Pioneering projects from
Brazil, South Africa and Zimbabwe receive
environmental "life-cycle" awards
New publication on life cycle management
released at awards ceremony
Zurich, 28 August 2007 - Pioneering new
research to measure the environmental impact
of sugar production in South Africa, newsprint
paper production in Zimbabwe and new approaches
to assess impacts on biodiversity in Brazil
have been recognized today by a new award
from the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP).
"UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Award"
recognises work from academics and private
companies in developing and emerging economies
who have started visionary and innovative
projects based on the "cradle to cradle"
or "life cycle approach".
The "life cycle approach" concerns
the impacts on the environment of a product's
production, use and disposal. "The
growing attention to life cycle issues is
a natural outcome of decades of UNEP work
on cleaner production and ecoefficient industrial
systems," said Achim Steiner, Executive
Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme.
"As pressure on the environment goes
through mostly unsustainable production
and consumption patterns worldwide, there
is an urgent need to encourage life cycle
thinking in developing and emerging economies,"
said Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable
Consumption and Production Branch in UNEP's
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics.
"The new award that UNEP has initiated
with the Society of Environmental Toxicology
and Chemistry supports relevant life-cycle
research and associated activities in these
countries" added Mr Hoballah, who presented
the awards in Zurich today.
The award ceremony was held back-to-back
with the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Management
2007 conference.
This year's winners of the new UNEP/SETAC
Life Cycle Award include Kevin Harding and
the Department of Chemical Engineering at
the University of Cape Town, for their assessment
of sugar production in South Africa, Charles
Mbohwa and his team from the Mechanical
Engineering Department in the University
of Zimbabwe for its earlier research on
the life-cycle of newsprint paper, and Danielle
Maia de Souza and the Universidade Federal
de Santa Catarina for their work on adapting
life-cycle approaches to measure the impacts
of unsustainable practices on Brazil's biodiversity.
Three other projects concerned with waste
in Taiwan, chocolate production in Ghana,
and the creation of a "Brazilian Centre
of Excellence on Life Cycle Thinking"
were recognized as runner-ups.
In 2006, over 30 projects on life cycle
approaches from developing economies were
evaluated and 23 selected and supported
with complimentary commercial software and
databases made available by Pré Consultants
(SimaPro), ifu Hamburg (Umberto), PE INTERNATIONAL
(GaBi), Ecobilan (TEAM), ecoinvent Centre
(ecoinvent Database) and IVAM (IVAM Database).
During the award ceremony, the new UNEP
publication 'Life Cycle Management: A Business
Guide to Sustainability' was also launched.
"This publication is a contribution
to UNEP's activities to promote more sustainable
consumption and production patterns,".said
Achim Steiner. "It is a next step in
broadening the horizons of pollution prevention;
a process which has gone from a focus on
production processes, to products and then
to product-systems and to sustainable innovation.
It also contributes to the 10-year framework
of programmes mandated by the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in 2002.
In the new publication, companies such
as Airbus, Nokia and Ford explain how it
is possible to expand their business while
minimising the environmental and social
burdens along their entire product life
cycles.
Notes to Editors:
Copies of the new publication can be accessed
from www.unep.fr
The UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative was
launched in 2002. It aims to develop and
disseminate practical tools for evaluating
the opportunities, risks, and trade-offs
associated with products and services over
their entire life cycle to achieve sustainable
development. For more information please
see: http://lcinitiative.unep.fr/ or
Mr. Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for
Europe
