Nicholas Rainer
8 August 2008
interview
Port Louis — This expert on environmental systems is in Mauritius on the invitation of the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC). He tells us about the growing importance of environmental considerations at the government, business and community levels.
You specialize environmental management systems. What do these systems consist of and what are they good for?
It's a system that helps any organization move towards attain its objectives in an ecological fashion by setting objectives and targets, allocating responsibilities, and setting up the performance indicators. Once you organize all of these together, as a person-independent system, it will drive the organization. Because it's adaptive, the system keeps absorbing and reflecting shifting challenges and new ideas.
Do you find that governments and companies are becoming increasingly receptive to environmental issues? What broad international environmental trends have you noticed?
One is, of course, the collective push to tackle global issues. Governments are becoming more and more sensitized and are thus trying to translate these global issues into national legislations and policies. This is a very positive development. Businesses, on the other hand, are responding to the markets, because the latter are also waking up to these issues. Lenders are saying that they will only lend to responsible businesses. Regulations and demand are driving the business world.
Do you really think that enough is being done to address global environmental issues, such as climate change, or is just window-dressing?
A lot is being done and a lot remains to be done. The infrastructure side of things, for example, is really taking off. Substantive funds are being poured into renewable energies and urban planning. Environmental and social issues are gaining in importance and there is an increased cooperation between the different actors. For one, the implementation models are moving increasingly to Public private partnerships (PPP).
What trends have you noticed in Mauritius?
I have interacted mostly with the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC) on the Green productivity programme. Because this programme involves businesses, government and communities, I've been in touch with government, businesses and the community. I see new challenges facing Mauritius and I think the responses to these challenges show that you will see more focused policies in the coming years.
The rising cost of resources, such as fossil fuels and chemical fertilizers, are creating the need for increased energy efficiency and organic waste fertilizers to name but two of them. This is forcing the country into action.
You are well-versed on the subject of green procurement which aims to give equal weight to environmental, social and economic considerations for purchasing decisions. How realistic is this objective?
Equal doesn't really mean 50/50. It's more of relative term. In the past there was the notion that green products and services were more expensive than traditional products and services. Innovations in product-making and service-providing are creating new possibilities. Many green products and services are now the same price as normal products and services. In some cases, green products are even more price competitive. It's not applicable across all products and services but it is a cause for optimism. Ultimately, going green simply means reducing your inputs, making more energy- and water-efficient products. Green buildings, for example, cost 3 to 4% more than traditional houses but have much lower running costs. The problem is that this life-cycle cost is very hard to communicate to buyers. They tend to look more at short-term costs.
Why is it so difficult to communicate the benefits of green products and services?
A couple of factors can explain this. A house buyer, for example, might not necessarily be thinking in the long-term. Marketing of long-term gains might not be an effective way of getting the message across. There is however a restructuring of the ways of communication. For example, housing finance corporations have begun to offer better rates if you go into green buildings. This message is easily understood.
You are also working on the conversion of schools to green buildings, a pilot project of which is underway at the Royal College of Port-Louis. Can you tell us a bit more about this project?
It's important to illustrate the principles of sustainability, such as the conservation of resources and the recycling of waste. One way of going about this is by setting up projects to show how these are done. In schools, rainwater harvesting, composting and solar water heating can become laboratories for students to understand how these things actually happen by doing assignments on these projects. They might then pressurize their parents to do the same things at home. This creates a ripple factor. Through the younger generation we can try to influence the neighbourhood, the community and society as a whole.
The demand for rainwater harvester, composters and solar water heaters will then build the capacity of the private sector to deliver these goods. The concept is much broader then the school itself.
Mauritius and India are quite far behind Western countries in the field of waste segregation. How can this issue be resolved?
In India, we have a very comprehensive legislation that stipulates that people have to separate their waste at the source, yet very few cities do this. Laws alone are not enough. They have to be supported by huge awareness campaigns. The changes won't happen overnight. I think however that we'll see higher and higher levels of waste segregation and recycling thanks to education and awareness campaigns.
Yet the gap between sensitization and action is still big. How does one go about bridging it?
There are two ways: incentives and penalties. Let's take the example of waste segregation again. In India, people who separate their waste pay less for door-to-door waste collection. That's the incentive. The penalty is that the municipality won't pick up your waste if you don't segregate it.
India has been very proactive in terms of renewable energies. Do you see a potential for greater cooperation between Mauritius and India in this field?
I understand that there's a lot of interest from Indian entrepreneurs to join hands with their Mauritian counterparts in the photovoltaic and solar energy sectors. The second possible sector is the generation of biogas from organic waste and using that gas as a source of energy.
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