Nine months later - it's finally out!

When I started working with BRANZ in September 2006 I got thrown right into project managing an assessment of the need to to adapt buildings in New Zealand to climate change. Granted, I had no idea that buildings needed adapting to climate change, even less so how one would assess it. And New Zealand,,, well I could find it on a map and I knew they are fiercely good at rugby. Of course I had seen all three Lord of the Rings movies. And kiwi fruit is not only tasty but also healthy. However impressive, it was doubtful how far this knowledge would get me in the capacity of sustainability scientist?

But all was considered and planned for. I was reassured that first there would be training and a gradual honeymoon into this new world. A workshop had been planned for me to meet and greet with the project team.  All under the supervision and capable lead of the woman who currently was managing the project. Eventually she would go on maternity leave and I would take over, but before that she was going to hold my hand for a few weeks and make the transition very smooth.

On arrival my first day she was already in labour. Absolutely not according to the agreed schedule! The project was handed over in less than an hour before she rushed off to give birth. One of the executives dryly observed, how rude of her... Of course I ended up in charge of my own - smooth start - workshop. Will never have any illusions what so ever that the flown in and gathered experts around the table were too impressed at all with the new adopting father's experience and authority in the field.

Nine months later in this brand new world of buildings scientists, climatologists, social scientists, economists and government people - we've finally given birth to a 160+ pages baby. The next step is to get over to Wellington to show off and baptise this little beast in front of government and insurance people. Then, with some luck, we might even get to graduate the bastard at the Sustainable Buildings conference in Auckland in November. Who would had imagined? And it's even available at UNFCCC's web library (but then again if you know what that acronym means you're likely a fellow carbon counting tree-hugger nerd).

European Happy Planet Index

Every day I get a bunch of emails from climate change professionals around the world on the Climate-l email list. Most of the time it's rather technical stuff from people measuring methane, analysing policies or informing about clean development projects. But just the other day a great piece of research by nef (the new economics foundation) came out with some findings that should appeal to us all - or at least so I imagine. They head on confronted some questions that are always there in the frame, but never really in the picture:

How good are our economies at producing happiness for the people? 

or

How much actual "good" is generated in the process of emitting greenhouse gas emissions?

The perception from listening to governments and industries around the world is that carbon emissions are necessary evil, very difficult to reduce and part of a global system that we better not tamper with. A neo-classical economic system that's been perfected over centuries to deliver wealth and rewards to a select group of people. And there certainly seem to be some more juice to squeeze out and put in the bank before it's time to address sustainability in any meaningful way. But what is it we so furiously burn our coal and oil for? What do we really get from it that's worth having? Let's have a look at what the study found:

The European Happy Planet Index - an index of carbon efficiency and well-being in the EU reveals for the first time the carbon efficiency with which 30 European nations produce lives of different relative length and life satisfaction for their citizens. nef's analysis also looks back over the last 40 years and comes worrying conclusions in an age of climate change, when it is more important than ever that we use our resources efficiently. nef's Index reveals that:

* Europe as a whole has become less efficient, not more, in translating fossil fuel use into measurable human well being. The Index reveals that Europe as a whole is less carbon efficient now than it was in 1961.

* Across Europe people report comparable levels of well-being whether their lifestyles imply the need for the resources of six and a half, or just one planet like Earth. The message is that people are just as likely to lead satisfied lives whether their levels of consumption are very low or high.

* Iceland tops the Index. Scandinavian countries are the most efficient – achieving the highest levels of well-being in Europe at relatively low environmental cost with Sweden and Norway joining Iceland at the top of the HPI table. Iceland’s combination of strong social policies and extensive use of renewable energy demonstrate that living within our environmental means doesn’t mean sacrificing human well-being – in fact, it could even make us happier.

* The UK comes a poor 21st out of the 30 countries analysed, and nations that have most closely followed the Anglo-Saxon, strongly market-led economic model show up as the least efficient on the Index.

The European Happy Planet Index: An Index of carbon efficiency and well-being