail

SERI Highlight

SERI News

SERI published guide on environmental and social indicators
The guide, written by six SERI scientists, provides a quick, hands-on overview of selected environmental and social indicators for Civil Society Organisations to measure sustainable consumption and production. Indicators are valuable tools for Civil Society Organisations in order to achieve their targets as they create a sense of precision and attract interest making. Details

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A new Eco-innovation policy for Europe
Friedrich Hinterberger takes part in a Stakeholders Consultation on the Environmental Technologies Action Plan organized by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION, DG ENVIRONMENT and DG RESEARCH to discuss a future EU Eco innovation Action Plan. Details

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International workshop on “Material Use Indicators” in Berlin
The German government intends to assess the applicability of indicators measuring the use of resources by the German economy. At the workshop, new studies further developing resource use indicators are represented and participants will elaborate suggestions for further use and development of these indicators. The results of the workshop will improve the existing monitoring of progress towards sustainability in pursuit of the German national strategy for sustainable development, in particular regarding the objective to increase the raw material productivity of the German economy.

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“Geld.Macht.Glücklich”
Friedrich Hinterberger attended the 8th Austrian Armutskonferenz (poverty conference) in Salzburg. His 2-page input to a discussion forum on “a good life for all” (in German language) can be downloaded here.

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For further information about SERI projects please go to www.seri.at/news

SERI Projects

Focusgroup in "Lebensklima"
This project is surveying the relationship between lifestyles and climate change in the context of regional case studies. One of the case studies is running in Gmunden. On 22.1. the first focus group took place, moderated by our partner RRM.
The aim of this workshop was to discuss the resource use of the 4 life style groups used in Lebensklima and to allow the participants to categorize themselves according to these groups. More than 20 "Gmundner" participated, about one third of them being below 20. The next steps will be analysing the interviews and examining the links between lifestyles and resource use based on the interview data and the focus group. For more information, contact Ines Omann.

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What’s the footprint of the EU on the Arctic?
In the course of the project “Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment”, which started in February with a kick-off meeting at the European Commission, SERI analyses the ecological and socio-economic impacts of the EU on the Arctic. Furthermore, the work of the international team of researches participating in the study aims to improve the effectiveness of EU environmental policies with respect to the Arctic region. Details

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Establishing thresholds and indicators for environmental sustainability
SERI is doing a study to help the European Commission (DG Environment) identify a set of thresholds as well as specific indicators useful for monitoring unsustainable trends caused by human activity that could lead to tipping-point phenomena. Details

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SERI calculated carbon rucksacks of the Austrian foreign trade
In order to assess the global impacts of a climate change policy international trade has to be considered. We, therefore, calculated the CO2 emissions embodied in the Austrian exports and imports for the period of 1995 to 2005 based on the Global Resource Accounting Model (GRAM), and derived consumption-based emission accounts and trade balances, rather than mere emissions caused by domestic production, as accounted for by ordinary CO2 accounts like these used within the Kyoto Protocol. Details

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New project for Eurostat on water and energy accounting methods
SERI develops water and energy accounting methods for Eurostat, leading a highly qualified consortium in this 2-years project and providing assistance to the methodological development of water and energy accounts. Details

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New report on interlinkages between sustainability indicators (INDI-LINK)
The final report of the INDI-LINK project (Indicator-based evaluation of interlinkages between different sustainable development objectives) has been published by Stefan Giljum and Christine Polzin. The reports shows how the project team developed and improved indicators for sustainable development in the EU and assessed the interlinkages between different priorities of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS). It also summarises the most important policy conclusions for future sustainable development. Details

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Find out if and how people across Europe perceive biodiversity loss!
The report “Perceiving biodiversity changes in daily life – insights from an exploratory survey across Europe”, published in “ecomont – Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research”, focuses on results from an exploratory survey in eight sites across Europe, targeted at ordinary citizens, to determine whether biodiversity changes are perceived in daily life, and, if so, whether the views derived from these perceptions coincide with the discourse about global loss of biodiversity.
Details

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For further information about SERI projects please go to www.seri.at/projects Über 550 TeilnehmerInnen kommen zur Konferenz „Wachstum im Wandel“
Die von 28. bis 29. Jänner 2010 statt findende internationale Konferenz, mit dem Titel „Wachstum im Wandel“ in der Aula der Wissenschaften in Wien dreht sich um  Alternativen zu einem rein auf quantitativem Wachstum basierendem Wirtschaftssystem. Details

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SERI untersucht die volkswirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen einer anhaltenden Wachstumsschwäche in Österreich
In einem vom Wissenschafts-, Umwelt- und Sozialministerium geförderten Projekt erarbeitet SERI gemeinsam mit der Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftliche Strukturforschung (GWS) erste Lösungsvorschläge, die nicht auf einem stetigen Wirtschaftswachstum aufbauen. Es geht vielmehr um die Frage, wie das Wirtschaftssystem umgestaltet werden kann, um eine nachhaltige Entwicklung zu ermöglichen und die Lebensqualität der Menschen zu erhöhen. Details

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Workshop „Volkswirtschaftliche Auswirkungen eines nachhaltigen Energiekonsums (e-co)“
Welche Auswirkungen hat ein nachhaltiger Energiekonsum auf Wirtschaft, Umwelt und Gesellschaft? Mit welchen Technologien, Strategien und Maßnahmen können die aktuellen energie- und klimapolitischen Ziele Österreichs erreicht werden?

Diese und andere ähnliche Fragen beantworten wir zurzeit im Rahmen des Projektes „Volkswirtschaftliche Auswirkungen eines nachhaltigen Energiekonsums (e-co)“. Dazu wurden drei Energieszenarien mit dem integrierten Umwelt-Energie-Wirtschaft-Modell e3.at modelliert und analysiert. Details

Publications

New article: Raw Material Equivalents of International Trade
This new article, co-authored by Stefan Giljum and published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, estimates the material flows required along the whole production chains of imports and exports for selected Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico.
The results support SERIs demand to use comprehensive resource use indicators (including ecological rucksacks) to evaluate global resource flows and resource consumption of countries and world regions. Details

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New publication: Climate change as a threat to biodiversity
Ines Omann, Andrea Stocker and Jill Jäger published an article in the  Special Section: The DPSIR framework for Biodiversity Assessment of the Ecological Economics Journal. The new publication “Climate change as a threat to biodiversity: An application of the DPSIR approach” is a result of the Alarm project (Assessing large scale environmental risks for biodiversity with tested methods). Details

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