[sustran] Sub Rosa Policy and Investment Message

[eric.britton at free.fr]

[Sub Rosa Policy and Investment Message 2:

Here we go again. "The calm voice of reason from world transport leaders". Or so
apparently it is. This piece appeared last summer and provides us with a second
example of the kind of controlled dialogues for which we need to be on the look
out. As you may recall from our rather vigorous critical reception of their 2004
report "Mobility 2030: Meeting the Challenges to Sustainability" (More on that
at http://www.newmobility.org <http://www.newmobility.org/> , and on the lower
left menu, Collaborative Initiatives, and then on the internal menu, bottom,
WBCSD on Sustainable <http://www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/general/wbcsd.htm>  Mobility),
the membership of this Sustainable Mobility group (when I last looked) included
major automobile and energy corporations, including BP, DaimlerChrysler, General
Motors, Michelin, Norsk Hydro, Renault, Shell and Toyota. And behind them of
course the full enlightened force of their industrial and financial leadership. 
What's the point here? That this analysis or that the views of the groups behind
the WBCSD are entirely wrong. That their voices can be automatically discounted.
No of course not.  It is just that leading supplier groups such as these who
have shaped the sector in the past, and intend to continue to do so in the
future, can at best provide us with many valuable competences, but that the
perspective and the counsel they can offer - itself firmly colored by their
interests of course - is not adequate for public policy and decision purposes.
So the point here, is that we need to be constantly vigilant to make sure that
these kinds of views are not allowed to dominate the critical decisions. Other
more balanced voices need to be heard. Every time!  So . . . how do we make this
happen?
Eric Britton

 

Sustainable Mobility in Asia 

Hong Kong, 8 August 2006 - In its Sustainable Mobility Project 2030
<http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=NjA5NA>
report, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development defines
Sustainable Mobility as "the ability to meet the needs of society to move
freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without
sacrificing other essential human or ecological values today and in the future."

With half the population in developing countries projected to live in urban
areas by 2030 and unprecedented freight levels due to growing world trade, huge
new demands are created for mobility. The spectacular economic growth of China
has been mirrored by the fastest growing motor vehicle fleet in the world: with
over 6 millions vehicles produced per year, at the current rate of growth, China
is poised to become the second largest market for motor vehicles in the world by
2030, second only to the United States. 

Undeniably, increased mobility creates great economic prosperity across the
region, lifting millions of people out of poverty and giving them access to
better services, job opportunities and education, as well as ensuring fast and
reliable freight of goods. At the same time it creates extreme social and
environmental pressures: traffic explosion results in increased road congestion,
growing noise nuisances, increased emissions of green house gases contributing
to global warming, and harmful atmospheric pollutants leading to respiratory and
heart diseases, record numbers of road accidents and injuries, etc. 

Despite the growing burden imposed on the population in terms of public health
and lost productivity, such "externalities" are difficult to quantify using
traditional economic models. This explains why adequate responses to these
problems are slow to measure up to the pace of growth. Hopefully the situation
should become more tolerable in future, as Asian countries progressively align
themselves toward cleaner fuels and emission standards and huge efforts are
consented to improve transport infrastructure and safety.

Market forces tend to respond faster to more tangible metrics such as oil
prices. Records prices of US$ 74 a barrel and beyond, are sending a message loud
and clear: it is time to break our dependence on oil and look for alternatives.
While governments across the region are tightening clean fuels and vehicles
emissions targets, as well as passing sweeping alternative energy laws spurring
investments and production capacities in renewable energy and bio-fuels, private
companies are looking for leaner and cleaner mobility solutions: Japanese
automakers Toyota and Honda were first to develop fuel-efficient Internal
Combustion Engine (ICE) - Electric Hybrid car and are already working around the
clock on the next generation of Fuel Cells (FC) and FC Hybrid powered vehicles,
distribution giant Wall Mart is setting up networks of experts to tackle their
critically important Global Logistics value initiative, and the list goes on.

Are these solutions truly sustainable? 

Preserving access to equitable mobility opportunities will be one of the
greatest challenges of the 21st century. Our modern economies rely on complex
global logistics systems: fast moving goods and people are an integral part of
today's value creation chains. All over the world public and private operators
are studying ways to improve the availability, reliability and safety of our
transportation and logistics infrastructure, in view of meeting rising demand
from domestic and global world trade, while lowering fuel costs and improving
the industry's resources efficiency and environmental footprint, through
advanced standardization of storage and handling practices, sophisticated data
acquisition and information systems, reverse supply chain analysis, etc.

Since the late 80s we have seen a very significant shift towards intangible
value creation thanks to the power of Information and Communication
Technologies. However virtual flows of capital, data and ideas cannot replace
physical flows of people and tangible goods. Therefore safe and reliable
transportation and logistics will remain high on the political and business
agendas, as mounting fuel costs weigh heavily on global trade of commodities,
goods and materials.

Everybody recognizes that mobility is an essential part of society. The global
challenge for the shipping and transport industry is that transport needs to
become: more efficient and equitable, as well as less dependent on non-renewable
sources of energy, and less disruptive, both socially and environmentally, while
still being affordable. 

Current mobility trends however are unsustainable, which means that the growing
worldwide demand for transportation cannot be met simply by expanding today's
means of transportation. 

The complex challenges involved require not only an array of novel lean and
clean technologies or sophisticated information systems and tools, but also a
carefully engineered balance between economic growth, environmental improvement
and social progress simultaneously.

Article by Christophe Bongars, Founder and Executive Director of SustainAsia Ltd
and Vice Chair of the sustainable Development Committee, the French Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in Hong Kong.

This article is reproduced with kind permission of SustainAsia
<http://www.sustainasia.com> R. 
SustainAsiaR is a multi-disciplinary consultancy whose mission is to imagine and
facilitate clean and sustainable solutions towards long term business
objectives, in balance with people's needs and the environment.

For further information about SustainAsiaR, please visit www.sustainasia.com

 

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