Lisbet Bræmer-Jensen's Blog

This proactive collaboration concerns linking Act NOW to EU initiative “A World You Like. With a Climate You Like”. We have a targeted approach to spreading energy-efficient technologies throughout five different European markets including, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria, and Lithuania. At the forefront of our involvement is sharing best practice cases of energy-efficient technologies originating in Denmark that show how customers reap financial rewards while conserving energy and the environment.

“In Denmark we have worked with green solutions for many years…it is very positive that Danish businesses join in to spread the message.” says Connie Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action.

With the introduction of new energy-efficient technologies citizens, businesses and the climate stand to benefit through the creation of jobs and reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Act NOW is supported by a range of Danish corporations and institutions that stand together on accelerating the use of energy-efficient technologies. We endorse innovative technology that is simple and intuitive, often existing as ‘plug & play solutions in the form of modern and energy-friendly equipment for buildings, production plants, supply systems and more.

See the Act NOW list of partners here

For specifics on “A world you like” go to www.world-you-like.europa.eu

Act NOW is proud to say that one of our partners has been nominated for the Innovator of the Year Award at the Danish Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Awards.

Trine Richter, Green Solution House, is nominated for the Innovator of the Year Award for her willingness and courage to create the world’s first knowledge- and conference centre for environmental technology and sustainability. Trine Richter has fought for this innovative project to become a reality for the last 4 years. Finally, construction will start in September this year and will be completed in spring 2014.

The award is given to a person/company that has created new and innovative approaches with subsequent successful outcome, and thus inspired the entire meeting industry.

Danish MPI Award is the biggest and most festive event where the best within the meeting industry is celebrated. This year’s Danish MPI Awards will be held on 11 April in Copenhagen. We are excited on the behalf of our partner and hope that everyone will enjoy the evening.

All of us at Act NOW cross our fingers for Trine Richter and her project Green Solution House and wish her good luck.

Danish MPI Awards 2013

A couple of weeks ago President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union speech at the US congress. It was interesting to learn that on the issue of climate conditions President Obama was prepared to take serious action and urged Congress to act on bipartisan “market-based solutions”.

It was a pleasure to see President Obama prepared to combat climate change: “For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods – all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that super storm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science – and act before it’s too late”, says President Obama.

At the same time, President Obama argued that taking action can and should be done from a financially viable perspective. “We can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth”, the President said.

The big energy goal was laid out on the table: “Let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years.” Obviously, there is willingness and ambition to act. The goal has been set out; now what is needed is the leadership to meet the green goals.The intentions are there, but the question remains, will President Obama succeed in getting his plans through Congress and what happens if he doesn’t?

“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy”, says the President.

At Act NOW we are delighted by this actions-based approach. A cornerstone in Act NOW is to show how to take action on green goals. We do this together with our partners by creating awareness about best-practice cases on energy efficiency.

You can watch President Obama’s speech here

Exciting things is happening in the online space of Act NOW. Today we officially launch the brand new Act NOW website! We like to think of the website as more of a digital platform for accelerating energy efficiency partnerships. This will be the place where you find inspiring energy efficiency cases, connect with leading partners and follow ongoing news and updates from the Act NOW movement.

The reason for taking this step is that it is time to take Act NOW to the next level. Act NOW is the platform that connects green ambitions with concrete solutions – and the website should be a reflection of just that. We are an impatient movement, because we know the urgency of our cause. Therefore, we focus on the cases and concrete solutions that help companies reach their green business goals here and NOW.

A thing that was important to us was that the site became more even more focused on creating the strong partnerships that actually makes the change and creates triple bottom line results. The solutions are out there – now we need to commit to our ambitions and make the positive change. We urge you to take a look at our case archive for inspiration on this matter.

We will continue to develop the platform and we are constantly trying to bring new and exciting content and cases to the site. Maybe you will even help us? We are looking for new and inspiring energy efficiency cases, as well as leading partners, to join the Act NOW movement. So please connect and share your Act NOW story.

Finally, we are happy to invite you inside to take a tour on the new site – we hope you will like what we have done with it!

Act NOW – Accelerating energy efficiency

EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Act NOW Ambassador, Connie Hedegaard, has just launched a fantastic new EU initiative for climate action. The campaign “A world you like. With a climate you like” aims to help transition Europe toward a low-carbon society, thereby creating new green jobs, lower energy bills, and a better climate for all.

In this regard, Connie Hedegaard gave a speech about the need for climate action and why embracing the opportunity that lies in front of us is a unique opportunity. “Building a low-carbon economy is not a luxury; it is an opportunity to boost economic growth and create jobs in Europe, while creating a world you like. With a climate you like.”

“Through this campaign we want to bring those smart, climate-friendly solutions to the fore. We want to show what you can do as an individual, what businesses can do, and what we can achieve jointly in Europe, if we learn from each other."

She spoke about the urgency for acting and how our acting today has implications for tomorrow. “Last year saw the biggest increase in emissions we have ever seen. Meaning the biggest increase in the bill we pass on to future generations.”

Basically, there are two ways to look at it: “For some people addressing climate change just spells costs. It is not seen as an investment; it is not seen as an opportunity”, and then there are people with vision – people who act.

“That is what this campaign is about: about our responsibility to act; to act NOW in order to get a world you like. It is not too late to fix the climate.”

Read more on Connie Hedegaard’s blog

Or take a look at some of all the great cases on the campaign site

At the UN Rio+20 conference Act NOW was joined by Claus Stig Pedersen, Senior Director, Novozymes. Claus always has a lot on his heart and as some may know Novozymes are some of the absolute front-runners in sustainable business. In this short interview Claus talks about how the private sector can contribute to the fight against CO2 emissions by implementing existing technology.

“We need to speed up the application of already existing cleaner technologies, and do it at scale. Because there are so many technologies that can be used for the benefit of all of us that are not being used today in industries across the world – and they should.”

“We can do a lot. We do a lot already, but we can do much more.”

Read more about Novozymes’ sustainability credentials here

At the UN Rio+20 conference we were honoured to have the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard as one of the main speakers at the Act NOW Executive Meeting. Her continuous push for increasing sustainable development shows how absolutely passionate she is about making a positive difference.

After the event Connie Hedegaard took time to talk about sustainable innovation and the possible implications on the future market. “Those that can deliver the smartest solutions, the most efficient solutions, they are also best suited at the world market.”

This was the first interview film and we have five more coming up with our speakers sharing their unique thoughts and perspectives. Many thanks to Connie Hedegaard for her inspiring insights and her continuous work to implement sustainable solutions.

Rio+20 missed the opportunity to shift course on global energy and embark on a low-carbon pathway. The Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want” have not set up goals for renewables and energy efficiency, though, it recognised that improving energy efficiency, increasing the share of renewable energy, and cleaner and energy-efficient technologies are important for sustainable development and in addressing climate change.

There is no denying that our changing climate is already having an impact – and recent signs are not good! Just to mention two worrisome examples – USA saw record-breaking spring temperatures followed by intense heat waves causing dry, hot conditions and massive wildfires. Another example is an alarming report published by NASA in July disclosing that recent satellite photos indicate an enormously widespread surface melting of Greenland’s ice sheet http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/greenland-melt.html.

Such profound melting has not occurred since 1889. Scientists argue that the melt phenomenon occurs every 150 years on average. Thawed ice tends to refreeze again, but in deeper layers. Massive ice melt tend to make ice surface darker and more exposed to further melting than, e.g. newly fallen snow which has the capability of reflecting sunlight.

Act NOW participates at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development at the end of June. Rio+20 is the leading international platform for dialogue and partnership solutions within sustainable development.

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can ensure sustainable future within economic, social and environmental development.

Rio+20 is this decade´s most vital conference when it comes to sustainability, which is why Act NOW will of course participate. The goal of Act NOW by being present is clear. We want to develop an international profile to reinforce Act NOW’s outreach and position the alliance as an international action alliance driving profitable and innovative solutions for tackling the issue of sustainability.

Our ambitions are high. We aim to become a global driver within sustainability and green business through strong thought-leadership and by influencing dominant stakeholders on Act NOW’s key issues.

The participation at the Rio+20 Conference gives us a chance to move closer toward these goals and at the same time it provides a platform for promoting and enhancing our reach within the key stakeholder environment. During the conference we facilitate workshops and side-events with prominent participants and interesting topics to accelerate networking between stakeholders. The global political community is gathered in Rio de Janeiro and we look forward to connecting with them.

Act NOW is dedicated to create awareness of energy-efficient products and services to inspire decision-makers to implement readily available solutions and cut energy consumption NOW.

Only by uniting can we create the awareness that will allow us to fulfill that ambition. Therefore, we want to engage more partners in Act NOW and together tell the story to inspire and educate. We do this by communicating the best-case stories and by creating action!

To convince key stakeholders to take advantage of energy-optimised solutions we need you. We need decision makers to wake up and we must share best-case stories to demonstrate our achievements and solutions that inspire people to take action. We need you to be active partners and spread the word.

Being an active partner means sharing the message and involving the right people. We must pull together and reach out to engage more partners to help pull in the right direction. Therefore, we urge you the spread the message to potential partners.

Help us get more partners so we can create more awareness and thereby action!

In 2011 the global population reached 7 billion people, continuing at this rate we will have reached a population of 9 billion people by 2050. This, of course, will have enormous impact on the global demand for energy, water and food.

We will have to produce far more energy while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions. Therefore, ‘Planning wisely for their future energy needs is one of the most important challenges our generation faces’, states an interesting article by Peter Voser, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell.

To overcome this significant challenge we must look at how we have dealt with past global challenges. In doing so we can see that – ‘what’s lacking today is the common will to act’. We need to reignite the spirit of global cooperation and leadership. We need people who act NOW!

Link: http://www.siew.sg/energy-perspectives/global-energy-trends/9-billion-reasons-address-worlds-energy-challenge-now

In many cases the feeling we have about becoming more sustainable means giving up something. We know it from our personal lives where being more sustainable means to take shorter showers, turn down the heat, waste less, use the car less or consume less electricity.

So, how much comfort are we willing to give up to become a more sustainable organisation? The thing is once we get into the habit of turning off the lights, wasting less or implementing energy-efficient solutions – we often find that we do not give up comfort at all. Instead, money is saved and we feel like we are doing something good as an organisation.

Some companies take sustainability to the extremes. I recently met a CCCO that is so focused on sustainability that he, and the rest of the company, chooses only to fly economy simply because it is more energy-friendly than flying first class. He thinks about sustainability and energy-efficiency in every single decision he makes. Another example is Patagonia that contributes 1% of annual sales to environmental groups and has sent more than 1,000 of their employees to work for the environmental group of their choice for a month – during which time Patagonia still pays their salary. They also think about the environment in everything they do. The question is how far we should go?

There are degrees of dedication and we should probably not all go to the extremes, but there are definitely things we can learn from the extremes. One of these is the holistic focus on improving sustainability in every part of the organisation. Demonstrating sustainable leadership by ‘walking the talk’ is great way to increase focused on sustainability and energy efficiency in the organisation.

The report “Embedding sustainability in organizational culture” contains great advice on how to build and support a culture of sustainability. This will help you embed a more holistic approach increasing sustainability in the whole organisation: http://www.actnow-movement.com/articles/embedding-sustainability-in-organizational-culture/