quinta-feira, 29 de janeiro de 2015

Parlamento Europeu | Combate às Alterações Climáticas





Os eurodeputados debateram ontem, « quarta-feira, 28 de janeiro, com representantes do Conselho e da Comissão, as negociações do novo acordo internacional contra as alterações climáticas que deverá substituir o Protocolo de Quioto que expira em 2020. Durante a conferência das Nações Unidas (ONU) em dezembro, ONGs, especialistas e políticos já começaram a trabalhar num novo acordo que deve ser finalizado em Paris em dezembro de 2015.

O combate às alterações climáticas é uma das grandes prioridades do Parlamento Europeu (PE). A delegação de eurodeputados que participou na conferência da ONU em Lima em dezembro de 2014 pediu que se mantenha o aumento das temperaturas médias mundial abaixo dos dois graus em relação aos níveis pré-industriais e um aumento das contribuições europeias para o fundo verde de ajuda aos países em vias de desenvolvimento».



quarta-feira, 28 de janeiro de 2015

DA SUSTAINABILITY | «10 Trends for 2015»


«From historic climate change marches and bold advocacy by companies on the price of carbon to global economic volatility and heated debates on inequality, 2014 was a year of accelerated awareness and action for sustainable development.

Our Ten Trends for 2015 distills SustainAbility’s thinking over the past year and forecasts the issues that will shape the sustainable development agenda in 2015»: Veja aqui.


terça-feira, 20 de janeiro de 2015

«Avaliação da materialidade para Relatórios de Sustentabilidade»


«A KPMG lançou um novo guia de avaliação da materialidade para relatórios de sustentabilidade, Insights sobre a Sustentabilidade: Os princípios básicos da avaliação da materialidade. O objetivo é auxiliar os profissionais das áreas de preparação e divulgação de relatórios corporativos e de riscos a implementar um processo prático afim de identificar os tópicos sociais, ambientais e de governança de maior importância para uma empresa e suas partes interessadas.
“O cenário de preparação e divulgação de relatórios está tornando-se cada vez mais complexo à medida que as estruturas conceituais de relatórios se multiplicam e evoluem e que as regulamentações se tornam cada vez mais exigentes. Muitas empresas entendem os princípios de materialidade na teoria, mas enfrentam dificuldades para elaborar e implementar um processo de avaliação robusto na prática. Produzimos esse guia com o objetivo de ajudá-las com um processo efetivo, mas que ao mesmo tempo não fosse demasiadamente complexo”, afirma o diretor da prática de Mudança Climáticas e Sustentabilidade da KPMG, Ricardo Zibas». Continue a ler.

sexta-feira, 16 de janeiro de 2015

«A Circular Economy Must Drive Management Accounting in the 21st Century»





Como que dando continuidade a post anterior, o artigo 

A Circular Economy Must Drive Management Accounting in the 21st Century - by Stathis Gould, Head of Professional Accountants in Business | October 29, 2014

disponível aqui, ou seja, na GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY da IFAC. Começa assim:

«It is now clear that the industrial economy, which has emerged and developed over the last 200 years, is inefficient and environmentally detrimental. Inefficient processes consume excessive natural resources and produce waste and environmental pollution. In running our organizations, we use natural capital in the form of oil, wood, minerals or natural gas, and return them in the form of waste, most of which does not naturally degrade and cannot be reused.
Waste is a serious issue for society and for management accounting. A critical purpose of management accounting is effective and efficient resource utilization. Improving resource productivity and allocation leads to direct financial benefit to organizations, as well as providing value for society. As outlined in their seminal book, Lean Thinking (1996), Womack and Jones describe waste as any human activity that absorbs resources but creates no value. Most forms of waste have associated environmental impacts, such as defects, overproduction, excess inventory, and unnecessary transport of goods. Professional accountants working in management accounting roles need to consider waste as part of their contribution to organizational success». Continue a ler.

sábado, 10 de janeiro de 2015

ECONOMIA CIRCULAR: Mais valor, menos desperdício

SINOPSE
«The term ‘Circular Economy’ is becoming familiar to an increasing number of businesses. It expresses an aspiration to get more value from resources and waste less, especially as resources come under a variety of pressures – price-driven, political and environmental.  
Delivering the circular economy can bring direct costs savings to businesses, reduce risk and offer reputational advantages, and can therefore be a market differentiator -- but working out what counts as ‘circular’ activity for an individual business, as against the entire economy or individual products, is not straightforward.  
This guide to the circular economy gives examples of what this new business model looks like in practice, and showcases businesses opportunities around circular activity.  It also:
explores the debate around circular economy metrics and indicators and helps you assess your current level of circularity, set priorities and measure success
equips readers to make the links between their own company’s initiatives and those of others, making those activities count by influencing actors across the supply chain
outlines the conditions that have enabled other companies to change the system in which they operate.
Finally, this expert short work sets the Circular Economy in a political and business context, so you understand where it has come from and where it is going».
Acabamos de ver o livro da imagem, de que se pode saber mais aqui. Aproveite-se a ocasião para ir mais longe quanto à Economia Circular. Assim:


 
Na União Europeia, Moving towards a circular economy. De lá:
«(...)
Turning Europe into a more circular economy means:
  • boosting recycling and preventing the loss of valuable materials;
  • creating jobs and economic growth;
  • showing how new business models, eco-design and industrial symbiosis can move us towards zero-waste;
  • reducing greenhouse emissions and environmental impacts.
As part of the circular economy package, the Commission also adopted a legislative proposal to review recycling and other waste-related targets in the EU and annex. Achieving the new waste targets would create 180 000 new jobs, while making Europe more competitive and reducing demand for costly scarce resources. (...). Leia mais. Em particular o relatório seguinte:



 
«Scoping study to identify potential circular economy actions, priority sectors, material flows and value chains»:
 
«The circular economy is rapidly rising up political and business agendas. In contrast to today’s largely linear, ‘take-make-use-dispose’ economy, a circular economy represents a development strategy that enables economic growth while aiming to optimise the chain of consumption of biological and technical materials. A deep transformation of production chains and consumption patterns is envisaged to keep materials circulating in the economy for longer, re-designing industrial systems and encouraging cascading use of materials and waste. Although there are some elements of circularity such as recycling and composting in the linear economy (see Figure E1) where progress needs to be maintained, a circular economy goes beyond the pursuit of waste prevention and waste reduction to inspire technological, organisational and social innovation across and within value chains (see Figure E2). There are already several policies in place and activities underway that support a circular economy; however there remain a range of untapped opportunities, costs to be avoided and obstacles to be addressed in order to accelerate the move towards a circular economy in the EU. Against this backdrop, the European Commission (DG Environment) launched a Scoping study to identify potential circular economy actions, priority sectors, material flows & value chains. The study was carried out by the Policy Studies Institute (PSI), Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), BIO and Ecologic Institute between November 2013 and July 2014. The aim of the study was to provide an initial scoping assessment of potential priorities and policy options to support the transition to a circular economy in the EU. The study reviewed existing literature, identified potential priority areas for action where accelerating the circular economy would be beneficial and where EU policy has a particular role to play, and developed policy options for consideration across a range of areas».
E veja-se como o tema aparece disseminado, por exemplo, ver a WRAP.