The Role of Eco-Efficiency: Global Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century

The 21st Century Economy

1. Economies, like living organisms, always evolve in response to challenges and opportunities. Over the next decade or so, the New Economy - so far propell ed mainly by information technology - may turn out to be only the initial stage of a much broader flower ing of technological, business, and financial creativity.

2. To be sure, the path from the New Economy to the 21st Century Economy will likely be a bumpy one. But one of the grounds for a dynamic change in the world is that many countries today have s ophisticated developmental state s that support new technologies.

3. That is to say, the 21st Century Economy is an economy driven by technological progress, which is a key element of the new paradigm. With the advent of the Internet, the information revolution seems to be spreading and accelerat ing rather than slowing down. Biotechnology is on the verge of having a major economic impact. And in labs across the world, scientists are driving toward the frontiers of nanotechnology, with the goal of creating new devices that can transform entire industries.

4. In fact, one of the top priorities for the governments today is to shift financial resources to innovative sectors. Venture capital, initial public offerings, and junk bonds enable new ideas to get funded relatively easily, while lagging companies are punished by being taken over or bought out. And finally, intellectual property protection is one of the central public policy pillars on which the knowledge-based industries and global markets of the 21st century rest. Sound framework conditions for a well-constructed IPR regime, therefore, are indispensable.

5. A second key element of the new paradigm is green economics —the recognition that the conservation of resources and the reduction of waste have become economic necessities. The old idea that there are tradeoffs between economic growth and environmental protection is outmoded; today economic growth requires that we transition away from fossil fuels and squeeze waste out of our production processes.

6. A third key element of the new paradigm is pursui ng the “ high road ” is the organization of work places. Productivity in the 21^st century is enhance d by empowering employees and providing them with good pay and decent benefits.

7. Other elements of the new paradigm include a focus on the problem of providing high quality care —health services, child care, education, and services for the elderly. These have become central economic activities and they cannot be produced on an assembly line. Maintain ing a healthy private sector is crucial.

8. The world needs also to rethink the role of finance in the economy—shifting from the current focus on speculation to smart finance that pursues productive investments.

9. Similarly, a commitment to free trade and relatively open immigration is an essential part of a pro-innovation policy.

10. Policy, by itself, can guarantee a new age of innovation. And just as a seed grows better in the right soil, forward-looking policies create a better environment in which bright ideas can flourish.

The Role of Eco-Efficiency: Global Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century

The business climate of the 21st century will be characterized by increasing globalization, revolutions in information technology, rapid process and product innovations and chaotic marketplace demand. The marketplace will also be profoundly changed by a predicted population increase of four billion by the year 2040.

All this will take place on a planet that is, in the minds of many decision-makers, already reaching ecological limits in critical areas such as ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity, water quality and management, and climate change.

Too often in recent decades, the two big "e" words -- ecology and economy -- have been used as though they represented opposing concerns. But this separation or opposition has come to look like a massive mistake. The Earth itself is what ultimately controls economic activity because it is the source of the materials upon which economic activity works. That is why economy and ecology cannot be separated. To seek to have economy without ecology is to try to manage an environment with no knowledge or concern about how it works in itself - to try to formulate human laws in abstraction from or ignorance of the laws of nature.

The challenge, for industry, governments and individuals will be to ensure that continued economic development and social well-being are compatible with ecological support systems. Achieving this objective requires a dramatic improvement in resource productivity. These changes are resulting in a rethinking of business strategies to focus on how companies deliver higher value products and services to their customers and how they can increase resource productivity. This shift will involve the development of materials, products and industrial processes and services that are more eco-efficient. Eco-efficiency has become one of the buzzwords of our time. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) created the term "eco-efficiency" in 1992. It was first introduced in the organization's publication "Changing Course”. Eco-efficiency is management philosophy that aims at minimizing ecological damage while maximizing efficiency of the firm's production processes, such as through the lesser use of energy, material, and water, more recycling, and elimination of hazardous emissions of by-products.

Eco-efficiency is increasingly becoming a key requirement for success in business. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) describes eco-efficiency as a management strategy of doing more with less. In practice, eco-efficiency is achieved through the pursuit of three core objectives:

1. Increasing product or service value;

2. Optimizing the use of resources; and,

3. Reducing environmental impact

The main stakeholders of eco-efficiency are businesses, business associations, industry, research organisations and government. Other stakeholders are consumers, suppliers, non-government organisations and shareholders.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30