Could the 2014 World Cup, the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and Brazil’s climate leadership add up to transformative moments that launch us on our pathway to a sustainable future?

Four powerful sustainability trends will start converging in and around Brazil as we head into this century’s second decade:

1. Brazil’s climate leadership. With the tone of diminished expectations already set for the climate negotiations next month in Copenhagen, one bright spot appears to be the aggressive— if not audacious — commitments by Brazil to stop Amazon deforestation and curb carbon emissions 35% by 2020, (See article in Nature.)

2. Major sports advertising. The companies who spend tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to be sponsors of the World Cup and the Olympic’s will be touting their sustainability leadership to consumers and investors. (See IBM’s Smarter Planet)
3. The closing of the “critical decade”. Starting in 2005, the world’s leading scientists warned that our civilization had about ten years to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions enough to stave of the most catastrophic impacts of global temperature rise.
4. The eyes of the world. Up to 70% of the world’s population may be tuning in on radio, TV, online or their smartphones. Not since Babel have we had a chance to engage in a global conversation about shared responsibilities and opportunities.

Short of an alien craft landing on the White House lawn, Brazil’s command of the world’s sports stage may be humankind’s best chance to get in sync on how to create a flourishing future for our species and the planet.

For that to happen, there is some business to de-usualize.

First and foremost, Brazil has to turn talk into measured action. In just a few weeks time, before Brazil’s delegation heads off to Copenhagen, governors or their representatives from 18 states, the mayor of Rio, Brazil’s energy minister and auto, petro and airline executives will begin to construct an integrated strategy for sustainable jobs, food, fuel and rainforests. Catalyzed by Sustainable BioBrazil (a Brazilian NGO with whom we work), the policy roundtable is the first of three planned meetings in Sao Luis, Maranhao between now and April, 2010. During this time, participants will wrestle with intertwined challenges of creating new economic opportunities to lure people away from Amazon-destroying livelihoods, finding the right formula and market for avoided deforestation credits, experimenting with intercropping of food and fuel together on Brazil’s extensive but underutilized agricultural lands, and trying to sharpen the thinking about indirect land-use and carbon life cycle calculations that will determine how open world markets will be to Brazilian biofuels and food exports — upon which the majority of jobs for displaced Amazon ranchers, loggers and charcoal makers will depend.

And if the Brazil Convergence is going to fire a global transformation, the media and cultural power of both the World Cup and Rio’s Olympiad are going to have to be more explicitly devoted to telling the stories of progress and possibility. Brazil’s own stories, of course, but also stories of challenges and solutions from the hundreds of nations represented at these events. Organizers have an opportunity to shift their thinking about what makes their event “green”. Merely reducing the environmental impact of the operations (aka event sustainability) is necessary but not sufficient. They should unleash their iconic power to inspire all the people they reach to take action. During the month-long World Cup and Olympic fortnight, advertisers and their brilliant agency storytellers can craft compelling meta-narratives about the technologies and decisions that are moving our civilization forward. This way, 2014 and 2016 can provide global audiences with mileposts of progress that surely must come.

Finally, there is the distinct possibility that by 2014, nearly every aspect of the process of getting to or watching the games will have a carbon number or sustainability index attached to it. Fuel at the pump will have a carbon-rating, and the backstory of how new technologies and efficiencies lowered that number. TVs will show how much energy they are using, from what sources, with what kind of impact. Labels on official beers will feature certifications for energy and water used in their making and boast about their recycling prowess. Airlines flying to Rio and World Cup host cities will use seatback videos to talk about the percentage of sustainable biofuel in their plane’s tanks and the millions of hectares of Amazon they, their industry partners and the flying public are protecting as carbon sinks and bioresources for the planet.

While we watch for progress on these fronts at the Vancouver, London, Sochi Olympics and next summer’s South African World Cup, indications are its going to be up to you, Brazil, Brazil.

Could the 2014 World Cup, the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and Brazil’s climate leadership add up to transformative moments that launch us on our pathway to a sustainable future?

Four powerful sustainability trends will start converging in and around Brazil as we head into this century’s second decade:

1. Brazil’s climate leadership. With the tone of diminished expectations already set for the climate negotiations next month in Copenhagen, one bright spot appears to be the aggressive— if not audacious — commitments by Brazil to stop Amazon deforestation and curb carbon emissions 35% by 2020, (See article in Nature.)

2. Major sports advertising. The companies who spend tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to be sponsors of the World Cup and the Olympic’s will be touting their sustainability leadership to consumers and investors. (See IBM’s Smarter Planet)
3. The closing of the “critical decade”. Starting in 2005, the world’s leading scientists warned that our civilization had about ten years to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions enough to stave off the most catastrophic impacts of global temperature rise.
4. The eyes of the world. Up to 70% of the world’s population may be tuning in on radio, TV, online or their smartphones. Not since Babel have we had a chance to engage in a global conversation about shared responsibilities and opportunities.

Short of an alien craft landing on the White House lawn, Brazil’s command of the world’s sports stage may be humankind’s best chance to get in sync on how to create a flourishing future for our species and the planet.

For that to happen, there is some business to de-usualize.

First and foremost, Brazil has to turn talk into measured action. In just a few weeks time, before Brazil’s delegation heads off to Copenhagen, governors or their representatives from 18 states, the mayor of Rio, Brazil’s energy minister and auto, petro and airline executives will begin to construct an integrated strategy for sustainable jobs, food, fuel and rainforests. Catalyzed by Sustainable BioBrazil (a Brazilian NGO with whom we work), the policy roundtable is the first of three planned meetings in Sao Luis, Maranhao between now and April, 2010. During this time, participants will wrestle with intertwined challenges of creating new economic opportunities to lure people away from Amazon-destroying livelihoods, finding the right formula and market for avoided deforestation credits, experimenting with intercropping of food and fuel together on Brazil’s extensive but underutilized agricultural lands, and trying to sharpen the thinking about indirect land-use and carbon life cycle calculations that will determine how open world markets will be to Brazilian biofuels and food exports — upon which the majority of jobs for displaced Amazon ranchers, loggers and charcoal makers will depend.

And if the Brazil Convergence is going to fire a global transformation, the media and cultural power of both the World Cup and Rio’s Olympiad are going to have to be more explicitly devoted to telling the stories of progress and possibility. Brazil’s own stories, of course, but also stories of challenges and solutions from the hundreds of nations represented at these events. Organizers have an opportunity to shift their thinking about what makes their event “green”. Merely reducing the environmental impact of the operations (aka event sustainability) is necessary but not sufficient. They should unleash their iconic power to inspire all the people they reach to take action. During the month-long World Cup and Olympic fortnight, advertisers and their brilliant agency storytellers can craft compelling meta-narratives about the technologies and decisions that are moving our civilization forward. This way, 2014 and 2016 can provide global audiences with mileposts of progress that surely must come.

Finally, there is the distinct possibility that by 2014, nearly every aspect of the process of getting to or watching the games will have a carbon number or sustainability index attached to it. Fuel at the pump will have a carbon-rating, and the backstory of how new technologies and efficiencies lowered that number. TVs will show how much energy they are using, from what sources, with what kind of impact. Labels on official beers will feature certifications for energy and water used in their making and boast about their recycling prowess. Airlines flying to Rio and World Cup host cities will use seatback videos to talk about the percentage of sustainable biofuel in their plane’s tanks and the millions of hectares of Amazon they, their industry partners and the flying public are protecting as carbon sinks and bioresources for the planet.

While we watch for progress on these fronts at the Vancouver, London, Sochi Olympics and next summer’s South African World Cup, indications are its going to be up to you, Brazil, Brazil.

HP, Dell, J&J, Intel and IBM Top Newsweek’s Inaugural Green Rankings: “Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Intel and IBM are the top five leaders in Newsweek’s inaugural environmental rankings of America’s 500 largest corporations.
The Green Rankings were the result of collaboration among environmental researchers KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com that ranked the 500 largest U.S. companies based on their environmental performance, policies and reputations.
More [...]“

(Via Environmental Leader.)

HP Sets Goal of 40% Energy Reduction for Products by 2011: “HP has raised its goal for reducing energy consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions from its products. The new goal calls for a 40 percent reduction by 2011, compared to 2005 levels.
The company already had set - and met- a goal of a 25 percent reduction by 2010, according to a press release.
In addition to [...]“

(Via Environmental Leader.)

Climate-related Business Could Top $2 Trillion by 2020: “Global revenues from energy efficiency, renewables and other climate-related sectors could top $2 trillion by 2020, up from $530 billion last year, according to HSBC Global Research.
The $530 billion last year was the result of 75 percent growth over 2007, according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The 2008 figure has far exceeded the [...]“

(Via Environmental Leader.)

European new car CO2 emissions fell 3.3% in 2008; car maker performance analysed in new report: “A new report by Transport and Environment (T&E), the Brussels-based NGO, says that average new car emissions fell by an average of 3.3% across Europe in 2008′but that the performance of different car makers in cutting CO2 emissions varied significantly. Korean car makers leap-frogged over competitors from Europe and Japan but, as expected, ACEA failed to meet the 2008 targets which had been voluntarily agreed’by 10g/km or more. The targets for JAMA and KAMA are for 2009.”

(Via LowCVP - Latest News.)

Industry Lobby Ignored Its Own Scientists on Global Warming, Report Says: “An industry coalition spent more than a decade refuting the idea that greenhouse gas emissions could result in global warming, even though its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science ‘cannot be denied,’ according to a New York Times report.
The Global Climate Coalition, which during the 1990s led a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort on behalf of the oil, coal and auto industries, routinely advised U.S. lawmakers that the role of greenhouse gases in climate change ‘is not well understood.’ Meanwhile, the coalition’s own scientists confirmed in an internal report in 1995 that ‘the scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied.’ That lobbying took place during the buildup to the 1997 international climate agreement that would become the Kyoto Protocol, even as the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that human activity was contributing to climate change.“

(Via Yale Environment 360.)

(Terribly random, as any good sports argument should be. Great comments thread. Way to go, Brian Merchant!)

Spoil Sports: 7 Activities that Damage the Environment

1. Skydiving.

2. Soccer.
3. NASCAR. (sic)
4. Hunting and blood sports.
5. Downhill skiing/snowboarding.
6. Drag Boat Racing (Motor Boat Racing).
7. Aerobatics and Air Racing.

China Considers CO2 Plan That Would Count Nations’ Past Emissions: “A leading Chinese state think tank has proposed an international plan to control carbon emissions that would strongly weigh the cumulative emissions of various countries, a proposal that would benefit developing countries and place stricter limits on developed nations, such as the United States. The plan, put forward by the State Council Research Development Center, would set emissions limits for each country based on the historic accumulation of CO2 and then allow nations to trade those emissions rights on an international market. The plan would place emissions limits on China and other developing countries, which under the existing Kyoto Protocos face no binding CO2 restrictions. But a key point at this year’s global climate negotiations in Copenhagen will be the actual targets set for countries that are at widely varying stages of development. A new report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences forecasts that China’s CO2 emissions will peak between 2030 and 2040 and then begin to drop.“

(Via Yale Environment 360.)

(Progress, perhaps, but significant concerns remain re: chemical leeching, oil use, life-cycle GHG footprint, plastic waste and reuse challenges. Municipal tap water is still hundreds (thousands?) of times cheaper and is subject to much more stringent testing. What’s more, saving statements make great copy but savings compared to what? Marketers should realize that inquiring minds want to know.)

(Via Sustainable Design Weekly)

March 27, 2009 - PepsiCo’s Aquafina bottled-water brand has unveiled a half-liter bottle that weighs in at just 10.9 grams, using 50% less plastic than traditional designs.

Dubbed the “Eco-Fina,” the new bottle will save 75 million pounds of plastic a year, Pepsi estimates. The company has also eliminated the cardboard base pads from its Aquafina 24-packs, a move that’s expected to save 20 million pounds of corrugate by 2010.

Also see paper-based containers.

Environmental Defense Fund blog on bottled water.