green economy and ethical challenges
TRANSCRIPT
TIØ 4261 - Grønn verdiskaping og etiske perspektiverGreen economy
and ethical challengesTekna’s Ethical Advisory Board 2015
Svein Nordenson
Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
Ethics and efficient decision-making
Leif Runar Forsth Dr. ing. and management philosopherto Magasinet Tekna no. 2 in 2012
“If you have a well-founded set of values it is easier to know what will be right for you when you come to make difficult decisions that affect others. You will be able to make better decisions, more quickly, allowing you to be more efficient as a manager.”
See also: www.ipo.no 2Teknas Etiske råd januar 2015/jmr
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Some general ethical principles
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William Brett, Lord Esher(1817-1899)
duty of care,
The PrecautionaryPrinciple
There is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk even if it is not full scientific consensus about that risk.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
The categorical imperative
John Locke(1632-1704)
The responsibility for future generations We ought to leave the earth in a
condition so that future generations will have at least the same freedom of choice as we have.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.
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Easy to do ethical test: The Tekna version
As a memeber of Tekna you must be able to stand by your decisions. They must stand up to ethical scrutiny, to enable you to determine, in advance, whether your decisions:• are lawful,• are fair in the way they effect the people concerned,• have negative consequences for individuals, the
environment or Society,• will withstand public scrutiny.
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Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
My agenda further on for today
• Ethics as a matter of perspective • Case on perspectives on human rights• Business and economy as an ethical
challenge• Case on inequality as a challenge• Sum up …
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Perspectives on ethics(Ethics of the practical life)
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• Student ethics• Research ethics• Ethics of Management• Ethics of Professionals
(Engineers, Economists, Lawyers etc)• Ethics of the Working Environment• Ethics of Competition• Ethics of Anti-Corruption• Etichs of surveillance• Ethics of New Technology• Bioethics• Environmental Ethics• Ethics of war (Just War)• Whistleblowing• Business ethics and Social Responsibility
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Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
Ethics of engineering
Focus on RISK
Be COMPETENT
Be HONEST
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Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
Ethics of War
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This is about:• Weapon production
and sales• Just war. Is there one?• The idea of preventive
attack• Terrorism: War or
crime?• The Rules of War• Soldiers status and
responsibility• The right to kill
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Ethics as a matter of perspective • We have seen that ethics is a matter of profession,
engineer or soldier, or many other fields of human activity
• Ethics could also be a personal matter, shaped by personal professional choices, as I will illustrate in my next examples
• I will introduce Margrethe... and Jomar
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Margrethe Lunder is 28 years old and holds a master’s degree in meteorology, on chemistry of the atmosphere. She works as advicer in climate and air quality and is engaged in Tekna’s member group working for reduced CO2 to the atmosphere and global temperature control.
The meteorologist
- It is a dilemma that we ought to reduce the amount of CO2 going in to the atmosphere. We know what we can do about it, but the need for more research on the overall effect keeps us from doing it. One should act and do research at the same time instead of waiting untill complete knowledge is at hand.
Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
The Systems Architect
- One important question for many professionals such as myself is if we should work in oil and gas or in renewable resources. Since I made my choice awhile ago, my challenge is to make good future-oriented solutions that minimize environmental hazards. We must aim at achieving optimal quality and safety. We must have solutions that have been tested and well documented so that we know they’ll be permanent.
Jomar Jentoft, age 34, Master’s degree in Engineering on Energy and Environment, NTNU, works with systems architecture for electric power distribution for subsea installations. He works with Siemens in Trondheim and is engaged in Tekna’s member group oil and gas.
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Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
On March 27,1980, the oil platform Alexander Kielland capsized during a storm in the North Sea with 212 people onboard. The platform ended up tipping over and lying upside down in the ocean. It had been floating on a suspension system consisting of five columns; however, a bracing had broken, causing breaks in other bracings so that the column ended up splitting apart and breaking loose from the platform. The bracing had been weakened by welders when mounting platform equipment. There were only 89 survivors. After the accident a series of new safety measures were implemented.
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ISO 26000 Social Responsibility• An international standard …• States what should be the preferable responsibility of
businesses and organisations in the societies where they do their business.
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• Ratified by more than 100 nations• But not ratified by national
authorities• The ISO 26000 applies a very wide
definition of social responsibility , including a responsibility to adopt human rights.
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Human rights in short I• The human rights were adopted by The General
Assembly of the UN in 1948. They covers ethnic discrimination, discrimination of women, actions against torture, childrens rights, protection of guest-workers, protection against kidnapping and the rights of disabled persons.
• The human rights are:• Inborn• Yours to be, can not be taken from you, even if you agree.
No-one can steal them from you• Universal• Indivisible, can not be partly chosen away• Mutually dependent and contribute mutually to fullfilment
of all the rightsTeknas Etiske råd januar 2015/jmr
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Human rights in short II - A choice of rights• Equality:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
• Also addresses rights
relating to three other critical areas: • Life and security • Personal freedom• Economic, social and
cultural freedoms
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equality
life and security
personal freedom
economic, social and cultural
freedoms
equality
By permission: Ingebjørg Gravlien, DNV
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Introduction to the first caseLIVING CONDITIONS
RELIGION
IDEOLOGY
CULTURE
ISO 26000Human rights
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Some general ethical principles
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William Brett, Lord Esher(1817-1899)
duty of care,
The PrecautionaryPrinciple
There is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk even if it is not full scientific consensus about that risk.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
The categorical imperative
John Locke(1632-1704)
The responsibility for future generations We ought to leave the earth in a
condition so that future generations will have at least the same freedom of choice as we have.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.
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For reflection and debate• Find and list arguments that ”our”
understanding of the standards set by the declaration of human rights should be what counts in all of the countries in the world (Right side groups).
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On the other hand:• Find and list arguments that human rights, as
defined in the declaration of human rights, must be understood and practiced according to local standards of living, culture, traditions, ideology and religion (Left side groups).
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My pre-prepared sum up
• Are human rights universal?
• … or are they to be understood and practiced according to local standards of living etc.?
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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
The categorical imperative Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.
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Green Economy is part of the path …
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Green Cities is the aim
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Green cities - The Albert Speer & Partner Way
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From: Manifesto for sustainable cities by the architects in Albert Speer & Partner
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Ideas from classical economy still living
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Vilfredo Pareto
(1848 – 1923)
The theory of optimum use of resources
We will say that the members of a society have achieved optimum use of the resources when in a position where it is not possible to move away from this position in a way that will give one individual a greater benefit witout the benefit of someone else being reduced.
Adam Smith(1723-1790)
Unintended consequences of intended action will be to the benefit of society at large..
The invisible hand
David Ricardo (1772-1823)
The theory of comparative advantages
Ricardo showed in a study i 1817 that Portugal and England both would benefit from Portugal producing more wine and trading its cloths from England even though Portugal on its own could produce cloths cheaper than England.
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There are challenges …• A dispute among economists
and politicians as to how far businesses social responsibility reaches
• A wide range of world business practises conserning labor rights, corruption, taxation etc
• Innovation is a regarded as a way to a better future, but in it self it challenges the future
• Resulting inequality as probably the greatest challenge of them all
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Comments on ISO 26000:Still a way to go!
Ref: ”Milton Friedman goes on tour” The Economist 29th January 2011.
”The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits, agree?”
Milton Friedman 1912 – 2006Nobels memorial prize in 1976Inspirer of ”The Chicago Boys”
UAE is United Arab Emirates
Many still agree with Mr Friedman even in Sweden!
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Michael Porter on Creating Shared Value (CSV)
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Michael Porter (1947 - ) professor at MIT and one of the world’s most famous
living managing gurus
Creating Shared Value (CSV), differs, says Porter, from CSR in different important ways: 1) CSV is integrated in a business model for competitiveness and profit-maximization, not a response to outside pressure as CSR is as Porter sees it. 2) CSV is integrated in the budget of the business and not part of an isolated CSR-budget. 3) CSV measures economical and social benefits against cost and not against the diffuse goal of CSR that seems to be ”doing good”.
See also: http://ledelse.tekna.no/csr-sr-csv-eller-baerekraft/
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Dagbladet på nett onsdag 14.05.2008
This newscase is about: A subcontractor of the subsidiary of the Norwegian telecom company Telenor in Bangladesh. Working conditions for the employees employed by this subcontractor were bad and included also child workers. The news headlines in Norway included the word: “SCANDAL”.
How far does the responsibility of an employer reach?
Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
• Acording to Transparency International, Angola is rated as one of the world’s most corrupt countries. One of the president’s sons manages the country’s oil fund. The presidents oldest daughter was recently named Africa’s first female billionaire.
• In order to strengthen local industry, Angola requires foreign oil companies to enter into partnership with local companies. Somoil is one such company. Owners here include governmental ministers in Angola, directors in its national oil company Sonangol and others.
Kilde: DN 22.2.2014
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Multinational wealth-drain and ”-creation”
• Kofi Annan commented on The Africa Progress Report that the work to give the poor better living conditions advances to slowly. The reason is tax-crimes and secrecy in international merchandise export.
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• Transfer pricing is widely used to transport profit to countries with low-tax-regimes.
• African countries lose at least 34 billion dollar in income-taxes because of transfer pricing. That is more than the same countries get in aid from developed countries.
• Investigations show that EU has more import from countries in Africa than what is reported as export from the same countries.
Country B
Tax haven
Country A
in AfricaProductio
n
Country C in Europe
CompanyVCC -A
CompanyVCC -B
CompanyVCC -C
Cheap product
Expensive product
Expensiveproduct
Market
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Ethics of New Technology
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New technology gives opportunities, challenges and uncertainty.
Industrial revolutions through the ages
Textiles CarTrain IT Nano
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New technology: The format war of live picture storage
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VHS (Video Home System): 1976-2000
Betamax: Sony 1975-85VHS – Betamax war: 1976-85
LaserDisc – 1978-1995 no distribution other than regionally in AsiaCD – 1982 and VCD fra 1993
DVD – Digital Video Disc – 1995HD DVD from 2002 – to 2008
Blu-ray-Disc: Blue violet laser – 2003 – 2015? HD DVD/Blu-ray war: 2003 - 2008
… and the resulting mountain of garbage.
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Inequality – The greatest challenge• The outcome of labor exploitation is
inequality• The outcome of corruption is
inequality• The outcome of creative tax-
planning is inequality
• Inequality stands in the way of effective measures against global warming
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Introduction to the second case
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PRODUCTS
PRODUCTION
USED AND GARBAGE
CO2CO2
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General ethical principles to have in mind
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Vilfredo Pareto (1848 – 1923)
The theory of optimum use of resources
We will say that the members of a society have achieved optimum use of the resources when in a position where it is not possible to move away from this position in a way that will give one individual a greater benefit witout the benefit of someone else being reduced.
William Brett, Lord Esher(1817-1899)
duty of care,
The PrecautionaryPrinciple
There is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk even if it is not full scientific consensus about that risk.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
The categorical imperative
John Locke(1632-1704)
The responsibility for future generations We ought to leave the earth in a
condition so that future generations will have at least the same freedom of choice as we have.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.
Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening 34
For reflection and debate:• Find and list arguments that supports that
in 50 years time we still have to accept that some countries have significant better living conditions for its inhabitants than others if we should avoyd critical global warming.
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On the other hand:• Find and list arguments that supports that rich
countries to day have to accept redused living standard for its inhabitants if we should avoid critical global warming.
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My pre-prepared sum up
• Are human rights universal?
• … or are they to be understood and practiced according to local standards of living?
Teknas etiske råd januar 2015/jmr
Adam Smith(1723-1790)
The invisible hand
”The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits, agree?”
Unintended consequences of intended action will be to the benefit of society at large..
Tekna – Teknisk-naturvitenskapelig forening
TO SUM IT ALL UP
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• Ethics is a personal responsibility and a collective one …
We have also talked about:• Ethics as a matter of perspective … • … and a case on perspectives on human rights• Business and economy as an ethical challenge• … and a case on inequality as a special
challenge
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Thank you for your
attention!
A text-version available at: https://www.tekna.no/globalassets/filer/etikk/temahefter/temahefte-6-2015-green-economy-and-etchical-challenges.pdf