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Finding Common Ground on Water in Louisiana

May 14, 2013 in Noteworthy, Water

Participants of the Louisiana Water Synergy Project met Monday, May 6th at Loyola University, New Orleans.

As many participants come from different sectors of industry but face similar challenges regarding water quality and quantity issues, collaborative thinking led to creative actions to address those challenges. For example, a user of traditional water treatment shared that monitoring dissolved oxygen levels in their mixing tanks helped reduce Nitrogen output, while those experienced with using wetlands as a natural nutrient and sediment removal process extolled the nutrient-cleaning benefits of their approach. Despite different approaches to treatment, both expressed interest in nutrient credit trading.

Dr. Gerard Learmonth of the University of Virginia showcased the UVA Chesapeake Bay Game. The game allows players to take on the role of a farmer, waterman, land developer, or a regulator and make land management decisions. These decisions produce true-to-life results enumerated in a Bay health grade, Nitrogen levels, and wildlife subsistence, as well as giving a profit and loss report. After playing a round of the game under different roles, Dr. Learmonth explained the process of designing a watershed collaboration tool for Louisiana. Discussion ensued regarding who the stakeholders would be, what environmental factors would be included, and where the requisite data would come from.

Dr. Mark Davis of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy highlighted the urgency of making proactive water management decisions in his presentation on the Mississippi River and the state of water law across the United States. Dr. Davis challenged meeting attendees to recognize how much water they use, how much they have, and how much they have to share as freshwater becomes an increasingly sought-after resource.

This meeting is an example of how the Louisiana Water Synergy Project brings together representatives from multiple industries to create a forum for regional collaboration to address water quality, quantity, and storm water challenges in southern Louisiana. Collaboration opportunities have already been identified regarding water reuse, use of wetlands for water quality improvement, and water transfer strategies. This project will be used as a format to be replicated in other regions, as water is a rising topic of concern in the US and around the globe.

Want to get involved? Plan to join us next at Action 2020 at Yale University, July 17-18, 2013 in New Haven, CT. More information coming soon.

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Accelerating Sustainable Solutions through Transformative Business Education

May 9, 2013 in By-Product Synergy, Ecosystem Services, Energy Efficiency, Water

The US BCSD, WBCSD, and deans and professors from Yale School of Management and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies met last week to accelerate sustainable solutions through business education. This partnership opportunity aligns the WBCSD global business community, its Regional Network, and the Global Network for Advanced Management to pursue co-development of transformative business education, extensive research opportunities, and regional project collaboration.

In the complex world of scaling up business solutions to sustainability, top universities, particularly business and management schools, have a key role to play in educating the leaders of today and tomorrow. Partnership with the WBCSD provides access to senior executives of companies who are at the forefront of corporate sustainable innovation and practices, and equally important, access to its Regional Network which provides regionally specific insights on corporate sustainability project opportunities and barriers.

The Global Network for Advanced Management brings together 23 universities from 23 countries of varying regions, cultures, and economies in different phases of development. The coalition of universities work together on four key goal challenges, one of which is sustainability. Students from participating schools travel for a week of intensive study organized around a theme, company visits, and networking. Geographically, 20 of the 23 universities are located in countries with strong WBCSD Regional Network affiliates.

By partnering with a university consortium like the Global Network for Advanced Management that shares our sense of urgency on sustainability, we’re providing our members with a groundbreaking new opportunity create innovative sustainability solutions and foster the appropriate framework conditions to bring them to scale.

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Business outlines a Smarter, More Sustainable Water Management Approach

April 17, 2013 in Publications, Water

A changing climate with more frequent extreme weather events requires today’s businesses to plan for an unpredictable and inconsistent water supply via more sophisticated water management practices, according to a new report released on April 15th by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The report, Sharing Water: Engaging Business, emphasizes the crucial role of business in ensuring responsible management of water resources and encourages greater collaboration across sectors. The report finds that leading companies have begun shifting their perspective beyond merely managing operational water use to becoming more conscious of how corporate actions impact local and regional water resources and, conversely, how water resources and watersheds impact business.

The US BCSD’s Louisiana Water Synergy Project is featured as an example of community and stakeholder engagement in the New Orleans to Baton Rouge Mississippi River Corridor.

“Increasing global demand and the impacts of climate change are placing unprecedented strain on freshwater resources,” said WBCSD President Peter Bakker. “In order to ensure a viable business future, companies are calling for collective management and collaboration at the watershed level to ensure continued access to water supplies among competing demands.”

Visit the WBCSD’s website for more information.

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US BCSD Winter Meeting 2013 Recap

April 1, 2013 in By-Product Synergy, Ecosystem Services, Energy Efficiency, Noteworthy, Water

US BCSD members and other sustainability experts came from around the country to the University of Texas at Austin to grapple with the complexities of scaling up solutions to Vision 2050 through collaborative learning and real, actionable regional projects.

The US BCSD Winter Meeting was unique this year in its diverse assembly of participants, creating a rare opportunity for sustainability professionals from multiple industries to collaborate and learn alongside cutting edge researchers and federal, state and local policymakers. A number of highly actionable outcomes were created as a result.

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Thanks for Coming: Winter Meeting 2013

February 14, 2013 in By-Product Synergy, Ecosystem Services, Energy, Water

Special thanks to all our members and colleagues who made the trip down to Austin, TX for our Winter Meeting 2013. Look for meeting notes and presentations to be posted later next week, and keep an eye out for specific follow-ups from our staff shortly.

Please mark your calendars for our Summer Meeting at Yale University in New Haven, CT – scheduled for July 17-18, 2013. We’ll send more information as it becomes available.

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Scale up Solutions: Winter Meeting 2013

December 6, 2012 in By-Product Synergy, Ecosystem Services, Energy Efficiency, Noteworthy, Water

Join us this February 6-7, 2013 for our Winter Meeting in Austin, Texas. Collaborate, share, and build strategies with US BCSD members and other sustainability experts to tackle sustainable development challenges impacting your business. Grapple with the complexities of scaling up solutions to Vision 2050 through collective learning and real, actionable regional projects in the US. Join together here to learn from one another and apply our collective expertise in groundbreaking new ways.

Click here to visit our meeting website, and register today.

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Operationalizing Vision 2050: First Quarter Report

October 15, 2012 in By-Product Synergy, Ecosystem Services, Energy Efficiency, Noteworthy, Water

On June 27-28, 2012, US BCSD and WBCSD members, government, academic, NGO, and other sustainability thought leaders gathered at Yale University’s Center for Business and the Environment to define directions to reach a sustainable world in which nine billion people can live well and within the planet’s resources by 2050.

Meeting attendees worked on partnerships, synergies and projects that combined US BCSD regional implementation strategies with the WBCSD’s global business solutions, using the framework of the WBCSD’s Vision 2050 sustainability pathway. Attendees discussed examples of successful activities already under way to achieve Vision 2050 “must haves” and sought out ways to help articulate, acknowledge and scale those activities. They then joined forces in an innovation workshop aimed at seeking out and encouraging step changes towards the Vision 2050 in the US.

Organized under four Vision 2050 focus areas, below are updates from regional US BCSD projects, new developments from the WBCSD work program, and member case studies from around the US.

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Gulf Coast Leaders Urge End to “Constant Storm”

September 13, 2012 in Water

America’s WETLAND Foundation releases “Beyond Unintended Consequences,” providing the Gulf region a strong, unified voice in calling for action.

Urgent federal action, innovation and cooperation among Gulf Coast states is critically needed to fight off the constant storm that threatens the region’s $2.4 trillion combined Gross Domestic Product and the nation’s energy security.

The America’s WETLAND Foundation (AWF) today released a new report, “Beyond Unintended Consequences: Adaptation for Gulf Coast Resiliency and Sustainability,” that offers 30 recommendations for Gulf Coast sustainability based on research and testimony from a series of leadership forums held in 11 communities from Texas to Florida during a 14-month period in 2011 and 2012. AWF’s “BLUE RIBBON RESILIENT COMMUNITIES: Envisioning the Future of America’s Energy Coast” initiative brought together policymakers and stakeholders from environment, business, government, NGOs and other sectors to outline a roadmap for a more resilient coast.

“The observations, testimony, research, honest dialogue and desire to reach consensus on critical issues resulted in a remarkable report that represents the voice of the Gulf Coast,” said AWF Chairman R. King Milling at a Washington, D.C. press conference, when the report was officially released. “Instead of looking at the big picture and implementing a vision for long-term sustainability, the nation for too long has reacted to natural and man-made disasters alike with piecemeal, short-term fixes. The cost to the taxpayer for this reactive thinking has been tens of billions of dollars over the past decade, with little or no effort to address the cause of the problem to be found in these expenditures.”

The report’s recommendations fall into five distinct categories:

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EPA Awards $100,000 to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to Reduce Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

August 8, 2012 in Press, Water

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) $100,000 to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. This area in the northern Gulf of Mexico is known as the ‘dead zone.’ The funds will be used to develop a statewide nutrient reduction strategy for Louisiana which adopts strategic elements identified in action plans of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance and the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force.

Hypoxia means low oxygen and is primarily a problem in coastal waters. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is an area of hypoxic waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Its area varies in size, but can cover up to 6,000 to 7,000 square miles. The zone occurs between the inner and mid-continental shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico, beginning at the Mississippi River delta and extending westward to the upper Texas coast. The dead zone is caused by nutrient enrichment from the Mississippi River, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous.

Because of the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the Louisiana Legislature restructured the state’s Wetland Conservation and Restoration Authority to form the CPRA. The CPRA is the single state entity with authority to articulate a clear statement of priorities and to focus development and implementation efforts to achieve comprehensive coastal protection for Louisiana.

Additional Information on EPA grants is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm, and more about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

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Spring Meeting 2012: Collaborate Today, Change Tomorrow

July 20, 2012 in By-Product Synergy, Ecosystem Services, Energy Efficiency, Noteworthy, Press, Water

What’s helping us achieve a sustainable world and how do we scale it, brought close to 100 US BCSD and WBCSD members, government, academic and NGO colleagues, and other sustainability thought leaders to Yale University’s Center for Business and the Environment on June 27-28, 2012. The working agenda stressed collaboration first and foremost in defining directions to reach a sustainable world in which nine billion people can live well and within the planet’s resources by 2050.

Meeting attendees worked on partnerships, synergies and productive work outcomes that combined US BCSD regional implementation strategies with the WBCSD’s global Vision 2050 sustainability pathway. Over two days, attendees discussed examples of successful activities already under way to achieve Vision 2050 “must haves” and sought out ways to help articulate, acknowledge and scale those activities. They then joined forces in an innovation workshop aimed at seeking out and encouraging step changes towards the Vision 2050 in the US. Interspersed in this engaging group discussion were presentations and panels from sustainability thought leaders focusing on new financing mechanisms, organizational design, new collaboration opportunities, and examples of groundbreaking innovations highlighted in the breakout group pages below.

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