New Delhi, 4 February 2010 – The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today launched the Vision 2050 report ( 2.6 MB), a study that lays out a pathway leading to a global population of some 9 billion people living well, within the resource limits of the planet by 2050. The report, released at the World CEO Forum in New Delhi, India, was compiled by 29 leading global companies representing 14 industries.

This work results from an 18-month combined effort with CEOs and experts, and dialogues with over 200 companies and external stakeholders in some 20 countries.

The report presents new opportunities for business in a broad range of business segments with the foresight to lead their societies on a sustainable business development agenda. Entitled Vision 2050: The new agenda for business, the report “lays out the challenges, pathway and options that business can use to create an opportunity-rich strategy, both regionally and globally, that will lead to a sustainable world,” said Dr. Mohammad A. Zaidi, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Alcoa, who led the project as one of four co-chairs.

“The world already has the knowledge, science, technologies, skills and financial resources needed to achieve Vision 2050. However, concerted global action in the next decade will be required to bring these capabilities and resources together, putting the world on the path to sustainability,” explained WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson.

The publication outlines a future in which 9 billion people live well, enjoying health, food, shelter, energy, mobility, education and other basics of life. Syngenta CEO, Michael Mack added that “humanity has largely had an exploitative relationship with our planet; we can, and should, aim to make this a symbiotic one.” In the Vision 2050scenario, global society attains this standard of living at a sustainable rate, without further harm to biodiversity, climate and ecosystem services.

The report states that the world already has the resources to achieve Vision 2050,but there is a catch: “The radical changes highlighted in Vision 2050 demand a different perspective from business leaders, requiring them to rethink how they operate to stay on-track for a sustainable future,” added Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., former CEO and Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers. This includes a radical transformation of global markets, governance and infrastructure, and a re-thinking of our ideas of growth and progress.

Vision 2050 spells out the “must haves” – the things that must happen over the coming decade to make a sustainable planetary society possible. These include incorporating the costs of externalities, starting with carbon, ecosystem services and water, into the structure of the marketplace; doubling agricultural output without increasing the amount of land or water used; halting deforestation and increasing yields from planted forests: halving carbon emissions worldwide (based on 2005 levels) by 2050 through a shift to low-carbon energy systems and improved demand-side energy efficiency, and providing universal access to low-carbon mobility.

As part of this transformation, Vision 2050 calls for a new agenda for business: to work with government and society worldwide to transform markets and competition. “Sustainability will become a key driver for all our investment decisions,” added Idar Kreutzer, CEO of Storebrand and another project co-chair. New rules for markets will reframe environmental challenges as economic challenges, driving innovation and competition in the direction of sustainability and away from resource- and energy-intensive production. Rationalizing prices to include such externalities as climate and biodiversity impacts will make corporate environmental efficiency a true competitive advantage across all industries and regions.

Business will lead market change by doing what business does best: forming partnerships, creating efficiencies and competitive advantage, seizing opportunities and meeting customer needs. At the same time, a shift toward sustainability will trigger trillions of dollars in new investments in infrastructure, technology and human services, creating new opportunities for business to thrive and grow. A recent study commissioned for this project with PricewaterhouseCoopers and released today indicates that this investment could reach US$ 3-10 trillion per annum in 2050.

Vision 2050, with its best-case scenario for sustainability and pathways for reaching it, is a tool for thought leadership, a platform for beginning the dialogue that must take place to navigate the challenging years to come. “It is hoped that the Vision 2050 work will be used for many years to come. It is designed to be a platform for companies when deliberating strategies and for dialogue with governments and society about how to realize the sustainable future,” concluded Per Sandberg, Project Director for Vision 2050.

Download

• Vision 2050: The new agenda for business – full report ( 2.6 MB)
• Vision 2050: The new agenda for business – summary report ( 2.4 MB)

Agency Says 100 New CCS Projects Needed by 2020

Nobuo Tanaka, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), says the world needs to make progress on carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.  One hundred major projects are needed by 2020, he said at a recent CCS conference, and “thousands more” will be required by 2050 in order to help fight the effects of climate change by burying carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants underground.  Securing funding for large scale CCS projects needs to be a priority at the Copenhagen climate talks this December, Tanaka stated.  At a minimum, building the amount of CCS plants suggested by the IEA will cost $56 billion by 2020.  From 2021 to 2030, that number will skyrocket to nearly $646 billion.  CCS technology must “quickly expand in the developing world where we see the vast majority of emissions growth,” Tanaka said, echoing IEA estimates that say 65% of new CCS projects need to be built in non-OECD nations.  British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband concurred with Tanaka’s statements.  “The world’s biggest coal-using nations recognize we cannot continue with business as usual on coal.  I think we are sending a very clear signal to the Copenhagen talks that coal and carbon capture and storage need to be a very important part of the final agreement.”

Secretary General Pushes Developed Nations, Supporst CCS Technology

The outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference will have ramifications for all industries and trade organizations around the world, in particular the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).  A recent opinion piece released by Abdalla Salem El-Badri, Secretary General of OPEC, demonstrates just how important the upcoming talks are to this group of powerful oil nations.   El-Badri calls for a “holistic approach” to climate negotiations which takes into account all types of emissions that affect the atmosphere.  He points out that 43% of human produced emissions come from greenhouse gases other than CO2.  El-Badri also advocates the use of “cleaner fossil fuel technologies” to “achieve low net emissions paths.”  He points to carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as the most promising of the bunch.  Citing Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates, El-Badri says CCS technology “has the potential to meet up to 55% of the global cumulative mitigation effort by 2100.”  His statement presses developed nations to take responsibility for historical emissions, arguing that poverty alleviation and economic growth in developing nations are “priorities” that should not be constrained.  Whatever agreements are reached in Copenhagen should be “fair and balanced, taking into account the past, present and future; the fulfilling of current commitments; and the needs of those least able to help themselves,” he concludes.

Carbon Sequestration Initiatives could Benefit Agricultural Sector

Climate change could be a “major development opportunity” for agricultural carbon sequestration in Africa, said managing director of the World Bank Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a lecture at the London School of Economics.  As global emission rise, using plant life to absorb and store CO2 is likely to become an important and commonly used mitigating strategy, she said.  By 2030, the U.N. estimates that 5.5-6 gigatons of CO2 could be stored via agricultural sequestration, with approximately 89% being stored in the soil.  If such strategies are incorporated into international carbon treaties, “agricultural carbon sequestration could generate annual revenues of close to $1.5 billion” for Africa, remarked Okonjo-Iweala.  However, despite these new economic opportunities, Africa is still very vulnerable to the effects of climate change.  Rising temperatures could bring increased instances of both drought and flooding, spelling trouble for the African agricultural industry, which employs about 70% of the Continent’s population.

Energy Agency Pushes for More Inclusive Trading Mechanism

The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that worldwide carbon trading mechanisms should be expanded to include nuclear and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the developing world.  At present, these projects are not covered under the current trading system which exists under the Kyoto Protocol.  The Agency praised the carbon trading scheme for the new investments in low- or zero-carbon technology it has encouraged, but insists that more must be done in order to limit carbon emissions from the world’s power industries, which are growing to accommodate a rapidly expanding population.  The IEA’s latest report says the power generation sector is at the “core” of the “world-wide challenge to limit climate change,” and is responsible for 41% of global energy-related CO2 emissions.  IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka pointed out that CO2 emissions from power generation industries in developing countries have grown 90% since 1990, and could double by 2030.  He is encouraging negotiators at the upcoming Copenhagen climate talks to seriously consider including nuclear and CCS projects into new carbon trading plans to allow for “broader access to the ‘carbon market,’ to introduce a price on CO2 emissions, and create incentives for most efficient and low-CO2 generation technologies” that can be implemented across the developing world, where power generation is increasing at the most rapid rate.