tailieunhanh - Technology and Policy for Sustainable Development

An imposing barrier to entry for current plant-derived materials, and the issue most often debated, is the competitive cost situation. In many cases, the current cost of using plant-based materials is viewed as being relatively high, and not competitive with hydrocarbon-based processes. However, the cost-competitive situation contains several highly complex interactions among the key factors: value of product, cost of materials, volume of throughput, degree of processing required, and performance of the building blocks used. Thus, strategies for the future will not be successful if based on cost reduction alone. . | 1 Technology and Policy for Sustainable Development Centre for Environment and Sustainability at Chalmers University of Technology and the Goteborg University 5 February 2002 2 Preface This paper on technology and policy for sustainable development was prepared for the European Commission on a request from the Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom to serve as a background for a Commission report to the EU Summit in Barcelona. A draft report was presented to the Commissioner on 11 January 2002. The report is based on a number of research papers and contributions from the Goteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology as well as official documents from the UN Commission on Sustainable Development the World Bank FAO the OECD the European Council the EU Commission the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen and the EU Commission Joint Research Center. The report was written by Allan Larsson in cooperation with a team consisting of Christian Azar Thomas Sterner Dan Stromberg and Bjorn Andersson and with contribution from John Holmberg Anders Biel Raul Carlsson Hans Eek Karin Ekstrom Hâkan Forsberg Staffan Jacobsson Anna Bergek Anders Lyngfeldt Helena Shanan and Johan Sundberg. Goteborg 5 February 2002. Oliver Lindqvist Dean of the Centre for Environment and Sustainability Goteborg 3 Executive Summary 1. The mandate given by the European Council Chapter 1 . At the European Council in Goteborg in June 2001 a strategy for sustainable development was agreed completing the Union s political commitment to economic and social renewal by adding a third environmental dimension to the Lisbon strategy and establishing a new approach to policy making. The European Council stated that clear and stable objectives for sustainable development will present significant economic opportunities. This has the potential to unleash a new wave of technological innovation and investment generating growth and employment . The European Council invited industry to take part in the