Factor Five – Japanese edition
Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity
Vorwort: Professor Yoshitsugu Hayashi of Nagoya University

Facteur 5
Comment transformer l’économie en rendant les ressources 5 fois plus productives
Vorwort: Brice Lalonde
Herausgeber: De Boek, Bruxelles

Ernst’s first comment was: ‘oh, many people would be more deserving than I!’

For further information, please have a look at the following publication: Global_Thought_Leader

Dinner Speech Ban Ki-moon – Copyright: DGVN 2014

At the end of January I had the honour of being invited by the United Nations Association of Germany to give a short speech at a dinner with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in Berlin.

Here you can download the script of my speech: Dinner Speech Ban Ki-Moon

The 2nd Convention will focus on “New Coalitions – To Address Limits to Growth”. Public Lectures with Keynote Speakers such as Klaus Töpfer, Hansjoachim Schellnhuber and Jørgen Randers, internal discussion rounds and the meeting with pupils, students and young researchers constitute the program of the 2nd Convention in Freiburg.

For further information visit www.european-environment-foundation.eu.

For more information, see the Club of Rome press release (PDF)

The successor to “Factor Four” (first published in 1997) has been published by Earthscan in December.

Factor Five
Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity
By Ernst von Weizsäcker, Karlson ‘Charlie’ Hargroves, Michael H. Smith, Cheryl Desha and Peter Stasinopoulos

Picking up where Factor Four left off, this new book examines the past 15 years of innovation in industry, technical innovation and policy. It shows how and where factor four gains have been made and how we can achieve greater factor five or 80%+ improvements in resource and energy productivity and how to roll them out on a global scale to retool our economic system, massively boost wealth for billions of people around the world and help solve the climate change crises.

Spanning dozens of countries including China and India and examining innumerable cases of innovation in design, technology and policy, the authors leave no engineering and economic stone unturned in their quest for excellence. The book tackles sustainable development and climate change by providing in depth Factor 5 resource productivity studies of the following sectors: Buildings, Industry, Agriculture, Food and Hospitality, and Transportation.

In its systematic approach to demonstrating how Factor 5 can be achieved, the book also provides an overview of energy/water nexus and energy/materials nexus efficiency opportunities across these sectors. Given that these sectors are responsible for virtually all energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions globally, this book is designed to guide everyone from individual households, businesses, industry sector groups to national governments in their efforts to achieve the IPCC recommended target of 80 per cent reductions to greenhouse gas emissions.

It also looks at innovation in regulation to increase resource productivity, pricing, carbon trading, eco-taxation and permits and the role of international institutions and trade. The authors also explain exciting new concepts such as bio-mimicry and whole system design, as hallmarks for a new generation of technologies. The last part of the book explores transformative ideas such as a long term trajectory of gently rising energy and resource prices, and new concepts of well-being in a more equitable world.

The book can be ordered online from Routledge here: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781844075911/

To receive a 20% discount when ordering online at routledge.com, please enter the voucher code AF20.

The German edition, titled “Faktor Fünf”, will be published by Droemer Knaur in March 2010 and can be pre-ordered online: http://www.droemer-knaur.de/buecher/Faktor+F%C3%BCnf.891358.html

A Panel Report on Biofuels, coordinated by Dr. Stefan Bringezu of the Wuppertal Institute, is under preparation and should be published this Summer.

The Working Group on international metal flows is coordinated by Professor Thomas Graedel of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

The Working Group on decoupling economic wellbeing from resource consumption and environmental impacts, which I am coordinating, may publish its report in time for the World Resources Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 16 September, 2009.

Another Working Group on “Prioritization” (meaning to identify the most urgent fields of action) has just agreed on its Term of Reference; its coordinator is Professor Edgar Hertwich from Norway.

A fifth Working Group under the guidance of the Panel’s Co-Chair, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Egypt, is likely to be established at the Panel’s next plenary meeting in Paris, first week of June, 2009. I am co-chairing the Panel with Dr. Serageldin.

My new address is: P.O. Box 1547, D-79305 Emmendingen, Germany.

Three major projects keep me busy:

• Serving as Co-Chair of the International Panel on Sustainable Resource Use, founded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP);
• Serving as Co-Chair of the Task Force on Economic Instruments for Energy Efficiency and the Environment of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED);
• Completing the new book manuscript (with Charlie Hargroves and Michael Smith, Brisbane, Australia) “Factor Five”, the sequel to “Factor Four” (co-authored with Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins, Earthscan, London, 1997). The book is planned for publication in English, German, and Chinese, in 2009.