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System Innovation for Sustainability 2: Case Studies in Sustainable Consumption and Production — Mobility
Theo Geerken, An Vercalsteren and Mads Borup
November 2009
978-1-906093-23-5 (hbk) 978-1-907643-16-3 (PDF ebook)
www.greenleaf-publishing.com/SCP2
1
Introduction
Theo Geerken and An VercalsterenFlemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium
Mads Borup
Technical University of Denmark, Department of Management Engineering
Arnold Tukker
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
This book summarises the results for the need area ‘mobility’ developed during
the EUfunded SCORE!(Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges) project.
SCORE!is a network initiated with EUfunding to support the development of the
UN10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and
Pro-duction. The mission of SCORE!is to organise a leading science network that
pro-vides input to this Framework. The EUfunding for SCORE!ran between 2005 and
2008, engaging 28 institutions, but by the organisation of various major work-shops and conferences the project engaged and structured a larger community
of several hundred professionals in the EUand beyond.
The SCORE!philosophy assumes that sustainable consumption and production (SCP) structures can be realised only if experts that understand business devel-opment, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innova-tion policy work together in shaping them. Furthermore, it is believed this should be linked with the experience of actors (industry, consumer groups,
eco-2 system innovation for sustainability 2
labelling organisations) in real-life areas of consumption: mobility, agro-food, energy and electronics. These areas are responsible for 70% of the life-cycle
envi-ronmental impacts of Western societies (Hertwich 2005; Tukker et al. 2006).
This led to the following approach to the project:
l The first phase of the project (marked by a workshop co-organised with
the EEA[European Environment Agency] in Copenhagen in April 2006)
aimed to provide a positive confrontation of conceptual insights oped in the four aforementioned science communities (business devel-opment, solution design, consumer behaviour, system innovation policy) of how ‘radical’ change to SCPcan be governed and realised. The results of this phase have been published as the first book in this series, System Innovation for Sustainability 1: Perspectives on Radical Change to Sustainable Consumption and Production(Tukker et al. 2008)
l The second phase put the three consumption areas at centre stage.
SCORE!Work Package leaders inventoried cases ‘that work’ with exam-ples of successful switches to SCPin their field. In a series of conferences and workshops, these cases were analysed on ‘implementability’, adapted where needed, and policy suggestions were worked out that can support implementation. The results of this phase are published in this book and in two parallel books covering the areas of food and hous-ing/energy-using products (Tischner et al. 2009; Lahlou et al. 2010)
1.1 Approach to the analysis of sustainable
consumption and production for mobility
1.1.1 Working method
1.1.1.1 Scope
At the start of the SCORE!project the need area ‘mobility’ had to be defined. As
the main focus of SCORE!was sustainable consumption, including the potential
contribution that consumers and users can make to a more sustainable future, it was decided not to cover the full range of transport of goods and people, but to limit the scope to the transport of persons. So the focus for mobility is on:
l Passenger transport (instead of freight transport)
l With as typical transport modes cars, trains, buses, airplanes, bicycles but no cargo ships nor trucks
Based on research on available literature on mobility and transport, three clearly unsustainable issues for mobility were identified as a focus in the selec-tion of cases of the work on mobility in SCORE!
l The high and still increasing contribution to global warming
l Increasing levels of congestion
l Slowly decreasing but still high levels of car accidents with injured peo-ple or fatalities (WBCSD2004; Wells 2007)
1.1.1.2 Process
The SCORE! project was a coordinated action within the EU 6th Framework research programme. Such actions aim to exchange and disseminate good prac-tice, and to promote and support the networking and coordination of research and innovation activities. SCORE!is not a research project that tries to do funda-mental new research to solve problems with regard to sustainable consumption.
A specific goal was to build up a research community in the field of SCPto
include experts in the different science fields and consumption domains. In the
context of the SCORE!project, two conferences and three interactive workshops
were organised. As indicated, particularly in the second half of the project the focus was on domains such as mobility.
The first major SCORE!conference in November 2006 marked the switch from
a general perspective on change management for SCPto a focus on the domains
of mobility, food, housing and energy-using products. In the ‘mobility’ session examples were presented by researchers from universities and non-governmen-tal organisations (NGOs) addressing the following topics:1
l The growing intensity of tourism mobility
l The importance of the environmental impacts of transport
infrastruc-ture
l High investments in improving the speed of transport with significant
environmental consequences
l The role of information and labelling at the ‘consumption junction’ of
buying a new car
1. introduction Geerkenet al. 3
1The proceedings of this dedicated mobility session at the SCORE!launch conference are avail-able as part 3 on the SCORE!project website, www.score-network.org, accessed 17 March 2009.
4 system innovation for sustainability 2
l A scenario analysis of bus and train compared with car (sharing),
show-ing that the use of buses and trains is much cheaper but also much slower for the user
l Innovation diffusion not as a linear process but as a branching process
and the hypotheses that successful innovations show self-reinforcing effects as a result of interaction between different and complex feed-back loops
l The upcoming trend of personal ‘aeromobility’
After this conference, in June 2007, a workshop was organised dedicated to the different domains. Researchers sent in cases that showed either success or failure on the path to sustainable mobility. A case should be more than a good idea and has been defined as an implemented change that can be evaluated in terms of its success or failure. Several criteria were applied in the selection of cases for presentation. They were chosen for wide variety of approach, different mobility modes and European geographical distribution. During the workshop the selected cases were evaluated and the lessons learned reported. Selected, edited cases presented in the mobility session of this workshop have been included as Chapter 3–10 in this book.
For a follow-up workshop in November 2007 the project team prepared ‘thought-provoking statements’ about the problems and possible solutions in the mobility need area to stimulate the debate. Participants were invited to make them stronger, better or supply counterevidence or add new statements. This resulted in a final list of statements that provide a compact reflection on the prob-lems, trends, windows of opportunity and actions required for the need area ‘mobility’. These statements are presented in Boxes 11.1–11.5 in Chapter 11, on mobility, and formed the basis for suggestions for sustainability improvements in that domain.
1.1.2 Contributors and responsibilities
The SCORE!team members from VITOand RISØwere responsible for running the process within the mobility need area, organising the interaction during the workshops, performing desktop research, providing case studies, writing the need area description and concluding chapters.
The SCORE!members of the project contributed by providing and presenting case studies and by active participation during workshop discussions.
Any other participants in this networking project either from the research com-munity, policy circles, industry or NGOs were invited to provide and present cases and actively to participate. We want to thank them all for their input and intense collaboration providing collective insights in the complex field of mobility within SCP.
1.1.2.1 Book outline
In the next chapters, the following points will be discussed:
l Chapter 2 gives a generic analysis of the mobility need area, including
sustainability challenges and a general analysis of potential for change
l Chapters 3–10 describe the case studies according to a prestructured
analytical format
l Chapter 11 reflects on the findings and conclusions within the area of
mobility and provides a link to the general SCPframework
References
Hertwich, E.(2005) ‘Life-cycle Approaches to Sustainable Consumption: A Critical Review’,
Environmental Science and Technology39.13: 4,673.
Lahlou, S., M. Charter and T. Woolman (eds.) (2010) System Innovation for Sustainability 4: Case Studies in Sustainable Consumption and Production—Housing/Energy-Using Products
(Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing, forthcoming).
Tischner, U., E. Stø, U. Kjærnes and A. Tukker (eds.) (2009) System Innovation for Sustainabil-ity 3: Case Studies in Sustainable Consumption and Production—Food and Agriculture
(Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing, forthcoming).
Tukker, A., M. Charter, C. Vezzoli, E. Stø and M. Munch Andersen (eds.) (2008) System Inno-vation for Sustainability 1: Perspectives on Radical Change to Sustainable Consumption and Production (Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf Publishing).
——, G. Huppes, S. Suh, R. Heijungs, J. Guinée, A. de Koning, T. Geerken, B. Jansen, M. van Holderbeke and P. Nielsen (2006) Environmental Impacts of Products(Seville, Spain: Euro-pean Science and Technology Observatory [ESTO]/Institute for Prospective Technological Studies [IPTS]).
WBCSD(World Business Council for Sustainable Development) (2004) ‘Mobility 2030: Meeting the Challenges to Sustainability’; www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type= DocDet&ObjectId=NjA5N, accessed 17 March 2009.
Wells, P. (2007) ‘Deaths and Injuries from Car Accidents: An Intractable Problem?’, Journal of Cleaner Production15: 1,116-21.
