Sustainable Development Commission Breakthroughs for the Twenty-First Century Contents
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Sustainable Development Commission Breakthroughs for the twenty-first century Contents 1 Foreword 2 Finding Breakthroughs 6 The need for Breakthroughs The Breakthrough ideas 8 Breakthroughs for sustainable lives 17 Breakthroughs for sustainable places 24 Breakthroughs in the transition to a sustainable, low carbon economy 36 Making it happen 37 List of Breakthrough ideas contributors 39 References Acknowledgements The Sustainable Development Commission is extremely grateful to all the organisations and individuals who contributed to the ‘Breakthroughs for the 21st Century’ project. We would like to thank everyone who submitted ideas to the SDC and participated in the testing phase. Our particular thanks goes to the Ideas Champions for their collaboration on this report and in the Breakthroughs event on 1st July 2009. We are also grateful to the following organisations for supporting the Breakthroughs event: Ashden Trust, Co-operative Group, Nesta, WRAP, Natural England, Marks and Spencer, Ecotricity, Wessex Water, Carbon Trust and Willmott Dixon. Prepared by Claire Monkhouse, Jonathon Porritt and Andrew Lee. Wth specal thanks to Victor Anderson, Maria Arnold, Jaime Blakeley-Glover, Elizabeth Chatterjee, Lindsey Colbourne, Jennifer Crees, DCSF Children & Youth Board, Sue Dibb, Sara Eppel, Helen Eveleigh, Ian Fenn, Susan Gransden, Minas Jacob, Duncan Kay, Simon Kitchen, Alan Knight, Louise Lord, AJ McConville, Zoe McGuire, Alice Owen, Shivani Reddy, Jake Reynolds, Charles Seaford, Rhian Thomas, Farooq Ullah, Sophie Unwin, We Are What We Do, Kay West, Alice Williams, Rebecca Willis, Shelagh Young and Youth Parliament. Credts Copy writing Roger East Design Positive2 and Andy Long Photos Cover © photodisc, page 1 © Paul Heartfield, page 7 © Paul Glendell, page 12 © Andy Hay (rspb-images.com), page 13 © David Norton (rspb- images.com), page 14 © digital vision, page 17 © SDC, page 19 © alamy, page 24 © Jerome Dutton/SDC, page 29 © Fair Shares, Fair Choice, page 33 © EMEC, page 34 © Ashden Awards, © Kyoto Energy. Breakthroughs for the twenty-first century Sustainable Development Commission Foreword ‘Whatever t takes, for as long as t takes’ That phrase has become the watchword of governments long before ‘whatever it takes, for as long as it takes’ also around the world when it comes to sorting out the implosion becomes the watchword of global climate diplomacy? in capital markets. For the last eighteen months, they’ve And climate change, however big and daunting it may been working together in unprecedented unity to try and be, is only one facet of the broader sustainable development restore economic stability. agenda. It is now more than four years since the UK Compare that, however, with governments’ combined Government published its second Sustainable Development response to accelerating climate change, collapsing Strategy, ‘Securing the Future’. During that time there has ecosystems, the Millennium Development Goals and so on undoubtedly been some progress. We have cleaner air. – the sum of all those civilisation-threatening crises identified More of our waste is re-used and recycled. Crime rates are by governments from the early 1990s onwards. Stumbling, falling, people are living longer and, until recently, we were uninspired incrementalism would be a generous description. experiencing a period of steady economic growth and high That may now be changing. President Obama has seized levels of employment. hold of the climate change agenda, and has inspired people But on the whole, we have still not seen the kind of all over the world with his plans for getting rid of nuclear transformation that is needed. Indeed, the most recent weapons. Governments of many different persuasions are evidence tells us that levels of inequality in the UK have completely re-thinking their strategies to help protect the not been reduced since 1997, which demonstrates just rainforests. China is driving forward a number of ‘disruptive how far we have still to go in terms of creating a genuinely innovation’ programmes on renewable energy and sustainable economy. We seem bogged down on so many transportation that could astonish everyone. The UK’s Climate different fronts. Change Act has become the first legislation in the world to That’s why, in 2008, the Sustainable Development set legally-binding short, medium and long-term targets for Commission launched ‘Breakthroughs for the 21st Century’. reducing greenhouse gases. We wanted to bring together a dynamic and hard-hitting But setting targets, however ambitious they may be, is portfolio of ideas that could really inspire and motivate not of itself a breakthrough. The increasing levels of R&D for policy-makers and others to set the UK much more decisively sustainable technologies is not of itself a breakthrough. And on the path to becoming a sustainable society. making sure that things are at least not getting worse is not, See what you think about these potential breakthroughs. of itself, a breakthrough. We all know that things need to get If you’re excited by them, what can you do to help make a very great deal better very quickly indeed. them a reality? They may not be the sum total of what’s Views differ as to just how much time we’ve got to required, so we encourage everyone to come up with their make those changes. On climate change, very little, say an own – and make them happen! increasingly worrying number of very eminent scientists. If that’s true, and if we pick up on Lord Stern’s advice to Jonathon Porritt governments that up to 2% of annual GDP will need to be Charman, Sustanable Development Commsson invested in a rapid transition to a low-carbon world, how Finding Breakthroughs We knew there were good ideas out there – compelling idea happen! Others build upon concepts about self-reliance, propositions that, put into action, could really help make community and frugality which have served our nation the UK more sustainable. So, last autumn, we invited well in the past – concepts which have renewed relevance Algal Carbon Domestic experts, practitioners and enthusiasts to share their thinking in an economic downturn and given the climate change Royal Bank of Biomass and Congress for Community Countryside Capture and Cap and Share DesignWays Tradeable Free Bikes Sustainability Soils the Future wind turbines Contracts with us, and those breakthrough ideas started pouring in. imperative. Storage Quotas And because sustainable development has intergenerational We’ve presented the ideas grouped into three broad equity at its core, we made a point of seeking the views of categories: young people too (see page 4). • Sustanable lves: ideas which are symbolic of the ways Enhanced From ‘Pre-pay’ Green Independent Eco Zones/ Re-mediation To put together a portfolio of the best and brightest, in which we as individuals can be directly enabled to Fife Diet Food Revolution to ‘Pay as you Green Bonds Constitution Green Corps monitoring Kyoto2 Communities and Carbon Sequestration save’ Commission body we’ve looked at every single one of the 285 submissions change our own lifestyles and work with others at a in Soils we received from organisations and individuals across the community level UK. As we sifted out those we felt were the strongest, we • Sustanable places: ideas which are iconic in terms of were looking for ideas that could create some kind of shift in changing the built environment, our infrastructure and Manchester Mid-term Public Regional Local Food Low Carbon Outdoor Personal Carbon buildings shareholder Open Feedback Project Dirt sector food Resource Competition Zones experiences Budgets the next three to five years – or at least make steps towards green spaces, in ways which could help reinforce and retrofit loyalty shares procurement Balance a longer term change – as well as inspire others to make ‘lock in’ new and more beneficial ways of living that change. • Sustanable economy: ideas which change the Our selection meetings, involving Commissioners and marketplace, the signals about price and value, making Rethinking Retrofitting Seven The Ecological policy analysts from across the SDC, led to a shortlist of 40 more sustainable choices easier and more accessible. Soil Steady State Water Gardening Buildings with Generations Green Inc Innovation Zone Travel Centres Happiness Management City Neutrality ideas which we then took to a wider audience, to get more Practices No Upfront Cost Body (EIZ) feedback and see whether others shared our enthusiasm. Our selection represents just a few of the great ideas out Over 200 commentaries helped us decide on the final there – the tip of a rather impressive iceberg. The process package of ideas we wanted to present. we have been through to reach this point demonstrates the The nineteen ‘Breakthrough Ideas’ set out on the sheer amount of creativity and innovation there is in the UK following pages are spread across the spectrum of sustainable in response to the challenge of creating a more sustainable development, with solutions ranging from policy change society. Most of the ideas we’ve picked are at an early stage to grassroots action to technological innovation. They and will need a great deal more work in the form of research encompass varying levels, from individuals, to communities, and development. This report, and the events that go with cities, and things that need to be done at national or it, are simply ways of throwing the spotlight on innovative international level. Indeed, many of the ideas are driven thinking and encouraging you and others reading this to help from the grassroots, but require government to act as convert the thinking or demonstration projects into concrete the enabler. initiatives. The real breakthroughs will come in the way The ideas are not all completely new, and they are Government, business and other organisations nurture this certainly not rocket science. Some have been around for talent and enable ideas like these to happen quickly and at a while, but need to be mainstreamed or scaled up.