resources and green economy · 23.10.2012 · “resources and green economy” at the world...

World Resources Forum 2012

October 21 � 23, 2012 Beijing, China

Resources and Green EconomyMeeting Report

The World Resources Forum (WRF) is the global science-based platform for sharing knowledge about the economic,political, social and environmental implications of global resource use. WRF promotes innovation for resource pro-ductivity by building bridges among researchers, policy-makers, business, SMEs, NGOs and the public. Flagship activity is the annual WRF Conference.

The WRF is an initiative of the Swiss Federal Laboratoriesfor Materials Science and Technology (Empa). The foundingmembers of the WRF Association are Empa, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU), the United Nati-ons Environment Programme (UNEP), Hewlett-Packard (HP),and the city of St.Gallen. For associate partners and spon-sors see the appendix in this report and updates on the networks page on the WRF website.

This report was drafted by Bas de Leeuw, based upon inputsfrom Hans Hänni, Student Reporters (editors: Claudio Ruchand Aishwarya Nair, reporters: Adam Wong, Akash Arasu,Andreas Slotte, Anna Leijonhufvud, Bing Yu, Fabian Aellig,Iliana Sepulveda, Nora Locskai, Robin Kleiner, Sina Blassnig),workshop reporters (Stefanos Foliou, Veronika Rékasi , Mar-tin Lehmann, Lewis Akenji, Frans Verspeek, ChristopherManstein, Mathias Schluep, Tobias Welz, Liisa Tahvanainen,Pauliina Korhonen), speakers, oral presenters and partici-pants. The report has not been reviewed by speakers. Tho-mas Ruddy reviewed the chairman’s summary.

Photos CAS/IPE, Martin Lehmann, Veronika Rékasi, Bas de Leeuw (WRF)Technical support and layout Tobias Welz (WRF), Brigitte Baenziger, Urs Buenter (Empa)

St. Gallen, Switzerland, March 2013

ISBN 978-3-906177-03-8

Contact information Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St.Gallen, SwitzerlandWRF Secretariat tel + 41 58 765 74 00

Email: [email protected]: www.worldresourcesforum.org Visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin

… together we can shape the future

Table of contents

Chairman’s Summary 5

1. Plenary Session Stories 72. Selected Workshop Highlights 213. Scientific Sessions and Posters 37

Appendices 43

Appendix 1: WRF 2012 Program 43Appendix 2: Participants Survey 47Appendix 3: Sponsors and Partners 51

Meeting Report 2012 I Page 5

1. Over 700 participants from more than 50 countries convened in Beijing, China, October 21–23, 2012, to discuss the topic of “Resources and Green Economy” at theWorld Resources Forum 2012.

2. There was consensus that natural resourcesand the environment are subjects of commonproblems facing all countries in the world,with serious challenges for economic deve-lopment, consumption and production pat-terns, and poverty eradication.

3. The Chinese approach of a harmonisation ofthe economy with ecology, or similar inter-national initiatives by other countries, needto be implemented and followed by all.

4. A scarcity of resources, increasing prices, andunsustainable use of resources can hindereconomic development, lead to poverty andsocial unrest; these factors pose risks for glo-bal stability.

Green Economy: how to make it happen?

5. Achieving a Green Economy should becomea worldwide priority strategy for which thesense of urgency needs to be increased. De-coupling resource use and economic growthwas considered to be possible and taking ac-tion was highly recommended. Some calledupon countries to achieve an ecological foot-print of one or less, by means of an industrialgreen revolution.

6. Policy answers have to include a shift of taxesfrom labour to resources, and improving dataand indicators. Governments should createframeworks for resource-efficiency orientedinnovation and explore underlying drivers forconsumption, inspired and based on not only

engineering but also behavioral orientedscientific research, involving youth.

7. Governments need to be alert to the growingspider web of bilateral resource agreements,in particular those involving developing andemerging countries.

8. Better international resource governancewould be beneficial for all, since it wouldlead to stability, predictability and hencelower prices. Establishing a neutral interna-tional platform comparable to the Interna-tional Energy Agency (IEA) should be consi-dered for natural resources as well, involvingdeveloping countries from the start. Thiswould lead to better transparency on the in-ternational commodity markets and to impro-ved dialogue and cooperation.

9. Urban mining (recovering materials fromwaste) is getting more and more important,since primary production is becoming increa-singly difficult and costly. Providing incenti-ves for recycling and in particular improvingcollection systems are priority actions for go-vernments at all levels and business.

10. Cities were seen as important agents ofchange for implementing decoupling strate-gies, as well as for preserving biodiversityand increasing the quality of life for their ci-tizens at the same time.

11. The resources agenda has already been dri-ving resource efficiency oriented product de-sign. This trend is expected to continue,leading to a significant new wave of innova-tion spurring new economic growth. Boldbusiness solutions need to include increasedinvestments in more resource efficient pro-ducts, services and systems, as well as in

Chairman’s Summary


designs based upon new (for instance, ultra-light) materials and renewable energy.

12. Phasing out or drastically diminishing depen-dencies on fossil fuels, in particular theworld’s addiction to oil and coal was consi-dered to be technically and economically fea-sible for the next decades, with each countrychoosing its own path.

Green Economy: applications and perspectives

13. A large number of promising new sustainablebusiness and city management solutionsfrom all over the world were presented, in-cluding energy efficient life cycle buildingconcepts, using renewable materials such aswood, chemical leasing, metal recovery andrecycling, design for sustainability, urban mi-ning, sustainable public procurement, eco-system approaches for urban planning, anda wide variety of tools based on Informationand Communication Technologies (ICT) suchas E-vehicles. SME’s have shown to be opento change; capacity building programs arevery important to increase knowledge andimprove skills of entrepreneurs on how toachieve more resource efficient and cleanerproduction. Scaling up successful capacitybuilding programs such as SwitchAsia wasseen as a challenge ahead.

14. Participants recommended further research toidentify sustainable consumption and pro-duction drivers, setting up an internationalclearing house for SCP knowledge and actors,and finding strategies to achieve the potentialfor a bio-economy for increasing sustainablecompetitiveness. Increasing the sense of ur-gency, improving communication betweenpolicymakers and the scientific community,and further highlighting the business case forresource efficiency were considered amongthe priority topics for follow up events.

Closing and Next Steps

15. Participants expressed their appreciation forthe World Resources Forum and its importantrole in establishing and improving dialogueand knowledge sharing between the variousstakeholders, in particular business, scientificcommunity, civil society and governments.

16. Chairpersons, speakers and participants than-ked and congratulated the Chinese Academyof Sciences for its leadership role in organi-zing WRF 2012, and in particular admired theexcellent organization of the event in theChina National Convention Centre by theCAS Institute for Process-Engineering.

17. The next meeting of the World ResourcesForum will be held in Davos, Switzerland,October 6 – 9, 2013.

Dr. Xaver Edelmann President World Resources Forum Prof. Jinghai Li Vice President Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chairman WRF 2012 Beijing

Meeting Report 2012 I Page 7Meeting Report 2012 I Page 7

promote circular economy, including stringentmonitoring and evaluation systems.

Xaver Edelmann (WRF) said that a decoup-ling of economic growth from resource use

and environmental impact is needed. Resourcesare getting scarce, in a physical, economic, poli-tical, ecological or social sense. WRF 2011 had already recommended adequate policy instru-ments, such as taxes on resources, improvingdata and indicators, governments creating a fra-mework for innovation, study consumer valuesand emotions, and working with young people.He welcomed the team of international StudentReporters, who would report about the event.

Bruno Oberle (Swiss Federal Office for the En-vironment) reminded the participants that

one year ago – in Davos – we had discussed waysto decouple resource use from economic growthand that we talked about ecological footprints. Inthe Rio+20 conference – the UN Conference onSustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,June 2012 – the international community has renewed its commitment of 1992. Oberle mentio-ned the adoption of a 10-year framework programon Sustainable Consumption and Production andsaid this will lead to concrete action. The conceptof the Green Economy has emerged as a prioritystrategy. Greening the economy is a dynamic pro-

Jinghai Li (Chinese Academy of Sciences) wel-comed the participants and speakers and an-

nounced that over 700 participants from over 50countries were gathered in the China NationalConvention Centre to make sure that WRF 2012would be a meaningful and successful event.

H.E. Ganjie Li (Vice Minister for Environmen-tal Protection, People’s Republic of China)

stated that natural resources and the environ-ment are subjects of common problems facing allcountries in the world, with serious challengesfor economic development, consumption andproduction patterns, and poverty eradication.The Chinese government aims at harmonisingeconomy with ecology. Environmental protectionis a very important, basic national strategy. The government is going to set up new policies to

1. Plenary Session Stories

Jinghai Li Xaver Edelmann

H.E. Ganjie Li

Meeting Report 2012 I Page 8Meeting Report 2012 I Page 8

cess. Resources and knowledge need to be com-bined differently. That is why the WRF is of greatimportance since it brings stakeholders together.

Arthur Ruf (Swiss Academy of EngineeringSciences) referred to a speech of Dennis

Meadows at the WRF 2009 conference in Davos,where he introduced the key factors determiningthe amount of oil consumption, including popu-lation, economy and technology. Lifestyle andtechnological aspects were both important.

Green Economy: what are the challenges?

Amory B. Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute)shared American solutions which could also

be beneficial for other countries. His “Re-inven-ting Fire” book describes the way towards a pro-fitable energy future, free from oil and coal. “Weneed new fire that makes us safe and endurable.”Currently, 90% of America’s energy comes fromnon-renewable energy. By 2050 energy systemscan become efficient, connected and distributed.Business and civil society can do it. If a problemcan’t be solved, enlarge it (include more opti-ons), he quoted Eisenhower. As an example hementioned the shift to electric cars, which is anequally dramatic shift as the one from typewri-

ters to notebooks. This shift will double oil sa-vings, made possible by new designs and usingnew ultra-light materials (carbon fiber cars etc.).Bold business solutions for the new energy erashould make our “fire flow from above”.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (Member EuropeanParliament) said that the resource hunger

from the Roman Empire, about 2000 years ago,was enormous. Due to deforestation the Romansfelt they needed to expand their empire to theNorth. The fall of the Roman Empire, Gerbrandyargued, was partly caused by resource scarcity.Today our world economy is addicted to cheap

Bruno Oberle

Arthur Ruf Amory B. Lovins


resources. Increasing resource prices lead to so-cial unrest in the world. He was convinced thatan industrial green revolution is needed. Europe,as one of the most innovative regions of theworld, is well placed to be the front runner. Weshould learn how to use fewer resources and usethem in a much smarter way. The benefits, suchas savings and job creation, far outweigh thecosts. He referred to the road map for resourceefficiency adopted in Europe. The analysis wasreceived with great enthusiasm, but as soon as itbecame concrete member states backed down.For instance a collection system for electronic

equipment in Europe was voted down. The senseof urgency needs to be increased. Use the eco-nomy (make secondary materials cheaper), inno-vate, focus on design, and implement measurableindicators and targets.

Something else, he added, is the threat that othercountries will close their borders in order to keepscarce resources for themselves. They securetheir supply by bilateral deals. Countries are crea-ting a global spider web of resource dependen-cies: the USA with Brazil, China with Africa,Europe with Morocco. However, not everythingcan be dealt with in a bilateral way. Many coun-tries are left out and this leads to instability andhigher prices. The lack of transparency is a greatconcern. Stronger international governance forresources is needed. Doing things together willcreate stability, like the International EnergyAgency (IEA) has stabilised oil markets in thepast. A comparable new resources platformshould not be an OECD club, but involve othercountries from the start. China should be at thedrawing table. This idea would need commit-ment from the Chinese Academy of Sciences andthe World Resources Forum, which can lead to ajoint effort of academics, business leaders, andpoliticians.

Resource hunger 2000 years ago

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy


Mohan Munasinghe (Munasinghe Institutefor Development) said he was addressing

the “cream of the resources and business com-munity” here in Beijing. He spoke of multiplethreats and interrelated and synergistic crises, forwhich integrated and comprehensive solutionswere needed. He observed a lack of political willby world leaders. Poor countries and poor groupsare most vulnerable. Compared to global militaryspending of USD 1.75 trillion in 2011 and recentgovernment bailouts in the financial sector, ittakes “pocket money to achieve sustainability”.Business as usual – enjoy the resource and paylater – poses unacceptable risks for the future.And he reminded the audience that the solutionsare within the Sustainomics framework, whichhe already introduced to the Earth Summit in1992, and which is a transdisciplinary, integra-tive, comprehensive, balanced, heuristic andpractical framework for making developmentmore sustainable. Unsustainable development is driven by wrongvalues, such as greed, selfishness, corruption,inequity, and violence. He called the WRF veryimportant for bringing business and civil societytogether for talking with government leaders.China has a key role, as second largest economy.It has the technology, the resources and skills,and the ancient culture which respects nature. Hehad a “mildly optimistic message for China and

the world: WRF and China can play key roles indevising new sustainable development modelsfor the 21st century. Munasinghe also referred to the Gross NationalHappiness (GNH) project, which is conductedwith the government of Bhutan. He expected thatthis project will lead within ten years’ time to areplacement of the current GDP (Gross DomesticProduct) by an indicator which measures happi-ness by other data than material consumption.

Lothar Reh (Swiss Federal Institute of Techno-logy; ETH) talked about the challenges in

process engineering in the circular economy. Heshowed the long distance flows of used paperand other examples. Atmospheric CO2 concentra-tion will rise to uncertain levels. Increasingenergy and material efficiency is a must. Innova-tive life cycle processing has to be achieved, heconcluded, “so that we can stay cool!”

Max Lu (University of Queensland) spokeabout the role of emerging technologies.

Resource efficiency requires a shift of attentionfrom processes to products. If we want to keepon turning our globe we should do it with care,face the challenges and adapt to change. Biophar-maceuticals, biopolymers, alternative fuels andfunctional materials are driving industrial inno-vation. We are on the threshold of a revolutionMohan Munasinghe

Lothar Reh


in the ways in which materials and products arecreated, resulting from nanotechnology.

Green Economy: how to make it happen?

Yi Kang (former Minister of Metallurgical Engineering, People’s Republic of China)

presented the achievements of exploitation ofnon-ferrous metal resources in China. Mineraloutput has been growing significantly. China hasimportant shares in the global output and con-sumption for refined copper, virgin aluminum,lead and zinc. A comprehensive use of resourcesis the most effective way for building a resourceefficient and environmentally friendly industry,as well as clean and smart mining practices.There are urban mining demonstration projectsongoing, such as a take-back system of secon-dary nonferrous metal, in particular in electronicgoods. China has a huge economic potential, andis now at a strategic crossroad. It can become astrong non-ferrous metal country. The domesticmarket is expanding and is now a cornerstone forthe industry. China is facing international chal-lenges, he said, due to increased competition bydeveloped countries who try to get hold of re-sources. These countries have more opportunitiesthan developing countries. In the global top tenthere is only one Chinese company. China faces

huge environmental protection measures andwill step up international cooperation.

Thomas Graedel (Yale University, USA) askedwhether we are designing ourselves into po-

tential difficulties, since modern societies cannotexist without metals. Challenges of metal supplycan be seen on the periodic table of elements,which he called “a great playground for engineersand industrial designers”. Nature does not pro-vide these elements equally. Some of them areabundant, some of them are scarce. Ore gradesare decreasing over time. So it takes more energyand rock to get the same amount of metal. Thisposes geopolitical challenges. As an example heshowed an image of the international interdepen-dences of the UK economy for resource supplies. The recycling challenges include that recyclingmay sound easy, but that we are not very goodin it. We just don’t get the materials where wecan deal with it (collection problem). For in-stance, many obsolete electronic products stillland up in trash, sometimes with backyard recy-cling done in India. He referred to the work ofEmpa in this field. Looking at the end of life recycling rates for 62 metals he concluded thatfor most of them these are (far) less than 50%. Limitations to the long-term supply of a full palette of materials are in sight.

Yi Kang

Thomas Graedel


James Bradfield Moody (CommonwealthScientific and Industrial Research Organisa-

tion) presented new business models and oppor-tunities for a resource-limited world. For himinnovation is a process, starting with an idea,going to a point where somebody uses it, drivenby needs and markets. He presented his bookThe Sixth Wave, which points at innovationbased upon resource efficiency. The old mode ofoperation – harvesting resources that are plentifuland cheap – is being replaced by the new modeof operation: managing resources that are scarceand valuable.

Green Economy: what are the success stories?

Edward Clarence-Smith (United Na-

tions Industrial Deve-lopment Organisation;UNIDO) talked aboutgreen industrialisation,in particular about thestrategy of selling ser-vices rather than goods(e.g. leasing). This hasstrong environmentaladvantages: the goodscan be used more effi-

ciently and for longer periods of time, less goodsare sold, which means that less materials areconsumed. They can be recycled better at the endof their useful life. He presented as an examplea case of water purification and oil dehydrationin Colombia, where chemical leasing led to eco-nomic, environmental and social benefits.

Joachim Klink (Hewlett-Packard) presented an“intelligent mobility business value frame-

work”. Congestion slows down the economicgrowth of cities. As an example he referred to theworst traffic jam ever: it was in China in 2010,and was 100 km long, lasting for 10 days. Theeconomic costs of congestion in the US and We-stern Europe are 1–1.5 % of its Gross DomesticProduct. Furthermore, pollution resulting fromtraffic jam is a major threat to individuals and society. Globally over 1 million of deaths per yearare due to traffic caused air pollution. Intelligentmobility systems lead to increasing efficiency,providing more travel options, improving infor-mation, improving pricing and payment, and re-ducing or avoiding travel. HP has developed theso called connected E-Vehicle approach. Refer-ring to a case study in the Chinese city of Hijanghe showed that e-mobility could be made attrac-tive with monetary and non-monetary incentives(no license limitations, extra parking space, lon-ger parking time, priority bus/taxi lanes).

James Bradfield Moody

Edward Clarence-Smith

Joachim Klink


Stephan Wabnegger (Creative Resource &Energy Efficiency, CREE) presented the Life

Cycle Tower concept, which is, as he said, a me-thod of construction for future cities. Minimalconsumption of resources, using wood, economi-cal and energy efficient, less expensive, adequatespace on a small footprint, and short time forplanning and designing. Life Cycle Tower One,located in Austria, was completed in September2012; the second one is under construction.

Markus Reuter (Outotec) talked about recy-cling, and concluded that in the field of mi-

neral processing there is a good understandingabout the solutions and obstacles between all ac-tors “from rock to metal”. Breaking off “designer”minerals (for instance from cars, mobile phonesetc.) is far more complex than geological mine-rals, in particular because of their complicatedrecovery. Still, metals recovery and recycling arenot new topics, but rather have a long history.

Stephan Wabnegger Markus Reuter

Workshop highlights


Closing the loop requires a much deeper under-standing between all actors than is the case pre-sently. If this is achieved, resource efficiency willimprove significantly.

Bas de Leeuw (World Resources Forum) pre-sented the draft chairman’s summary and

led the plenary feedback panel session of themost important findings of the workshops.

Christian Ludwig (Paul Scherrer Institute, PSI; scientific co-chair of the WRF) said that

we do not need a DaVinci Code to solve the resource crisis. He thanked the other scientific co-chair, Suojiang Zhang, and all oral session and poster presenters for their contributions. Hispersonal scientific highlights included presenta-tions from Sam Pickard, Komal Habib, Shemaiah

Weekes, Zhong Lin Wang, Chang-Jun Liu andHelmut Langer.

Stefanos Fotiou (UNEP) reported that in thespecial briefing on UNEP‘s Sustainable Con-

sumption and Production (SCP) and resource ef-ficiency activities a SWOT analysis was made forsustainable development. It was concluded thateconomic “mal-growth”, unethical social valuesand environmental debt lead to inequality. Eco-nomic development, social empowerment andenvironmental resilience lead to better wellbeing.For Asia and China SCP is an important concept.

He mentioned sustainable public procurement asone of the key strategies. For metals recyclingmore efficient collection is needed, better dis-mantling, cutting, sorting, and smelting, linkingprimary metal producers and recyclers, transpa-rent movement of discards across national boun-daries and financial incentives to make recycledmetal more interesting. He invited participants tocome to Bangkok to attend the “SCP Engine”Conference (12–13 November 2012).

Rui Zhang (World Resources Forum) reportedabout the Urban Eco-Efficiency Lab on cities,

biodiversity and ecosystems. Ecological solutionsfor sustainable cities exist and need to be multiplied. She mentioned as examples of such

Bas de Leeuw

Stefanos Fotiou

Christian Ludwig


ecosystem approach forested wetland for waterpurifying, green roofs, urban parks, “urban com-pact cells” for less automobile dependent life,ecosystem supported local economy, and food se-curity through urban agriculture. In particular In-formation and Communication Technologies(ICT) have great potential for a more efficienturban life. Furthermore it was concluded thatbuildings can be built much faster, easier andwith renewable materials.

Student Reporter Adam Wong presented theoutcomes of the workshop on Circular Eco-

nomy, where it was suggested to consider regio-nal development strategies for China, in order toimprove resources and waste management. Theconcept of “Township Building” could lead to in-tensive cooperation of villages.

Lewis Akenji (Institute for Global Environ-mental Strategies) presented a summary

of the workshop on Balancing Poverty Eradica-tion and Sustainable Consumption and Produc-tion in Asia. They had observed a large scaletransition in many Asian countries away from anagricultural base towards an industrial economy.Although technological development improvesmaterial efficiency, overall resource use increa-ses. The problem is not mainly populationgrowth but growth of consumption. Traditional

practices of consumption and productions shouldbe examined to find solutions for a more sustai-nable future. Sustainable livelihoods should bebuilt by targeting SMEs (for instance through the SWITCH-Asia program), engaging communi-ties and being in line with local environmentalconditions. The workshop participants recom-mended to develop a framework for SustainableConsumption and Production (SCP) research,analyse current state of SCP literature, map themovement of practitioners, and to create an on-line database of SCP knowledge and practice.

Frans Verspeek (UNEP/Wuppertal InstituteCollaborating Centre on Sustainable Con-

sumption and Production) shared achievementsand lessons learnt in the SWITCH-Asia Pro-gramme. The project promotes sustainable con-

Rui Zhang Lewis Akenji

Frans Verspeek


sumption and production patterns in Asia, nota-bly by mobilizing the private sector, i.e. SMEs,retailers, intermediary producer and consumerorganisations, financial sector along with rele-vant public sector authorities. For resource effi-ciency to be effective, reaching out to a largenumber of target audiences is necessary.

Christopher Manstein (German Federal Envi-ronment Agency) said that the workshop on

resource-efficiency was very interesting becauseof the different perspectives between Europeanand Asian policies. Europe and its member stateshave a good policy framework for resource effi-ciency, but policy need to be turned into action.Making the business case for resource-efficiencyand showcasing best practice examples should bea focus topic of the next World Resources Forum.

Mathias Schluep (Empa) presented a jointstatement from the participants of the

workshop Urban Mining, Challenges and Oppor-tunities, which discussed synergies between e-waste recycling and mining of mineral resour-ces. They are aware that Asia needs large quan-tities of mineral resources to support its growingeconomy, and that Asia is endowed with largedeposits of mineral resources (“primary mines”).They recognise that Asia is increasingly accumu-lating mineral resources in end-of-life products,

such as waste of electrical and electronic equip-ment (e-waste) and that “urban mines” offer opportunities to create jobs and to lower environ-mental impacts by partially substituting primarymineral resources. The participants are concer-ned that mineral resources from urban mines arerecovered only partially at low material recoveryrates and often at high social and environmentalcosts. They recommend to make use of theknowledge from primary mineral resource extrac-tion and refining in urban mining; develop know-how and physical infrastructure (collection andtreatment) for urban mining; promote the tradeof pre-processed secondary mineral resources ona global scale where investments for further re-source extraction and refining cannot be justifiedfrom the perspective of sustainable development;make use of the experience from current respon-sibility standards in the primary mining sector tocomplement existing standards in urban mining,and develop resource policies considering the sy-stemic, global and multi-stakeholder character ofurban mining.

Heinz Gutscher (Swiss Academy of Arts andSciences) presented some results of the

workshop that had explored the question whythe sense of urgency that scientists feel about re-source efficiency has not reached mainstream politicians, business and individual households.

Christopher Manstein Mathias Schluep


“When will they start listening to us?” he asked,“What do you mean? We can’t see. We can’thear. We can’t feel. We don’t understand! Whydo you ask?” He identified three variables - per-ceiving, assessing and acting - as the main mo-dules to achieve change in behaviour. He arguedthat the issue of urgency has first to be recogni-zed with our sensory system and then under-stood, in order to cause sufficient action in result.

Liisa Tahvanainen (Koli Forum) presented theresults from an interactive panel discussion

on Sustainable Management of Forest Resourcesand Wood Constructions. Bioeconomy should become a driver for European sustainable com-petitiveness by promoting biomass based newproducts and energy, setting global criteria for thesustainable bioeconomy sector, initiating interna-tional commitments on global key targets andmeasures, accelerate the use of best availabletechnologies, knowledge and practices, and ha-

ving a minimum of 20% of public building andconstruction wood based. A quantitative surveyamong the participants revealed that these fac-tors were applicable for China as well. The forestresources of China would be best used for sustai-nable development if they were used for commer-cial purposes, for wood construction, as carbonsink and for recreation and nature parks.

Aishwarya Singh Nair, one of the coordina-tors of the Student Reporters, showed a hi-

larious video with the students’ impressions ofthe conference, including practical informationabout how to eat with chop sticks.

Heinz Gutscher

Liisa Tahvanainen

Aishwarya Singh Nair

Audience discussion


Arthur Ruf (SATW), Xaver Edelmann (WRF),Suojiang Zhang and Jinghai Li (both CAS) pre-sented awards, closing speeches, and words ofthanks to all speakers, participants and staff.

The next World Resources Forum will be held in Davos, Switzerland, October 6–9, 2013.

Closing


Impressions Conference Banquet


Special Briefing on UNEP‘s latest fin-dings in Resource Efficiency

Organised by UNEPSlides: Stefanos Fotiou

2. Selected Workshop Highlights


Urban Eco-Efficiency Lab - Cities,Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Organised by World Resources Forum SecretariatReport: Veronika Rékasi, based upon inputs ofspeakers and participants

The Urban Eco-Efficiency Lab was one of theworkshops of the conference organised by the Se-cretariat of the WRF. The Lab was focusing onecological and technological solutions for sustai-nable cities, which are featured by greater effi-cient urban life, environmental-friendly urbaninfrastructures, and increased capacity for ac-commodating the rapid urban growth within theecological boundaries. The presented solutionsinclude ICT strategy and tools for smart urbantransportation and efficient urban life, planningwith ecological approaches, and “replicating”buildings that can be built much faster, easierand with renewable materials.

The moderator of the workshop, Dr Xaver Edel-mann opened the event at 8:30 am with a shortretrospection of the week before. The World Re-sources Forum was also present at the conferenceCOP11 in Hyderabad, India, with a side-event or-ganized on the same topic. The Urban Eco-Effi-ciency Lab in India was a great success, with alot of participants and very promising ideas andinitiatives. That was the first step of a joint-pro-ject directed by WRF and the Secretariat of Con-vention on Biological Diversity in the field ofsustainable and bio-diverse cities. Dr. Edelmanndelivered the apologies of Mr. Oliver Hillel, Pro-gram Officer of the Secretariat of CBD, who un-fortunately could not join the workshop thistime. After this short preface, he welcomed theparticipants, highlighting the Student Reporterspresence and introduced the speakers:

• Rui Zhang, Program Associate, World Resources Forum – Presenting the WRF

Background Paper• Luis Neves, Climate Change and Sustainabi-

lity Officer, Deutsche Telekom AG, – ICT


particularly useful for integrated planning, be-cause a city is a multi-sectorial, multi-stakeholdersystem and its ecosystem is a common asset toall. Cities need ecosystems services and biodiver-sity to dispose of waste, purify freshwater, cleanup pollution, reduce energy needs through tem-perature regulation in heat islands, and maintainits citizen's health. A network of parks increasessurrounding property values by up to 20% andcreates local jobs; green parkways generate busi-nesses as urbanites look for cleaner air. Usingjust the technology we already have (publictransportation, bicycles, electric cars, naturalcleaners) we can reduce our footprint and theloss of biodiversity.

Luis Neves started with the vision of GeSI (Glo-bal e-Sustainability Initiative): “Responsible ICTcreates a sustainable world”. This should becomereal as soon as possible. At the moment, if all theinhabitants of the Earth would live like an ave-rage-European, we would use the resources of

Enabling Energy efficient and Sustainable Cities

• Stephan Wabnegger, CEO of Cree GmbH, Austria – The Natural Change in Urban Architecture

• Sibylle Rock, WW Stakeholder EngagementManager, Hewlett-Packard, USA – SimpleCity: The Impact of ICT.

Xaver Edelmann anticipated that we need prac-tical solutions and actions, not just theoretical pa-pers. We need concrete and standardized indexesin order to make sustainability measureable, andwe have to strengthen the cooperation betweeninitiatives. He recommended reading the bookleton Cities and Biodiversity Outlook to get a clearpicture about the situation of the urbanizedareas.

Rui Zhang presented the WRF Background paper,highlighting the advantages of the intelligent useof ecosystems. At city level, eco-efficiency can be

Xaver Edelmann Luis Neves

Rui Zhang Stephan Wabnegger


3 Earths. If they lived like an average American,we would use the resources of 5 Earths. If welook back at the history of humanity, we can seemany civilisations that collapsed after a few cen-turies of prosperity. We are going in the same di-rection: building a huge population withoutconsidering the impacts on nature. ICT is veryimportant in reducing our footprint, although thediscussion on its positive impact is very rare inorganizations. But ICT is the future, it has trans-formed the world. Videoconferences and laptopswere just dreams 20–30 years ago and now theyare real. If we consider for example a China-Ger-many flight, it creates pollution; instead we coulduse videoconferences to do the same. It would bemuch more sustainable. We would save a notableamount of resources. By 2020 CO2 emissions ofthe ICT sector will represent an estimated 3% oftotal global emissions; in the same time ICT hasthe potential to cut global CO2 emissions by asmuch as 15% and save up to 600 billion euro.Teleworking could reduce the CO2 emissions bymillions of tons. Smart motors, smart logisticsand smart buildings are all assets to reduce ourenvironmental impact and to live a better organi-zed, simpler and greener life. Countries shouldlearn from each other. Smart buildings have thehighest efficiency in the USA, transportation isbest organized and most effective in Europe,while energy production and use is best managedin India. In his closing Mr Neves asked the audi-ence to look at all the potentials provided by ICT,because humanity has already everything to livea better and more sustainable life. We just haveto use them.

Xaver Edelmann noted that in 2009, parallel tothe World Resources Forum in Davos a similarevent was held in Nagoya, Japan. The two con-gress sites were connected via teleconferencingtechnology, so the WRF Davos and the WRF Na-goya had common plenary sessions and techno-logy enabled the remote participation.

Stephan Wabnegger explained the architecturalside of urban efficiency. His key question is “How

will we live tomorrow?” We will face 3 billionnew members of middle class society. Actuallythis is good news, because it means reduced po-verty, but on the other hand these people needmore resources. How do we face this? Mr Wab-negger showed us one way to solve this problem:growing to the sky. Growing to the sky, but ac-counting for the resources we use. To produce avery light object, we use multiple times more re-sources from the Earth than when producing aheavier object For example, to produce a 0.3 kgmobile phone we use 500 kg of our resources.The production of a 5 kg computer consumes1500 kg of materials. Bearing this in mind, howshould we build our cities? They should meet thefollowing requirements: Minimal consumption ofresources, energy efficient, economical, fast, ade-quate space on a small footprint. CREE GmbHdecided to use wood for their buildings, becausewood is renewable and it is CO2 neutral. In theproduction of 1 m³ of cement building material1.700 kg CO2 is emitted. If we are talking aboutsteel, then this rate is around 6.800 kg CO2. Incase of wood, the CO2 emission is - 960 kg. Thismeans not just CO2 neutral, but CO2 consuming.In addition each building item is designed forbeing recycled at the end of its life. This hybrid-timber prefabricated construction system develo-ped by CREE allows building up to 30-storyhouses. This all sounds spectacular, but whatabout fire proofing? Interestingly this hybrid-tim-ber is more resistant to fire than steel. This greatpractice works fine in Austria, but it has difficul-ties in other countries. Unfortunately the locallaw cannot be standardized, and all the stan-dardized building blocks have to be changedfrom country to country. The participants wereinterested in where the market of wood buildingscould be extended. They agreed that in China thismethod could be implemented with great suc-cess, as a lot of raw-materials can be found andthe building sector is emerging. Japan arose aswell as a possible market, because in Japan woo-den houses are very popular. Another questionfrom the audience referred to whether the CREEis targeting developing or developed countries for


its market. Particularly, when cities with growingwealth are looking for individualism and identity,to what extent they would embrace “standard”buildings? Mr Wabnegger said that these buil-dings are generally as expensive as normal onesin developed countries. Clearly the idea would beto transport the technology to developing coun-tries. He also said that it is “the decision that wehave to make between luxury individual con-sumption and our responsibility for the commoninterest through resource efficiency”.

Sibylle Rock presented the efforts of Hewlett-Packard to build a more sustainable future. HP’sstrong commitment to environmental sustainabi-lity can be recognized from all the green rankingsand awards it has earned. ICT companies have abig responsibility in solving environmental chal-lenges. HP is taking huge efforts to follow up itsproducts life-cycle. Partnering with its suppliers,nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), andother industry leaders, HP can promote sustaina-bility at every stage of the IT supply chain. HPprovides Asset Recovery services, where custo-mers can return their products at the end-of-life.A question arose from one of the participantswhether this recovery service covers just HP pro-ducts or products from other brands as well. InChina, it is a huge problem dealing with all thesmart phone copies circulating on the market,and being thrown away after some months ofuse. ICT companies are taking efforts in order toget back more products after use. Recycling andrecovering a certain percentages of the sold pro-

ducts is regulated by law in the European Union.Mr Neves mentioned the importance of the co-operation between organizations in order toachieve better results in recycling e-waste. MsRock described the main idea of two impressiveHP inventions: The HP Pod 240a - nicknamed theHP Eco POD – a modular datacentre, deployed inGeorgia, Texas. Each HP Eco POD offers the equi-valent of nearly 9,000 square feet of traditionaldata centre IT in a 900-square-foot package andin the same time uses 95% less facilities energywhen compared with traditional data centres.The other invention is called Energy Sustainabi-lity Systems (ESM) software, which analyses, mo-nitors and optimizes energy consumption andCO2 emissions. It provides solutions on integratedmanagement and reporting of financial and su-stainability key performance indicators. Usingthis software we could save up to 10% of thecity’s costs. Ms Rock claims: “ICT is a key enab-ler to improve the quality of urban life while re-ducing the CO2 emissions in times of globalurbanization.”

At the end of Ms Rock’s presentation, she an-nounced the brand new project of HP in Intelli-gent Mobility. The connected E-vehicle solutionwill be implemented in China, and with a shortvideo we could learn about the structure of theproject. The intelligent electric cars are connectedto a smart traffic system which makes them ableto find always the nearest charging station andto avoid the traffic jams. Taxis are running onelectric batteries as well, and with a well-organi-zed dispatching centre passengers are assured toalways travel by cabs with sufficient battery. Theproject was presented one day later in the ple-nary speech by Joachim Klink, Director of theGlobal Automotive & Aerospace Industry Archi-tect, Hewlett-Packard.

The workshop ended with an active discussionon the presented ideas. As China is one of the fa-stest growing countries, huge efforts are taken tobuild cities in an eco-efficient way. Chinese citymanagers are trying to get all the knowledge from

Sibylle Rock


developed countries. But it remains the questionwhether all these visions will be implemented.Rui Zhang commented that while the eco-cityconcept is becoming popular and feasible, emer-ging cities and new urbanized areas are havingmore opportunities nowadays to become “eco”.However, it seems that more thoughts shouldalso be given to the transformation of old cities

into smart and green cities. Sibylle Rock explai-ned that in China it is easier to implement a newmobility system than in Europe. Especially be-cause in Europe people are used to just a few bigvehicle producers. Chinese consumers could bemore open for new mobility technologies.

The workshop ended with an active discussion on the presented ideas.


Circular Economy and Green ProcessEngineering

Organised by Chinese Academy of Sciences/Insti-tute for Process EngineeringReport: Adam Wong and Martin Lehmann, basedupon presentation in the workshop panel by AdamWong

The Circular Economy workshop was attendedby roughly 30 participants from various coun-tries.

Jiankun Song talked about the “Resources Capa-city of China”. In China, there has been a hugetransformation of production going on during the last 10–15 years, from labor and commodity centered to technology centered production. Alt-hough China is a very big country, this develop-ment has obvious impacts on the space with itsnatural resources and landscape.

The space factor is therefore a very importantissue to look at. Dr. Song suggested consideringmore regional development strategies for China,in order to take up more collective resources andwaste management. This way, resources andwaste recycling can be managed more efficiently.He claims that “Township Building” is the key-word in this process, which would lead to an in-tensive cooperation of villages. Farmers shouldwork closely together, using their products andwaste in a circular way. For example farmer Aproducing vegetables could offer his waste

material as fertilizer to farmer B who is produ-cing rice. Win-win situations have to be created,and everybody should join in.

As a result, resources will be allocated in a bettermanner, and their focused management will leadto different innovations. Technology is not badper se, but it has to be applied for beneficial pur-poses, meaning that it has to lead to useful inno-vations to manage space, resources and waste.For a better future?!

In China, there are however challenges that haveto be tackled. There seems to be different inte-rests between the central government and thelocal governments. Farmers may be under pres-sure because local governments need to achievedifferent indicators set by the central govern-ment. A possible solution could be to set up specificguidelines targeting different regions in China.

Balancing Poverty Eradication andSustainable Consumption and Production in Asia and the Pacific –Challenges for Policy, Research andPractice

Organised by the Global Research Forum on Sustai-nable Consumption and ProductionReport: Lewis Akenji

At the recently held Rio+20 UN Conference onSustainable Development, governments reitera-ted the central role of sustainable consumptionand production (SCP), declaring once again that“fundamental changes in the way societies con-sume and produce are indispensable for achie-ving global sustainable development.” Thisworkshop, organised by the recently launchedGlobal Research Forum on Sustainable Produc-tion and Consumption (GRF-SPC), explored therelevance of SCP in Asia, in particular the chal-lenges for policy, research and practice in relationJiankun Song


to balancing poverty eradication and SustainableConsumption and Production.

Lewis Akenji (Institute for Global EnvironmentalStrategies, Japan) introduced the objectives of theworkshop, linking it to the GRF’s aim to create aresearch framework for SCP that answers to theneeds of different constituencies. He explainedthe global mandate for SCP, relating it to the 1992Rio UN conference where SCP was declared anoverarching objective of sustainable developmentas well as the Rio+20 UN Conference where the10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) wasaffirmed with a view to supporting SCP action atthe regional, national, sub-national and local le-vels. Both conferences recognised that there areimbalances in consumption between North andSouth, and asked for a multipronged approach toaddress the needs of these different groups.

Mohan Munasinghe (Munasinghe Institute forDevelopment, Sri Lanka and Sustainable Con-sumption Institute, UK) gave an overview aboutthe global challenges associated with a move-ment towards more sustainable production andconsumption. In particular, he pointed at the glo-bal financial crisis, resource scarcity, poverty, cli-mate change and misgovernances.

Heinz Schandl (Social and Economic SciencesProgram, Australia) then focussed on the chal-lenges faced within the Asian-Pacific region. Hedemonstrated that there have been large scaletransitions in Asia from agricultural base socie-ties towards industrial base economies. Althoughthere have been improvements in material effi-ciency, at the same time there has been a rise inmaterial intensity and overall resource use as aresult of these transitions. In addition, he high-lighted an increasing global transfer of produc-tion of goods from high-efficiency economies tolow-efficiency ones. All three speakers agreed onthe urgent need to reduce material consumptionby the economically wealthy while increasing thematerial consumption of the economically poorand called for a shift away from a distinction bet-

ween rich and poor countries towards rich andpoor consumers.

The workshop then turned towards possible so-lution pathways. On a global scale, the millen-nium consumption goals and the need for newmatrixes to measure well-being were discussed.On a more local scale, Ying Feng (Institute ofScientific and Technical Information, Ministry ofScience and Technology, China) described howtraditional consumption and production practicesin China could give inspiration for a more sustai-nable production and consumption future.

Frans Verspeek (SWITCH Asia, Germany) pro-moted the support of Small and Medium Enter-prises in order to create sustainable livelihoodsthat engage communities and stay within theboundaries of local environmental conditions. Healso highlighted the importance of capacity buil-ding and bringing Small and Medium Enterprisesinto the global value chain, for example throughthe instrument of product labelling.

Leonie Dendler (Sustainable Consumption Insti-tute, UK and Tyndall Fudan, China) explainedhow the effectiveness of such product labellingschemes in facilitating more sustainable con-sumption and production is driven by a dynamicconstruction of legitimacy between a variety ofactors, including not only consumers and produ-cers but also retailers, civil society, media, go-vernmental and non-governmental organisations.

Patrick Schroeder (China Association for NGOCooperation, China) expanded on the power dy-namics between such actors groups in a Chinesecontext. In particular, he focussed on the role ofcivil society and governmental organisations andthe related effectiveness of bottom up versus topdown policy approaches. All presentations stres-sed the importance of taking into account andenhancing our understanding of how social andphysical infrastructures and their interactions di-rect consumption and production, including theirdifferences across geographical scales.


The third project deals with the bringing togetherof small businesses and larger governmental en-tities. Erik ter Avest representing a Dutch nationalagency addresses the importance of greeningsmall businesses and linking them to the publicsector. There must be voluntary public and pri-vate partnerships (PPPs).

In marriage, who asks the hand of whom? Doesthe boy ask the girl, or vice versa? –“Neither. InChina, they both ask each other at the same time”(Erik ter Avest)How to encourage efficiency? –“Use a carrot, anda very hard stick” (Erik ter Avest)

The fourth project brings the idea of sustainableconsumption in civil society. It focuses on largecities, namely Beijing and Tianjin. These heavilypopulated cities have large numbers of peoplewith strong purchasing power. With proper edu-cation on all levels, the spread of green consump-tion is feasible.

Upscaling mechanisms for Sustaina-ble Consumption and Production –achievements and lessons learnt inthe SWITCH-Asia Programme

Organised by UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Colla-borating Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production, GermanyContributions to slides/report: Frans Verspeek,Akash Arasu

The workshop highlighted the importance of lin-king and interconnecting projects in different re-gions because they can learn from each other andshare results when appropriate. There has beena strive to upscale projects to bring them to a larger macro level and Switch Asia helicoptersand monitors such projects and communicatesthe messages learnt and results contrived to theoutside world and general public.

Ultimately there are five leverage points

• Service providers• Engaging policy makers• Supply chain engagement• Access to finance• Engaging with consumers

The first two projects presented dealt withmainly increasing control in the transformer in-dustry for small businesses and the effective mar-keting and growth of the bamboo industry inAsia.


Christopher Manstein subsequently presentedthe “Germany Resource Efficiency Programme(ProgRess)”. ProgRess is - together with the “Au-strian Resource Efficiency Action Plan” – the firstnational implementation of the EU Roadmap.ProgRess was adopted by the German Federal Ca-binet in February 2012. One of the starting pointsof ProgRess was the fact that in Germany mate-rials account for 45% of the cost in manufactu-ring and that Germany depends very much onimports. Resource efficiency can lower produc-tion costs and decrease dependency from im-ports. The goal of ProgRess is to decoupleeconomic growth from resource use, to reduceenvironmental impacts of resource use and to im-prove the sustainability and competitiveness ofGerman industry. With this, German resourceproductivity should be doubled by 2020 in com-parison to the year 1994.

Gerhard Weihs, director of Centric Austria Inter-national, then presented “ECOPROFIT – A globalcase study from Austria” as a best practice exam-ple. ECOPROFIT is a strategy to achieve resourceefficiency in SMEs. It was adopted on four conti-nents and in dozens of countries. ECOPROFIT isa win-win solution for entrepreneurs and the en-vironment. It requires local governments, localpolicies, industries, businesses to work together.

Finally, Yi Heng Cheng (Managing Director ofHAMC) presented the topic “From Country Stra-tegy to Pan Asian”. He recommended the deve-lopment of a Pan Asian Resource Plan. Mr. YiHeng Cheng: “We shouldn’t look at what belongsto which country, we should better try to findmodern technologies and share them”.

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion“Successful strategies and approaches for Europeand Asia – What can we learn from each other?”

Resource efficiency strategies inEurope – The EU Roadmap and ex-amples for national implementation

Organised by German Federal Environment AgencyReport: Christopher Manstein

The consumption of natural resources already farexceeds the earth’s capacity for regeneration. Ca-reful handling and efficient use of natural resour-ces will become a key competence of sustainablesocieties. Increasing resource efficiency can re-duce pollution and waste, strengthen competiti-veness, create new jobs and ensure sustainableemployment.

Against the background of the “Roadmap to a Re-source Efficient Europe” published by the Euro-pean Commission and the “German ResourceEfficiency Programme” (ProgRess), the GermanFederal Environment Agency presented at thisworkshop resource efficiency strategies in Europeand examples for national implementation.

In his introduction, moderator Christopher Man-stein (German Federal Environment Agency)gave an overview of recent EU resource policy de-velopments in general and of the so-called “EU Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe”which was published by the European Commis-sion in September 2011. He also presented a report of the European Environment Agency tit-led “Resource efficiency in Europe”, which des-cribes policies and approaches in 31 EEA memberand cooperating countries.

“Bottom-up action for resource efficiency in theNetherlands” was the title of the followingspeech by Arnold Tukker, Business Line Mana-ger Societal Innovation & Economy from TNO(the Netherlands). Mr Tukker pointed out thatboth approaches, bottom-up and top-down, areneeded for a successful resource efficiency po-licy.


Urban Mining, Challenges and Opportunities – synergies between e-waste recycling and mining of mineral resources

Organised by Empa, SwitzerlandReport: Mathias Schluep

The participants of the workshop “Urban Mining:Challenges and Opportunities” focusing on me-tals from e-waste• are aware that Asia needs large quantities of

mineral resources to support its growing eco-nomy (infrastructure, production of consu-mer goods);

• are also aware that Asia is endowed withlarge deposits of mineral resources (in so cal-led “primary mines”);

• recognise that Asia is increasingly accumula-ting mineral resources in end-of-life products,such as waste electrical and electronic equip-ment (e-waste) (in so called “urban mines”);

• also recognise that urban mines offer oppor-tunities to create jobs and to lower environ-mental impacts by partially substitutingprimary mineral resources;

• are concerned that mineral resources fromurban mines are recovered only partially atlow material recovery rates and often at highsocial and environmental costs.

Considering this, the participants of the work-shop recommend to• (i) make use of the knowledge from primary

mineral resource extraction and refining inurban mining;

(ii) develop further knowhow and physical in-frastructure (collection and treatment) forurban mining where appropriate;

(iii) promote the trade of pre-processed secon-dary mineral resources on a global scalewhere investments for further resource ex-traction and refining cannot be justified fromthe perspective of sustainable development;

• make use of the experience from current re-sponsibility standards in the primary mining

Results of the workshop and the discussions(feedback of participants):

• “Interesting workshop” because of differentperspectives/levels of resource efficiency (European/national policies, bottom-up ac-tion, company level, Asian relevance)

• Europe and member states have a “good po-licy framework” for resource efficiency

• But: “Turn policy into action!”• Resource efficiency: “academic approach” or

solution for companies?• There is strong interest in business cases and

implementation of resource efficiency (good-practice examples of resource efficiency).This should be a focus topic at World Resour-ces Forum 2013.

• Resource efficiency should be “voluntary forbusiness”

• “Stakeholder dialogue” is helpful• Resource efficiency is not only a technical

issue but is also an interesting and new in-strument for management


sector to complement existing standards inurban mining;

• develop resource policies adequately conside-ring the systemic, global and multi-stakehol-der character of urban mining.

When will they start listening to us?

Organised by Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and World Resources Forum SecretariatReport: Tobias Welz (WRF)

For decades, major technological and economicscientific analyses have been pointing to the li-mits of growth and the need for more resourceefficiency in society at large. Even though policyreports have been identifying the tools for achie-ving this goal ever since, progress is breathtakin-gly slow. The sense of urgency in society forachieving drastic progress towards increasing re-source productivity is not comparable to the at-tention for given to other societal challenges andcrises, such as financial and economic issues.

This workshop, moderated by Bas de Leeuw(WRF) explored the question why this sense ofurgency has not reached mainstream politicians,business and individual households. Thereby,not only obstacles were identified, but specialfocus was put on what could be done better.

There was a common understanding that moreand deeper interaction between engineering, eco-nomic and social scientists might be the key forachieving significant progress. Furthermore, con-crete ways of improving the cooperation betweenscience producers and science users (politicians,policy makers) also need to be explored.

Heinz Gutscher (chair) – social science perspective

In his talk, Heinz Gutscher pointed on the beha-vioural key variables that are needed to be ad-dressed to create more sustainable decisions. Hereferred to percepting, assessing, and acting asthe main modules to achieve potential change inbehaviour. He argued that the issue of urgencyhas first to be recognized with our sensory system and then understood, in order to cause a(sufficient) action in result.

In case of perception, so far, overuse, misuse, andwasting of resources are perceived still inadequa-tely and readiness to act is still low. To achieve acertain progress towards sustainability he plea-ded for decoupling resource use from well-being,using the approaches of efficiency (using less ma-terials) and sufficiency (doing things differently).Further it has to be realised that perception is li-mited by evolutionary constraints, and so to bedealt with adequately for each case. As an exam-ple many daily tasks go without us paying atten-tion.

While assessing information, humans tend to dis-torted assessments, as they tend towards unrea-listic optimism or overestimate the degree ofcontrol between factors. Assessments are mainlydriven by experience-related processes as well asanalytical processes. If we want people to listento us, we have to be aware of that.

Annukka Dickens

Workshop, moderated by Bas de Leeuw


Finally, human actions are extremely habituali-sed, as this makes everyday life easier. That pro-motes a preference for the status quo (as long asit is successful). So disrupting the status quo isthe aim. This means that tension between actualstate and target state; sufficient efficacy; suffi-cient cost/benefit ratio of the necessary change,are keys to help to create change opportunities.

Thomas Graedel – industrial ecology perspective

“Industry and education are not well connec-ted” – This was the introductive statement byThomas Graedel in his talk. Further he referredto the example of physics and design of separa-tion in recycling. He argued for the interlinkingof material-centric academic community with theproduct-centric industrial community. The aim isto overcome the insufficient appreciation of eachother’s position regarding easy recycling versuscomplex products. Overcoming this gap of inte-rests, and bringing together such stakeholders,said Thomas Graedel, is one of the main challen-ges of the World Resources Forum.

As it was shown in the case of UK supply chaincardiology (interdependencies of resources), resource issues are linked together worldwide.However, specialists are often not aware of thoseconnections and do not understand the generalsystem. In fact, in today’s world, we need every-body to understand and act accordingly.

How to make things happen? Thomas Graedel’sanswer is to build up a stakeholder dialogue bet-ween governments, industry, representatives in

education, in particular also Academies of Sci-ence. The World Resources Forum should takeaction to identify and connect key players. Iden-tification in this manner means to know how toaddress stakeholders with the right form of com-munication. So a dialogue has to be establishedfocusing on the resources issues, with a scopelonger then the life span of a product. More likelythis dialogue should define a time span back towhen mankind started intensive resource use, inthe Industrial Revolution, 250 years ago.

Arnold Tukker – transition management perspective

Analysing the workshop title in the beginning,Arnold Tukker asked himself, are we so efficient?Are we so consequent? Us, the scientists? Maybethat is not so true. As we see in the results of ourconferences: Meetings without impact or actionthat is considered (too?) difficult or inconvenient.We need to have achievable goals. For example,Rio promised poverty eradication and sustaina-bility producing a 200 Trillion $ wish list for 2050.Realising that our worldwide economy output is50 Trillion $ annually, we see that it is unrealistic. Policy-makers support the current Ponzi schemeon which our wealth and stability is based. Thismeans only economic-environmental win-win si-tuations are supported. Is there a way out of thisdilemma? Certainly there is, if we head towardsa stable economy without craze of growth, withemission targets, and a policy that abolishes sub-sidies that prevent innovation and keep us in the20th century.

Thomas Graedel Arnold Tukker


Janet Salem – policy-governance perspective

Janet Salem spoke from the point of view ofUNEP, focusing on the work of the InternationalResource Panel and the Switch Asia project. Wit-hin both initiatives, UNEP is connecting scientistswith policy-makers, in order to understand eachother. For this purpose working together withmass media is obvious, but is the message get-ting across? Society needs a constructive dialoguebetween scientist and decision-makers, but is thisprovided for so far?

Of course, science is acting neutral and speciali-zed, but is often not conducted for normativepurposes. On the other hand, policy-makers areused to deal quickly, in a multidisciplinary envi-ronment, and apply cross cutting knowledge totackle new challenges. As a result, scientists andpolicy-maker do not communicate efficientlywith each other, yet. To overcome this gap, newexperts, institutes, and fora are needed to be in-volved in the next step discussions. People likecommunication experts, social scientists, andtaste makers are all invited to become our resour-ces ambassadors.

Zhouying Jin – social science perspective

Zhouying Jin brought insights from her latestbook “Global Technological Change – From HardTechnology to Soft Technology” to the audience.This updated second edition is a powerful recon-ceptualization of technological options and inno-vation management, which can help steersocieties in assessing technologies for the 21st

century.

With human-centered "soft technology" drivingmachine-based "hard technology" in ever morecomplex ways, Zhouying Jin provides an under-standing of the human dimension of technologi-cal advancement.

Through a theoretical framework that incorpora-tes elements of both Eastern and Western philo-sophy, she offers insight into the dynamicdimension between the two as it relates to a va-riety of technological innovation.

Rainer Kündig – geoscience perspective

We shall require a substantially new manner ofthinking if mankind is to survive (Albert Ein-stein). That’s how Rainer Kündig started his pre-sentation while switching to the next slide thatvisualized a roller-coaster, representing all inter-dependencies related to raw materials in Switzer-land. He raised the question how to deal with allthese issues in a proper way, e.g. on the topic ofrenewable energies versus the demand of rare-earth metals? Everyone should have the chanceto demand these materials, but who will be suc-cessful in the end? Which applications are mostimportant for society, as they are key factors inthe future? Rainer Kündig reminded us that wehave to educate our students and convince thepoliticians but also to encourage curiosity. Weneed to talk… and to be honest. As an example,he mentioned the demand of Neodymium nee-ded to assure wind parks in the UK to make theenergy turnaround for sustainability happen. Weneed to discuss these issues at all levels in so-ciety, not only with authorities, but also with thepublic and workers.

Otto Smrekar & Wolfgang Stark – social science perspec-

tive (written contribution)Otto Smrekar and Wolfgang Stark addressed keyquestions on how to achieve next steps towardssustainability in society.

Changing towards sustainable decision makingand lifestyle means for both the need for a bigtransformation process, which affects many of

Janet Salem


our political and individual habits and reward sy-stems. But so far, even if we realize the need,non-sustainable decisions are still rewarded.There is obviously a need to re-structure our re-ward systems in society and encourage a newlong-term mentality. The current individualizedsociety prefers individualized solutions that, infact, led to more individualized freedom and lesssocial control. Further, this means also a fadeaway of responsibility for the community and thecommons in our society. By now, the discourseon the big transformation towards a sustainablesociety though pretends that it is all about tech-nical feasibility and rational, political and indivi-dual decisions. So far, all our knowledge of thepsychological dynamics of change seems to beignored. This may be one of the unknown causeswhy change towards sustainability is failing.

The situation gets even worse when we realizethe existing communication gaps, regarding thetwo dominant concepts at stake, the industrialconcept of simplicity, speed, rational planningand big numbers, and the sustainability conceptof complex systems, long-term thinking, andemergent structure and ‘slow quality’. Strangelyenough, the beauty of complexity in sustainablethinking has been spoiled by the industrial envi-ronment it lives in and causes another gap: su-stainable thinkers tend to develop and exerthundred-percent plans of sustainability – quiteoften “small wins” don’t count. In addition, thereare only few powerful role models for sustaina-bility: people of power may talk sustainabilityand ask others to live a sustainable life; howeverin their own lives and decision-making, sustai-nability is only the “icing on a cake of growthand competition”. In a world of quick wins, theidea of sustainability seems to be more exhaus-ting and less rewarding than the concept ofpower. This is frustrating to the well informedand creates no draw for the less informed.

Today we have enough knowledge to opt for al-ternative decision models towards sustainability,and standards of technology can be highly sup-

portive for sustainable solutions. But when wehave to realize that change and transformationprocesses cannot be restricted to rational choiceand planning, there is a need for non-linear, evenfuzzy solutions. To overcome the pitfalls of ratio-nal (industrial) planning we need to focus onsmall patterns which are flexible to use for con-tinuously re-designing innovative solutions. Fromimprovisation methodology (in jazz, theater anddance) we can learn that the arts are an impor-tant source for non-linear thinking.

Sustainable Management of ForestResources and Wood Constructions

Organised by Koli ForumReport: Liisa Tahvanainen & Pauliina Korhonen

The interactive workshop with its invited expertsas panelists but also the audience was encoura-ged to actively take part. All participants votedfor options for specific questions raised duringthe panel by the chairperson and the results wereseen immediately on the screen. This was doneby using a wireless response voting system.The topic of this session “The sustainable forestmanagement and wood constructions” was dis-

cussed through the pre-sentations and paneldiscussion which co-vered “the future per-spectives of woodenhouses in China fromthe point of view offorest management, pu-blic perceptions andeducation; possibilitiesto utilize bamboo as asolution for problemsfrom environmental andraw material point ofview; forest carbon se-questration in China,and preconditions andLiisa Tahvanainen


possibilities of bioeconomy. Furthermore, thetopic was discussed using a wireless Responsevoting system and active discussions during thesession.

The KOLI Forum aims to formulate its results inthe form of feasible solutions. The results of thissession are based on the voting responses of theparticipants. However, it should be noted that theresults are personal opinions of a very limitedgroup of seminar participants and cannot be con-sidered as recommendations for action, but pro-vide an interesting insight in the discussions inthis session.

About half of the participants were men (47%)and half female (53%), most were less than 40 years old (77%) and from Asia (72%).

The respondents thought that the best way toraise bioeconomy as a driver for China’s sustai-nable competitiveness would be 1) fasten the uti-lization of best available technologies (BAT),knowledge and practices (47%) and 2) promo-ting biomass based products and energy (27%).The options were taken from the KOLI Forum2011 Theses. The biggest difference to the actionssuggested in the KOLI Forum 2011 for Europewere that in China the global criteria and com-mitments were not seen as important tools as inEurope.

The respondents saw that the main obstacle onwood constructions is the governmental policy(38%), shortage of raw material (19%) and tech-nical challenges (knowhow) (19%). According tothe opinions of the respondents the forest resour-ces of China would best benefit the sustainablegrowth of economy by managing the forests in asustainable way to be used for commercial pur-poses to boost bioeconomy (33%), the secondlyimportant options were to use forests as carbonsinks, for recreation and nature parks, and forwood constructions to preserve CO2.

Conclusions

A lot of work has been done concerning bioeco-nomy, its importance and challenges. Climatechange, resource efficiency and green economyare all closely interlinked to bioeconomy and aretopics of global debate. How fast we need to actforward and change our way of living, what arethe new innovations needed and how the socie-ties can remain competitive in global economy?We need new sophisticated ways to commitpeople to combat the major global challenges. Itis no longer sufficient that policymakers are di-recting the future. They need the discussions, ad-vice and views of business, research and NGO’sas well as approval from the whole society. Theownership of natural resources varies around theglobe, needs and values are different. Societyneeds to find different solutions of its own to takethe responsibility and commit people to sustai-nable management of natural resources. Finallywe share the same globe and global challengesare common. Responsibility of the global com-mons is our task and the Koli Forum is joining todo its best to provide tools for decision makersespecially concerning the huge forest resources.

The biennial Koli Forum searches out new infor-mation and long-term policies to support a futurethat takes into consideration both the potentialand the limitations of natural resources. Outcomeof the forum, the Koli theses are defined by Eu-ropean opinion-leaders from the spheres of busi-ness, politics, science and culture. Koli theses areto help decision-makers to take responsibility forour renewable forest resources, sustainable eco-nomic competitiveness as well as social and eco-logical welfare. More information about the KoliForum, materials, the Koli theses and videos canbe found from www.koliforum.fi. The next KoliForum will take place in the Koli national park,Finland 17–19 September 2013.


Interview with Prof. Christian Lud-wig, scientific co-chair World Resour-ces Forum 2012

WRF: What is your relationship to WRF?

Prof. Ludwig: WRF grew out of the R-conferencesseries which was established by Empa back in1995. In 1999 I joined the scientific committeeand later I was involved in the organization ofthe follow-up conferences in different functions.In 2011 I was then elected as the scientific chair-man of the WRF conference and this year I havesupported the WRF conference in Beijing asscientific co-chairman, supported by Martin Leh-mann (WRF).

WRF: What are the duties of the scientific chair-man?

Prof. Ludwig: A major issue of a conference is itsscientific quality. Traditionally, we have scientificcontributions from the conference attendees. Thescientific chairman is responsible for the evalua-tion of the submitted abstracts. He decides aboutnecessary improvements, suitability for posterand oral presentation, or their rejection.

WRF: There are hundreds of abstracts to be eva-luated, are you reading and evaluating all the ab-stracts yourself?

Prof. Ludwig: Indeed I am reading all abstractsto come up with my own opinion. However, it isimportant to have several independent opinionsfrom different reviewers who are evaluating theabstracts. Normally, every abstract has been eva-luated by three independent experts.

WRF: How are you selecting the reviewers?

Prof. Ludwig: The scientific chairman is presi-dent of the scientific expert committee and mostof the reviewers are chosen from this committee.The selection of reviewers is difficult. The expertcommittee brings experts together with differentprofessional background. Therefore, the appre-ciation of the abstracts is sometimes influencedby the professional background of the reviewers.

WRF: In this context it may be likely that revie-wers have sometimes different opinions. How areyou dealing with this particular problem?

Prof. Ludwig: Indeed the format of this confe-rence increases the chance to obtain different re-viewer opinions. Therefore, it is most valuablethat our reviewers have been selected over seve-ral years and that they have been trained in pre-paratory meetings which took place at Empa inSt. Gallen. However, contradictory evaluationscannot be avoided. In such cases it is most im-

3. Scientific Sessions and Posters

Born: March 30th, 1963 in Berne, SwitzerlandEducation: Chemist, PhDExpertise: Resource Management, Waste and

Bioenergy TechnologiesPosition: Head of research group at Paul Scherrer

Institute (PSI) and professor at École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL)

Hobbies: Hiking, skiing, sailing, mobile home and family

Christian Ludwig


portant to give the authors a feedback which willhelp them to find an adequate way to presenttheir findings for this very interdisciplinary audi-ence.

WRF: The WRF gives a lot of space to plenary lec-tures and in the past years extraordinary perso-nalities contributed to the success of the plenaries.What do you think about high profile candidates?

Prof. Ludwig: Indeed the plenary lectures withCEO’s from large companies, high level authori-ties and ministries or researchers with outstan-ding reputation increased the quality andcontributed to the strong profile of the WRF con-ference. These key presentations are on invitationonly. In the selection process the scientific chair-man pays only an advising role. The organizingcommittee who has also the financial risk is ma-king the final decision.

WRF: Which is the most challenging duty of thescientific chairman?

Prof. Ludwig: Certainly it is the compilation andfinalization of the program. Time and space forregular sessions, plenaries, and workshops needto be allocated in a reasonable manor conside-ring the content of all these activities. Often lastminute changes are made, for example a work-shop will not take place or more time for it is re-quested. Registrations are canceled if attendeesfail to get the funding for travelling or for otherreasons. Such open slots should be avoided whe-never possible.

WRF: Looking back with your own an experienceof more than 13 years R-conference and WRF hi-story how was the event in Beijing this year?

Prof. Ludwig: WRF 2012 was of course an out-standing event. With more than 700 participantscoming from all over the world it obtained highinternational recognition.

WRF: WRF is trying to develop a clear profile for

its events including politicians, authorities, eco-nomy, practitioners, engineers and scientists. HasWRF 2012 fulfilled your expectations?

Prof. Ludwig: Yes, absolutely. We have to consi-der that the profiles of the different events are de-pending on different factors. The bi-annualflagship events in Davos (2009, 2011, 2013 etc.)are directly organized by WRF whereas theevents between are hosted by other organizati-ons. Exchange between Switzerland and organi-zations in Asia is challenging and common goalsand values need to be developed together. Thistakes a lot of time. Friendships evolve over yearsand many exchange visits are necessary. I amvery happy that WRF 2012 opened doors to keygovernmental persons and organizations. We cer-tainly profited from the relationships that wereestablished during the R’2005 conference whichtook also place in Beijing. We will further colla-borate with our Chinese friends in the future andwork towards the goals set by the WRF Associa-tion.

WRF: How do you judge the quality of WRF 2012in comparison to R’2005?

Prof. Ludwig: It became evident that many of theproblems we cannot solve at the end-of-the-pipeand that we need a new and a more integratedapproach. The new branding to “WRF” has cle-arly influenced the content of the conference.The focus shifted from recycling towards resour-ces management and the political aspects gainedin importance. Besides the new and differentfocus of the conference, the quality of the scien-tific contributions was considerably improvedsince 2005. This was especially the case for themany Chinese contributions.

WRF: What’s your explanation for this quality im-provement?

Prof. Ludwig: There are different important fac-tors. The Chinese boom and prosperity has alsoleft its traces in research. Modern institutes were


built in the last years which have adopted we-stern standards. China makes fast and big stepsahead. The quality of research has improved andthe exchange in English, especially with theyounger generation, is easier than just a fewyears ago. WRF has further supported the localorganization committee with their long term ex-perience. It was one of the reasons, why I haveaccepted to serve as scientific co-chairman. Itwas important to do some knowledge transfer toadopt WRF scientific quality standards. It was agreat experience for me when I have been invitedlast summer to Beijing where we worked on theprogram together with the Chinese team aroundProf. Suojiang Zhang.

WRF: You mentioned that the focus changed fromend-of-the pipe to an integrated perspective. Howhas this been implemented at WRF 2012?

Prof. Ludwig: If we talk about resources today,politicians think immediately of energy. Andwhen it gets to environmental concerns in theenergy sector greenhouse gases are in the focus.This perspective is a most dangerous one, as itneglects important relationships and many otherfactors. We have to avoid that by solving one pro-blem we create new and perhaps even more se-vere ones. However, not acting is definitively alsowrong. In this difficult context WRF should bethe ideal platform for this discussion. At WRF2012 we were very open in discussing a large va-riety of issues in the workshops and in the ple-nary presentations. Further, 12 session topicshave been chosen for the regular presentations.

WRF: As scientific co-chairman you were invitedto present your personal selection of highlights inthe final plenary of the conference. How have youmade your selection?

Prof. Ludwig: I tried to attend as many differentsessions as possible and selected 7 personal high-lights which I have shortly presented in the finalplenary lecture. You can find my presentationwith my choices on the WRF website. The exam-

ples indicate that the energy related issues werevery dominant in the discussions. There is astrong wish of our society to obtain cheap andinfinite energy services provided with low emis-sion technologies. Hope is expected from new re-newable energies, such as wind power orefficient use of bioenergy (Sam Pickard). Howe-ver, it seems that both pathways suffer from mis-sing resources. Wind turbines need rare elementswhich seem to limit the theoretical potential ofwind energy (Komal Habib). However, clever mo-dels allow better predicting wind situations (She-maiah Weekes). Improved nanotechnologies mayallow the development of future power genera-tors for small mobile equipment (Zhong LinWang) or new materials may be relevant to in-crease the efficiency of energy technologies(Chang-Jun Liu).

WRF: You have also selected a presentation byHelmut Langer as a highlight, why?

Prof. Ludwig: Mr. Langer presented in the sessionon “Alternative Business Models and Socio-Eco-nomic Issues”. His presentation may also have fit-ted in the “Policy and Education” session. He isa professional designer who is able to address thescientific messages in strong and simple pictureswhich can be understood by everyone. He sharedsome of them with us. For me this was also a cul-tural enrichment of the conference.

WRF: One session was about “Food and Bio-mass”, however, the contributions that weredealing with food were not many. Should we omitsuch sessions in the future?

Prof. Ludwig: Indeed this topic was not well re-presented. The energy recovery from residueswas discussed in other session, however, in myopinion WRF has to think about how to betteraddress this topic. Food production can stronglyinterfere with extensive agriculture to producebiofuels. Further, agriculture itself is a resourceintensive industry. WRF could be the ideal plat-form for this debate in the future.

WRF 2012: The Best Poster Award Winners are…

Author: Martin Lehmann

Apart from the plenary speeches, the workshopsand the scientific oral sessions, more than 90 po-sters by scientists from all over the world werepresented at the World Resources Forum 2012conference in Beijing.

Topics displayed on the various posters rangedfrom Green Economy applications in certain re-gions of the world, catalyst solutions, electroche-mical processes, ionic liquids, biofuels, to metalrecycling options and improvements, solid wastemanagement in developing countries, law of en-vironmental protection, or fuel cells and batte-ries, just to name a few.

We are proud to present the five winners of theWRF 2012 Poster Award (in alphabetical order):

• Denice Byarushengo, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with the Poster on "Le-mongrass Essential Oil as a Natural Preserva-tive for Pineapple Juice"

• Sho Shindo, Akita Research Institute of Foodand Brewing, Japan, with the Poster "Bioet-hanol Production and Cadmium Removalfrom Phytoremediation Plant"

• Minqian Sun, Institute of Process Enginee-ring, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China,with the Poster "Effect of Propane Sultone


WRF: What are your next plans?

Prof. Ludwig: I am looking forward to celebratingChristmas and to have some relaxing days withmy family. This was a very intensive year and mywife is sometimes not so sure if I have ever heardsomething about sustainable resource manage-ment. Anyway, I am already looking forward tothe next WRF conference which will be held inDavos October 6–9, 2013.

WRF: We are counting on the support of ProfessorLudwig in 2013 and thank him for the interviewand his ongoing support for WRF. Best Poster Award Winners


as Additive for Ionic Liquid Based Electro-lyte"

• Wei Wang, General Research Institute forNon-Ferrous Metals, China, with the Poster"Recycling Copper and Zinc from Scrap Cop-per Smelting Slag"

• Jiayu Xin, Institute of Process Engineering,Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, withthe Poster "Integrated Catalytic Process forHydrocarbons Produced from LignocellulosicMaterials".

Some WRF 2012 participants might have hadchallenges in understanding in detail what someof the more specific posters described. These informed in a nutshell about very complex pro-jects, each of them being a small piece of a puz-zle to improve processes and efficiency. Sooneror later they will help us to achieve overall re-source-efficiency targets for our planet Earth.

That is what the World Resources Forum initia-tive – together with its plenary sessions andworkshops – promotes: improving basic and

Xingmei Lu discussing with Arthur Ruf

Arthur Ruf congratulating one of the award winners

applied research in the resource field at universi-ties and laboratories, while at the same time ge-nerating intensive discussions among thedifferent stakeholders from governments, indu-stries and academies, on resource use questionsto be dealt with in a globalised world.


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Registration, High-level Opening Session, Plenary Sessions, Poster Session and Welcome Cocktail

14h00 Opening (chaired by Jinghai Li, Vice President, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China, andXaver Edelmann, President, World Resources Forum, Board of Directors Empa, Switzerland)

• Welcome address by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China• H.E. Li Ganjie, Vice-Minister of Environmental Protection, China• Xaver Edelmann, President, World Resources Forum, Board of Directors Empa, Switzerland• Bruno Oberle, State Secretary Environment, Director, Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Switzerland• Arthur Ruf, Vice President, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, Switzerland

15h00 Plenary I “Green Economy: what are the challenges?”

• Amory B. Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist Rocky Mountain Institute, USA• Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Vice Chair Environment Committee, European Parliament, Netherlands• Mohan Munasinghe, Vice Chair, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Sri Lanka• Lothar Reh, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland• G.Q. Max Lu, University of Queensland, Australia

17h20 Plenary II “Green Economy: how to make it happen?”

• Yi Kang, former Minister of Metallurgical Engineering, China• Thomas Graedel, Yale University, USA• James Bradfield Moody, Executive Director Development, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia

18h40 Poster Session and Exhibition

19h30 Welcome Cocktail

Appendices

Appendix 1: WRF 2012 Program


Monday, October 22, 2012

Workshops, Scientific Sessions, Exhibition, Posters, Congress Banquet

08h30 – 18h00 Workshops

• 08h30 – 18h15 Special Briefing on UNEP‘s latest findings in Resource Efficiency (UNEP,Bangkok/Paris. Presentations by: Mohan Munasinghe, Heinz Schandl, Sonja Heyenga andKarin Hosking, Rajan Gandhi, Chen Shaofeng, Thomas E. Graedel, Markus Reuter, YuichiMoriguchi

• 08h30 – 10h15 Urban Eco-Efficiency Lab –Cities, Biodiversity and Ecosystems (WRF/Secretariat Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada. Presentations by: Xaver Edelmann, Sibylle Rock, Stephan Wabnegger, Rui Zhang, Luis Neves

• 10h45 – 12h30 Circular economy (CAS, China). Presentation by: Jiankun Song• 14h00 – 18h15 Balancing Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Consumption and Production

in Asia and the Pacific – Challenges for Policy, Research and Practice (Global ResearchForum on Sustainable Production and Consumption, USA). Presentations by: Lewis Akenji, Ying Feng, Patrick Schroeder, Heinz Schandl, Leonie Dendler

• 14h00 – 16h00 Upscaling mechanisms for Sustainable Consumption and Production – achievements and lessons learnt in the SWITCH-Asia Programme (UNEP/Wuppertal InstituteCollaborating Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Germany)

• 16h30 – 18h15 Resource Efficiency Strategies in Europe – EU Roadmap and National Implementation (German Federal Environment Agency). Presentations by:Christopher Manstein, Arnold Tukker, Gerhard Weihs, Yi Heng Cheng

08h30 – 18h00 Scientific sessions

• Green and Circular Economy (Session1)• National and Regional Approaches (Session 2)• Petroleum and Natural Gas Upgrading (Session 4)• Renewable Energy (Session 6)• Green Process Engineering and Technologies (Session 8)• Waste/Material Recovery and Recycling (Session 9)• Alternative Business Models and Socio-Economic Issues (Session 10)• Policy and Education (Session 11)• Nano Green Energy (Session 12)

18h00 Congress Banquet


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Plenary Sessions, Scientific Sessions, Workshops, Exhibition, Posters, Summary, Awards, Closing Session

08h30 – 12h30 Workshops

• 08h30 – 12h30 Urban Mining, Challenges and Opportunities (Empa, Switzerland)Presentation by: Jinhui Li, Luis Neves, Rainer Kündig, Annukka Dickens

• 08h30 – 10h15 When will they start listening to us? (Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences/WRF, Switzerland). Presentation by: Thomas Graedel, Heinz Gutscher, Janet Salem, Arnold Tukker, Rainer Kündig

• 08h30 – 12h30 Sustainable Industry – Sustainable Management of Forest Resources and Wood Constructions (Koli Forum, Finland). Presentations by: Liisa Tahvanainen, Li Zhang,Qu Mei, Wu Junqi, Pekka Hallberg

08h30 – 12h30 Scientific sessions

• Metal and Mineral Resources (Session 3)• Clean Coal Technologies (Session 5)• Waste/Material Recovery and Recycling (Session 9)• Food and Biomass (Session 7)• Nano Green Energy (Session 12)• Petroleum and Natural Gas Upgrading (Session 4)

14h00 Plenary III “Green Economy: what are the success stories?"

• Edward Clarence-Smith, UNIDO representative and Head Regional Office, China• Joachim Klink, Director, Global Automotive & Aerospace Industry Architect,

Hewlett-Packard, Germany• Stephan Wabnegger, CEO, CREE, Austria• Markus Reuter, Outotec, Finland

16h00 Plenary Highlights Panel (chaired by Bas de Leeuw, Managing Director WRF)

• Christian Ludwig, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland• Panel discussion with workshop rapporteurs

17h00 Closing Session and Awards

• Arthur Ruf, Vice President, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, Switzerland• Xaver Edelmann, President, World Resources Forum, Board of Directors Empa, Switzerland• Jinghai Li, Vice President, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China


High satisfaction with WRF 2012, results of participants survey show

An overwhelming majority of participants ofWRF 2012, which took place in Beijing, October21–23, 2012, is (very) satisfied with the event.This can be concluded from the results of the par-ticipants survey. A very encouraging 94% of all respondents wereeither “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied”with the WRF 2012 event as a whole. Find belowan overview of the main questions and answers.All answers will further be analysed by the teamand considered in the preparations of our nextevents.

The venue of WRF 2012, the China National Con-vention Centre, was rated by again 94% as “ex-cellent” or “above average”. There were a coupleof critical voices whofound that the venuedid not communicatethe message of a sustai-nable use of resources.The WRF team alsowanted to know howthe participants percei-ved the logistical orga-nisation of the eventlike registration, hotelreservation etc. Again,a high percentage ofparticipants concludedthat the organisationwas “excellent” or“above average”.People thought theconference staff wasvery friendly and help-ful. A number of vege-tarians wished somemore meat-free dishes.

Appendix 2: Participants Survey


Around 90% of the responses considered thesubstantive organisation (agenda, choice of spea-kers, workshops etc.) as “excellent” or “aboveaverage”. The open comments on that questionwill be considered by the organising committeeto further improve the WRF events in the future.The next question aimed at the choice of topicsand how appropriate they were for the confe-rence. 60% of the responding participants foundthe chosen topics to be “very appropriate”, and38% as “somewhat appropriate”. This means for

the organisers to keep on sticking to most of thehot topics, but at the same time to modify thefocus where needed. This was already achievedduring WRF 2012, where as a result of the 2011survey for instance the A+ workshop was dealingwith the social aspects of the resource discussion,asking the decisive question “When will theystart listening to us?”

With regard to the quality of the plenary spee-ches, the feedback is also very favourable, as

95% of the respondingparticipants liked thesepresentations. A cou-ple of attendees poin-ted out that the ple-nary speeches werevery different; howe-ver, this can also beseen in a positive light.The quality of theworkshops and parallelsession was also jud-ged as “excellent” or“above average”. Thefeedback though is abit more diverse. It wasfor instance mentionedthat there were toomany parallel work-shops and sessions atthe same time. This isa challenge for the or-ganising committee.Providing the opportu-nity to discuss specifictopics and researchquestions in the work-shops/sessions meansat the same time thatthe amount of parallelevents increases. Re-ducing the amount of parallel sessions and workshops wouldmean to extend the


The next question was tackling the issue of whatstakeholder group the WRF participants wouldlike to see more often in future events. As a re-spondent to this question, one can either be in-terested to see “more people of my group” or say“I would like to meet more people from othersectors, professions, organisations, parties etc.”In that sense, this question is a bit difficult to in-terpret, but basically the WRF participants appre-ciate to meet experts with a diverse background.This feedback supports WRF in its strategy to bethe global science-based platform for sharing

knowledge about theeconomic, political, so-cial and environmentalimplications of globalresource use, by buil-ding bridges among researchers, policyma-kers, business, SMEs,NGOs and the public.

It is always a pleasureto read through all the personal highlightsthat WRF participantsexperience during theconference. For some,it is the venue, or the delicious dinner,for others it is a more content-related high-light like a workshopor a plenary speech,for a third group itmight be a conferencetopic, or a new insightlike “do not sell goods,sell services instead”.Many participants weredelighted to see somany young people at-tending. The answersto this open questionare not reported here,since it would fill

WRF conference to more than 3 days. So thechoice has to be balanced, which means between5–8 simultaneous sessions/workshops. The fol-lowing question supports this concept.

Question number 8 was referring to the generalsetup of the WRF conference, and whether theparticipants would prefer to see more plenarysessions, or more workshops, or keep it as it is.As expected, this is very much a matter of taste,but the majority (47%) of the answers indicatesthat the setup should be kept as it is.


many pages, but these will certainly play a bigrole in our considerations for WRF 2013.

The last question was about the international stu-dent reporters who were present at the confe-rence, contributing with reports and interviews.Participants were asked whether they would liketheir presence also in future events, and if yes,how big the group of student reporters should be.As it can be seen from the chart, 83% of the at-tendees would like to see as many student repor-ters as in Beijing, and with the same or similarfunctions.

All in all, the participants survey showed that theWRF conferences are in demand and that thesetup reflects the needs of the participants. Wewill always be happy to get your feedback at anypoint in time. Please check our WRF website orsend an email to our conference manager, MartinLehmann, at [email protected]


Appendix3: Sponsors and Partners 2012

Institute of Process Engineering,Chinese Academy of Sciences

Global e-Sustainability Initiative

Swiss Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology

Hewlett Packard

Federal EnvironmentAgency Germany

Contact information Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St.Gallen, SwitzerlandWRF Secretariat tel + 41 58 765 74 00

Email: [email protected]: www.worldresourcesforum.org Visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin

… together we can shape the future

ISBN 978-3-906177-03-8

resources and green economy · 23.10.2012 · “resources and green economy” at the world...

Documents