Bridging the gap

Bridging

The Gap

GROWING INFORMATION GAP ON CHEMICALS

Our knowledge of a limited nu m b e r of chemicals incre a s e s .M e a n w h i l e t h e re are calls for knowledge about p ro p e rties which we have not pre-v i o u s ly asked fo r.T h i s , said pro fe s s o r S ve n - O ve Hansson, constitutes a widening information gap.

PAGE 4

NEED FOR BROADER POLICY DECISION BASIS

The Pre c a u t i o n a ry Principle is one of several tools for policy-makers to manage uncert a i n t y. It goes beyo n d s c i e n t i fic deliberation, as the policy decision basis alw ays should.

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THE SCIENTIST ATOMISES THE WORLD WHILE THE CITIZEN IS LEFT OUT

Policy-making for sustainable d evelopment is in urgent need of input from science and civil society. But science has trouble bro a d e n i n g its perspective from the academic.

PAGE 11

BRIDGING THE GAP

– SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH AND SECTORAL INTEGRATION

The confe re n c e, held 9-11th May 2001 in S t o c k h o l m , was hosted by the Swe d i s h government and organised jointly by the S wedish Env i ronmental Protection A g e n c y, the EU Commission,the European Environ-ment Agency (EEA) and the EU Jo i n t R e s e a rch Centre (J R C ) . The confe re n c e was one of the events held during the Swedish EU Council Presidency in 2001.

“As a policy-maker I can try to protect the env i-ro n m e n t ” , said EU Env i i-ronment Commissioner M a r got Wallström and add e d “but it is up to you in the re s e a rch community to make sure that I can do this in the best way possible.” Page 2

“ Po l i c y - m a kers

h ave to rely on the

re s e a rch community”

“As a policy-maker I can t ry to protect the env i ro n-m e n t ” , said M a r got Wa l l s t r ö n-m a n d a dd ed: “but it is up to you in the re s e a rch community to make sure that I can do this in the best way p o s s i b l e.”

One might have expected those in the audience to sink deeper into their seats, b u rdened with such a responsibility but they seemed re-l a t i ve re-ly unmove d , which might be explained by the fact that most of them we re bure a u c r a t s , p o l i t i c i a n s , i n d u s t r i a l i s t s , though a number of re-s e a rcherre-s we re indeed among them. All eyes are on the re s e a rch com-munity when it comes to the en-v i ronment and een-ven more so when it comes to sustainable deve l o p m e n t . But what exactly is sustainable de-velopment? Margot Wallström ex-plained that the Commission had found it so difficult to get the part i e s i nvo l ved to agree on a common defi-nition that it decided to turn the issue on its head and instead fo c u s on tackling unsustainable tre n d s , o f which six have been identifie d :

• climate change

• the threat to natural re s o u rces and biodive r s i t y

• health pro b l e m s • land use and transport • p ove rty and social exclusion • the “ d e m o g r aphic problem”

of a greying population.

LEAD TO CHANGES

“If your re s e a rch is to come under the ‘sustainable development re-s e a rch’ umbrella then it mure-st help ure-s to reverse Euro p e ’s unsustainable t re n d s . Your re s e a rch must lead to real changes in the way we behave,” M a r got Wallström said, re fe rring not to the behaviour of the Commission but of people in general. M a r go t Wallström also stressed how impor-tant it is for re s e a rch results to be as w i d e ly disseminated as possible.

The Commission had developed a E u ropean strategy for sustainable d evelopment which was to be dis-cussed and adopted in some form or other at the EU summit in Göteborg in Ju n e. The implications of the stra-t e gy include supporstra-t for green stra- tech-n o l o gy which catech-n help a great deal to put development tow a rds

sustain-R e s e a rch should signpost

the way to sustainable

d eve l o p m e n t

T h ree political heav y weights spoke with one voice during the opening session of the Bridging the Gap c onference: research should point us in the right direction towards the sustainable society, they felt.

EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström,Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin,and the Swedish Minister for the Environment and current President of the EU Environment Council,Kjell L a r s s o n , each emphasised in their own way the responsibility borne by the re s e a rch community and stre s sed how dependent politicians were on it to put development towards sustainability on the right track.

ability on the right track. M a r go t Wallström wants to see public and private re s e a rch combined in a push t ow a rds the development of sustain-able technology.

Wa l l s t r ö m ’s colleague, R e s e a rc h Commissioner Philippe Busquin, g ave a few examples of European re-s e a rch that had already made a con-tribution to sustainable technology.

As a result of the Paper Kidney pro j e c t , the European paper industry can n ow eliminate practically all emiss-ions while still manufacturing a high-class product at a low cost. R e s e a rc h into re n ewable energy sources has, for example, led to more efficient wind power units, which in turn has p aved the way for the construction of more and more of them thro u g

h-out Euro p e. Philippe Busquin also s t re s s e d , h oweve r, that we need to engage many more re s e a rch fields besides technology in order to attain sustainable deve l o p m e n t . A go o d example of this is the monitoring of the env i ronment by satellite as we l l as socio-economic re s e a rch that has s u rveyed the external effects of e n e r gy production as a basis fo r both private investment decisions and political decisions. E n e r gy pro-duction has a negative impact on the e nv i ronment and human health and ever since re s e a rchers have been able to determine the extent of this i m p a c t , t h e re has been a basis fo r letting energy producers bear the costs of it.

UNIFYING RESEARCH

Philippe Busquin has introduced the idea of a E u ropean Research A re a ( E R A ) which would unify research c ap a c i t y, c u rre n t ly dispersed t h roughout the member states, i n o rder to tackle the E U ’s common problems more effe c-t i ve ly. The ERA would be realised as p a rt of the Sixth Research Fra m ew o r k

P rog ra m m e, which the Commission

p resented re c e n t ly and in which sustainable development plays such an important part . First of all, “ s u s -tainable development and global change” is one of the seven priority re s e a rch are a s , and secondly, s u s t a i n-able development will be an integral p a rt of most of the other six.

“Another aspect of the Euro p e a n R e s e a rch A rea to which I attach enormous importance is that of the dialogue with those invo l ved in the e c o n o my and with citizens,” Busquin said and add e d : “this dialogue is essential if one wants to establish a solid and consensual base for sus-tainable deve l o p m e n t .”

Philippe Busquin said that he wanted to “ m a ke sustainability a trademark of the European Researc h A re a ” .

The Swedish Minister for the E nv i ro n m e n t , Kjell Lars s o n , c o u l d n ’t e nvisage another policy area being m o re dependent on re s e a rch than e nv i ronmental policy. It is not just a question of re s e a rchers commu n i c-ating with politicians but it is equally

i m p o rtant for them to commu n i c a t e with the general public, Kjell Larsson said and, a dded that “the necessary changes will not happen unless citi-zens understand the problems and see the possibilities.”

MORE MULTIDISCIPLINARITY

Kjell Larsson pointed out that re-s e a rch into re-sure-stainable deve l o p m e n t and the env i ronment is to a large extent mu l t i d i s c i p l i n a ry and inter-s e c t o r a l . It inter-spaninter-s technology and science to economics and social/ humanistic sciences, and it affects all sectors of society.Working across its disciplines has hard ly been one of the strengths of the scientific com-mu n i t y, but a great deal has neve r-theless been done in this respect and m o re is possible, a c c o rding to Kjell L a r s s o n , who reminded eve ryo n e that multidisciplinarity is also part of p o l i t i c s .

Kjell Larsson also pointed out that re s e a rch has been necessary in o rder to bring about the internatio-nal env i ronmental agreements that h ave adopted in recent years and which tackle problems such as ozone-depleting chemicals, a c i d i f y i n g air pollution, chlorinated tox i n s ,e t c.

In a good many cases, science has been able to furnish politicians with a solid basis for decisions which they h ave subsequently take n . But de-velopment does not alw ays go fo r-w a rd , Kjell Larsson said, and pointed out that we know more about the risks associated with bro m i n a t e d flame re t a rdants today than we k n ew about PCB when that chemical was banned. We have neve rt h e l e s s failed as yet to come to a decision on brominated flame re t a rd a n t s .

“I believe this is the result of eco-nomic and commercial intere s t s being much stronger today than b e fo re, which obviously affects the re s e a rch establishment and the ro l e of re s e a rc h e r s , as well as the political e s t a b l i s h m e n t ,” Kjell Larsson said, d r awing the conclusion that it is vital for important re s e a rc h , and especial-ly env i ronmental re s e a rc h , to con-t i nue con-to re c e i ve public funding in o rder to remain free from com-m e rcial intere s t s .

Philippe Busquin.

Sven Ove Hansson, P ro fe

s-sor of Philosophy at the R oyal Institute of Te c h n o l o gy in S t o c k h o l m , i m p l o red people to ack-n owledge their lack of kack-now l e d g e and act accord i n g ly. Socrates believ-ed that “ k n owing what it is that yo u do not know is a sign of wisdom” and Hansson willingly concurs with the Greek philosopher.

It is generally considered that the lack of knowledge of the pro p e rt i e s of individual chemicals is a major bugbear for chemical policy (indicat-ing wisdom) and ambitious initiative s h ave been taken to improve the s i t u a t i o n .S everal chemicals are being a n a lysed and methods developed to obtain re l evant data using fewe r re s o u rc e s . At the same time as our k n owledge increases for a limited number of chemicals, h oweve r, t h e re a re calls for knowledge about pro p-e rtip-es which wp-e havp-e not prp-ev i o u s ly a s ked fo r.

This implies that despite us con-s t a n t ly obtaining more data on c h e m i c a l s , the information gap is

g rowing all the time as a result of us finding new gaps in our know l e d g e which need to be filled in. We mu s t face that we will not be able to erad-icate all the uncert a i n t i e s ; we can o n ly reduce their scope.

ETHICAL GAP

T h e re is another kind of gap which S ven Ove Hansson calls the ethical g ap. This opens up between a risk l evel that we are able to discove r and a risk level that we are pre p a re d to accept. Which risk levels we accept is not a fo re gone conclusion, but by considering ethical aspects, people normally conclude that they can accept a risk level somew h e re b e t ween one in a million to one in a h u n d red thousand.

CANNOT MEASURE

The problem is that such risk leve l s cannot be measure d . We cannot even measure one in a thousand, a t best perhaps one in a hundre d .T h i s is where the ethical gap opens up, b e t ween what is measurable and

what is acceptable, with a factor of one hundred or a thousand. If we could measure risk factors in the e nv i ro n m e n t ,t h ey would be a thous-and times higher than is acceptable – and that would be serious. But not being unable to measure them does not mean they are acceptable, i t s i m p ly means that we cannot meas-u re them.

S a fety margins are normally used to bridge the ethical gap, and this works for fo o d , but not for exposure in the working env i ro n m e n t , fo r e x a m p l e.

The greater the uncert a i n t y, t h e g reater the safety margins need to be to avoid injury / d a m a g e. U n fo rt u n-a t e ly, h oweve r, we tend to under-estimate the uncert a i n t i e s .

“ We wo rry about the mere s t trifle but allow major problems to pass us by when it comes to assess-ing uncert a i n t i e s . We can spend months doing committee work on details with which we are re a s o n a b ly familiar whilst we virt u a l ly ignore the major uncertainties which lurk in

those areas we know nothing about, such as possible endocrine or re p ro-duction disruptors,” Sven Ove Hans-son say s .

The pre c a u t i o n a ry principle can help us to deal with uncertainty and a lack of know l e d g e, at least if it d evelops into a practicable tool fo r d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g . S ven Ove Hansson p roposed two such deve l o p m e n t s .

The first concerned the inter-p retation of statistics, w h e re the p redominant practice within the field of science counteracts the use of the pre c a u t i o n a ry principle. If we use statistics to help us to find out whether a hypothesis is true or not, t h e re are two diffe rent types of e rror we might make (the risk of coming to the wrong conclusion cannot be completely eliminated when using statistics). A type-1 erro r is made when we say an effect we a re looking for exists, when it actual-ly doesn’t , whilst a type-2 error is when we say the effect does not exist when it actually does.

If we search for harmful effects of

Science does not have all

the answers on chemicals

T h e re is an enormous lack of know l e d ge about what effects chemicals have on the env i ronment and human h e a l t h .Those that took part in the seminar The challenge of chemicals in our society, m o s t ly re p re s e n t a t i ves of public authorities,are hoping for new, faster, better and cheaper methods of performing more reliable, scientifi-cally based risk assessments of chemicals.But such methods seem a long way off,so threats to human health and the environment must instead be averted using methods that accept that we don’t know everything.

a chemical, it is obvious that we wish to avoid making a type-2 erro r. We do not want to declare a chemical s a fe and then find out that it kills thousands of people.

But scientific practice is to do o n e ’s utmost to avoid type-1 erro r s i n s t e a d , since such mistakes can de-s t roy a de-scientide-st’de-s academic care e r.

This scientific practice is intrinsic in the statistical significance tests used as standard pro c e d u re. If we can establish that a conclusion is sta-t i s sta-t i c a l ly signific a n sta-t , sta-the risk of a sta- type-1 error is minimal, w h e reas a type-2 e rror may well be concealed there.

For risk assessments, it wo u l d better to concentrate our effo rts on type-2 erro r s . It is pointless, as is common practice today, to re p o rt that an epidemiological study does not indicate any negative effe c t s without simu l t a n e o u s ly stating how large these effects would have to be to have given a re a d i n g .

DEFAULT VALUES

H a n s s o n ’s second proposal to re n-der the pre c a u t i o n a ry principle

m o re practicable is to intro d u c e default values for risk assessments. To d ay, the default value is generally “ n o n - t ox i c ” , i . e. b e fo re we have dis-c ove red anything about the pro p-e rtip-es of a chp-emical, wp-e assump-e it to be harmless. Pe r h aps we should con-sider the default value to be “ ve ry t oxic” or just “ t oxic” instead. H a n s-son recommends the middle course: “If the acute toxicity of a substance is unknow n , then we should treat it as having moderately acute toxicity – not as being non-tox i c.”

Rob Ta a l m a n , f rom CEFIC

(Euro-pean Chemical Industry Council), pointed out that the industry wishes to get aw ay from default assump-tions on the effects of chemical sub-stances and instead base decisions on qualified risk assessments based on knowledge and scientific under-s t a n d i n g .

The European chemical industry funds a major re s e a rch project called

Long Range Research Initiative, L R I ,

which with an annual budget of USD 30 million supports re s e a rch into risk assessment methodology, h ow

chemicals are dispersed in the en-v i ronment and how they affect the e nv i ronment and human health. P a r-ticular focus is placed on endocrine d i s r u p t i o n s , n e u ro t ox i c i t y, re s p i r a t o-ry toxicity and immu n o t ox i c i t y. R e-s e a rch will be conducted at 70 or e-so u n i versity institutions with complete academic fre e d o m .All results will be published even if they go against the business interests of chemical com-panies in the short term.

Rob Taalman believes that there a re differing opinions as to what the term risk assessment actually means and that international cooperation is n e c e s s a ry for a common interpre t-ation to be established.

COMMISSION’S STRATEGY Eva Hellsten f rom the EU

Commis-s i o n ’Commis-s DG Env i ronment deCommis-scribed the Commission’s strategy for a sus-tainable chemicals policy, which was p resented in Fe b r u a ry 2001 in the form of a White Pap e r. The major s h o rtcomings of the present EU chemicals policy are :

• diffe rent treatment of “ n ew” and

“existing” substances, with more stringent re q u i rements on the 7,000 substances that have come into existence since 1991, c o m p a red with the 100,000 listed substances. T h i s division is artificial and does not lead to better risk assessment.

• the burden of proof lies with the public authorities.

• t h e re is a lack of effe c t i ve instru-ments for risk assessment

• t h e re are no incentives fo r companies to develop less harmful s u b s t a n c e s .

The Commission has also e s t-a blished tht-at risk t-assessments of chemicals need to be more trans-p a rent and that consumers should be able to obtain more and better i n formation on the various tox i-cological and ecotoxii-cological haz-a rds haz-associhaz-ated with chemichaz-als.

AUTHORISATION IS NEEDED

The Commission is proposing a new s y s t e m , called REAC H ,w h e re all sub-stances that are used to any extent will be divided into three gro u p s with diffe rent assumed risk leve l s ,

and be handled accord i n g ly. All sub-stances of which more than one tonne per year is traded will be re g i s t e re d .This invo l ves an estimated 30,000 substances and the intention is that the industry is to supply data on known toxicological and ecotox i-cological effe c t s , intended use, k n own exposure etc. All substances traded in quantities in excess of 100 tonnes will be evaluated more t h o ro u g h ly and a special risk gro u p, consisting of carcinogenic and mu t a-genic substances and suspected re p roduction disruptors as well as persistent organic substances, w i l l re q u i re authorisation befo re they can be used. If the manu f a c t u rer is unable to prove that they are non-t ox i c, non-t h ey will nonon-t be allowe d .

The criteria for placing chemicals in the diffe rent groups will be de-veloped step by step. R e g i s t r a t i o n and evaluation in accordance with the proposed regulation will take over a decade to complete.

NEED FOR RESEARCH

In conjunction with the drafting of the chemicals strategy, the EU Com-mission has identified a considerable need for re s e a rc h , including the d evelopment of toxicological tests, e s p e c i a l ly non-animal tests, since one of the goals is to reduce the nu m b e r of animal tests. F u rt h e r m o re, b e t t e r p re d i c t i ve models need to be de-ve l o p e d , i . e. the ability to predict the t oxicological and ecotox i c o l o g i c a l p ro p e rties of chemical substances, along with technology for cleaner p ro d u c t i o n . Eva Hellsten also say s that better and above all simpler methods of assessing the impact of a chemical during its whole life c y c l e would also be desirable. Risk assess-ments also need to be further de-ve l o p e d .

Eva Hellsten wanted the con-fe rence to convey the fo l l owing mes-sage to the EU summit in Göteborg in June 2001: “ We need better in-dicators to be able to assess hazard s , potential risks, real risks and how e f fe c t i ve our risk reduction meas-u res re a l ly are. We need a collective i n formation system for occurr i n g a m o u n t s , e x p o s u re, o c c u rrence in the env i ronment and in humans, e t c.

To d ay information comes in sporadic b u r s t s , for example in the form of re p o rts of the occurrence of a large number of substances in breast milk. We need to know how things de-velop over time and have a bro a d e r basis generally in order to assess r i s k s .”

Gwynne Lyons, who advises W W F

UK on chemical issues, s aw a con-siderable need for greater pre-caution in the regulation of chem-icals in order to achieve sustain-a b i l i t y.An initisustain-al mesustain-asure would be to use market fo rces in such a way as to internalise all the costs of chemical u s e, risk assessments, m o n i t o r i n g and the harm done to the env i ro n-ment and human health. She wo u l d also like to see more and better i n formation made available to con-sumers on what the constituents of a chemical actually are so that they can make conscious choices.

IMMATERIAL NEEDS

“Sustainability is not just a question of satisfying material needs, but also immaterial needs and if you ask any-one what the most important thing in life is, t h ey will say the health of their childre n , their loved ones and t h e m s e l ve s ,” Gwynne Lyons said, a n d reminded people about some we l l -k n own detrimental health effe c t s associated with chemicals:

• reduced sperm count • birth defe c t s

• reduced intelligence in childre n • hormone-related cancer And furt h e r m o re : w hy is fe rt i l i t y d ropping in western Euro p e, w hy is the occurrence of testicle cancer r i s i n g , and why does one in twe l ve women get breast cancer?

“ We need to ap p ly a more catious ap p ro a c h . L e t ’s phase out persistent and bioaccumulating sub-stances immediately, re g a rdless of their tox i c i t y. We don’t need to test these substances any more,” Gwyn-ne Lyons said.

Gwynne Lyons advocates the pre-c a u t i o n a ry prinpre-ciple as the fo pre-c a l point of all decision-making concern-ing chemicals. This would mean, fo r e x a m p l e :

• A prior authorisation system fo r chemicals with certain pro p e rt i e s

b e fo re they are allowed to be re-l e a sed onto the marke t , e n d o c r i n e disruption chemicals being a case in p o i n t .

• Use the substitution principle and make comparable risk/benefit evaluations or chemical or other al-t e r n a al-t i ve s , for example for flame re t a rd a n t s .

• Develop risk evaluations which g i ve a simple yes/no answer and accept that risk occurs on a con-t i nuous scale. Accepcon-table risk leve l s should not be accepted, we should instead work to minimise risk.

• If several analyses pro d u c e d i f fe rent re s u l t s , a decision should be t a ken based on the “ worst” alterna-t i ve, assuming alterna-thaalterna-t alterna-the analysis is c re d i b l e. ( B a by feeding bottles are made of polycarbonate which can emit bisphenol A and certain studies indicate this is a health risk where a s others indicate there is no such risk. Who should bear the re s p o n s i b i l i t y for the uncertainty – the child or the i n d u s t ry ? )

• All abnormal effects (such as damaged testicles or uteri in fish) should be accepted as risk indica-to r s , even if they cannot be shown indica-to a f fect the function of an organism.

• Ta ke the add i t i ve and synergic e f fects of chemical exposure into a c c o u n t .

Gwynne Lyons believes that the EU chemical industry will be able to do good business if EU chemicals become famous as the safest in the wo r l d .

Hans Klüppel f rom the German

chemical company Henkel mention-ed a number of development prior-ities for the industry to help achieve s u s t a i n a b i l i t y. E nv i ronmental issues need to be considered at an earlier j u n c t u re in product deve l o p m e n t and re s e a rch to develop guidelines for this are needed especially fo r small enterprises. It is also import a n t for companies to adopt a life c y c l e ap p ro a c h , which provides a bro a d e r v i ew than traditional risk assess-m e n t s .

Hans Klüppel also pointed out that the way a chemical is used has substantial significance for how it a f fects the env i ronment and human h e a l t h . It is there fo re important to

i n form the consumer about how the p roduct is to be used.

In conclusion, Hans Klüppel saw a need to develop indicators fo r chemical impact. H ow should the impact of an individual product be fo l l owed up? Indicator systems need to be coordinated – a difficult task in his opinion.

BROAD INDICATORS

In the discussion on chemicals, health and the env i ro n m e n t , b ro a d indicators we re called for which in time could give advanced warning of emerging toxicological and ecotox i-cological thre a t s .The discussion re-vo l ved around two types of indica-t o r s , sindica-taindica-te indicaindica-tors and pre s s u re i n d i c a t o r s . State indicators are, fo r e x a m p l e, the occurrence of chem-icals in the env i ronment or in hu-mans and the development ove r time of such indicators would be p a rt i c u l a r ly intere s t i n g . A pre s s u re indicator could be the amount of a chemical that is used in society.

Gwynne Lyons warned of ove r-confidence in thinking that bro a d indicators could function as an early warning system for chemical ex-p o s u re.

QUESTION OF RESOURCES

A p p lying the pre c a u t i o n a ry principle is basically a question of choosing what level of information is re q u i re d for a decision (political rather than scientific) to be made. Such a deci-sion can be influenced by a nu m b e r of factors including the issue of re-s o u rc e re-s , becaure-se if the pre c a u t i o n a-ry principle is applied to eve a-ry t h i n g , this would re q u i re considerable re-s o u rc e re-s , not jure-st for evaluationre-s but also for risk reduction and other m e a s u re s .

If the substitution principle we re to be used to the full, the concept of “acceptable risk” would have an-o t her meaning. A risk wan-ould be o n lyt e m p o r a r i ly deemed acceptable, because as long as a risk exists, t h e substitution principle decrees that solutions with less risk attached to them must sought out and applied as far as possible. The substitution prin-ciple is in other wo rds a strategy fo r risk m i n i m i s a t i o n .

At the Bridging the Gap workshop on S c i e n t i fic

Un-c e rt a i n t y, the Pre Un-c a u t i o n a ry PrinUn-ciple

was characterised from diffe re n t p e r s p e c t i ve s ; for some, p re c a u t i o n weighed heav i ly on science not to be h i j a c ked by inflammatory public opinion or the agendas of activists. For others, the thrust was a general risk management ap p roach that should include considerations of al-t e r n a al-t i ve solual-tions.

SCIENTIFIC CAUTION

Science has an overwhelming re-sponsibility to its discipline, m a i n-t a i ned E rik Dybing, D e p a rn-tmenn-t of E nv i ronmental Medicine, N a t i o n a l Institute of Public Health, Oslo.

Dybing noted the growing cern about the possible harmful con-sequences to humans and animals of e x p o s u re to xenobiotic compounds that are capable of modulating or disrupting the endocrine system ( s e e

b ox page 10). Dybing then took his

colleagues through a painstakingly t h rough explanation of why

endo-crine disruptors should not be at-tributed all the characteristics activ-ists have warned about.

“The pre c a u t i o n a ry principle,” Dybing maintained, ”should not be confused with the element of cau-tion that scientists ap p ly in their assessment of scientific data. R e-course to the pre c a u t i o n a ry princi-ple presupposes that potentially d a n g e rous effects have been identi-f i e d , and that scientiidenti-fic ev a l u a t i o n does not allow the risk to be deter-mined with sufficient cert a i n t y.”

In other wo rd s , b e fo re science b l ows the whistle, t h e re is no re a s o n to chase products off the marke t . The Pre c a u t i o n a ry Principle should t a ke into account the extraord i n a ry c a re with which scientists ap p ro a c h their wo r k , Erik Dybing said. S e r i o u s science has its ow n , built-in pre-c a u t i o n a ry prinpre-ciple.

GMO PRECAUTION

Another curre n t ly contentious scit i f i c issue – perhaps scithe major en-v i ronmental health issue of the

mil-lennium so far – is that of GMOs. This is also one of the most diffic u l t to assess, g i ven the huge tide of a b h o rrence from activists and the m e d i a . S u re ly, if eve r, the Pre c a u t i o n-a ry Principle should hn-ave swe p t GMOs from the market years ago. Another patient scientist, J e re my

S w e e t , N I A B , C a m b r i d g e, had a

dis-senting view.

Noting that recent changes in EU regulations will re q u i re that bio-d i versity evaluations are conbio-ductebio-d prior to the commercialisation of GM crops and that monitoring is conducted to confirm these ev a l u-a t i o n s , S weet commented thu-at bio-d i versity is alreabio-dy bio-declining in arable and intensive grassland regions of m a ny parts of Euro p e. GM cro p s ,h e s a i d , a re being compared to curre n t agricultural practices at a time when t h e re are serious concerns about the sustainability of these practices.

“Questions are being asked about GM crops which have not been con-s i d e red for conventional cro p con-s .T h e impacts on biodiversity of many

cur-rent agricultural systems have lead to a suspicion of new technology which will be difficult to ove rc o m e.”

Sweet’s claim was that limitations on GM tests and crops could amount to ”an overload of Pre-cautionary Principle”.

NEW GOVERNANCE

Others argue that ours is a society i n c re a s i n g ly driven by technology and technocrats, and that a new kind of governance is needed. “ M o re than eve r,” reasoned Pro fessor Lena To re l l , P rogrammes Director of the Euro-pean Commission’s Joint Researc h C e n t re, “society needs re l i a b l e science and technology and the sharing of responsibilities for prov i d-ing sound advice to policy-m a ke r s . Political re p re s e n t a t i ves cannot re ly on isolated specialist gro u p s .”

P ro fessor To rell called for a com-mon re fe rence system for science and technology, as most re s e a rch is c u rre n t ly national-based.

Looking at another momentous e nv i ronmental health crisis, the BSE

“Nothing ve n t u re d ,

nothing gained”

If there is no daring and independent science, if science is coerced to take orders and fo l l ow them n a rrow ly, t h e re can be no prog re s s . And yet the scientist is alw ays a citize n ; his laboratory rats are himself and his world. Somewhere between these two poles, the precautionary principle reigns.

or Mad Cow affair, To rell said that a major lesson to be drawn is the need for independent advice, i . e. t h e separation of risk assessment per-formed by scientific experts fro m risk management carried out by d e c i s i o n - m a ke r s . She also emphasis-ed the neemphasis-ed for a broad know l e d g e base and shared responsibility fo r p roviding sound advice.

The European Commission has a l ready called for the deve l o p m e n t of a common scientific and technical re fe rence system based on national re s e a rch centre s , establishments at E u ropean level and the Joint Re-s e a rch Centre (JRC). The idea iRe-s to d evelop European-wide networks in a reas of concern to create a bro a d k n owledge base for integrating best p r a c t i c e s , which are re c o g n i s e d , accepted and independent, to build consensus in delicate matters, b a l-ance interests and re s t o re public c o n f i d e n c e. These networks should s e rve as science and technology s u pp o rt functions for deve l o p i n g EU policies on food safety and health i s s u e s ,e t c.

ASBESTOS AND CFCS

For some, the Pre c a u t i o n a ry Princi-ple should be applied even more r i go ro u s ly. David Gee of the EEA c a u s t i c a l ly pointed out that the dang-ers of radiation we re first documen-ted in 1896; global warming was fir s t noted in 1897 and the harmful e f fects of contact with asbestos in 1 8 9 8 . Gee also noted that the early m a nu f a c t u rers of both asbestos and

c h l o ro flu o rocarbons created mono-polies that effe c t i ve ly hindered alter-n a t i ve solutioalter-ns; had the pre c a u t i o alter- n-a ry principle existed to question asbestos and CFCs, this would not h ave hap p e n e d .

The concept of the Pre c a u t i o n a ry Principle comes from the German gove r n m e n t ’s reaction to ev i d e n c e of acid rain damage to fo rests in the e a r ly 1970s. If there is “ s c i e n t i fic sus-picion of danger”, then the burden of p roof shifts to the instigator of the p ro c e s s . S u re ly, said Gee, that early application made the Pre c a u t i o n a ry Principle clear; its application by p o l i c y - m a kers should be as fo rt h-right.

SPUR FOR INNOVATION

Yet another view was that wider use of the Pre c a u t i o n a ry Principle should not be seen as an obstacle, but raher as a catalyst to better science and m o re innov a t i o n .A n d , as Per Sørup o f I P T S , S p a i n , put it, the scientist who p ropagates a strictly scientific view n ever ceases to be a citizen; t h e essence of env i ronmental science is that the scientist himself is in the e x p e r i m e n t .

In a so-called “ b road re g i m e ” ,s a i d S ø r u p, both scientists and non-scientists look to advocates fo r p roof of claimed effe c t s , oppose al-t e r n a al-t i ve suggesal-tions, jusal-tify al-the benefits of processes or pro d u c t s , and claim to support the rights of wider society. A ”narrow re g i m e ” , also linking scientists and non-scien-t i s non-scien-t s , places proof of harmful effe c non-scien-t s

on sceptics, excludes alternative s , assumes claimed benefits and em-phasises the rights of industry.

OTHER SØRUP DICHOTOMIES OPPOSE:

• the Cornucopians (‘any t h i n g goes’) with the A p o c a lypticans (‘stop eve rything’)

• a narrow risk ap p roach (risk is applicable only to certain unu s u a l situations) with a pre c a u t i o n a ry ap p-roach (risk is applicable to all un-familiar situations).

BROADEN KNOWLEDGE BASE

The answer seems to be to bro a d e n the knowledge base. For policy-m a kers to accept policy-more dive r g e n t values and perspectives than those

closest at hand. And maintain a re g u l a t o ry distance from intere s t e d p a rt i e s .

The session agreed that the pre-c a u t i o n a ry prinpre-ciple is a risk manage-ment tool, and something else than p u re science. B e s i d e s ,t h e re are limit-ations to available scientific know-l e d g e. And there are other know-legitimate factors than science. In a techno-c r a techno-c y, stechno-cientechno-ce does part of the job of policy-making but in a society aspir-ing to sustainable deve l o p m e n t , p o-licymaking must have a much broad-er base than only science, even in seemingly science-based issues.

”Political representatives cannot rely

on isolated specialist groups.”

Lena Torell

ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS IN A NUTSHELL

Endocrine disrupters are defined as exogenous substances or m i x t u res that alter the functions of the endocrine system and c o n s e q u e n t ly cause adverse health effects in an intact orga-nism or its pro g e ny. The hypothesis is that chemicals in the e nv i ronment are the cause.

The planet’s most apocalyptic problem,climate change, is ironically producing the best model for the interaction of science, society and the citizen.The IPCC panel is the most eminent, smoothly functioning, trans-national group of research scientists to date. It is interacting with the widest range of governments – with one mega exception – possible. And it is supported by the engaged news media.

E ven ap a rt from the climate change issue, s u s t a i n a b l e d evelopment (SD) is now a perv a s i ve pro c e s s . But science is one of the last sectors to be inv a d e d , a c c o rd i n g to H a n s v o l ker Ziegler of the German E nv i ronment Ministry. And it does not help that policy makers are scar-c e ly working to scar-change the thrust of re s e a rc h .“ Policy makers have been obsessed with turning scientific fin d-ings into economic grow t h ,” Ziegler c h a r g e d .

But using science for Sustainable D evelopment presents a choice of ap p ro a c h e s , Ziegler said. “ T h e re is the ‘ t e c h n o l o gy-push’ mentality, which looks for a solution to all our p roblems with eve ry new key tech-nological discove ry. The other is the p ro b l e m - d r i ven ap p ro a c h . In the case of GMOs, ‘ t e c h n o l o gy-push’ wo u l d

s ay that GMOs will save the wo r l d f rom starv a t i o n , w h e reas the pro b-l e m - d r i ven ap p roach woub-ld say that t h ey are only one of the instruments, not the main drive r.”

RESEARCH TOO ATOMISED

Workshop participants agreed that t h e re is a fundamental lack of SD aw a reness within science and tech-n o l o gy. The scietech-ntific commu tech-n i t y does not behave in accordance with Agenda 21 and does not even seem to be conversant with its chap t e r s . R e s e a rch is not being co-ord i n a t e d b e t ween EU countries and there is even noticeable resistance to co-o rdinatico-on – a deplco-orable situatico-on when eve ryone recognises that comparison between national pro-grammes would be extre m e ly bene-ficial in certain fields, e. g . food

pro-d u c t i o n . For SD thinking to expanpro-d within science and technology, t h e re must be collaboration between diff-e rdiff-ent scidiff-entific discipldiff-es – innov a t i o n needs trespassing between disciplin-e s .T h disciplin-e rdisciplin-e is growing aw a rdisciplin-endisciplin-ess with-in science but re s e a rch issues mu s t be defined in a new way, and public funding criteria should be SD-orient-e d .P ro b l SD-orient-e m - d r i vSD-orient-en rSD-orient-e s SD-orient-e a rch is nSD-orient-eSD-orient-ed- need-e d , rathneed-er than disintneed-erneed-estneed-ed sneed-eneed-eking or seeking driven by industry needs. In terms of ap p ro a c h ,t h e n ,s c i e n c e should be re s p o n s i ve, p o l i c y re l ev a n t , a dd ress the issues and prov i d e o p t i o n s .

INNOVATION SHOULD FOCUS ON PROBLEMS

Better yet to re-think pro d u c t i o n and consumption, stated N i ge l

R o o m e, E r a s mus Unive r s i t y, t h e

N e t h e r l a n d s , to provide perfo r m a n-ce instead of pro d u c t s .

E u ro p e ’s system of production is not sustainable and has not begun to a dd ress pro b l e m s . A study of pro-duction processes Roome part i c i p-ated in re c e n t ly indicp-ated that although modernisation is taking p l a c e, with potential to add ress the i s s u e s ,c u rrent EU policy will not fo s-ter transfo r m a t i o n .The need is for a m o re integrated view of pro d u c t i o n . I n n ovation should not focus on tech-n o l o gy but otech-n actors, p ro c e s s e s – and chiefly, s o c i e t y.

Roome was dismissive of eco-e f fic i eco-e n c y, s aying that theco-e catchwo rd should instead be ‘ s u f f i c i e n c y ’ . I n other wo rd s , to focus on exactly what end result is needed – and no m o re – rather than how to stre a m-line what already exists.The ethic of

C l i m ate change

the warming

ex a m p l e

i m p roving competition does not s u ff i c e. Rather than managing the e nv i ro n m e n t , policy makers should shoot for socio-technological sys-tems innov a t i o n s , with science and civil society invo l ved in the pro c e s s .

P a rticipation could be defined as c o m mu n i c a t i o n , Roome said, a n d c o m munication could be defined as l e a r n i n g , which in turn could be d e fined as re s e a rc h . And the ap p ro-ach must be pro b l e m - b a s e d .

SCIENCE SHOULD SHARE MORE WITH CIVIL SOCIETY

M a ny individual states are pre p a r i n g SD strategies and SD is moving clo-ser to policy implementation, b u t t h e re is a need for networking and a s t ronger SD profile and visibility. R&D should be a drive r. And there is still a wo rrying lack of commu n a l i t y b e t ween re s e a rch and policy making. N o n e t h e l e s s , B e l g i u m ’s SD planning is an impre s s i ve model for policy m a kers’ outre a c h . B e l g i u m ’s SD planning also reveals the extent and complexity of participation needs. ( A c o u n t ry squeezed between the big, rough players of Europe and with its ow n , h i s t o r i c a l ly embedd e d , c u l t u r a l , political and even linguistic divis-i o n s ! )

The Belgian SD planning team, l e d by Nadine Gouzée ( i n c i d e n t a l ly, t h e Belgian re p re s e n t a t i ve on the U N

Commission for Sustainable Dev e l o p-m e n t ) is a working group based at

B e l g i u m ’s Federal Planning A d m i n i s-t r a s-t i o n .Their recommended SD pol-icy planning structure included a p re l i m i n a ry situation re p o rt , p l a n ni n g ,c o n s u l t ni n g ,ni n t e r a c t ni v ni t y, d e c ni s ni o n -making and implementation.

The Belgians found a need fo r c apacity building at all levels and that the linkages between SD themes would have to be better structure d . T h e re is a wo rrying commu n i c a t i o n s g ap – and a need to improve the flow of scientific knowledge to both civil society and policy-make r s .G o u-z é e ’s presentation at the Bridging the G ap confe rence challenge was eve n

wo rded as a terse challenge to the re s e a rch commu n i t y : R e s e a rc h e r s Must Contribute More to Sustain-able Deve l o p m e n t .

T h e re is a gap between the way politicians perc e i ve sustainable deve-lopment and the way civil society d o e s . To d ay, much of the fo u n d a t i o n for decision-making is seen only by politicians and their staffs. The re-s e a rch community could help bridge that gap and there by contribute to sustainable deve l o p m e n t .At pre s e n t , Gouzée noted, re s e a rch scientists l a r g e ly choose to observe from the s i d e l i n e s , instead of contributing to a b road learning pro c e s s . If scientists we re to turn to civil society and s h a re their findings, citizens wo u l d be better equipped to discuss and question political decisions on a m o re equal footing with politicians.

“At pre s e n t , it is not a merit fo r scientists to contribute to public d e b a t e, even through they are need-e d ,” says Nadinneed-e Gouzéneed-e. “ A g need-e n d a 21 calls for the engagement of the scientific community and it is high time that we develop science poli-cies that will help scientists fulfil that d u t y,” says Nadine Gouzée.

PARTICIPATION THE KEY

H ow can the dialogue betwe e n science and society be stre n g t h e n e d ? Voices at the discussion pro p o s e d that scientific re s e a rch should tell us about the thresholds of unsustaia b i l i t y, e s p e c i unsustaia l ly unsustaiabout the env i ro n-ment and health, and about the impacts of unsustainable practices. Economic re s e a rc h , on the other h a n d , must focus on a quantitative evaluation of externalities, and build-ing of sustainability indicators and the relationship of risk analysis with the PP. Science and its practitioners, at times cocooned in their disciplin-e s , should bdisciplin-e aw a rdisciplin-e of uncdisciplin-ert a i n t y and ignorance, aw a re of other ac-t o r s , c u l ac-t u res and opac-tions, a n d p o l i c y re l ev a n t . Policy-making should be agenda-setting, d e c i s i o n - o r i e n t e d . A vexation on the policy-making side

is that within the EU framewo r k , c o m p e t i t i veness is sacro s a n c t . M a ny p rotest that this is a trap, since SD demands a diffe rent paradigm than i m p rovement at the expense of o t h e r s . A n d , as it is fre q u e n t ly point-ed out, t h e re is a diffe rence betwe e n sh o rt-term and long-term compet-i t compet-i ve n e s s .A l t h o u g h compet-it was pocompet-inted out at the session that Iceland seems to h ave managed to tackle a true, S D -era dilemma: h ow to maintain a com-p e t i t i ve fishing industry and still ke e com-p fish in the sea. The problem was a dd ressed by adding participation to the mix – people from the fishing i n d u s t ry we re active ly invo l ved in

planning a re-structuring of the in-d u s t ry to fill both in-desire s .

T h e re is an intensive debate be-t ween be-the IPCC’s parbe-t i c i p a be-t i n g s c i e n t i s t s , to ensure that common standpoints are arr i ved at by accept-ed scientific pro c e d u re. In no way do t h ey relinquish their scientific meth-o d , but still manage tmeth-o delive r e x t re m e ly robust foundations to politicians for their decisions to be based on.The issue of making SD the s h a red commitment of science, society and the citizen could be at the brink of daw n . I ro n i c a l ly, an ap-p a re n t ly failing battle is ap-providing an apparently successful methodology.

“Policy makers have been obsessed

with turning scientific findings into economic growth.”

THE BELGIAN SD PLANNING GROUP

The team found that there was a lack of a long-term view and too few goals in government planning.T h e re was also a failure to take uncertainty into account, t r a g i c a l ly highlighted by the d i oxin scandal of 1999.

A draft plan included more than half of the chapters of Agenda 21. The themes we re not the ord i n a ry political plan-ning go a l s , such as trade.

A fo l l owing three months of consultation made clear how m a ny diffe rent levels of government and demographics had to be taken into account.And consultation resulted in about 30% of the text being re d r a f t e d . The work was done in full t r a n s p a re n c y, making use of a we b s i t e.

Ms Gouzée’s working gro u p, in trying to identify obstacles in the way of sustainable development saw clearly that civil society and politicians have a communication pro b l e m .T h ey l i ve in diffe rent realities and view the world from diffe re n t a n g l e s . Citizens often have a good understanding of pro b l e m s connected with the env i ro n m e n t , human we l f a re and econo-mic deve l o p m e n t . But they have less understanding of the choice process between diffe rent goals and the measures that need to be take n .

Po l i t i c i a n s , on the other hand, a re used to a wide per-s p e c t i ve and to accepting that particular problemper-s might not be best solved by targeted measures but through concert e d action and a proper ove rv i ew. B e s i d e s , t h ey have to keep an eye on re - e l e c t i o n .

Tr a n s p o rt is continously g row i n g. As the transport sector is highly dependent on fo s s i l f u e l s , carbon dioxide emissions are also incre a s i n g .C u rrent trends show that emissions will increase sub-s t a n t i a l ly if further measub-suresub-s are not t a ke n .

Economic growth is considered to be one of the most important driving fo rces behind growth in traffic. T h e question is whether this is an un-avo i d a b l e c o u p l i n g , and more specifi-c a l ly, whether especifi-conomispecifi-c grow t h n e c e s s a r i ly leads to increased car-bon dioxide emissions. As a matter of fact, people and businesses do not want traffic grow t h , t h ey want in-c reased ain-cin-cessibility and re d u in-c e d t r a n s p o rt costs. That means that t h e re is not an automatic coupling b e t ween economic growth and traf-fic deve l o p m e n t .

Technical development can help a lot in the effo rts to reduce emi-s emi-s io n emi-s . T h e re iemi-s a big potential fo r making vehicles more fuel efficient, e.g by more efficient engines or l ower vehicle we i g h t . Te c h n o l o g i e s that allow the use of re n ewable fuels is another way. Use of new info r m a-tion technology in the transport sec-tor can be of help in order to make f reight and passenger transport m o re effic i e n t .

E n e r gy consumption in transport , and there by emissions of gre e n-house gases, can be reduced by

b e h avioural changes of people and e n t e r p r i s e s . Driving behav i o u r, m o d a l c h o i c e, t r avel habits, load factors in f reight and public transport are examples that are of importance fo r e n e r gy consumption.

CHANGING BEHAVIOUR

M e a s u res for reducing emissions in general give rise to economic costs or other kinds of disbenefit s . If they did not, t h ey would already have been take n .T h e re are however many b e h avioural changes that could re-duce the energy consumption in t r a n s p o rt with such small costs that t h ey would be pro f i t a b l e. It can be changes in habits that immediately could take place if the actors had the k n owledge of the saving potential. I n such cases information can be of h e l p. M a ny companies and individuals a re pre p a red to make sacrifices i n o rder to reduce the env i ro n m e n t a l load from transport but have a lack of k n owledge on how to make it.

As measures often give rise to c o s t s , various incentives are necess-a ry. One single menecess-asure or policy instrument would not be sufficient. Packages are needed.

A KEY MEASURE

Internalisation of external costs is a key measure when designing policy i n s t r u m e n t s . One policy instrument that is in compliance with the principle of internalisation and that

a lw ays is discussed when it comes to reduce carbon dioxide emission is a carbon dioxide tax on fuels that is d i f fe rentiated according to the con-tent of fossil carbon. T h e o re t i c a l ly, this is an ideal policy instrument as it is dire c t ly coupled to the env i ro n-mental problem of carbon diox i d e e m i s s i o n s .H oweve r, a carbon diox-ide tax does not take into account other env i ronmental effe c t s . It does not, for instance, reflect the fact that emissions in big cities cause higher cost than in low density are a s .

UNPOPULAR TAX

I n c reased fuel tax is a ve ry unpopul-ar instrument for several re a s o n s and it is difficult to implement policy instruments that are not accepted by the public. People must be aw a re of the seriousness of the problems to accept sacrific e s . C o m munication of p roblems and motives for instru-ments are there fo re of great import-a n c e. A roimport-ad pricing system thimport-at re flects the external costs is perhap s easier to gain acceptance for than a general fuel tax incre a s e.

R e s e a rch is needed for better understanding of the driving fo rc e s behind mobility, the social and distri-bution effects of various policies and the relationship between transport policy and land use. F u rt h e r m o re the costs (in a wider respect) must be better understood in order to im-p rove the cost benefit analys e s .

T h e re are a number of improve-ments that can be done in the plan-ning and decision pro c e s s . Key wo rds here are commu n i c a t i o n , openness and transpare n c y.

F u rt h e r m o re, the process can be c a rried out in a more rational way than is usual today, for example fo l l owing the circ l e : vision goals -action programmes - implementation - fo l l ow up - rev i ew. N ew knowledge can feed different parts in this circle. Integration of env i ronmental con-c e r n in transport policon-cy is an im-p o rtant asim-pect of the im-planning im- pro-c e s s . Integration means that env i ro n-mental objectives are fo r mu l a t e d and included in the process at the same time and at the same level of commitment as economic and social o b j e c t i ve s . E nv i ronmental stake-holders a re invo l ved at an early stage. Policy instruments and measures are designed in such a way that the en-v i ronmental objectien-ves can be achie-ved along with the other objective s .

E nv i ronmental management is a w ay to ensure integration of the e nv i ro n m e n t . It means that the ad-ministrations are fo rced to take the e nv i ronment into account in eve ry-d ay wo r k .

T h e re is a tendency that more and more of the responsibility fo r solving the env i ronmental pro b l e m s caused by transport is given to the authorities active within the trans-p o rt sector.

Pa rticipants in the session on the transport sector and climate change tended to agree that the largest gap to bridge is between commitments and implementation rather than between research and policy-making. The path of transport politics is strewn with abandoned env i ronmental ambitions. Enough know l e d ge alre a d y exists for political action.

Climate change – a challenge for

The participants at the seminar on Climate ch a n ge

– towa rds an energy-efficient society,

a g reed in principle to the main fundaments of the EU’s future ener-gy system. In the future, e n e r ener-gy will be used efficiently, solar energy in d i f fe rent forms – windpowe r, hy d ro-p owe r, b i o e n e r gy and solar cells – will be responsible for the majority of the energy supply and electricity and hy d rogen gas will be the main e n e r gy carr i e r s . Fuel cells will play a major role in conve rting energy f rom hy d rogen gas to electricity.

The participants we re just as much in agreement that re d u c i n g g reenhouse gas emissions, e n s u r i n g the energy supply and re d u c i n g harmful emissions we re the driving fo rces behind changes to the energy s y s t e m .

It was unclear, h oweve r, when all this would hap p e n . In thirty ye a r s ’ time at the earliest was one pre d i c-t i o n .

In the light of this, the seminar m o s t ly dealt with the opport u n i t i e s and stumbling-blocks re g a rding the d evelopment of a s u s t a i n a b le e n e r gy s y s t e m .

DEPEND ON FOSSIL FUELS Dag Chri s t e n s e n , f rom the power and

c h e m i c a l c o m p a ny N o r s k H y d ro i n N o r w ay, emphasised that a t r a n s i t i o n

to re n ewable energy sources wo u l d t a ke a long time to implement and that Europe would continue to be dependent on fossil fuels for seve r a l decades to come.To d ay, the EU is 80 per cent dependent on fossil fuels. He suggested there fo re that we should use oil and gas to make hy d rogen gas and electricity and that the carbon dioxide should be separated and stored in empty gas and oil re s e rve s . The benefit wo u l d p a rt ly be that it would then be possible to use fossil fuels without emitting any carbon dioxide and p a rt ly that the energy system wo u l d as a result be better pre p a red for a transition to re n ewable fuels at a later date. In the future, fo r e x a m p l e, s o l a r e n e r gy and windpower could be used to make hy d rogen gas and e l e c t r i c i t y.

STORING CARBON DIOXIDE

Dag Christensen claimed that the t e c h n o l o gy for storing carbon diox-ide in empty gas and oil re s e rves is well known and has been success-f u l ly tested. “Natural gas has been s t o red in this way for millions of ye a r s , so the technique obviously wo r k s ,” he say s , re fe rring also to American tests that have been con-d u c t e con-d . Neither are there any tech-nical problems associated with col-lecting the carbon dioxide when

c o nve rting or combusting gas and o i l ,p rovided the process takes place at stationary facilities.

The problem is chiefly of a polit-i cal nature. It polit-is part ly a questpolit-ion of gaining the acceptance of the general public for such a solution and part ly of getting those who purchase ener-gy to pay the added costs associated with disposing of the carbon diox i d e. Dag Christensen pointed out, h ow-eve r, that electricity purchasers al-ready pay taxes and charges that exceed the added costs of disposing of the carbon diox i d e. The state should there fo re be able to levy less tax if electricity producers in re t u r n e n s u red that the carbon dioxide was not emitted into the atmosphere.

Thomas B. J o h a n s s s o n, who was

p residing over the session and who is invo l ved in UNDP, said that the day politicians take the issue of climate change and sustainable deve l o p m e n t s e r i o u s ly, t h ey will also be able to t a ke the necessary decisions to m a ke carbon dioxide disposal an a t t r a c t i ve proposition from a marke t point of view.

Pieter Ziege rs, f rom the EU

Com-m i s s i o n ’s DG Researc h , was able to i n form the seminar that the a dditional costs of taking care of the carbon dioxide formed during elec-tricity production was between 40 and 70 per cent of total electricity

p roduction costs. The Commission has furt h e r m o re calculated the external costs – the damage done to the env i ronment and human health – to be 100 per cent of the total costs of electricity production for coal and oil power stations and 30 per cent for natural gas power stations. T h e external costs for the use of gasoline and diesel in vehicl-es are also con-s i d e r a b l e.

CLEAN TECHNOLOGY

The EU has re c e n t ly adopted a d i re c t i ve that allows member states to internalise these costs in the fo r m of taxes or subsidies for clean tech-n o l o gy.

E ven if fossil fuels must carry their real costs, h oweve r, it is difficult fo r solar cells to compete p r i c ew i s e. I n the long term, h oweve r, t h e re is hope that solar cells could be p roduced cheap ly enough to allow their enormous energy potential to be fully utilised.W i n d p ower and bio-mass are, h oweve r, a l ready compet-i t compet-i ve and have the potentcompet-ial to be even more so.

N ew infrastructures for re n ew-able energy sources including hy d rogen gas as an energy carr i e r will re q u i re enormous inve s t m e n t , and Pieter Ziegers said this will hin-der development tow a rds a sustain-able energy system. Biomass has

The future of energy is as clear as day

– But when will it happen?

The development of technolo gy opens an increasing number of doors tow a rds the more efficient energy use and more energy from renewable sources.The old energy structure will, however, s u rv i ve as long as the energy sector can avoid paying the re a l e nv i ronmental costs and decisions re g a rding energy issues are made without taking lifecycle costs into consideration.

limited potential as a result of com-petition from agriculture and fo re s t-ry over biologically pro d u c t i ve land. The cost of land for solar cells is an unclear factor.

H a r ry Fra n k , f rom ABB Corporate

R e s e a rc h , said that even if energy use can largely be made more effic-i e n t , most theffic-ings poeffic-int tow a rds elec-tricity use increasing within the EU. The introduction of new technology and not least information technolo-gy means that more electricity is c o n s t a n t ly needed. The EU is cur-re n t ly inccur-reasing its electricity con-sumption by between 40 and 50 TWh a ye a r, which corresponds to electricity production from seve r a l thousand large, sea-based wind-p ower units.

Semi-conductor technology, w h i c h forms the basis of IT deve l o p m e n t , also has its equivalent within the e n e r gy electronics field, w h e re in recent years a revolution has take n

p l a c e, opening many new opport u n-i t n-i e s . Modern power electronn-ics are so compact and cheap that small p ower sources such as wind and solar cell facilities can be connected to feed electricity into the grid. T h e equivalent technical revolution fo r cables has further contributed to this development and previous con-flict between small and large-scale facilities has been nu l l i f i e d . S m a l l -scale production can now compete with traditional large-scale powe r f a c i l i t i e s . For the customer, h av i n g access to an electricity grid that supplies energy is generally more i m p o rtant than knowing what facili-ties are connected to it.

Though maybe not, since seve r a l s p e a kers at the seminar mentioned “ g reen certificates” as a means of accelerating the introduction of re n ewable energy onto the marke t . It is assumed that the customer is p re p a red to pay a higher price if the

supplier can provide credible assur-ance that the electricity comes fro m re n ewable energy sourc e s , a n d g reen certificates could constitute such assurance.

BUILDINGS TAKE 40 PER CENT Wim Bake n s, f rom CIB, I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Council of Research and Innov a t i o n in Building and Construction, s a i d that 40 per cent of the EU’s energy was consumed in buildings and that t h e re is enormous potential fo r m o re efficient energy use. M a j o r d i f ficulties stand in the way of re a l i s-ing this potential, h oweve r.

We have the technology to re-duce energy consumption, but de-cisionmaking in the building pro c e s s is complicated. Builders are depen-dant on sub-contractors, p u rc h a s e r s e t c e t e r a , and the big picture is lost. Tenants have no influence at all over the building pro c e s s , but if t h ey did, it would lead to c o n s i d e r a

b-ly reduced energy consumption. Despite this self-critical tone, Wim Bakens believed that the EU possesses substantial know - h ow and the EU Commission ought to t a ke responsibility for transfe rr i n g this know - h ow to developing count-r i e s , who acount-re in the pcount-rocess of a c c u mulating an unsustainable build-ing stock.

THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Thomas B. Johansson also re-minded the seminar of the interna-tional perspective when he pointed out that 5 per cent of the wo r l d ’s g reenhouse gases originate fro m incomplete combustion during fo o d p re p a r a t i o n .

H a rry Frank supported his thesis that an increasing amount of electri-city will be needed by re m i n d i n g eve ryone that 2 billion people still do not have access to electricity.

“Powerchips make

the concentration

of renewables possible.”

Harry Frank, ABB Corporate Research

Seeing the interd e p e n d e n-cies between social change and technology may be key to an understanding of how the new info r-m ation technologies can benefit sus-tainable deve l o p m e n t . At pre s e n t , few signs point that way.

Relationships between the Info r-mation Society and sustainable d evelopment are not well undes t o o d . But the evolution of the Info r-mation Society is generally not seen as essential to sustainable deve l o p-m e n t .

T h e re is a need for further and enlarged re s e a rch on the re l a t i o n-ship between I n formation Commu n

i-cation Te ch n o l ogy (ICT) and

Sustain-able Deve l o p m e n t .

THE LONG-TERM ENVIRON-MENTAL IMPLICATIONS

This issue has several part s , s o m e related to today ’s ICT products and s e rvices themselve s , and some re l a t-ed to the impact on env i ro n m e n t f rom the use of ICT in diffe rent sec-t o r s , such as sec-transporsec-t , e d u c a sec-t i o n and health.

As ICT becomes incre a s i n g ly in-tegrated into products and serv i c e s , its env i ronmental impact will be eve n h a rder to ev a l u a t e. With ICT em-b e dded in most products and ser-v i c e s , the borderlines between ICT itself and products and services in other sectors will be fuzzy.A l s o, I C T

functionality may even be achieve d by computational power only, b a s e d on new materials and systems arc h i-t e c i-t u re s .

E nv i ronmental protection policies h ave so far been driven primarily by re g u l a t i o n . A concern is how and when the driving fo rces behind sus-tainable development can be com-patible with innovation and marke t d eve l o p m e n t . Raising aw a reness of the interdependencies betwe e n social change and technology could be one ap p roach to influencing not o n ly producers of technology but also users of technology in business as well as in society in general.

IMPROVE DECISION MAKING

ICT can support the collection and dissemination of env i ronmental in-formation in accession countries and t h e re by improve the basis for deci-s ion making. H oweve r, if at the deci-same time Western European lifestyles are t a ken over by eastern Euro p e, t h e net result may be counter- p ro d u c t-i ve t-in terms of sustat-inabt-ilt-ity.

On the other hand, e a r ly action could tackle the lack of aw a re n e s s about the possibilities and risks in relation to sustainable deve l o p m e n t associated with the int roduction of western information-society con-cepts in the accession countries.

S h o rtcuts would invo l ve enh a n c-ing the use of mechanisms, a re n a s

and platforms for knowledge dis-semination and exchange.

To d ay up to 10 percent of energy consumption in California relates to appliances in stand-by mode. T h e t rend tow a rds “the netwo r ke d home” or “things that think” and their potential impact on future p ower consumption was discussed by Alain Maier, re s e a rcher from Uni-versity of California in Berkley.

Peter A r n fa l k , teacher and

re-s e a rcher from Univerre-sity of Lund p resented re s e a rch on potential e n e r gy saving through video-con-fe rencing and telewo r k i n g .

Mats-Ola Hedblom, E nv i ro n m e n t

D i rector at the Ericsson Company, pointed out the potential of ICT as enabler of sustainable deve l o p m e n t . In the telecom industry, the use of its s e rvices has been shown to be to be m o re energy-consuming than any other phase in the lifecycle of its p roducts and serv i c e s .

Dr Thomas Sch a u e r f rom FAW, G e r m a ny, p resented figures that s t a r k ly revealed the diffe rences in e n e r gy use between countries in the western and Eastern Euro p e.A scen-ario in which eastern countries adopt the lifestyle patterns of We s-tern Europe was discussed. T h e potential conflict between an en-v i ronmental and a social dimension of sustainable development was h i g h l i g h t e d . P ro fessor Nazli Choucri ,

M I T, U S A , p resented an initiative fo r k n owledge management related to sustainable development where the Internet and ICT technologies we re used to achieve multilingual access to knowledge and best practice and to make this information globally av a i l a b l e.

S u s t a i n a bl e

d eve l o p m e n t

MAIN MESSAGES

• A high-tech economy based on know l e d g e, skills and innov a-tion ought to be a cleaner, g re e n-er economy. T h e re is little ev-idence of development in that d i re c t i o n .

• ICT offers many opport u n ties for increased re s o u rce effic i-ency and dematerialization. R e-bound effe c t s , h oweve r, c o u n t e r-act these benefits. For example, e - c o m m e rce has been shown to generate increased demand fo r electricity and transport .

• ICT could offer opport u n i-ties for Europe at large.To d ay, t h e tendency is instead increased dif-fe rences between the ‘ h aves’ and the ‘ h ave - n o t s ’ .

• ICT offers fantastic oppor-tunities for sharing of know l e d g e, best practices, and education.

A l l ow the general public to participate and decide the focus of agricultural re s e a rc h . This may help to broaden re s e a rch and to stre n g t h e n the position of those politicians who are curre n t ly at the mercy of powerful lobby i s t s .

D r. Hans Kast, f rom BASF Plant Science, put fo r-w a rd his case eloquently, s aying that biotechnology, i . e. the genetic modification of cro p s , will become n e c e s s a ry in order to satisfy the wo r l d ’s food demand during this century.

This may well be, but experiences so far re g a rd i n g GMO say that the ideas of re s e a rchers are not we l-comed by the general public. Major effo rts in info r-mation and education have not helped – they have m e re ly fuelled the suspicions of the public at large. The conclusion is that the general public must be a l l owed to make its voice heard at a much earlier s t a g e, i . e. when re s e a rch plans are being drawn up, rather than when results are to be disseminated.T h i s

was one of the conclusions drawn by the delegates at the seminar on sustainable agriculture.

If sustainability is to be taken seriously, the econo-m i c, ecological and social functions of agriculture must be weighed together. Until now, the focus has been strictly on the economic aspects.

The EU has taken a decision on an A genda 2000, which will mean that env i ronmental and social as-pects will be taken into account in the Common A g r i-cultural Policy (CAP) until 2006. In practice, it is pro-ving difficult to implement A genda 2000.

E ven when it came to this issue, the seminar dele-gates put their trust in the general public. W h e n policy makers are faced with difficult decisions about changing the agricultural policy, t h ey meet with stro n g resistance from agriconomy lobby gro u p s . If only the general public can communicate its anxiety over the e nv i ronmental effects of agriculture, politicians will be better able to stand up to farmers’ demands.

To d ay ’s agricultural re s e a rch needs to be b ro a d-ened and become system-based; able to work out holistic answers to current problems and deve l o p n ew technology and innov a t i ve solutions. R e-s e a rchere-s e-should turn to the general public and to all other genuine stakeholders in a sustainable agri-c u l t u re, in order to fo r mulate the problems and fin d the focal point for their re s e a rc h . The future for 75 per cent of Euro p e ’s land are a , under agriculture and fo re s t ry, is hard ly an issue to be decided upon behind closed doors.

B ro a d e n i n g

a g r i c u l t u ra l

re s e a rc h

S u s t a i n a ble deve l o p m e n t

and global tra d e

The environmental impact caused by trade seems to be small compared to the environmental impact caused by economic growth. But not enough is known and the complexity of globalisation is complicating study.