24 October 2009 is International Day of Climate Action

So the call to action is on October 24th for you to place the number 350 at an iconic place in your community or some creative way and then upload the photo to the 350.org website.  They will collect the images from around the world and deliver the message to the media and world leaders to demonstrate how big and powerful with world wide movement for climate change is.  There is already a lot of creative activities happening to mark the occasion. On October 24th take a stand and do something!  For more information visit www.360.org/plan.

Minister of Energy and Mining, James Robertson (left), in discussion with Chairman of the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum, Jerry Butler (right), at the two-day Forum in Montego Bay

This announced on Friday at a two-day Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum by by Minister of Energy and Mining, James Robertson.

“Jamaica is on track for the development of waste-to-energy plants and as part of its mandate, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) has advanced an international tender process that has resulted in the selection of Cambridge Project Development Company and its partners, to finance, design, build, own and operate two waste-to-energy facilities in Jamaica,” he said.

“Provided that all goes well with the due diligence being conducted, these plants will be operated over a 20-year period through a joint venture of PCJ and the Cambridge Project group,” Robertson pointed out.

The Minister said that a total of 65 megawatts of electricity from the waste-to-energy project, would offset power that was today being generated with expensive imported fuel oil.

“In fact, these two plants will save or avoid the importation of over 700,000 barrels of fuel each year, representing a savings, at today’s relatively low oil prices, of approximately US$60 million annually. The two waste-to- energy plants will sell power to the national grid under power purchasing agreements and their power sales price will not be driven directly by international oil price, as the imported fuel oil is today. This means that the two facilities will represent a significant hedge against future oil price spikes, like the one experienced globally in 2008,” the Minister said.

He noted that the power to be generated from these two waste-to- energy facilities represents about 18 per cent the current electricity needs of the country, excluding the energy-intensive bauxite/alumina industry. “If the bauxite/alumina industry is included, then the two plants could generate approximately 7 per cent of the nation’s electricity requirements. We therefore look forward to the success of this project,” the Minister said.

Turning to the E-10 fuel diversification programme started in Jamaica in 2008, Robertson said that the present demand had exceeded projections.

“Early next month, there will be a full rollout of the E-10 programme to all parishes in Jamaica. The development of the Bio-fuels industry is targeted to provide ethanol from locally grown feedstock and to also provide export opportunities under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. In that regard, in November last year, Jamaica accepted an invitation to join the MOU between America and Brazil for the advancement of co-operation on Bio- fuels. This will be advanced in the near future,” the Minister said.

He emphasised that this was important and significant, not only to Jamaica’s energy sector, but to those of the entire region.

“As we come together as country representatives, private investors and the wider donor community, let us remember that we owe it to those we represent to leave here with solutions and plans of action that are timely, economical and implementable. Today we have an opportunity to move away from our splintered ways at tackling the challenges posed in implementing energy conservation and developing renewable,” the Minister told the participants.

Energy Ministers and officials from the Caribbean, a US government delegation, and representatives from the public and private sectors and development finance banks are participating in the forum, which will seek to discuss and drive forward, the renewable energy agenda for the region. ]]> http://sustainablecaribbean.com/2009/10/bio-fuels-plant-to-be-constructed-in-jamaica/feed/ 3 http://sustainablecaribbean.com/2009/10/is-corporate-social-responsibility-the-new-competitive-differentiator-for-capitalism/ http://sustainablecaribbean.com/2009/10/is-corporate-social-responsibility-the-new-competitive-differentiator-for-capitalism/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:32:09 +0000 admin http://sustainablecaribbean.com/?p=199 “The epicenter of the world economy is moving out of the west and changing the focus of corporate investment strategy. As a result, the 20th-century business model, which says business only exists to make a profit, is no longer valid. The new model is to build on the profit goal via sustainable globalization. This means business has to address global challenges in emerging markets like clean water, education, AIDS, and climate change in order to pave the way to growth and profits. Successful businesses in 5 to 10 years will be the ones that recognize this opportunity to address these challenges as a step to leading in emerging markets. Those who don’t will be left behind.”—E. Neville Isdell, chairman of Coca-Cola (now retired), paraphrased from remarks at the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative

This is excerpted from a speech delivered last year at the Clinton Global Initiative. With the epicenter of the world economy moving out of the west and into developing nations, how will this changing the focus affect corporate investment strategy?  Is it fair to say that because of this changing focus the 20th-century business model, which says business only exists to make a profit, is no longer valid?  The rate and by any means necessary philosophy that built the now industrialized nations, can certainly not be sustained as new epicenters of industrialization now begin to exist thought out the world.  Climate change is a real threat.  We know that industrialization drives pollution which threatens the atmosphere.  The new corporate social responsibility will be to industrialize and develop up and coming nations but not at the tax of the land, the people or the planet. Companies operating in these developing countries will have to spend a little more time ensuring that their business practices are not harming the local ecosystem.  That they are contributing to the well being of the people that work at their operations, local stakeholders and becoming a part of the community.  We are seeing today that it is driving a new level of competitiveness, in fact it is the building blocks to sustainability and it is the new Corporate Social Capitalism.

The Bahamas government is moving to put measures in place to help the extremely vulnerable islands adjust to what one government official calls a possible ‘death sentence for small islands.’

Mr. Phillip Weech, Director of the Bahamas Environmental Science and Technology Commission, said that the government was working on an energy policy, exploring alternative sources of energy as well as more sustainable tourism options in a bid to prepare the over 700 islands for the possible effects of climate change.

“Bahamas has no national energy policy….. we have prepared it and are doing public consultations to take it forward,” said Weech, who was addressing a workshop put on by the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to discuss the feasibility of doing a review on the Economics of Climate Change in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is regarded as one of the regions that will be most affected by climate change.

According to Weech, the Bahamas was one of the most vulnerable island countries in the region because of how flat it is.

“We are not a high island country like Jamaica or anywhere else – anywhere on the Bahamian islands is about 1.5m above sea-level. We are almost like pancakes,” he said while adding that the flatness of the islands increased its vulnerability to sea-level rise. He highlighted other vulnerabilities such as the high dependence on imported energy and food as well as the increasing costs of these commodities as areas in which there would have to be significant change.

“Adaptation is a priority for us but we have to do it in light of our circumstance,” said Weech. “We have to diversity and to do so in renewable technology such as using wind, energy and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion.”

“We have to look at our hotel sector – there is new techno in Paradise Island – which allows you to dim lights and reduce electricity use based on their occupation level but most of our old hotels have nothing like this – So the hotels have to look at having energy efficient systems,” he explained. “Energy assessments and audits: how much energy is used to keep someone in a hotel? How much energy is used in government departments? What about the use of transport – how much energy is used to move one person from point a to point b? We need to be a lot more energy efficient.”

He added however, that the Bahamas was already doing the following to address climate change:

• establishing terrestrial and marine reserves as well as parks and protected areas across the Bahamas,
• reducing emissions from land degradation and deforestation (REDD)
• fulfilling obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through assessment reports
• and maintaining engagement with regional bodies including the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and the Alliance of Small Island Developing States.

Weech’s presentation was well received and the Director of ECLAC’s Caribbean sub-region, Neil Pierre, speaking at last week’s workshop said that the feedback from the Bahamas workshop would feed into the feasibility studies being planned for the Caribbean.

“Actions must be based on informed economic decision-making – the RECCC (Review of the Economics of Climate Change in the Caribbean) will give policymakers this,” said Pierre. “RECCC will arm policymakers with high quality information and informed analysis so that they can effectively play their part at an international level.”

The RECCC Study is expected to be done over a two year period. The first phase (September 2008 – March 2009) has already started with preliminary workshops on climate change in the Caribbean.

“We hope that this project will arrive at some preliminary findings to inform Caribbean government’s at the Copenhagen negotiations (December 2009),” said Pierre.

Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, PANOS writer