Intro
The environment has been high on agenda of both European as well as global politics. The parallel session aimed to discuss how we, in the BSR, can facilitate an agenda that combines a healthy environment, growth and technological progress.
Main Messages
• Incentives are needed to stimulate the design and marketing of innovative and more eco-efficient technologies. - Lars-Erik Liljelund
• Cross-border cooperation is crucial for an innovative environment and for achieving radical innovation of new technology that can solve some of the environmental problems. - Hans-Martin Friis Møller
• The new Lisbon agenda and HELCOM’s action agenda for the BSR should be two important starting points for local and regional actions. We have to invest much more in environmental protection! - Arne Øren
• There is good business potential in the field of environment protection. – several speakers
• There is a need to make an assessment of the social and economic value of a healthy environment and what the costs of negligence are. - Anne Christine Brusendorff
Themes
State of the Environment and challenges
Moderator, Secretary General of HELCOM, Anne Christine Brusendorff, stated that a healthy environment including a healthy Baltic Sea is a goal in itself. Not only is it important for its citizens, but it is a perquisite for a sustainable long-term economic development, she underlined. She stimulated the panel and the audience with provoking questions on very pressing issues: Do we have a common vision and are we able to quantify what we would like to achieve? How can we acknowledge and value the benefits of a healthy environment especially when it comes to non-marketed services such as the sea as a climate regulator or provider of oxygen? How can we put market value to it? How can we promote and ensure that government, business and academia jointly develop more specific strategies, for example through creating partnerships? And most importantly, how can we reward pro-activity within this field?
Chairman of European Environmental Agency, Lars-Erik Liljelund, has given an overview of the state of environment in the BSR. The European Environmental Outlook report from last year clearly indicated that the nations in the BSR are doing fairly well in Europe from an environmental point of view. However, the future of the Baltic Sea itself does not look promising, he said. There are many pressures on the sea from agriculture, fishing as well as pollution. He underlined that these problems threaten the foundation of the economic and social success of the Baltic Sea Area.
Director of Business Development at Krüger A/S, Poul Erik Sørensen, talked about the wastewater industry and the important role environmental standards play. Most of the plants around the Baltic Sea are now living up to the HELCOM requirements. However, the portable water quality is still not good in Russia and the Baltic States. Sørensen pointed out that it is becoming very cheap to make fresh water out of salt water, which is changing the world. It is also becoming possible to clean and reuse wastewater for agricultural purposes. It is the improvement in traditional water technology for fresh water supply that has made all this possible.
Chairman of Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation, Arne Øren, had deep concerns about the coming generation. The so-called ‘factor-10 society’ will have to meet serious global challenges on a regional scale. The global population is growing; the global economy will increase and at the same time the pressure on the environment must be decreased significantly. We have to invest ten times more per economic unit if we are to have environmental and resource effectiveness in 2050, he underlined. It is a question of quality of life for the coming generation, he pointed out.
How to approach the environmental challenges?
Minister of Justice, Employment and European Affairs of Land Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, Uwe Döring, pointed out that environmental standards and advanced technology cannot be discussed without talking about the European Maritime Policy. This policy seems to be the right instrument to use for reaching the goals of the Lisbon strategy, building on environmental conservation and sustainable development, he stated. Döring referred to the conference of the Baltic Sea Area on the European Green Paper on maritime policy, held in Kiev, where an important declaration was adapted. The first part is a 10-point road map suggesting to the EU how to shape the future of a European maritime policy. The second part is a letter of intent on how to develop the BSR into Europe’s maritime best practice region by 2015. It aims at making the Baltic Sea the cleanest and safest sea in Europe by 2015 and developing the BSR into a pilot area for sustainable coexistence of competitive economy and effective eco-system conservation. He underlined that “we must do more to protect the Baltic Sea”. He welcomed the Marine Strategy Directive from the EU as well as HELCOM’s initiative on a Baltic Sea action plan. Øren agreed and pointed out that as a consequence of regulations that set standards and demands to the private and public sector, innovation will occur technically and culturally, as well as a change in attitude. He underlined that the new Lisbon agenda and HELCOM’s action agenda should be two important starting points for local and regional actions. According to Øren, cooperation, partnerships and Triple Helix working together is the only solution to overcome environmental challenges in the BSR. Döring also pointed out that it is possible to combine advanced technology and protection of the marine environment.
Business Unit Director, Environment, Water and Energy, Carl Bro Group, Hans-Martin Friis Møller, talked about some main threats for growth and prosperity in the BSR Including climate change and energy supply and prices. “We have to establish an environment where we generate winners”, he said. Cross-border cooperation is crucial to an innovative environment and producing radical innovations of new technology that can solve some of the environmental problems. Carl Bro is ready to share its knowledge in partnerships and Friis Møller urged others to do the same in order to create an environment where innovation can occur.
Liljelund stressed that “what we need is joint efforts and common decisions”. He also underlined that a good and healthy environment is important for the quality of life; there is no empirical evidence that high environmental standards, regulations and other instruments to achieve this are in conflict with economic development and growth. The trick is decoupling, he stressed, meaning further growth, but less pressure on the environment. According to Liljelund, market-based instruments many times seem more efficient than others. There is clear evidence that environmental technology is seen as more risky and incentives therefore are needed to stimulate the design and marketing of innovative and more eco-efficient technologies. Liljelund emphasised that most of the barriers to implementation of market-based instruments can be overcome by progressive removal of subsidies and regulations that contribute to environmental damage, recycling, better design of instruments etc. How to approach the environmental challenges in the BSR? First of all, sector integration and responsibility are important principles. However, according to Liljelund, to solve the environmental problems in the BSR, we must have a cross-sector, cross-disciplinary, cross-boundary, integrated approach. To conclude, he underlined that the institutions that can handle this are already in place in the BSR!
During the discussions, many speakers pointed out that there is good business potential in the field of environment protection. Someone in the audience suggested that if we want to change attitudes toward the environment and create an awareness of it, we need to start educating our children from an early age. Moderator Brusendorff summed up the session by stressing that the environment should come on the top agenda of politicians. In order to convince politicians to take action, there is a need to make an assessment of the social and economic value of a healthy environment and what the costs of negligence are. She also added that interdisciplinary research is needed in the environmental field and that for innovation to happen, structures and regulations need to be in place.
