TU 103 Life and Sustainability CLASS 1 SUSTAINABILITY

TU 103: Life and Sustainability CLASS 1: SUSTAINABILITY: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO US? Lecturers: Chol Bunnag Nuttavikom Phanthuwongpakd Nondh Nuchmon

OUTLINE • Module Introduction • Sustainable Development as one of the megatrends of the 21 st Century • Revisit the concept of Sustainable Development • Detail of assignments and group presentation

OBJECTIVES 1. Introducing economic and social aspects to sustainable development. 2. Explaining through the lens of economists why the world and Thailand are unsustainable. 3. Introducing economic and other instruments to achieve sustainable development.

COURSE INTRODUCTION Instructors Chol Bunnag cholb@econ. tu. ac. th v Structure of evaluation Group Assignment Nuttavikhom Phanthuwongpakdee (Kay) Quiz Kay_nuttavikhom@hotmail. com Group presentation Nondh Nuchmon Participation* nondh@econ. tu. ac. th Total Website: https: //sdgmoveinenglish. wordpress. com/presentatio ns/ 5% 5% 10% 5% 25% 4

COURSE INTRODUCTION Module 3: Economics, Society And Sustainability • If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding the class, please contact the instructors through the following channels. • Facebook: TU 103 Inter Program 5

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY: MEGA Trend of the st 21 Century. 6

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY “Environmental, economic and social indicators tell us that our current model of progress is unsustainable. Climate change is destroying our path to sustainability. Ours is a world of looming challenges and increasingly limited resources. Sustainable development offers the best chance to adjust our course. That is why I placed this challenge at the top of the list. … “Now is our moment. Now is our time to create the future we want. ” – Ban Ki Moon UN Secretary General 7 Source: http: //www. greeningtheblue. org/news/sustainable-development-top-priority

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY “Making ‘The Revenant’ was about man’s relationship to the natural world, the world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in reported history — our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow, ” “Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It’s the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. ” Leonardo Di Caprio “We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for 8 granted. ”

THE MEGATREND: GLOBAL LEVEL Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the global development goals proposed by the United Nations to which 193 countries politically committed on September 25 th 2015. SDGs period is 2015 -2030. SDGs is also called ’Agenda 2030’. 9

THE MEGATREND: GLOBAL LEVEL “Leave No One Behind” 10

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 17 Goals 169 Targets 232 Indicators 11

THE MEGATREND: GLOBAL LEVEL Paris Agreement is one of the most important climate change agreement in the history after Kyoto Protocol. The agreement was ratified by 196 countries participating on December 12 th 2015 in the 21 st Conference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris. 12

THE MEGATREND: GLOBAL LEVEL 3 objectives of Paris Agreement 1. “Well below 2 degree celcious” 2. Increasing adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change impacts 3. The Green Climate Fund 13

THE MEGATREND: GLOBAL LEVEL European commission has EU Sustainable Development Strategy (since 2001) and Strategy for lowemission mobility. Norway aims for Zero Deforestation and Carbon Neutrality in 2030 France has a regulation that force listed companies to reveal their carbon emission statistics. It is also the first 14 country to prohibit food waste from

THE MEGATREND: GLOBAL LEVEL Denmark – Red meat tax for climate change Q: What is the relationship between the red meat and climate change? Germany – All new car emit zero green house gas in 2030. Singapore – Listed companies in SGX have to submit a sustainability report. 15

THE MEGATREND: PRIVATE SECTOR Standards and Labels • Companies at global level have to meet several health and environmental standards and acquire labels in order to sell in markets of developed countries. • Sustainability is a ’must’. 16

THE MEGATREN D: PRIVATE SECTOR MIT and BCG surveyed 3000 executives and investors in 100 countries in 2015 Findings • 60% of the executives believe that good sustainability performance is important to investors’ investment decision. • 75% of the investors believe that companies with sustainability investment will earn more income, have higher efficiency, and reduce risks. • 60% of the investors will divest from companies with low sustainability performance. 17

THE MEGATREND: PRIVATE SECTOR 2016 Cone Communications: A survey of 1, 020 employees, age Employee Engagement Study more than 20 years old, in large-size companies (more than 1000 employees) in the U. S. • Mature Millennial (age 27 -35) - 79% • Young Gen X (age 36 -44) - 68% • Average American - 58% Will choose to work for companies with social and environmental responsibilities. 18

’SUSTAINABILITY’ CONCEPT “Long-term thinking” • Definition of Sustainable Development: “The development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Ref. : Our Common Future. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 1987. p. 43. 19

TWO SHADES OF SUSTAINABILITY Weak Sustainability • Sustain society’s consumption pattern • Input can be varied and substitutable. • Natural Capital can be substituted by technological and financial capitals Strong Sustainability • All cumulative negative externalities have to be eliminated in long-run. • Zero externalities in short-run and long-run • No degradation in the capitals esp. natural capital • The Earth will enter a steadystate. What shade of sustainability are you? And Why? 20

THE ANTHROPOCENE AND PALENTARY BOUNDARIES ANTHROPOCENE Definition the period of time during which human activities have had an environmental impact on the Earth regarded as constituting a distinct geological age

Gupta and Vegelin 2016

TWO LEVELS OF SUSTAINABILITY Big Sustainability: “refers to the great challenges that all of us working on sustainability must grapple with: climate change, biodiversity loss, lifting billions of people to higher levels of material well-being, and so on. We sometimes refer to this as “global sustainability” Small Sustainability: “means the kinds of things that sustainability workers are usually working on – for example, the wellbeing of a specific school, or the internal strategies of a medium-size company to change their production produces and reduce their environmental impact. ” Alan At. Kisson (2013). Sustainability is for Everyone. An ISIS Academy Publication

THE CURIOUS CASE OF EASTER ISLAND…. . OR A CASE OF UNSUSTAINABILITY