And  the new beginning of human existence.

The current farmers’ protests in Germany show once again that climate protection is being pitted against the protection of human interests, such as the basic supply of food. And of course we know the arguments we use to promote climate-friendly agriculture and animal welfare. Nevertheless, the argument that climate protection is not human protection subtly catches on. So there is reason to explore this metaphor. Because only if we understand why the supposed opposition between nature and culture (humans as cultural beings) is so effective can we begin to give it an appropriate response. To do this, we can look to the bestselling author Philipp Blom. In “The Subjugation”, Blom has taken a look at the major shift in the paradigm of human domination over nature that has been documented for over 3500 years of culture . As a historian and philosopher based in Vienna, he takes us on a 368-page journey through history to explore the paradigm of “human domination”, which in the global North is often linked to the Bible’s Genesis 1:28 with God’s call for us to multiply and subdue the earth, not least with our way of doing business. Blom shows us that we also find this understanding in other world religions and cultures. And it brings with it mechanisms that should lead to a cleansing of those who think differently. He describes the “ethic clensing mechanism” and derives from it the great cognitive difficulties of not thinking systemic connections, climate change and nature as such in conflict with our culture as a result of new scientific findings.

The wonderful argumentative derivation that ONLY the belief or conviction in the dominance of man on earth could lead to a lasting conflict between nature and culture then somehow relieved me. As a politician, especially as Green Minister for Economic Affairs, I have been repeatedly confronted with the arguments that I would not be acting in a humane manner if nature and climate issues were prioritized. The tremendous force and the entanglement of this argument always amazed me. It shocks and leaves me completely stunned. However, Blom helps me to better understand the cultural programming of this human hubris. This is the only way we can confront it.

One aid is to remember Humboldt and his life’s work, whose task was to describe the world as a whole and to grasp his work as a cosmos. This brings us to systems thinking, systems analysis or systems management, and we can ask ourselves which system we ourselves embody? Blom succinctly summarizes that our body is also just a “symbiotic biological event horizon with an inner puppet theater” that replaces the old Adam. He thus describes how our “experiencing self” is just a body determined by billions of microorganisms with their own genetics. The question of whether our experience, our consciousness and our horizon of desire and pleasure or pain is only one aspect of the symbiosis of many thousands of species almost answers the cultural goal of the hubris of human domination. For this demands eternal life.

The realization of this impossibility has a price. The price of the radical thinking of man as a being that is inescapably entangled with the existence of all other living beings on this planet. Blom does not write that freedom is therefore perhaps only an illusion. But the question is unspoken on the table.

The description of the human image of Homo Circularis, which could provide an answer to the understanding with which we like to live, probably in the knowledge of being unfree, points us in the right direction. We would therefore like to refer to it once again:

Homo Circularis – an evolution

Circular consumption – what distinguishes prosumers from stewards

Der Beitrag Literature tip – The subjugation by Philipp Blom erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

For the more than 20 companies, this is an ambitious goal. However, Dr. Nico Wenz from the Darmstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who is overseeing the initiative, is confident that the goal can be achieved together. The experience of the last 5 years with the predecessor network in Südhessen, which was able to implement 50 measures for energy efficiency and climate protection, confirms the expectations.

After the easy to realize climate protection measures in Südhessen could already be implemented to a large extent, it is now the challenge to tackle the more difficult tasks that require more effort. The Darmstadt Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports companies with this network by enabling them to learn from good examples. With an impulse lecture on Circular Value Creation, it was a great concern of mine to bring the Circular Economy as the Neo-Economy for the Post-Anthropocene into the focus of entrepreneurs for this purpose.

A new feature is the platform-based website where good examples can be posted  Companies outside the network can also enter their projects in this “Quickfinder to your climate and energy efficiency solution” – and of course find solutions.

The nationwide Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Network initiative is structured quite differently in the German states. In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, the Efficiency Network Rhineland-Palatinate, a central, interdisciplinary and non-commercial information and consulting platform, is based at the State Office for the Environment. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Effizienz-Agentur NRW (Efficiency Agency NRW), commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment, offers a comprehensive range of services for identifying potential savings in raw material and energy consumption, particularly for manufacturing companies.

So there are many places to go for support in climate protection, so that clear goals also lead to measurable results and we can perhaps put the brakes on climate change after all.

Der Beitrag ETA-Plus Südhessen: Clear CO2 reduction targets set erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Climate protection and adaptation are central tasks of the municipalities. In order to be able to perform these tasks, the municipality needs citizens who are committed to community, familiarize themselves with the background and know how to protect and adapt in their personal environment.

WWF Germany and the Helmholtz Research Association for Regional Climate Change (REKLIM) developed this course, and the project is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Klaus Tschira Foundation. Successful participation is awarded a certificate at the end of the course.

From March to June 2021, this course will take place at the Ahrweiler District Adult Education Center. The cooperation with the Umweltlernschule+ of the Ahrweiler district waste management company as an extracurricular learning location enables the use of the training room in the innovative wooden building, which is designed as a “minimum impact house”. That makes climate protection a real experience. Course leader Eveline Lemke looks forward to the course and the participants with excitement. For her, it is a first step towards establishing a Climate Hub at the Umweltlernschule+, which offers active and interested parties in the district and beyond a platform. Networking, information, knowledge platform or events – the offer options in the Climate Hub are diverse and can be continuously developed so that climate protection in the Ahrweiler district begins right on the doorstep.

Find the course offer at the KVHS Ahrweiler here.

More information here.

Der Beitrag Climate change on our doorstep! What can I do? – #klimafit erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

The GRC is a conference, where experts from all over the world meet the most important technologies, trends, developments and best practice cases from the entire retreading industry.

Retreading is climate protection

While global voices for sustainability become even louder, at the same time the circular approach of retreading tires is at its tipping point. A tremendous flood of cheap Chinese tires is weakening an industry so valuable in times of climate change. An industry that is related to 368,980 jobs⁵. To build a resilient retreading industry, it needs a political framework that supports the recovery and vitality of the market.

How we can do this is of high importance. Looking at the numbers, the retreading industry reveals a high potential of climate protection.

Looking at a perspective scenario for consumer tires, the numbers easily go up. While the market volume for trucks to be replaced in 2019 is about 12 million⁶, the volume for passenger vehicles reaches almost 220 million⁶. Assuming that every second car would use retreaded tires, we would not save one Million Ton CO2, but 13 Million Tons⁴.

Our goal is to contribute to EU Commissions Green Deal by innovating the tire industry through circular economy. Retreading is climate protection!

What is the EU commission doing to help the tire industry close the loop? How can we green tire industry together? To get rid of these questions and sound out the answers, the following program is announced. We would be happy to meet you at the GRC Tuesday, June 9^th, 2020 at “The Tire Cologne”.

One question at the end: spring is coming, did you already fit your tires?  Will you retread your summer tires?

Moderated by

Eveline Lemke (Thinking Circular®, Minister of State o.d.)

Michael Schwämmlein (Managing Director Technology at BIPAVER)

Sources:

¹ EY 2016, p. 3, 14., ² Michelin 2015, p. 16., ³ Marangoni 2015, p. 16., ⁴ Calculation based on Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie Wien 2006, p. 49, 109., ⁵ European Tire and Rubber Manufacturers Association 2019, Statistics Edition, p. 7, 16, 22, 24, 32, 35, 36., ⁶ ETRMA Press Release 21.01.2020.

Der Beitrag Greening tire future erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

The principal assumption of the stakeholder economy is, that every company that wants to prosper over time, must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Consequently companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate.

But where do we go from here? How can public interest be built into economic organizations?  Workers could be on boards to represent their interests, but what about the rest of the community? How can we incorporate environmental and social purpose into corporations?

As the concept takes an anthropocentric perspective, while some groups like the general public may be recognized as stakeholders others remain excluded. Such a perspective does not give plants and animals or even soil and natural raw materials a voice as stakeholders, but only an instrumental value in relation to human groups or individuals.   

Basic economics shows that the planet cannot carry our linear production path any longer. The circular economy represents a significant opportunity, as well as a challenge, for all of us. As the consequences of our current production model are becoming increasingly evident, the circular economy proposes a radically different way of thinking about economic activity: a way that also safeguards economic prosperity in the long term. By laying down the economics behind a circular model, it provides the theoretical foundation to further explore the conditions for increased prosperity and care for the environment.   

By re-organizing our economy along the principles of our global life support system, that is the ecosystem of planet earth, the circular economy enables us a continuous cycle of value creation, where nothing is wasted and economic, social and environmental value creation is optimized.

Circularity and systemic thinking challenge our current way of thinking and spurs us into action. It encourages us, whether in government, business or civil society, to develop circular strategies  and acknowledging our interdependence for system change.

Circularity@Davos

This week Business leaders, politicians and leading academics will meet with environmental activists to discuss business and sustainability at the World Economic Forum’s 50th annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Over the years it has changed from an elite gathering of Western entrepreneurs and industrialists to discuss business deals to a much broader platform for the global community to draw attention to issues like poverty and the environment, and to lobby their leaders for real change. It seems the global business community is gradually beginning to understand that there has been a serious problem in our shared perspective on climate change – namely, the notion that environmental and business interests are intrinsically at odds with one another.

A new report published by WEF has revealed that more than half of the global economy – some $44 trillion – is at risk because of climate change. Industries such as construction, agriculture and the food and beverages sector all depend on the sustainability of natural resources to remain profitable. In short, global warming is bad for the planet, but it is also bad for business. World leaders must understand that the gross domestic product of their nations is inextricably linked to nature, and businesses must acknowledge that they have a vested interest in promoting sustainability.

The World Economic Forum must become the stage for conversations that concern all people, their livelihoods and their well-being. Such conversations, when had in earnest, can give rise to genuine and rapid shifts in mind-set. Climate change, the tremendous loss of natural land, the poisoning of the sea, and the dramatic exploitation of the planet’s natural resources are no longer an abstract problem waiting to affect us in a distant future.

Ignoring this accelerating destruction of the planet is no longer a profitable option – neither for the world economy, nor for private businesses and certainly not for the health of the planet and for the people, animals and plants that live on earth. At Davos, businesses must think beyond the extent to which their balance sheets are red or black. They must be green.

Systems thinking ensures safeguard of the future. We create awareness for Circular Economy and Circular Engineering in society, the economy and politics.

Author: Dr. Hans Meves

Der Beitrag Stakeholder Economy erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Since the first edition of the GSR in 2005, REN21 has continuously expanded its reporting. To highlight regional trends, REN21 has developed a Regional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report series and is now including reporting on renewable energy development in cities, considering the crucial involvement of cities in the energy transition and the existing data gap.

The new report series, Renewables in Cities 2019 Global Status Report, builds on the success of the Renewables Global Status Report and focuses specifically on the state of renewables in cities around the world and on the role of local action in the renewable energy transition. It looks at trends and developments of renewable energy in cities and its associated benefits, including impacts on air pollution, energy security and access, and socio-economic issues. This publication will help improve understanding of cities’ role in the energy transition, increase visibility for local action and showcase effective policies, finance and business models to inform decisions.

Find the full report hier.

Der Beitrag Good decisions require good information erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Speakers at the VPP-Event (left to right): Achim Schröder, EFA-S, Reinhardt Ritter, EFA-S, Hartmut Bauer, EGS, Robert Domina, Huss Verlag, Robert Orten, Rolf Meyer, Meyer & Meyer Gruppe, Wolfgang Wüllhorst, BSR, Eveline Lemke, Thinking Circular, Erich Kielhorn, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Abhay Firodia, Force Motors Ltd., Frank Müller, BV eMobilität

The climate protection package just announced by the Federal Government mobilizes innovations. An order increase of 70% in the electric retrofit of diesel commercial vehicles in the back had loaded the ORTEN Group for a VPP-Event to Bernkastel-Kues. Customers and suppliers of the group have come together to shed light on the next steps towards the electrification of commercial vehicles. The approximately 100 participating experts discussed the current opportunities and related measures as well as technologies and financing issues.

Retrofit – a new life for old diesel trucks

With about 350 million euros in sales by 2025 and around 120 employees, the ORTEN Group wants to grow once again by 20%, because electric mobility is booming. With ORTEN ELECTRIC TRUCKS, the Orten Group is growing into high technology and with the Retrofit process, in which trucks are converted to electric drives, they contribute to material protection. The circular idea of ​​the procedure secures raw materials. In times of disposable mentality, this is an ingenious technical evolution of the lifespan of capital goods that serve us every day. At ORTEN, the Berlin, Frankfurt or Lüneburg municipal utilities are buying in, managing the huge vehicle fleet with various commercial vehicles. Since the announcement of the German government in the climate package that municipalities should decide how they want to regulate the emission protection in their cities, it is the public societies in particular that it is urgent time to switch to emission-free technologies. All in all, the logistics industry has to be prepared for the hard times in the cities. Not only nitrogen oxides, fine dust or noise are addressed problem emissions, but also the management of traffic in crowded streets poses a challenge for the logistics industry.

Overall, the tenor of the industry concerned was that the promotion of charging infrastructure will not be enough. Furthermore, even Forschungszentrum Jülich was not able to say when the next funding for innovation will open. Even if the words of the Federal Government in the direction of climate protection sound benevolent, concrete measures for innovations on the way to e-mobility do not exist.

Doubts about the seriousness of the goals

Colleagues from India are closely monitoring the development of e-mobility in Germany, says the leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles, Dr. Firodia from Force Motors at ORTEN.

The Federal Government has set itself the task of increasing the acceptance of electromobility by promoting the purchase of electric cars. Thus, the already known target corridor of 7 to 10 million registered electric vehicles was adopted by 2030 in the climate protection program. Only the participants of the VPP event do not want to believe this target corridor.

In addition, the Passenger Transportation Act is to be amended in such a way that “states and municipalities can set emission requirements for buses, taxis and rental cars”. It would therefore be conceivable that large cities such as Berlin or Hamburg from a certain deadline only grant an operating license to electric vehicles of this kind. Furthermore, the “modernization and climate-friendly conversion of bus fleets” should continue and, in particular, the promotion of buses with electric and fuel cell propulsion be strengthened. Unfortunately, the paper of the Federal Government is not more concrete. Again, there are doubts in the ORTEN Group and the guests.

How the CO2 reduction in truck traffic is to be achieved by 2030 by “about one-third of the travel in heavy road freight transport electrically or on the basis of electricity-based fuels” remained completely unknown to the participants in the event.

One thing, however, is clear to all. Anyone who does not invest today and goes along with the electrification will no longer play a role in the market tomorrow.

Der Beitrag Electrification of commercial vehicles – climate protection with obstacles erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

The result of the European parliamentarian election has shown: The young generation expects action in climate protection. And we carry responsibility for the next generation. Future is a privilege. It’s the privilege of the young generation. So how do incineration managers answer to the young voters? 14 million tonnes of carbon are exposed to climate, each year. Wouldn’t this be a good act of climate protection to take the incinerators off grid?

We live in heated times. Not only to be spoken for climate questions. Greta Thunberg has started the “Friday for Future” movement and this is just one group that puts pressure on the incinerators. The EU commission has started strategic taxonomy for sustainable investments. This means that there will be no funding for waste-to-energy plants in the future any more. Let’s have a view on the end of incineration:

Five trends and five points to make:

Trend number one: The green transformation can’t be stopped, but innovators should take part in it!

The incineration can be part of the transformation and has already been part of the green transformation process. The main object was to extract poison from the environment by burning it safely. A world-wide ban of land-fills is overdue. Today we know that depositing wastes in land-fills will cause factor 23 more  gases driving climate change. But we can see many countries that shut down for imports of wastes, like China or Malaysia. The now send back that garbage to the countries of origin. This causes work for the incinerators. Actually they have a lot of material to burn. Also the obligation for SME and all companies to collect and handle wastes properly has driven the amount of waste for incinerators to fire. Here we can clearly see the work for innovationsmanagers of the Circular Economy.

In general times are heated up: global policies, globalisation and takes over old colonial powers and causes additional conflicts. New Monopols or Oligopols are driven by heterogene and periodical processes of restructure. The new modernism is constantly disruptive.  Disruption is not only caused by policy makers but also by technology.  How to manage innovation successfully has to be answered and can be answered using tools of systems thinking and scenario planning.

Let’s follow Kontratieff’s thoughts on the long economic waves caused by technological changes. Innovations like electricity, trains, telecommunication and others have driven developments.  Green technologies are already driving global growth markets, but haven’t been in the focus of beging innovation factors. The economic perspective can be sharpened here.   People are already noticing that these technologies are changing their every day lives to the good or better. As a result the political green movement is growing.

Read more.

Der Beitrag Dissolved? The end of incineration is near… erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.

Rheinland-Pflaz was the only German state example cited in the comprehensive report of IRENA “Coalition action”. The international alliance, which is affiliated to IRENA, is growing steadily and now has more than 80 leading players in renewable energies as members: Industrial associations, private sector companies, Civil society, Research institutes and Non-governmental organisations.

“In Rheinland-Pflaz, this was achieved, which would actually have to happen in the whole of Germany: We have set a binding road map for complete transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. If this is now internationally recognised, we can be proud of it”, said Eveline Lemke, former Minister for Economic Affairs, Climate Protection and Energy, who during her time made a significant contribution to advance the energy turnaround and initiated the State Climate Protection Act 2014.

Read more.

Find the report here.

Der Beitrag Rheinland-Pfalz as a global role model for the energy system transformation towards 100% renewable energy erschien zuerst auf Thinking Circular.