Dans le cadre des RDV Entreprendre Durable initiés par la CCI Grand Lille, Jodie a souhaité créer une rencontre autour du développement durable et de l’international. Pour cette occasion, elle a sollicité Id Group qui a accepté de nous accueillir dans ses locaux à Roubaix ce 10 Septembre 2009. Cet événement fut organisé en partenariat avec CCI International et a reçu échos auprès de plus de 5O représentants d’entreprise venus écouter les divers conseils et témoignages.

Ce mois-ci le magazine Face Grandlille fait écho de cette rencontre et consacre même un encadré à ses conseils !

CONNECT will enable British organisations to echange best practice with their continental cousins, but also to develop real partnerships with businesses that understand the needs of the new economy: innovation, cooperation, sustainability.

For more information, contact me directly or go to the CONNECT website here.

More than 1000 visitors attended this year’s event, held in Lille, Northern France. They came to see more than 80 guest speakers and find solutions among the 70 stands to help improve their business through sustainability.

I had the pleasure of chairing a morning workshop around sustainable procurement practices between businesses. With co-speakers Sébastien Mari, international director of EcoBurotic, and Stéphanie Luong, Communication Advisor at Business Social Compliance Initiative, we discussed how sustainable procurement is changing the marketplace, opening up niches for responsible businesses and driving the development of new sustainable solutions.

My dear colleagues Georgina Legoe (based in Sydney) and Pierre Echard (based in Brussels) shared the limelight in the final panel session on “doing business in a changing world: development strategies, economic transformations and market perspectives”.

We all enjoyed the day and look forward to making the 2010 edition even more international.

This coincides with the international launch of Better for Business:  a collaboration of highly experienced and effective sustainability consultants. We bring ‘sustainability’ alive for organisations- focusing on sustainable solutions to improve your company’s profit, performance, people, profile and the planet.

To us, sustainability is about doing more with less, valuing our planet and people, and enhancing business for the long term.

We work in Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

Find out more about us at www.betterforbusiness.net

As part of my project with the Northern France International Chamber of Commerce, I will be facilitating a meeting around these themesn on September 10, 2009. The event will highlight experiences from our hosts, ID Group, international leader in childrens clothing present in 55 countries, and the manufacturer of innovative eco-materials for construction Novafloor.

Key results:

• Green IT is now an “essential”
• Green IT budgets are rising
• IT is willing to pay a premium for green equipment
• IT is at the heart of enterprise green efforts
• Green IT initiatives are more of a priority

Why the sudden interest in Green IT?

• To reduce energy consumption (92 percent)
• To reduce  cooling costs (91 percent)
• To reduce  polluting energy (87 percent)
• To implement green policy from corporate headquarters (86 percent)

Download the full study here.

These latest rules follow a tough policy document signed by the Ministers of Sustainability and Industry back in April 09. Objective: “advertising shall not distort the reality regarding the initiatives of the advertiser, nor the sustainable aspects of their products “.

• Prevent the emission of as much as 594 million tons of carbon dioxide from 2012 through 2042 (roughly equivalent to removing 166 million cars from the road for a year).
• Save consumers $1 billion to $4 billion annually from 2012 through 2042.
• Save enough electricity from 2012 through 2042 to power every home in the U.S. for as many as 10 months.
• Eliminate the need for up to 7.3 gigawatts of new generating capacity by 2042 (14 500MW coal-fired power plants).

The Department of Energy’s $346 million stimulus funds will go toward development and deployment of more energy smart buildings — and the technology and equipment to support them.

In the U.S., commercial buildings and homes account for about 40% of all energy consumption (more than any other economic sector). Existing structures present a ripe target for energy efficiency efforts and retrofits, with three-quarters of the 81 million buildings in stock having been constructed before 1979.

The Recovery Act money for energy efficient structures will be allotted in five major areas:

• Advanced Building Systems Research, $100 million: development and design of integrated systems to control and manage the technology and equipment that enable structures to be more energy efficient.
• Commercial Buildings Initiative, $53.5 million: expanding and speeding formation of partnerships among major companies and organizations with large building portfolios to make that property deliver “exemplary energy performance.” .
• Buildings and Appliance Market Transformation, $72.5 million: spurring the development of more energy efficient products through an expansion of Energy Star; preparing and educating various industries on how to implement commercial building codes that call for a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency and take effect in 2010; and adapting the DOE Appliance Standards program to better address innovative technology.
• Solid State Lighting Research and Development, $50 million: The DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy department calls solid-state lighting “a pivotal emerging technology that promises to fundamentally alter lighting in the future.” The R&D funds in this area will be channeled toward work that will bring high-performance lighting technology and products to market more quickly.
• Residential Buildings Development and Deployment, $70 million: finance for projects to provide technical training and assistance to residential builders and the workforce handling improvement and retrofitting of existing homes for energy efficiency, and the construction of new, energy-saving homes.

Source: GreenerBuildings

You can reach Anne at:  anne [@] jodiebricout.org ]]> http://www.jodiebricout.org/2009/06/du-nouveau-chez-jodie-bricout-conseil/feed/langswitch_lang/en/ 0 http://www.jodiebricout.org/2009/06/forum-eau-energie/ http://www.jodiebricout.org/2009/06/forum-eau-energie/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:26:03 +0000 jodie http://www.jodiebricout.org/?p=388 I am excited to be moderating a workshop for the 4th edition of the Water and Energy forum at Saint Omer. The forum is aimed at businesses small and large wanting to know more about integrating environmental issues into their processes. The presenters are always a great mix of business people, technical experts and support structures which provides concrete advice on improving business and where to get help.

“My” workshop is about the interface between local agencies and businesses. For 90 minutes, we will address how different players (economic development agencies, regional council, natural parks, town planners) manage to balance environmental protection and economic development.

The presenters are:

• Philippe Defurnes, Director, The Caps and Marais d’Opale Natural Regional Park
• Olivier Delbecq, Director General, Boulogne Development Agency
• Franck Merelle, Director, St Omer Town Planning Authority
• Daniel Pecqueur, President, Saint-Omer Development Agency
• Dominique Rembotte, Elected representative, Nord-Pas de Calais Regional Council, Vice Présidente, Caps and Marais d’Opale Natural Regional Park

It promises to be a lively debate and a great day at the golf course! For more information on the event: www.forum-eau-energie.com