Reflections are only that, reflections, nothing more nothing less. Often these reflections are related to books I read, but occasionally also other things. These are often written very late, very fast, using notes from my mobile phone, so the grammar and spelling is horrible.
A good day yesterday when Arne Forstenberg was awarded “outstanding leader for the future” by JCI Sweden. Good luck to Arne and maybe his trip to India can be linked to the World Economic Forum meeting that also will take place in India in November. 
Just attended a meeting in Tokyo where the World Economic Forum was partnering with the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to convene a meeting of its IT and Telecoms Strategic & Government Affairs community in Tokyo on Wed 23rd and Thu 24th April. The meeting brought together senior executives from the IT and Telecoms industries and the Japanese Government.The greatest news was that the government in Japan has taken a global lead and produced a report that, using very conservative estimations, show that Japan can reduce 38 million tonnes CO2. (68 million in savings minus 30 million from the use of ICT). This put Japan at the lead at the exact right time. As Japan will host the G8 summit this summer there is chance that the role of ICT could become part of the international climate agenda. If ICT companies want they could take the lead and show that they can be winners as the world moves toward a low carbon economy.
It is already the second round of winners from Sweden in the essay competition that GlobalFOCUS started a year ago. Four great winners: Cherie Pik Yee Ho and Liv Eriksson for an essay about Venture Cap and Clean-Tech. Emma Palmgren och Jorge Luis Zapico for an essay about sustainable urban ICT solutions.
As part of the Jury this was our motivation:
1.Closing the Gap”, by Liv Eriksson and Cherie Ho
In a world in urgent need of new business solutions “Closing the Gap”, by Liv Eriksson and Cherie Ho is a welcome and important contribution. With focus on what the planet needs and the market can deliver, given the right framework, the authors use a methodology that focus on practical solutions and possible ways forward for further research in one of the most important issues today: The need for rapid growth of clean-tech companies.
The need to ensure that the definition of "clean-tech" make sense in the countries that will use them is made clear, something that is often forgotten in OECD countries only looking for export opportunities. The global and action oriented perspective, including the needs in the emerging markets, is taken for granted in a way that should be an example for business students all over the world these days.
2. “Multimedia applications for a sustainable urban lifestyle” by Emma Palmgren and Jorge Luis Zapico
With rapid technological development, basically all of the future population growth taking place in cities, and about 70% of the CO2 emissions from urban areas the intersection between these issues needs much more attention in society. “Multimedia applications for a sustainable urban lifestyle” by Emma Palmgren and Jorge Luis Zapico provides a much needed contribution to the discussions about technology, lifestyles and climate change. The authors provide a sober and challenging assessment of the significant potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) based on real needs and existing opportunities.
In a few years maybe we will see these winners delivering results on a global level…
It is already the second round of winners from Sweden in the essay competition that GlobalFOCUS started a year ago. Four great winners: Cherie Pik Yee Ho and Liv Eriksson for an essay about Venture Cap and Clean-Tech. Emma Palmgren och Jorge Luis Zapico for an essay about sustainable urban ICT solutions. As part of the Jury this was our motivation:
1.Closing the Gap”, by Liv Eriksson and Cherie Ho
In a world in urgent need of new business solutions “Closing the Gap”, by Liv Eriksson and Cherie Ho is a welcome and important contribution. With focus on what the planet needs and the market can deliver, given the right framework, the authors use a methodology that focus on practical solutions and possible ways forward for further research in one of the most important issues today: The need for rapid growth of clean-tech companies.
The need to ensure that the definition of "clean-tech" make sense in the countries that will use them is made clear, something that is often forgotten in OECD countries only looking for export opportunities. The global and action oriented perspective, including the needs in the emerging markets, is taken for granted in a way that should be an example for business students all over the world these days.
2. “Multimedia applications for a sustainable urban lifestyle” by Emma Palmgren and Jorge Luis Zapico
With rapid technological development, basically all of the future population growth taking place in cities, and about 70% of the CO2 emissions from urban areas the intersection between these issues needs much more attention in society. “Multimedia applications for a sustainable urban lifestyle” by Emma Palmgren and Jorge Luis Zapico provides a much needed contribution to the discussions about technology, lifestyles and climate change. The authors provide a sober and challenging assessment of the significant potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) based on real needs and existing opportunities.
In a few years maybe we will see these winners delivering results on a global level…
Working with IKEA and after discussion with a number of leading thinkers in the field we have now developed an approach for how retailers can approach the transport challenge. The approach is divided into three parts:
1. Traditional responsibility
For an estimation of the amount of CO2 the company is responsible for under when we assume a traditional responsibility three things are calculated. First the number of customers, second the kind of transportation mode they have chosen and third the distance they have travelled are added. This estimation provides the company with a rough estimation of how important costumer transportation is compared to other parts of the business by providing a snapshot of the current situation. This methodology is used by most established systems.
2. Shared responsibility
A shared responsibility is based on the assumption that companies should share the responsibility for the CO2 from transportation of customers if they tend to visit more than one store on their trips. This gives a better understanding of what actors that needs to be involved and how costs can be shared.
For an estimation of a shared responsibility for CO2 from customer transportation the amount of CO2 from a normal scenario is divided by the number of stops that a customer makes.
3. Trend setting responsibility
A transport system is nothing that is given once and for all, it is constantly changing depending on investments and transport patterns evolve due to for example the establishment of stores. The trend setting approach is based on the assumption that companies can contribute to different kind of trends.
The emission trends supported over time due to the establishing of stores, or other ways of selling, result in investments in supportive infrastructure, action by other companies, marketing, etc. When these trend setting activities over time result in reduced emissions this is called “low-carbon dynamic feedback” and if it results in increased emissions this is called “high-carbon dynamic feedback”.
We will now develop this approach further and hope to produce a paper that can be circulated in May.
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