Watt d'Or publicizes "exceptional achievements in the energy sector". However, the winners do not receive any prize money. "Tosa" is the winner in the "Energy-efficient mobility" category. The electric bus, which needs no overhead wires and can charge its batteries within seconds at selected stops (see graphic), has been in service on line 23 in Geneva since December 2017.

The Federal Office of Energy speaks of a "pioneering innovation". The prize winners are responsible for this: ABB together with Transports Publics Genevois (tpg), Office de Promotion des Industries et des Technologies (OPI), Services Industriels de Genève (SIG) and Carrosserie Hess. The winners of other categories are listed below:

- Street lamps that respond to traffic

A new type of lighting control system for street lights has also received an award. Thanks to intelligent sensor technology, these can be adapted smoothly and gently to the volume of traffic. The traffic-monitoring lighting saves up to 70 percent energy, depending on the situation. (Award winners: Electricity Works of the Canton of Zurich, Schréder Swiss SA. Category: Energy Technologies)

- Wastes that "step on the gas

Biogas from waste is a valuable energy source. Until now, the raw biogas had to be treated at great expense to separate the CO2 it contains. A new direct methanation technology makes this unnecessary and increases the yield of bio-methane by 60 percent. (Award winners: Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and Energy 360°. Category: Renewable Energies)

- Remodeling in the style of "architecture future".

A new building and conversion project at Hohlstrasse 100 in Zurich has been awarded a prize. According to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, "innovative solutions" were used here. These include prefabricated wooden elements insulated with the high-performance insulating material Aerogel. These made it possible to create a very thin exterior façade and thus maximize the usable interior surface area.

In addition, vacuum insulation glass would be used as standard glazing for the first time in Switzerland. (Award winner: Dietrich Schwarz Architekten AG. Category: Buildings and Space)

- Energy optimization as a service

The "éco21" program of Services industriels de Genève has declared war on energy wastage caused by poorly adjusted heating systems. With energy optimization contracts, building owners and property management companies can have the optimal operation of their heating systems ensured. This is a unique service in Switzerland, he said. Since 2014, the program has enabled energy savings of 20 GWh and reduced CO2 emissions by 4400 tons. (Award winners: Services industriels de Genève, éco21 and energo. Category: Special Award Energy Efficiency)

 

For more information on the Watt d'Or 2018, see this Link

 

 

How could a comparative life cycle assessment for jams turn out? Single-serving jams, as used in the catering industry, are filled in either aluminum or glass packaging. Which jam variant performs better from an ecological point of view? Is aluminum packaging really as harmful to the environment as its reputation suggests?

This question was investigated by the Life Cycle Assessment research group at the Institute for Environment and Natural Resources (IUNR) at zhaw and came to the conclusion that, in addition to the material, the distribution or transport also plays a decisive role.

One product - several variants

Hero AG, based in Lenzburg, produces over 100 different types of jams. These are filled in containers of different materials and sizes, such as large jars or single portions. Single portions are used in the catering industry, by airlines and in the retail trade and are made either of aluminum (AluCup) or glass (MiniJar).

Experts from the Life Cycle Assessment Research Group assessed the environmental impact of single-serve glass and aluminum jams using strawberry jam as an example.

Comparative life cycle assessment

The life cycle assessment is a standardized method and quantifies the environmental impact of products over their life cycle. In the case of the strawberry jam in single portions, this comprises the production and filling of the jam, the material consumption for the packaging, the distribution to the end customer, and the disposal of the packaging after consumption. The evaluation was carried out using a set of different indicators that take into account climate change, resource consumption and pollutant emissions.

What influences the life cycle assessment?

Jam in portion packs has a wide range of negative consequences for the environment - from the irrigation of the strawberries to energy consumption during jam cooking, particulate emissions from the combustion of fuels in distribution, and carbon dioxide emissions from the disposal of the packaging. The origin of the strawberries, the material and weight of the portion packaging, and the transport distance to the end consumer are the most important influencing factors.

Container size is crucial

The environmental impact of single portions is lower the smaller the portion size is, because the amount of packaging per piece is reduced. On the other hand, the environmental impact in relation to a kilogram of jam increases the smaller the content of a single portion. To improve the life cycle assessment, it is therefore essential to optimize the size of the individual portion depending on the intended use.

If the portion is too small, more than one portion is opened and the amount of packaging increases. If, on the other hand, the portion is too large, this leads to food losses.

Environmentally friendly means: lightly packaged and consumed locally

A comparison of the two packaging variants shows: jam portions in AluCups cause 3.5 times less environmental impact than jam portions in MiniJars. The production of glass MiniJars is energy-intensive. In addition, AluCups are lighter than MiniJars. Less aluminum is used per jam portion in AluCups than glass is used in MiniJars.

The low weight of AluCups results in lower greenhouse gas emissions in distribution: the lighter a transported good and the shorter the transport distance, the lower the climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions.

For more information on the life cycle assessment of jam packaging, please contact Sarah Wettstein, Scientific Assistant (krez@zhaw.ch) or Matthias Stucki, Head of the Life Cycle Assessment Research Group (stck@zhaw.ch).

http://www.zhaw.ch

 

 

Product recalls can be expensive: A defective pedal causes a car to accelerate unintentionally. Defective peanut processing causes an industry-wide sales decline of 25%. Each of these incidents triggered major product recalls resulting in billions of dollars in losses. Product-related risk is one of the biggest threats facing companies today. Recall risks have increased significantly over the past decade and the potential for larger and more complex claims continues to rise, warns industrial insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) in a new report. The evaluation of 367 global insurance claims shows that the automotive industry is most affected by product recalls, followed by the food and beverage sector.

Rising number of product recalls

The number of product recalls has steadily increased over the past decade. "We are now seeing record numbers of recalls in terms of size and cost," says Christof Bentele, Head of Global Crisis Management at AGCS. He sees multiple factors contributing to this, including stricter regulation and tougher penalties, the rise of large multinational corporations and more complex global supply chains, growing consumer awareness, the impact of economic pressures in research, development and manufacturing, and the increasing importance of social media.

The study, "Product Recall: Managing The Impact of the New Risk Landscape," analyzes a total of 367 product recall claims from 28 countries across 12 industries between 2012 and the first half of 2017. The leading cause of recalls is a defective product or defective design, followed by product contamination. The average cost of a major recall is over €10.5 million, with the cost of some recent large recalls far exceeding this amount. Over 50% of the losses are attributable to just ten recalls. The IT/electronics sector is the third most affected industry after automotive and food and beverage, according to the AGCS claims analysis.

Automotive industry with most expensive recalls due to "domino effect

"Automotive recalls account for over 70% of the total claims analyzed, which is unsurprising given recent record activity in both the U.S. and Europe. We are seeing more and more recalls with more and more vehicles affected in the automotive industry," said Carsten Krieglstein, Regional Head of Liability, Central & Eastern Europe, AGCS. "Factors such as more sophisticated technology, shortened product testing times, outsourcing of research and development, and increasing cost pressures are contributing to this. The technological shift in the automotive industry towards electric and autonomous mobility will bring further recall risks."

In one of the biggest recalls in the automotive industry to date due to defective airbags, 60 to 70 million vehicles from at least 19 manufacturers worldwide are likely to be recalled to workshops. The cost is estimated at almost 21 billion euros. This case highlights the increasing "domino effect" affecting the automotive sector, as well as other industries. Since many common components are used by many manufacturers at the same time, a single recall can have an impact on an entire industry.

Product recalls in the focus of the Swiss food and beverage industry

The food and beverage industry is the second most affected sector, accounting for 16% of the losses analyzed. The average cost of a significant product recall is nearly €8 million. Undeclared allergens (including ingredient mislabeling) and pathogens are a major problem, as is contamination from glass, plastic and metal parts. "In Switzerland, product tampering and product recalls are also a big issue with our customers in the food and beverage industry," explains Christoph Müller, who is responsible for AGCS business in Switzerland. The increased demand for insurance solutions in Switzerland comes mainly from large end customers who want to protect themselves against difficulties of their key suppliers. "Another driver in the market is the claims experience of the past, which can be directly attributed to product recalls or product tampering," says Müller.

Products from Asia, the AGCS study found, continue to trigger a disproportionate number of recalls in the U.S. and Europe, reflecting the eastward shift of global supply chains and historically weaker quality controls in some Asian countries. But increasing safety regulations and growing consumer awareness are causing recalls to increase in Asia as well.

Early crisis management as part of the corporate DNA

Forward planning and preparation can have a major impact on the size of a recall and the financial and reputational damage. As part of a holistic risk management approach, specialized product recall insurance can help companies recover faster by covering the costs of a recall, including business interruption. Such insurance policies also provide access to crisis management services and specialized consultants. These review a company's procedures and assist with regulatory liaison, communications, product tracing, and laboratory testing of contaminated goods, including genome sequencing and DNA testing, in the event of product contamination worldwide.

"Much more attention is now being paid to how companies handle defective or contaminated products, how quickly they respond and how reliable they are when it comes to product safety. More than ever, consumers are also speaking up and making their consumption decisions based on how companies handle crises. A company that sees crisis management as part of its DNA is far less vulnerable to a major scandal," says Bentele.

More information

The Smart City Index was created by the Swedish company EasyPark, which primarily makes money in the smart parking business. They have compiled a short list of 100 cities, allegedly evaluating "outputs" from around 20,000 journalists.

The world's cities should become more livable, i.e. smarter. At least, that is the promise of all those who want to design smart cities. Zurich and Geneva are already among the most livable cities in the world, as city rankings repeatedly underline. How do the two fare in the current "Smart City Index 2017"? Well ahead in the global rankings: Zurich in fourth place and Geneva in ninth. However, all things considered, they also show weaknesses. The situation is really bad when it comes to direct democracy and citizen participation in collective projects:

Geneva is ranked 88th, just ahead of Moscow but far behind the cocaine capital of the world, Medellin. The same applies to Zurich (86th). They are also far behind in the traffic context (Geneva 44th, Zurich 56th). In the area of 4G LTE, Geneva is at least ranked 19th, but Zurich only 63rd. In terms of Internet speed, Geneva is also far ahead of Zurich with a ranking of 14th (66). In two other aspects of digitization, Zurich and Geneva are found in the lower midfield.

In terms of traffic, wifi use or 5G, the cities of Zurich and Geneva are in the lower positions, according to the authors of the Smart City Index. However, the latter is somehow relative from a smartness perspective. Not all areas of life have to be analyzed.

www.easyparkgroup.com

 

 

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) was commissioned to conduct an initial glyphosate study in 2016 following a postulate from the National Council. The results are to be published "in a few weeks" in the form of a report, as the office announced in early November.

However, the first conclusions of the food monitoring are already available on the FSVO website. This weekend, the "SonntagsBlick" drew attention to this. More than 230 food samples were tested for residues of the pesticide glyphosate, which is also used in Switzerland. Honey, wine, bread, potatoes and vegetables were examined.

Pasta and cereal flakes

The initial results showed that about 40 percent of foods contain measurable traces of glyphosate, the FSVO writes on its website. The highest concentrations were found in pasta, breakfast cereals and legumes, it said. However, the measured amounts of glyphosate were all below the legal limits.

Monitoring is not yet complete, but this initial assessment confirms that glyphosate residues in food do not pose a health risk, they add. To illustrate the harmlessness of consuming foods with traces of glyphosate, the authors use the example of pasta. This is the most highly contaminated food category. An adult person would have to consume 71 kilograms of the most contaminated sample per day to absorb the maximum acceptable daily dose of 30 milligrams, writes the FSVO. However, Swiss people consume an average of 10 kilograms of pasta per year, significantly less than should be consumed in a single day.

Carcinogenic according to WHO

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide worldwide. In Switzerland, an estimated 300 tons are used per year. In 2015, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO) classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic" to humans. The EU food authorities EFSA and the EU chemicals agency ECHA, on the other hand, concluded that the available scientific evidence was insufficient for such a classification. Currently, the approval of glyphosate in the EU is under review. So far, there is no majority in favor of extending the authorization by

Federal agency wants to increase limit value

The Federal Office for the Environment wants to increase the limit value for glyphosate in streams, rivers and lakes by a factor of 3600. Currently, the limit is 0.1 micrograms per liter of water; in about five years, it may be 360. If that happens, Swiss farmers will be spraying many times more glyphosate into the landscape than they do today.

The Federal Council is against a ban on glyphosate in Switzerland. A glyphosate ban would be problematic for various reasons, the government wrote in its response to a motion by the Green parliamentary group published on Thursday. For many applications, the only alternative currently available is mechanical or thermal destruction, it said. These control methods require more energy and labor, according to sda.

Meanwhile, the popular initiative "For clean drinking water and healthy food" tries to stop these goals. In mid-October 2017, 10,000 signatures have been collected, which means that the initiative is successful for the time being.

www.blv.admin.ch

 

 

 

 

 

Experts also expect an upswing for mobile technologies in the energy supply sector. The energy sectors are driven by growth markets in China and India. According to reports, their power transmission networks will grow to an extent of 6.8 million kilometers (by 2020).

Regulators are therefore increasingly concerned about grid security and are introducing penalties and incentives to reduce downtime. Each year, the energy industry already loses $169 billion due to grid outages and forced shutdowns.

Increasing energy demand

"On the cusp of a digital revolution, the energy supply industry is facing numerous new challenges. Increasing market pressure and growing energy demands are forcing companies around the world to look for new ways to remain profitable. Drones are taking on an increasingly important role in ensuring the generation, transmission and distribution of energy," says Michael Sponring, Territory Leader Power & Utilities at PwC Austria.

Tree pruning drones and co

For most utilities, according to the PwC experts, it is primarily the control of plant growth and tree pruning in the vicinity of power lines that represent the largest single expense in maintenance costs. Tree pruning drones can help increase efficiency here, while also providing data that can be used to anticipate and prevent damage from falling trees.

"The use of drone technology to obtain various data on power plants, substations or high-voltage lines is increasingly contributing to the transformation of the entire energy supply industry. Not only can drones collect standardized data in a more efficient way, but unlike manned aircraft, they do so without endangering human life," Sponring concludes.

More details on the report "Clarity from above - Leveraging drone technologies to secure utilities systems". here

 

A catalytic converter could do the trick, because the current internal combustion engines are repeatedly criticized. At first, it was sooty diesels, which could then be "helped" with particulate filters. Then, again in the case of diesel, harmful nitrogen oxides came into focus, which were (supposedly) brought under control with complicated exhaust aftertreatment systems - or not, as the diesel scandal showed. What is often overlooked in the diesel debate: Gasoline engines also contribute to particulate pollution in cities. Especially where many engines are started cold. Around 90 percent of all pollutants are produced in the first minute after a modern gasoline engine is cold-started.

Solution for the cold start problem

In other words, the first 500 meters of driving pollute the air just as much as the next 5,000 kilometers if you were to drive that far non-stop. To further improve air quality, therefore, automotive catalytic converters are needed that warm up as quickly as possible - or, even better, efficiently clean the exhaust gas as soon as the first engine revolution after starting. Potis Dimopoulos Eggenschwiler, a specialist in exhaust gas aftertreatment at Empa's engine laboratory, has been researching a solution to the cold-start problem, which severely pollutes the air, especially in cities and when outside temperatures are cold, for just under two years with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

And the high cold-start emissions affect not only millions of gasoline engines, but also hybrid models. In these phases, the combustion engine and, above all, the catalytic converter cool down again, in some cases below the optimum operating temperature. If the control technology then switches back to the gasoline engine, exhaust gases containing pollutants flow through the (cooled) catalytic converter again, almost like after a cold start.

To ensure that the catalytic converter can be heated to 300 degrees Celsius by the car's power supply with as little energy as possible, even before the engine starts, it has to be small and conduct heat as well as possible. Dimopoulos Eggenschwiler and his team have developed an open-pored structure with a special coating that can be heated up by a small microwave transmitter within ten seconds - similar to a microwave oven at home. Back in 2012, the Empa researcher developed a particularly efficient catalytic converter - a ceramic casting of a polyurethane foam that swirls the exhaust gases better and generates less backpressure than a catalytic converter with a conventional, honeycomb structure.

Ceramics from the 3D printer

The "foam cat" now gave rise to the next idea: a geometric lattice structure made of thin ceramic struts that manages with a smaller precious metal coating but still efficiently cleans the exhaust gas swirling inside it. "First, we looked for an optimal structure on the computer," says Dimopoulos Eggenschwiler. "A structure that heats up quickly, accelerates chemical reactions and at the same time obstructs the flow as little as possible."

Then the task was to reproduce the structure in ceramics. Specialists at the "Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana" (SUPSI) in Lugano produced the lattice designed on the computer using stereolithography, a kind of 3D printing from liquids and UV light. The Empa researchers then coated the ceramic with silicon carbide, zirconium oxide and aluminum oxide - and the active catalyst substances platinum, rhodium and palladium. EngiCer SA, a company based in Ticino, is taking over production of the first small batches and is in a position to expand its capacity if there is greater demand. The Swiss catalyst manufacturer HUG Engineering AG is also involved.

The geometric ceramic structure of the test catalyst designed on the computer. Specialists at Empa coated it with the active layer and tested the cleaning effect in an artificial exhaust gas stream.

What is probably the world's first exhaust gas catalyst from the 3D printer fulfilled all expectations in the practical test: In the artificially generated exhaust gas stream of Empa's model gas reactor, the new polyhedron geometry cleaned the pollutants even better than the foam catalytic converter from 2012. After initial laboratory tests with small model catalytic converters were successful, a follow-up project is now in preparation: A full-size 3D catalytic converter will be installed in a prototype vehicle and then tested on the test bench and on the road.

The next step is to integrate microwave heating. "It is important that we do not heat the entire ceramic structure," explains Dimopoulos Eggenschwiler. "We want to concentrate the microwaves generated with valuable battery power only on the first part of the catalyst. If the first chemical reactions run, the rest of the catalyst heats up very quickly." One to two kilowatts of power for ten to 20 seconds could easily be diverted from the car battery, says the exhaust specialist. "That should be enough." Once the engine is running, the exhaust gas and chemical reactions in the catalytic converter itself provide enough heat to keep it warm. Then the microwave can be turned off. Cold-start emissions could thus soon be history.

http://www.empa.ch

What does sustainability management look like these days? The food and beverage industry in particular knows that sustainability is indispensable: More and more customers are now turning to environmentally or socially responsible products. For cost reasons, among others, the manufacture of these products should consume as little energy or water as possible. In addition, various stakeholders expect such products to generate as little waste as possible during their life cycle. In addition, there are official regulations that require, for example, that neither the soil nor waterways or the atmosphere are polluted:

As before, many governments across the planet are working to ensure that the targets set at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris are met, for example to counteract global warming caused by greenhouse gases. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that many "global players" in the food and beverage industry have set themselves high sustainability targets. Diageo, for example, aims to recycle 100 percent of its wastewater in a safe manner. Unilever has set itself the goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of its products by 50 percent in relation to their full life cycle. And Nestlé wants to stop sending production waste to landfill. All this is to be implemented by 2020.

The environmental commitment of these and other industry giants is definitely admirable; moreover, their goals are absolutely significant - but unfortunately, these goals are not quite so easy to achieve. After all, in the day-to-day production process, "sustainability performance" depends quite decisively on many details in the processes and not least on the optimal maintenance measures.

Details critical

In production practice, countless corporate decisions have an impact on the "summed up" sustainability of the company. The relevant spectrum ranges from the procurement of operating resources to the choice of manufacturing technologies and the design of logistics. Based on this insight, numerous food and beverage manufacturers have already implemented comprehensive changes. For example, they have encouraged their suppliers to use more efficient farming methods; they themselves have used more efficient machinery in their manufacturing facilities or obtained the electricity for it from renewable sources.

Strategy needs tactics

Of course, all of this leads in the right direction. And yet, strategic measures such as these are often only effective to a limited extent. For a better understanding, a typical "tactical" example from practice: In the area of "energy efficiency", it is often decided to replace the electric motors used to drive pumps, mixers and other equipment with more efficient units. An 18.5 kW electric motor in efficiency class IE1 may have a rated efficiency of 89.3 percent, while the same motor in IE3 design may have an efficiency of 92.6 percent.

Such an efficiency gain of 3.3 % is definitely valuable in itself. But if the pump driven by this motor is inadequately maintained, or if shaft misalignments lead to increased friction in the corresponding machine, the resulting energy losses can be greater than the gains achieved by such motor specification improvements.

Shaft alignment versus CO2

At a food and beverage plant, twelve pumps were suffering from high vibration and severe wear. The cause of the problem was identified by the operations team, working with SKF, as poor shaft alignment. Precision alignment here not only led to improvements in noise, vibration and reliability, but also reduced the energy consumption of one pump by a whopping 20 %. On average, a 16 percent reduction was achieved for the dozen pumps.

This measure has enabled the company to reduce its electricity consumption by over 9,000 kWh per year and pump, which - across all twelve pumps - equates to around 28 t of avoided CO2 emissions per year. Since some food or beverage factories use several hundred such pumps, improvements such as this can be multiplied very quickly.

Environmentally friendly lubrication

Increasing plant availability plays an equally consequential role. In the event of an unplanned shutdown, most plants keep the other machines in the plant running during the repair work. The result is increased energy consumption per unit produced.

Many unplanned downtimes can be counteracted very effectively by professional lubrication, among other things. Often, lubrication management is even considered a decisive factor for the performance of a machine. Since good lubrication practice is therefore essential for plant reliability, the issue - in the context of sustainability - is not simply whether to relubricate, but rather how to achieve an optimum result with minimal environmental impact.

Dry cleaning of warehouses, for example, can result in work materials such as gloves, cleaning or other paper towels being contaminated with grease and subsequently sent for incineration. This, however, contradicts the approach of the "Zero Landfill" initiative, which advocates a shift from a "disposal philosophy" to prevention-oriented practices.

Wet cleaning with high pressure, on the other hand, washes excess grease out of the bearings and can thus possibly end up in the wastewater. In addition, lubricants spreading in the production environment can endanger not only operator safety, but also food safety.

Diverse possibilities

Ergo, the food and beverage industry is well advised to optimize its lubrication processes with a view to operator and food safety, along with cost reduction and environmental protection. It may sound surprising, but when it comes to big challenges of this kind, it's actually a good idea to start small: Highly efficient seals can limit the ingress of water into bearings, thereby helping to avoid unexpected failures and also extending replacement intervals.

One step further is the use of automated lubrication systems, which allow the amount of lubricant to be precisely controlled. This in turn reduces consumption, minimizes the risk of contamination and reduces the amount of manual work required.

Bearings lubricated for life are emerging as the most effective and efficient solution, helping manufacturers stop the necessary but problematic cycle of high-pressure cleaning and relubrication. Such bearings already exist - and SKF is constantly working to optimize them. After all, technologies like these often represent multiple added values for food and beverage companies because they reduce operating costs while helping to achieve ambitious sustainability and food safety goals.

The search for the right recipe

In day-to-day operations, the greatest challenge to exploiting these added values is often enough to discover them in the first place. This is because even large and well-equipped "sustainability departments" often do not have sufficiently detailed technical production plant know-how to anticipate the enormous "eco-impacts" of comparatively small optimization measures. And the employees who would be most likely to do so - such as operations or maintenance experts - usually have other priorities.

So a cultural shift is needed here: only when responsibility for sustainability permeates the entire organization - by giving the goals for efficiency gains and waste reduction the same priority as those for quality, productivity and safety - will food and beverage companies find the "recipe" for an outstanding long-term solution.

Eva Otel is Marketing and Sustainability Manager at SKF in Sweden. SKF is a leading global supplier of rolling bearings, seals, lubrication systems and mechatronic components with comprehensive services in the areas of technical support, maintenance and repair, as well as engineering consulting and training.

www.skf.com

 

 

 

Switzerland is the first third country to endorse EU emissions trading schemes, said President of the Swiss Confederation and Energy Minister Doris Leuthard (CVP) in Bern. This is an important step forward for international climate policy. Brussels also sees it that way. For the EU, it is the first agreement of this kind and between two parties that stand behind the Paris climate agreement, the EU Commission said. For the EU, it is a long-term goal to link emissions trading systems in order to reduce emissions and lower the costs in the fight against climate change.

Switzerland and EU want to be a role model

Switzerland and the EU had started talks on linking the trading systems in 2010 and agreed on the criteria last year. Now they are preparing to link the systems. Originally, an agreement was scheduled for January 2016, but the adoption of the mass immigration initiative delayed this.

"This is a very important step to intensify cooperation between the EU and Switzerland on climate policy," EU Climate and Energy Commissioner Arias Canete was quoted as saying. At a time when there are important developments in CO2 pricing in other parts of the world, the EU continues to show its leading role," he said.

Climate Alliance thinks nothing of the agreement

The agreement on emissions trading was criticized by the Climate Alliance. "The EU emissions trading system does not bring about a reduction in CO2," said Christian Lüthi, Executive Director of Klima-Allianz. This is because the price for emission rights is too low, at less than ten euros per ton of CO2, and it is unlikely that this will change by 2030, he said. Patrick Hofstetter, Head of Climate & Energy at WWF, criticized:

"If no CO2 price signal reaches the companies concerned, they risk making investments that will prove uneconomical as soon as effective instruments have to be introduced." Greenpeace Switzerland was even more critical: "The EU emissions trading system has degenerated into an ineffective playground for traders and industry lobbyists," said Georg Klingler, Greenpeace climate expert. With the currently planned linking, Switzerland is creating ineffective bureaucracy and losing influence.

Electricity agreement still a long time coming

Juncker and Leuthard summed up in Bern that progress had been made on the dossiers. The FDFA said that institutional issues were among the dossiers that had made progress. A framework agreement, however, was still a long time coming, as there were still open points to be clarified. Against this background, there was nothing new in the matter of the electricity agreement.

The framework agreement, which Junker wanted to call "more of a friendship treaty," should be in place by spring, he said. Things would move, and in the right direction. Juncker meets Switzerland's planned regulation on the free movement of persons "with sympathy." Thus, the FDFA also notes that a positive momentum has been set in motion this year, which has led to the resumption of various pending dossiers. (Source: DETEC)

The World Climate Conference in Bonn is in itself a major event, gathering around 25,000 people from different countries and cultures under its roof. In addition to urgent environmental policy issues on the environmental protection agenda, the conference participants and employees themselves were also called upon to use resources in a targeted manner.

As the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB for short) announced at the opening of COP 23, the 23rd World Climate Conference, not only the highest federal authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany, but all conference participants will receive predominantly vegetarian catering with a high organic and regional content.

In general, all areas such as mobility, energy and water consumption, recycling, paper consumption, waste generation, as well as accommodation in tent structures will be coordinated. The CO2 emissions that cannot be avoided - for example due to the travel of delegates to and from the event - are to be offset afterwards.

The challenges of all COP contractors and suppliers in detail:

Sustainable procurement

Wherever possible, recycled material or recyclable or reusable material is used. This goal extends to the temporary structures as well as to conference materials from name badges to drinking bottles. The more than 95 suppliers and service providers have been asked to agree to a sustainability code for COP 23 based on a UN code already in use.

In addition, there are sustainability guidelines for exhibitors, pavilion organizers and pavilion stand builders that were developed especially for the COP. Environmental friendliness was also taken into account when equipping the 650 volunteers.

Avoiding waste as far as possible

Nearly 50 free drinking water fountains are available throughout the site. Each conference attendee gets his or her own drinking bottle. This alone saves over half a million plastic cups. The conference also relies largely on electronic documents, thus avoiding the need to print conference documents. The conference also aims to reduce waste when it comes to catering. This includes the use of reusable tableware.

Carpeting and tiles from the tents in the Bonn Zone are reprocessed for the manufacture of clothing, shoes, car floor mats or even felt products, unless reuse is possible.

Climate-friendly catering

The catering for the World Climate Conference is predominantly vegetarian. At least 50 percent of the food on offer is certified organic. Meat and fish are exclusively certified organic. At least 20 percent of the food will be locally sourced. Certain catering products will also be 100 percent fair trade, for example coffee, tea and chocolate.

Climate-friendly mobility

Free electric shuttles will be available to conference participants between the two conference venues in the Bonn and Bula zones. The use of public transport in the Bonn area is free of charge for all delegates and accredited observer organizations as well as journalists during COP 23. The bus fleet includes around 15 alternatively powered buses.

A shuttle in the Rheinaue with smaller electric and fuel cell buses is available to participants between the Bonn and Bula zones. In addition, 600 free-use bicycles can be used for commuting between the zones, traveling to the hotel or even into the city.

Energy supply and energy efficiency

All indoor spaces are to be kept at an average temperature of 21 degrees Celsius and no warmer. Participants and volunteers will be involved and asked to behave in an energy-saving manner. This includes room lighting and the use of information and communication technology - ICT devices, which are to be switched off when not in use.

In addition to maximizing energy efficiency, the COP organizers ensure that the energy used in buildings comes from renewable sources wherever possible. Electricity for the Stadtwerke Bonn electric shuttles is generated using 100 percent renewable energy. For the conference supply, the target is at least 80 percent renewable energy.

Compensation

Unavoidable greenhouse gases, which are mainly produced by travel to and from the event, are offset using high-quality CO2 emission reduction certificates from international climate protection projects. The Federal Environment Agency will be issuing a call for proposals for this purpose today. It is looking for ambitious projects that not only reduce emissions but also have a high sustainability effect in the project country.

As a sign of the partnership with Fiji for the COP, there will be a regional focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) for the purchase of certificates. The German government will then purchase certificates from these projects to the extent that the Bonn conference has generated climate gases.

EMAS certification

The individual environmental aspects of the World Climate Conference are audited by an independent verifier during COP 23. The EMAS certificate was handed over to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the UNFCCC at the end of the conference on November 17, 2017, after the on-site assessment was successfully completed. However, this is followed by an analysis of all the environmental data collected, which will enable a defined target comparison.

Tendering of emission reduction certificates: The tender for the purchase of emission reduction certificates is published on the UBA website with the project number 96539 (formally, this means that the documents have been published for the EU-wide process since November 6, 2017).

http://www.umweltbundesamt.de

Promoting relevant and credible sustainability reporting: This is the goal of the project "Focused Reporting - an opportunity for Swiss companies" initiated by engageability and öbu, which entered its third round in 2017 in partnership with RepRisk and the Business School Lausanne. The analysis of around 100 Swiss corporate reports reveals current trends and practices.

Sustainability management and reporting go hand in hand

The analysts from engageability and the Business School Lausanne examined both the completeness of the reports and the credibility and relevance of the topics reported on. Around a third of the companies already address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the report. The majority of the reports analyzed achieve a medium score in the overall evaluation, while ten companies clearly lag behind and three companies score very well.

Menu and More AG is one of the leaders. The children and youth catering provider has worked intensively on the further development of its sustainability management over the last three years since its participation in the first round of the project, which is clearly reflected in the report. In addition to the SME, Geberit International AG is also one of the three best-ranked companies. The supplier of sanitary products has been publishing not only financial, but also ecological and social key figures for years.

Finally, Nestlé is one of the leading Swiss companies in terms of sustainability reporting, and one that regularly makes the headlines when it comes to sustainability of all things. However, Nestlé can't be accused of anything when it comes to reporting: The multinational company, headquartered in Vevey, sets impact-oriented and time-bound sustainability goals, which it transparently reports on whether they have been achieved or not in its annual report.

Consolidation of annual and sustainability report in trend

"We are particularly pleased that an SME is among the leaders this year," says Seta Thakur, Managing Director of öbu. Reporting on sustainability issues by SMEs is still the exception, she says, because companies fail to recognize the benefits in relation to the effort involved. Of the 100 or so reports analyzed, just nine came from SMEs. "However, reporting is not only an external means of communication, but also an internal management tool," emphasizes Barbara Dubach, Managing Director of engageability.

"The process of preparing a sustainability report should serve the strategic development and consolidation of business and sustainability strategy." This is also reflected in the current trend: More and more companies no longer publish their sustainability report separately, but integrate it into the annual report.

"Focused Reporting - an opportunity for Swiss companies".

The Focused Reporting project aims to promote relevant, credible and complete sustainability reporting. As part of this, engageability - the Competence Center for Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement - and öbu, the Association for Sustainable Business, annually analyze sustainability and annual reports of Swiss companies.

With around 100 reports evaluated, this year's analysis is the largest evaluation of its kind ever conducted in Switzerland. For the three-stage evaluation, external tools from the official project partners, such as the "Reporting Matters" methodology of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development WBCSD, RepRisk's global database on environmental, social and governance risks, and the Gap Frame developed by the Business School Lausanne BSL, were consulted to check the relevance and materiality of the topics covered in the reports. The project is supported by the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN in 2017.

More about the Focused Reporting project can be found on the sites of www.engageability.ch or www.oebu.ch

Migros and Empa are jointly committed to climate-friendly transport. Electricity from photovoltaic systems or hydroelectric power plants serves as the energy source. On the one hand, this can be used to charge batteries in electric vehicles; on the other hand, the electricity can also be converted into hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles or into synthetic methane for natural gas/biogas vehicles. "move" can help companies achieve the 2-degree targets defined at the Paris Climate Conference (limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius).

The aim of the innovation partnership between Empa, the interdisciplinary research institute for materials science and technology of the ETH Domain, and Migros is, on the one hand, to support Migros in the further conversion to low-CO2 trucks and, on the other hand, to use Migros' know-how to develop the "move" of Empa to be further developed.

The "move" platform

In the coming years, the "move" demonstration and technology transfer platform will enable Empa researchers to develop a comprehensive range of new vehicle drive concepts with lower CO2 emissions, test them in practice and develop effective strategies via a fleet simulation system.

The collaboration, which will begin in early 2018, is based on an exchange between research and practice. "Only by jointly demonstrating and implementing new concepts for the mobility of the future can Switzerland's climate targets be achieved. For this, collaboration between research and industry is essential. We are therefore very much looking forward to this promising collaboration with Migros," says Brigitte Buchmann, member of the Empa directorate and head of the "Mobility, Energy and Environment" department.

Migros is aware of its responsibility as a major traffic generator. It has been able to shift a large proportion of goods transport to rail, and is the largest user of rail transport in Switzerland. It is also investing in future logistics solutions such as Cargo Sous Terrain.

More information on the topic: https://report.migros.ch/2016/lagebericht-2016/umwelt/transport-mobilitaet/