European Green Week

The European Green week 2008 is coming up in Brussels from June 3 to June 6 2008.

This year, Greenweek 2008 will take a closer look at the sustainable use of natural resources, focusing on waste management, sustainable consumption and production.

A long list of experts on all concerned aspects of sustainable living are coming to Brussels. Don’t miss it !

Further information can be found on http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/home.html

Wave of green marketing

Every day, signs of change towards low carbon economies and lifestyles pop up. Among the service industry, advertising companies bring their contribution in helping companies, governements and NGO to create green messages. They conduct research on consumer behaviors,

they boost awareness and publicize earth-friendly products. They organize conferences, seminars and courses on this hot topic in the EU and the US. We believe that it is just a beginning.

In February, the Financial Time reported that AMV BBDO, JWT, Ogilvy, RKCR/Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi, UK’s leading advertising agencies, believed green advertising will grow in the next 12 months.

Agencies say communicating green values is fast becoming an act of “corporate hygiene” needed to retain competitiveness and standing with customers.

Farah Ramzan Golant, chief executive of AMV, said: “We’re at a tipping point. I really believe we are going to see more of this.”

Lee Daley, chairman and chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi UK, said: “Brands will not be able to opt out of this. Companies which do not live by a green protocol will be financially damaged because consumers will punish them. In the longer term, I do not think they will survive.”

Now, ride the green wave. The quality and quantity of eco-related messages has shifted strikingly in the past 6 months. Whether you believe it is trendy or not, this is no longer a peripheral activity. It could even become mainstream in the coming years.

We are all catching those messages. In fact, a recent EU survey (Eurobarometer) shows that European citizens put environmental issues on top of their concern. So, it is clear and obvious that marketing companies are following our “brand” new behavior.

In the research field, Ipsos-Mori, for example, explores the public’s perspectives on climate change in new report entitled “Tipping point or turning point? Social marketing & climate change”. Published in July, 01, it explores how they think and behave in relation to the issue and what their values and aspirations are. It examines the complex issues that behaviour change policy has to engage with and the role that social marketing could play.

Another study, “What assures consumers on climate change?” carried out by AccountAbility and Consumers International has been released in June. It looks at consumer attitudes to climate change and to their role in tackling it through changes in behaviour.

Regarding awareness raising, institutions, governments, artist and NGO are on the front line. One of the best example is certainly the campaign initiated by the European Commission. The purpose of “You control Climate Change” is to educate individuals on the factors affecting climate change as well as to influence them to make a contribution to stop its progression. Greenpeace has his channel on You Tube. Friends of the Earth campaigns for solutions to environmental problems by proposing a video contest. Check here and here. Artists such as the Blue Man Group are also giving their piece. See here

Companies try to “clean” their brands as much as they can. In the automobile industry, SMART is leading the way ahead of Toyota Prius, VW Blue Motion and Saab Biopower. From Philips with “Saving the polar bear“to Tesco to HSBC, businesses blitz the airwaves with concern for a healthy planet. BP, for example, advertises its investments in renewables as it rebrands itself with the label “Beyond Petroleum”.

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AlisonBurns, chief executive of JWT London, said “Once a company makes an environmental statement, its direct competitor is now conspicuous by its absence if it hasn’t too. Consumers are suspicious of that silence. This isn’t restricted to a particular industry. It is in-creasingly pervasive. There is an underlying expectation that we are asking more questions about companies’ intentions. That is partly a phenomenon of the digital age where consumers are used to interviewing brands like they might be interviewing people for a job.“

As it becomes more and more crucial for businesses to communicate with clarity, thoroughness and responsibility on their sustainability performance, events on the subject are organized around the world. London will be the venue for a Green Marketing Forum on November 28-30. That event will feature “14 incisive case studies,” offering insight “from early adopters [about] what works and what doesn’t.” Participating companies include Barclaycard, BMW, Intel, Marks & Spencer, Philips Lighting, and Virgin Trains. Sustainable Brands ‘07, will take place in New Orleans on September 26-28. On October 3, PRWeek is hosting Target Green: Collaborating for Change, in Washington, D.C.

Greenweek 2007 : Past lessons, Future challenges

12 - 15 June 2007, Brussels

Linking in with the festivities for the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, Green Week 2007 will look back at 50 years of European environmental policy and will look at the future.

The Greenweek 2007 will be reviewing past actions and identifying success and failures, and looking at the challenges we will face in the future. What have we achieved? Where could we do better? Which are the drivers for change? Do we need to adapt our lifestyle and how? How can innovation and technology help us?

Green Week will provide a unique opportunity for debate, exchange of experience and best practice among non-governmental organisations, businesses, various levels of government and the public.

Event : Carbon Market Insights 2007

This year’s event will reflect on, amongst other major issues, the opening up of the EU emissions trading scheme to the global carbon markets. Carbon Market Insights 2007 is set to be the largest carbon market conference to date. Confirmed keynote speaker is Al Gore. The 2006 event gathered 1,250 delegates from over 60 countries, representing more than 600 companies, organisations and governments. By attracting the best specialised speakers combined with an intimate networking environment, Point Carbon hosted an event that was considered to be an outstanding success by all participants.

Carbon Market Insights will take place on 13-15 March 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Workshop : The Economics of the Stern Review

The purpose of this workshop is to understand why Stern emerges with policy prescriptions which appear to differ from those supplied by previous economic analyses of the climate change problem. Did earlier analyses neglect important aspects of the climate change problem which Stern has managed to address or has the economic and scientific literature upon which they relied moved on? Or is the case that the Stern Review itself is in some respects deficient?

The workshop brings together leading members of the Stern Review, contributors to the Review process and economists who have been openly critical of the Stern Review.

It is billed as “an academic debate between the proponents and opponents of the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change”.

The workshop takes place on Friday 9 March at The European Research Institute, University of Birmingham, UK.