Toronto Sustainability Speaker Series
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True cost: are you ready to pay the real price for products with the life cycle costs embedded in the price? And does this one really measure up?
Lynn Johannson
Adjunct Lecturer at University of Waterloo, ENBUS at SEED
http://www.fairphone.com/2013/08/01/whats-in-a-life-cycle-assessment/
Fairphone - What’s in a Life-Cycle Assessment? fairphone.com
You can change the way products are made, starting with a single phone. Join us at...
Like (3) Comment (8) Unfollow Reply Privately7 days ago
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Manuel Garces Martin, Lawrence T. Barnard and 1 other like this
8 comments
Coro Strandberg
Coro
Coro Strandberg
Principal at Strandberg Consulting
LCA to Go for SMEs. Love the idea. Someone should do this in Canada. How about you, Lynn?
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Lynn Johannson
Lynn
Lynn Johannson
Adjunct Lecturer at University of Waterloo, ENBUS at SEED
It's on my to do list Coro
Cheers
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Tristam Sculthorpe
Tristam
Tristam Sculthorpe
CEO at Enersphere Inc.
Food and fuel are heavily subsidized and cloud the true cost. Both industries should be off the government dole and we should pay the true cost.
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Lise Laurin
Lise
Lise Laurin
Founder, EarthShift--consulting with industry toward a sustainably profitable future.
See EarthSmart (http://www.earthshift.com/EarthSmart) for a North American tool like LCA to Go. We'd love to talk with you about it!
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Lynn Johannson
Lynn
Lynn Johannson
Adjunct Lecturer at University of Waterloo, ENBUS at SEED
Lise, please note, my interest extends beyond my connection with an academic institution, I have a business interest. Our focus is global, not just NA, although for now the materials we will be releasing will be in English first. The SME market globally that we are building a network of trusted entities for support is between 33 and 44 million globally - we anticipate serving a portion of that market. Our network will be extensive. What is critical for this sector is ease of use, from their perspective, and there is a specific flow to their decision making, which is fast and includes the bottom line.
Have you analyzed what segement of the SME market you are trying to address? Given the above conversation, happy to review your software to see if it fits in with what we're am doing for SMEs. Send me an email and we can set up a time when you can walk me through what you have.
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Peter Burgess
Peter Burgess
Founder/CEO at TrueValueMetrics ... formerly international business and development consultant and corporate CFO
This is a thought provoking subject, and very important. I have a passion for metrics having been a corporate CFO where money profit metrics are deep and powerful. My broader interest in society and the global economy is not being helped in any meaningful way by any metrics that matter. This needs to change.
My effort in this direction is around something I call Multi Dimension Impact Accounting (MDIA). It is not enough just to measure business profit, stock prices and GDP growth, something is needed to measure impact on people and planet.
I like what FairPhone is doing ... but there are huge competitors which are doing nothing. Some companies are making an effort, but most companies are still singularly focused on profit and stock price growth.
We absolutely should be looking at the cost of externalities, but we should also be paying attention to the value that is being derived from economic activities that are not sustainable in the long run. The industrial revolution that is enabling our (rich country) standard of living is based on the consumption of huge amounts of energy. In North America more than 16 tons of carbon per person are generated to support a GDP of around $40,000 per capita ... say, 1 ton per $4,000 of GDP. This is huge compared to the cost of carbon being talked about in the Cap and Trade space where the cost number is $10 a ton. There is something completely 'out of whack' with the cost of carbon number.
Much of this analysis has been done decades ago, but it has never achieved any traction. It has never moved from academia into general use. I want to know why, and try to make sure that this time round, there is some meaningful radical reform of the metrics being used.
Peter Burgess - TrueValueMetrics
Multi Dimension Impact Accounting
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Tristam Sculthorpe
Tristam
Tristam Sculthorpe
CEO at Enersphere Inc.
Unless we change our ways we are headed full bore into oblivion - an ecopalypse followed by a human apocalypse. When we finally manage to suck and dig every bit of fossil fuel out of the planet and burn it up, it will be a different planet. Paradise will be lost and we will be facing a hostile environment. Billions will die. BUT, it's not too late to change. That change has to be both drastic and immediate. Are we up for it?
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Tristam Sculthorpe
Tristam
Tristam Sculthorpe
CEO at Enersphere Inc.
Is there an echo in here!!! Check it out... http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=182908
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Peter Burgess commented on True cost: are you ready to pay the real price for products with the life cycle costs embedded in the price? And does this one really...
@Tristam You ask that change has to be both drastic and immediate, and if we are up for it. At the moment there is more talk about the subject than in the past, but I see nothing that will get change to happen. Worse, I see argument about which method for going forward is the right way ... but no data, no metrics, that will help to get people to do the best thing rather than some personal preference.
Good metrics are agnostic with respect to what is being done and how it is being done. In respect of a sustainable society, good metrics will relate results to resources used.
This is the methodology used inside the corporate organization to maximize profit performance. There is clarity about what the corporation is trying to achieve (improve profit and stock prices) and at the same time there is a level of disaggregation of data that enables everyone to pull in the right direction. When we do this for global society and the economy then there can be rapid and good results.
Peter Burgess - TrueValueMetrics
Multi Dimension Impact Accounting less…
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