Patrick Schröder

Nota: Este archivo abarca los artículos publicados por el autor desde el 1 de Abril de 2008. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

Lima city employees picking up garbage during lockdown measures in Peru amid the COVID-19 crisis. Photo: Getty Images.

InternacionalEconomía

The world is currently witnessing how vulnerable existing production and consumption systems are, with the current global health crisis harshly exposing the magnitude of the risks associated with the global economy in its current form, grounded as it is in a linear system that uses a ‘take-make-waste’ approach.

These ‘linear risks’ associated with the existing global supply chain system are extremely high for national economies overly dependent on natural resource extraction and exports of commodities like minerals and metals. Equally vulnerable are countries with large manufacturing sectors of ready-made garments and non-repairable consumer goods for western markets. Furthermore, workers and communities working in these sectors are vulnerable to these changes as a result of disruptive technologies and reduced demand.…  Seguir leyendo »

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveils the European Green Deal in December 2019. Photo: Getty Images.

EuropaUnión Europea,

In December 2019, the EU launched the European Green Deal, a comprehensive policy package which aims to make the continent carbon-neutral by 2050. It contains a wide range of legal and policy measures including support for restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, low-carbon mobility, and sustainable food systems and healthy diets.

Even though the UK has now left the EU, and the UK government has made clear that there will be no regulatory alignment and no rule-taking from the EU, this will affect Britain’s markets, trade negotiations and stance in global climate action.

The UK has essentially three choices in how to react.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators march in Santiago, Chile during street protests which erupted over a now suspended hike in metro ticket prices. Photo: Getty Images.

MundoAmérica, ,

One year ago, during the last annual Conference of Parties (COP) held in Katowice, the Polish government launched a Solidarity and Just Transition Declaration, signed by 56 governments including the UK, making the case for why the green transition must be just.

Three years earlier in 2015, the landmark Paris Agreement also included provisions for a just transition where it stated that the decarbonization process should be ‘Taking into account the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities’. In practice, however, the concept of a just transition has not yet been implemented and has not been sufficiently considered by governments or corporations around the world.…  Seguir leyendo »

View of the Amazon rainforest in smoke. Photo: Getty Images.

InternacionalEconomíaReflexionesNaturaleza

The circular bioeconomy is an emerging model for more sustainable industrial development. It combines two key sustainability concepts. First, it involves using more renewable and bio-based resources for value-added products, like food, energy, chemicals and materials, by utilizing organic waste streams from forestry and agriculture, while biodegradable products are returned to the environment and thereby re-enter the nutrient cycle.

Second, it keeps those sustainable materials and products in use longer through sharing, reusing, remanufacturing and recycling – instead of throwing them away after a single use.

A third important part of a circular bioeconomy is that of cascading the use of biomass resources.…  Seguir leyendo »

Paper is processed at a recycling plant in the US. Recycled paper has been a major export from the US to China but China has recently tightened its restrictions on how much paper can be imported due to ongoing trade tensions between the two countries. Photo: Getty Images.

InternacionalEconomía

In the latest development in the trade dispute  between the US and China, the Trump administration has announced a delay to the newly planned 10 per cent tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods until the end of 2019. Since a recent round of negotiations did not bring about any resolution to the dispute between both countries, there is now increasing evidence that the trade war between the two countries is hurting both economies. Furthermore, the trade dispute is yielding negative spill-over effects for different areas of global concern, including the climate, environmental protections and waste management, while also dampening trade in circular goods and services between the two countries.…  Seguir leyendo »