‘Environmentally-friendly’, ‘climate-neutral’, ‘sustainable’, ‘green’, – marketing strategies in the European Union (EU) are overloaded with terms like these. According to the European Commission, more than half of such claims are vague, misleading or based on inaccurate information. In addition, European consumers are confronted with 230 sustainability labels and 100 green energy labels with varying degrees of transparency. The planned EU Green Claims Directive aims to put an end to unsubstantiated marketing claims and empower consumers to make informed choices. But what does this mean in practice?

How will the Green Claims Directive change the way products and services are marketed in the EU and what impact will this have on marketing and sustainability strategies, business models, and operations in companies?

What kind of data do companies need to collect to substantiate their claims? Moreover, what processes and frameworks are needed in the first place in order to generate the required data from respective actors along the supply chain?

What is the role of Artificial Intelligence and how can companies employ it to create robust, data-driven, and substantiated claims?

Why is it important for companies to think beyond the business realm and build collaborations and partnerships with other relevant actors in society?

In a recent episode of the “Grüne Wiese” podcast, CSCP Executive Director Michael Kuhndt addresses these questions in a conversation with Andreas Winterer, Senior Advisor and Podcaster at SAIM – Consulting by UTOPIA and Meike Gebhard, Managing Director and communications expert at UTOPIA.

You can listen to the full episode of the podcast here. The podcast is in German.

“Grüne Wiese” is a monthly podcast series by UTOPIA, exploring topics related to sustainable entrepreneurship. You can find additional information on the podcast here.

If you have questions on the EU Green Claims Directive or would like to engage with us on this topic, please contact Michael Kuhndt.

The current European food system is not in line with the sustainability and health goals set by the European Union. Despite significant efforts and initiatives, the shift towards a more sustainable food system is still not holistic and fast enough to achieve the required scale. What is needed to accelerate this transition, address environmental concerns and improve public health at the same time?

Livestock farming and the dairy industry continue to play a major role in the food market, which exacerbates the strain on resources and increases the negative environmental impact. At the production stage, food supply chains are long, with multiple players, different interests and often without complete transparency.

At the consumer level, increased awareness about health and sustainability is not always translated into concrete action. Food waste and loss at both the production and consumption level, coupled with an insufficient amount of resources being fed back into the cycle, make the challenge even greater. Could the emerging wave of alternative food products such as new proteins or meat alternatives be the key to healthier and more sustainable food systems?

Alternative proteins, which are plant-based and food-technology alternatives to animal protein, are often coined as next food. Their rise comes in response to challenges related to animal-based and conventionally produced proteins. They could help transform our food landscape by diversifying the sources of food intake towards healthier and more sustainable options.

However, the alternative proteins ecosystem is not without challenges of ist own, not least related to production difficulties, consumer acceptance barriers, or broader infrastructural issues. To address these challenges, holistic, interdisciplinary, and collaborative approaches are needed, bringing key actors together and enabling them to engage toward solutions that have a real impact.

For example, actors involved in the production of alternative proteins are faced with the challenge of supply chain volatility. With a large number of suppliers operating at the start-up level and with limited investment capacities, meeting demands while maintaining good quality and sustainable production efficiency can be a daunting task. Frameworks that allow for more transparency and better exchange flows in the supply chain can help reduce its volatility. In addition, harmonised regulatory and food standard requirements across different governance levels, such as the EU and/or national level, can help reduce complexity in favour of leaner processes for producers.

In food environments or points of sale, there is yet no common terminology to properly refer to alternative proteins in a manner that is representative of product attributes while avoiding dissonance with product lines from the same counterpart category (i.e., animal-based products). Similarly, alternative protein products across food environments are usually placed separately from their counterparts (i.e., shelves, menu pages),  enforcing a silos environment. Integrating consumer insights and perspectives in decision-making processes at points of sale can help make such products more tangible to consumers while empowering them to make informed decisions.

Moreover, consumers often lack information or knowledge about the benefits (environmental, nutritional, health) of alternative protein. Availability and choice, risks of potential allergens, the need for a balanced nutritional profile as well as clear guidance on safety requirements for new alternative proteins are all aspects that need to be addressed in order to overcome current consumer barriers.

To capitalise on and advance current developments in the next food sector, involved actors need to take a few key steps, including:

Participatory, multi-stakeholder engagement processes that involve consumers are necessary to co-create and identify pathways and mechanisms that aim to bridge the gap between broader narratives, promotional efforts, social mindsets, and next food as an instrument toward a healthier and more sustainable food system.

At the CSCP, together with our partners, we explore the potential of alternative proteins to address sustainability challenges by taking all relevant actors on board and engaging them in inclusive and solution-oriented ways. Currently, we are working on the topic of alternative proteins in three projects:

Alternative proteins hold great potential in re-shaping our food system by protecting the environment while improving public health. Join us on a journey of discovery to identify and close knowledge gaps, give way to multi-stakeholder co-creation, and boost innovation toward positive change.

Reach out to us to identify and start new collaborations that help make next food a key part of the solution to today’s pressing environmental and health challenges.

For more information, please reach out to Arlind Xhelili .

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In this interview, CSCP Senior Project Manager and co-do lab Team Member, Mariana Nicolau speaks about the power of “collective intelligence” and explains how the co-do lab Pioneer Network provides a space for co-creating transformative solutions. The CSCP launched the co-do lab as a Wuppertal-based do tank that runs as a social business and aims to support organisations to accelerate transformation towards greater sustainability.

What does it take to co-create and scale sustainable transformations?

There are different ways of doing that, but at the co-do lab we are becoming increasingly convinced about the power of one approach: collective intelligence. It is about organising and curating groups of leaders that have been successful in advancing transformation in reality, on the ground, in their own roles, organisations, and contexts. The purpose: to combine their know-how and experience about what works and what doesn’t in order to achieve transformation across sectors, including food, technology, infrastructure, biodiversity or Circular Economy. As lonely wolves, each of these leaders might go far, but collective intelligence can take us further down the journey into places that individual motivation alone may not. Besides, why have transformation leaders act in silos if we can create platforms for them to join forces and co-create transformation pilots and initiatives that can deliver the level of interdisciplinary change and innovation required in sustainability topics? This is why the co-do lab Pioneer Network is a platform where frontrunners across disciplines can draw on each-others depth of knowledge and tap into the power of collective intelligence to achieve the sustainable transformation. 

Tell us more about the co-do lab Pioneer Network – what is it and how does it work?

The Pioneers is a mastermind group in which we bring together transformation pioneers to empower them to scale up their impact towards sustainability. To achieve this purpose, the Pioneers join regular meetings with carefully curated and impactful content on how to advance transformation in different sectors and contexts, besides having the opportunity to advise and provide thought-leadership to co-do lab projects to advance the transformation towards sustainability on the ground.

What profile does one need to have to be a co-do lab pioneer?

Joining the Pioneers is possible by invitation only. We receive nominations of candidates which we review based on a set of criteria. The most important criteria is that the person needs to have a track record of transformation achievements and is ready to both pass on that know-how as well as apply it towards sustainable transformation goals. One can be a pioneer in the Circular Economy field by, say, having helped mainstream breakthrough circular solutions. When this person comes together with a pioneer in the field of digitalisation or biodiversity, synergies happen. This is how robust, innovative, and transformational solutions are co-created.

In transformation processes, people may feel insecure. How can the Pioneers support to address such feelings or reactions?

The pioneers have blazed trails before and shown what is possible. I often think that one of the greatest challenges of sustainability projects is the guesswork about what the most effective way to drive something forward is. With the Pioneers, project advice and peer-to-peer learning are based on actual results, on what has worked (or not) to achieve transformation. This definitely helps dissipate negative feelings in view of transformation needs.

And what about the exchanges among the pioneers – how will that be put into the service of scaling transformation?

Our goal is to enable pioneers to double their impact on sustainable transformation. We are developing what exactly that means together with the pioneers themselves, based on what they perceive as impact for themselves and their organisations in view of societal needs.

Even in the early stages, we put a lot of effort into understanding what the pioneers are accomplishing and curating that knowledge for peer-to-peer learning among the pioneers.

For further questions, please contact Mariana Nicolau.

© Marc Wessendarp

Over the long period of the industrial age, economic growth has been largely dependent on the extraction and processing of raw materials. Fast forward to today, we face a time when the need to decouple economic growth from resource use and in ways that do not exacerbate climate change has never been more urgent. The European Commission has set a milestone in global policy to combat climate change with its Circular Economy Action Plan. The CE-RISE project is a case in point how European objectives and policies can be implemented in practice and what targeted collaboration among stakeholders from different sectors can achieve.

The Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) was developed and adopted in March 2020 to accelerate transformational change while building on circular economy actions implemented since 2015.

The plan’s actions cover initiatives along the entire product life cycle, including the design of products, the promotion of circular economy processes, strengthening sustainable consumption, reducing waste and ensuring a well-functioning EU internal market for high quality secondary raw materials. By doing so, both consumers and public buyers will be empowered to participate in this transition that will benefit people, regions and cities.

One of the key product value chains within the CEAP is electronics and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as electrical and electronic equipment remains one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU (annual growth rates of 2%) and it is estimated that less than 40% of electronic waste is recycled in the EU.

Within the CEAP and as part of the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI), the proposal for a new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) was published in March 2022, building on the current  Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, so far only covering energy-related products. Under the new ESPR, appliances are now to be designed not only with a strong energy efficiency imperative in mind, but also with a strong focus on durability, reparability, upgradability, maintenance, reuse and recycling.

Furthermore, to achieve the goals of the SPI, the EC is requesting the introduction of Digital Product Passports (DPP), which are to be based on norms and standards. The DPP is intended to provide a response to the necessary sustainable and digital transformation of the economy and society, allowing information to be shared across the entire value chain of products and track materials and other supply chain information such as a product’s sustainability.

How our CE-RISE project supports European key objectives?

Recent crises have exposed the fragility of our globalised world, especially with respect to global supply chains and energy dependency. In light of the lessons learned, the EC has decided to minimise the loss of Secondary Raw Materials (SRMs) and optimise their reuse within value chains, highlighting the role of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in the technological transition towards green and sustainable technologies. Furthermore, to address these challenges, the European Commission is preparing the general requirements for the establishment of the DPP.

With its focus on ICT and electronics, the CE-RISE project strives to be an enabler for the EU sustainability goals, as the potential for circularity in this sector is very high. One of the key objectives of CE-RISE is to provide solutions for the tracking and tracing of CRMs and their retention in an EU circular economy so as to become less dependent on other countries and avoid raw material waste.

A consortium from 11 EU countries is working together to develop and implement the Circular Economy Resource Information System (CE-RISE) to share detailed data on electronic products that identify optimal solutions for the effective reuse, recovery, and recycling of materials. With the support of our industry partners, CE-RISE will also develop DPPs for the various case studies for ICT products, printers, photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries and heating systems, integrating information such as the product environmental footprint and socio-economic and environmental impacts of RE processes into the information system.

Transparency along the supply chain is key, and with the support of our partner Circularise, which offers blockchain-based technology, end-to-end supply chain traceability solutions will facilitate the tracking of materials.

The CE-RISE project will develop a system that gives stakeholders a better understanding of the environmental impact of electronic products and guidance on how to preserve important raw materials by reusing, repairing and recycling these productsEquity and digitalisation will be promoted by providing access to all kind of stakeholders, including consumers and policymakers, through an “open to all” information platform (open access software application). Re-furbishers, repair shops, or re-manufacturers will be able to access information about the products stored in the DPP like spare part lists or recommendations for the proper separation and collection of products, thus increasing the number of products and materials recirculating in the market.

For a more comprehensive read on this topic, please go to the CE-RISE website. You can find on overview of the CE-Rise project here.

For further questions, please contact Marianne Magnus-Melgar.

Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash.

As the PathoCERT project draws to a close, project partners and involved stakeholders came together at the third and last European Community of Practice event “Navigating Waterborne Pathogen Emergencies with PathoCERT’s Policy Perspectives and Field Experiences”. The event focused on distilling lessons learned from the project’s engagement approach and pilot activities and translating them into policy recommendations that will actively support the widespread adoption of PathoCERT’s pioneering solutions.

PathoCERT project partners, UCY, KWR, HRT and EYATH and two related projects, ULTIMATE and WATERMINING shared insights on how learnings across the water sector, gathered through the communities of practice (CoPs), can be translated into concrete policy recommendations.

As part of a panel discussion, field experts Philippe Quevauviller (Policy Officer, European Commission), Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia (KWR), Anastasia Moumtzidou (ITI) and Eleftherios Ouzounoglou (ICCS) addressed policy gaps related to the emergency management of water related events. In joint discussions with the participants, the experts shared ideas on how to bridge the gap between research findings and policies.

Did you miss the PathoCERT European Community of Practice event? Watch the recording now!

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The innovative methodology deployed in PathoCERT included a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy resulting in a total of 30 Community of Practice meetings organised across six pilot cities/regions: Granada (Spain), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Limassol (Cyprus), Thessaloniki (Greece), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Seoul (South Korea), coupled with direct pilot-testing field work.

Through these events, a diverse range of stakeholders had the opportunity to provide valuable feedback to technology developers and to engage in collaborative co-creation processes around management system practices, highlighting existing challenges and areas of opportunity

For further information, please contact Francesca Grossi.

After months of local and regional cooking competitions between young chefs, on 11 March 2024 our KochCup project awarded the three winning recipes at the competition’s final in Berlin, Germany. The criteria for the winning dishes were clear: on top of providing an unforgettable culinary experience they had to be seasonal, regional, and resource-efficient. Moreover, through their dishes young chefs aimed at sparking inspiration toward healthier and more sustainable food in the realm of sports and beyond.

The 12 healthiest, tastiest and most environmentally-friendly dishes prevailed in four regional competitions and qualified for the final. The three winning recipes reflected the philosophy of the competition on the plate. Lucie Fischer Chapalain won the first prize for her dish “From earth to plate”, followed by Leon Girrbach with the recipe “Pumpkin meets leek” (second place), and Jens Kleinfelder with the dish “Buckwheat falafel with hummus and kale salad” (third place).

The professional jury of the final competition consisted of star chef, Stephan Hentschel, Nicolas Barthelmé from “Du bist hier der Chef”, Andrea Lenkert-Hörrmann from SlowFood, chef Jascha Siekmann from the VKD Plant Based Project, and vocational school teachers, Kristin Knauth and Steffen Rosenthal.

The three winners received a masterclass with star chef Stephan Hentschel to fine tune their recipes and advance their cooking techniques.

In addition to professional jury prizes, the KochCup Community had the chance to vote for their favourite KochCup recipe in an online voting process. Janis Keßler won the audience prize for his dish “From fields of the West Palatinate”. You can find a first selection of KochCup recipes and additional information about the project on the project website.

The KochCup project is implemented by a consortium consisting of the CSCP and the agency for sustainable communication tippingpoints. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection (BMUV).

For further questions, please contact Jennifer Wiegard.

 

Katrin Hüttepohl, new CSCP Communication Manager, believes that clear and impactful messaging is key to mainstreaming sustainability toward a good life for all. In this interview, she shares how past experiences inform her current work and explains why leading by example is the best strategy to inspire and enable positive change.

How do past experiences – including your childhood, education, or work experience – inform what you do now at the CSCP?

Past experiences play a significant role in my current work at the CSCP. First, growing up in a family that emphasised how interconnected our wellbeing is with that of the environment, instilled in me a deep appreciation for sustainability from an early age. My studies in the field of Communication, Psychology, and History of Art equipped me with valuable skills in understanding human behaviour, which I apply to drive behaviour change towards sustainable practices. Finally, more than 15 years of work in marketing and communication roles in the private sector have given me insights into effective storytelling and engagement strategies. I draw on that to effectively communicate sustainability messages at the CSCP.

We live in very dynamic times. How can we make sure that sustainability is kept high on the agenda in spite of rapidly shifting priorities?

Personally, I find that leading by example can be a powerful way to inspire others. By modelling sustainable practices in my own life, I hope to motivate and inspire friends and family to do the same. From a professional perspective, effective communication is key to keeping sustainability at the top of the agenda. By creating compelling narratives that highlight the link between sustainability and broader organisational or personal goals, we can ensure that sustainability initiatives resonate with stakeholders and remain a priority.

One of your current projects, CARE, aims to boost circularity through a lifestyle (behaviour change) perspective. What is the added value of such an approach?

By focusing on behaviour change, we empower individuals to become active participants in sustainable practices, which can lead to tangible benefits at home. For example, embracing circularity can result in significant cost savings by extending the life of products through repair, reuse, and up-cycling. In addition, prioritising locally-sourced, seasonal food, and sustainable clothing not only reduces environmental impact but also promotes healthier lifestyle choices. Such an approach not only reduces waste, but also promotes conscious consumption habits, fostering a culture of sustainability that ultimately contributes to a more resilient and equitable future for all.

In the UBi project, the focus is on business and biodiversity. What’s the strategic link and why does it matter so much?

First, biodiversity underpins the ecosystem services on which businesses depend for their operations. By conserving biodiversity, businesses ensure the resilience and sustainability of their supply chains. Second, biodiversity loss poses significant risks to businesses, ranging from increased resource scarcity and business disruption to reputational damage and regulatory scrutiny. Integrating biodiversity considerations into business strategies is therefore critical to long-term resilience and success. In addition, prioritising biodiversity strengthens brand reputation, drives innovation and creates opportunities for sustainable growth and market differentiation.

Finally, do you have any go-to sustainability principles or hacks?

One of my sustainability principles is embracing minimalism. By simplifying my lifestyle and focusing on what really matters, I reduce waste and consumption. It also helps me stay in tune. I also prioritise reusable items over disposable ones whenever possible, from shopping bags to water bottles and mason jars. Small changes like these can make a big difference in reducing my own footprint.

For further questions, please contact Katrin Hüttepohl.

 

At a time when many companies are looking for innovative solutions to make their business practices more sustainable, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the main promising technologies. But what does this mean for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their specific business contexts? Do they have the capacities to identify and leverage AI opportunities and, on the other side, assess and mitigate related risks? CSCP’s Arne von Hofe and Mike Table delve into these questions in a podcast of the Digital Centre WertNetzWerke.

Artificial intelligence offers a wide range of applications that can help companies make more sustainable decisions and optimise their processes. By analysing large amounts of data along the entire value chain, AI can identify patterns and make precise predictions in order to use resources more efficiently and minimise environmental impact. For example, AI can help to optimise energy consumption, reduce waste, improve supply chains and much more.

First steps for SMEs

For many small and medium-sized enterprises, getting started with the use of AI for sustainability may seem challenging at first. This is because AI tools and processes are often not directly associated with sustainability. However, there are concrete steps that organisations can take to harness this technology and bring about positive change. These include:

In dialogue with experts

To discuss about the steps above, CSCP’s Mike Tabel and Arne von Hofe talked to Eva Wera Ritter, Innovation and Future Research Manager at GS1 Germany. In this podcast by the Digital Centre WertNetzWerke, they discuss the various ways in which AI can contribute to a more sustainable economy and give specific tips for companies that want to use this technology.

“The starting point for the use of AI is derived from the strategic level: which sustainability issues are essential for us, where do we stand, and what are our goals? From this, we can then usually derive problems that can be tackled with the help of AI.”, highlights Arne von Hofe, CSCP Project Manager.

„An interesting application example is AI-based ESG intelligence, a cockpit in which relevant sustainability data is collected and visualised in real time. In contrast to traditional reporting, this makes it possible to react quickly and at any time if sustainability goals are at risk.“, adds von Hofe.

For the whole discussion, listen to the podcast now!

Would you like to learn more how you can employ AI tools and solutions to achieve sustainability goals? Reach out to our Digital Centre WertNetzWerke experts Arne von Hofe and Mike Tabel!

Whether it’s a coffee to go or a veggie bowl for lunch at the office – takeaway services are an everyday convenience for many people. However, the prevalence of disposable packaging for takeaway food and drinks has a significant impact on the environment. According to the German Packaging Act, all companies that offer takeaway food and drinks are obliged to offer their customers a reusable alternative. Several years after the new law came into force, reusable packaging is still not being used sufficiently. The Digital Centre WertNetzWerke is working together with companies and relevant stakeholders to overcome this hurdle.

Convenient instead of complicated

Consumers often report about infrastructure deficits that make the return of reusable packaging inconvenient. The practical project “Reusable containers at reception” from the Digital Centre WertNetzWerke project addressed the challenge of underutilised reusable packaging options by simplifying the return of reusable containers in everyday office life. The aim was to motivate consumers to increasingly switch to environmentally friendly packaging options. Under the motto ‘Convenient instead of complicated’, the idea of accepting reusable containers directly at the reception desk of companies was trialled.

The trial in practice

In practice, this meant that seven participating companies, each with at least 100 employees, set up a collection box at reception for a period of four weeks. Instead of customers and employees having to return the containers to the respective catering establishments, they were able to drop off their reusable containers at the reception of their own office. From there, they were regularly collected by a special bicycle courier service and returned to the catering establishments. By scanning a QR code on the containers, the deposit was credited back to the users.

The feedback from participants was consistently positive, even in cases when the actual rate of utilising the new service did not reach a peak. In particular, better visibility of the offer and a focus on increasing the acceptance among employees were identified as points where additional engagement is needed. For this reason and due to the positive feedback, some of the participating companies have decided to continue the reusable initiatives on their own.

Simple and accessible solutions

Simple solutions such as the return of reusable containers at a company’s reception often have a great impact because they respond directly to consumer needs. By providing a simple and accessible return option, the inhibition threshold to use reusable packaging is lowered. In turn, this allows employees to contribute to environmental protection with little effort on the part of the company.

Cooperation between companies in value creation networks

This practical project was carried out as part of the #MehrMehrweg campaign by Mehrweg.einfach.machen, a joint project of Project Together, WWF and the Mehrweg Verband with support from the Digital Centre WertNetzWerke.

From reusable container suppliers Vytal and Recup and the bicycle courier service Pickshare to participating companies such as Zalando and the law firm Orth Kluth, the results of the trial show that sustainable action is possible in all sectors. Moreover, the “Reusable containers at reception” practical project confirms how small but targeted measures in everyday office life can make a significant contribution to environmental protection. Through cooperation between companies, civil society, and the public sector, innovative solutions that make ecological and economic sense can be developed and implemented.

For further questions, please contact Janna Prager.

The European Union has committed to mobilise at least 1 trillion Euros in sustainable investments until 2030 to achieve the goals set by the European Green Deal. This sends a strong signal that we have entered a phase of major economic transformation to reconcile economic activity with the environmental boundaries of our planet and to achieve progress on the societal challenges we face. As the circular transition gets into full swing, many businesses opportunities arise.

How can German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Information Technology (IT) sector leverage this market development and act as transformation accelerators and multipliers? What kind of support do they need in order to be able to identify business cases for sustainability?

Sustainable innovation in the core business of IT companies, that is, developing new products and services that contribute to achieving sustainability objectives of customers is still challenging for many businesses.

To address this, as part of our ITM Twin Transformation project we are collaborating with 12 progressive and ambitious German IT SMEs to innovate their offering toward sustainable products and services. The insights gained from the prior status-quo and requirement analysis as well as the learnings from the collaborative work with this group will be transferred to the broader community of IT SMEs.

For this purpose, the ITM Twin Transformation project has designed a webinar series that will be offered to 2500 members of the German Federal Association of IT SMEs (BITMi) in the period from April to October 2024.

The insights gained, rooted in the analysis of primary and secondary data as well as first-hand experience will be synthesised to deduct policy recommendations. The recommendations will focus on addressing system level barriers that hinder German IT SMEs from acting as transformation multipliers and accelerators.

The ITM Twin Transformation project started in December 2022 and will run until October 2024. It is funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and implemented by the CSCP in collaboration with the BITMi and its internal task force on sustainable digitalisation.

For further information, please contact Arne von Hofe.

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