https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cManXpJWztg

1. Business Opportunities in Advancing Sustainable Lifestyles
in Greater Boston
SERC-SCORAI Workshop
May 16, 2019, 8:30 am-1:30 pm
UMass Boston, University Hall 2nd floor, Room 2330

2. Workshop Goals
 Raise awareness among variety of stakeholders about the role of consumption
in addressing climate change
 Bring together a variety of organizations and people already working in
specific areas (e.g., housing, mobility, food, consumer goods, leisure)
 Support and promote innovative business models and practices aiming to
reduce consumption while improving wellbeing
 Identify high impact areas, actions and indicators for Greater Boston area

3. Business Opportunities in Advancing Sustainable Lifestyles
in Greater Boston
Workshop UMass SERC and SCORAI:
May 16, 2019
Philip Vergragt and Halina Brown

4. Background and Context
• Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2016)
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG12: Responsible
Consumption and Production)
• C40 (Sustainable Cities) report on Consumption-based
inventories (2018) and follow-up
• In US: Green New Deal (2019): climate, jobs, and equity)
• Globally: climate youth movement; in US Sunrise movement
(2019)

5. Cities and Urban areas
• In big cities many problems conflate
• Cities are also engines for innovation
• Business has pivotal role

6. Three-prong strategy to address consumption
• Business: innovation of new sustainable products and services;
create sustainable livelihoods and work-life balance for
workers
• Governance and policy: create conditions, infrastructures, and
incentives to innovate and to change to less material lifestyles
• Individual consumers: educate, inform, experiment with
alternative lifestyles, change social norms towards immaterial
well-being

7. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC
To avoid the worst consequences of global warming, by 2050
almost all uses of fossil fuels and GHG emissions must be
eliminated

8. In Newton, MA
Newton Citizens Climate Action Plan:
Acting Now to Secure Our Sustainable Future
Newton Citizens Commission on Energy
May 2019
Is it feasible for Newton to achieve the IPCC goal?

9. Newton GHG Emission Inventory

10. Reduction of GHG emissions in residential sector

11. Impact of Electric Vehicle Adoption Rate on GHG
Emissions

12. BUT Newton Inventory does not count indirect
emissions from making goods
Embodied energy in building materials and house content
 GHG emissions
– Manufacturing cement, bricks, plastics, countertops, fixtures, foam
insulation……
– Manufacturing appliances, furniture, curtains,
– Processing wood
– Mining -- smelting metals
– Transport
– Etc.

13. Consumption-based emissions are
41% greater than Sector-based emissions (Oregon 2015)

14. Oregon: Household consumption:
80% of GHG emissions

15. Income determines carbon footprint: Oregon (metric tons CO2e/household)

16. Two GHG Emission Inventories
Consumption-based and Sector-based
Oregon, 1990–2016

17. Understanding consumption
• Consumption is about lifestyles, aspirations, identifying with
certain social groups
• Pro-environmental behaviors have minor effect on carbon
footprint
• This is because key contributors to carbon footprint are:
type/size of house, its location, leisure time, diet
• Relentless expansion of idea of basic amenities

18. From The New York Times June 3, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/upshot/houses-keep-getting-bigger-even-as-families-get-smaller.html?_r=0
Based on the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of American Housing http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/completed.html
The Survey also shows that 31 % of new homes are 3000 square feet or larger

19. Manufactured

20. How can consumption be reduced?
What business opportunities are in it?

21. Halt growth in house sizes
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
Before
1900
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

22. Accessory Dwelling Units (up to 800 sq.ft)
Jordan Palmeri
Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality
palmeri.jordan@deq.state.or.us

23. Leisure Actitivies
The rise of “flying shame” points to a blind
spot in conscious consumerism
Quartz, April 18, 2019

24. Workshop Outcomes
• Concrete ideas how business can contribute to sustainable
lifestyles in housing, food, transportation, consumer products,
and leisure.
• Develop initiatives and metrics to measure progress

25. The Role of Business in Advancing Sustainable
Lifestyles
1. New business models and innovative products & services:
 Shift to plant-based diets (e.g., Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat)
 Addressing food waste and food insecurity (e.g., Food for Free)
 Shifting from selling products to selling services (e.g., car sharing, product leasing)
 Promoting product reuse and upcycling (e.g., The Furniture Trust, Seeding Labs, Project Repat)
 Eliminating single use packaging (e.g., refillable products, reusable containers)
Toxic products are sort-of green herring in this list. It is personal health issue, not sustainability
2. Enabling employees and customers to make lifestyle changes
 Eliminating bottled water, buying local/green products, donating/repurposing surplus products
 Promoting telecommuting, teleconferencing
 Supporting mobility options (e.g., bike programs)
Labeling is a form of feeding green consumerism, which does not reduce consumption and is
widely considered as greenwashing

26. …“the relationship between a good aesthetic education
and the maintenance of a healthy environment cannot
be overlooked”. By learning to see and appreciate
beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism. If
someone has not learned to stop and admire something
beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats
everything as an object to be used and abused without
scruple. If we want to bring about deep change, we need
to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our
behavior.

27. The State of Recycling
SCORAI Workshop
May 16, 2019
Brooke Nash
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

28. Global Market Disruption
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
 China’s National Sword Policy – January 1, 2018
 Warning signs in 2013 – “Operation Green Fence”
 U.S. recyclers highly dependent on Chinese markets (mixed
paper, mixed plastics)
 Contamination standard set at .05 percent
 Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) are designed to meet 2-3%
contamination at best

29. The Domino Effect
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
 Oversupply of mixed paper and mixed plastics
 Material moves from to other export markets accept but…
 It’s a buyer’s market
 2% contamination rate
 Much higher freight costs
 The value of a ton of recyclables drops 50-75% in 12 mos
MRF sorting costs increase to meet new specs
 Significant cost increase to municipalities and businesses

30. Solid Waste Master Plan Goals
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
 By 2020:
 Reduce disposal from 6.5 million tons (2008) to 4.5 millions tons
(a 30% reduction).
 By 2030:
 Reduce disposal by 80% by 2050
 As of Dec 2017, 5.7 millions tons (~14% reduction)
 A lot of work still left!
 2020-2030 Plan – in development now

31. % MSW Disposal by Material Type
21.7%
13.1%
3.8%
1.6%
31.3%
14.9%
3.9%
1.1%
8.0%
2016 MSW Characterization
Paper
Plastic
Metal
Glass
Organic Materials
Construction and Demolition (in the MSW stream)
Household Hazardous Waste
Electronics
Other Materials

32. Tons MSW Disposal by Material Type
990,694
596,744
175,499
74,515
1,426,944
681,013
175,735
49,115
364,126
Paper
Plastic
Metal
Glass
Organic Materials
Construction and Demolition (in the MSW stream)
Household Hazardous Waste
Electronics
Other Materials

33. What is MassDEP Doing to Help?
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
 Tools to help municipalities tackle contamination
 Recycling IQ (Increased Quality) Grants
 Consensus from Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs):
 What is recyclable, what’s not?
 Statewide education campaign – Recycle Smart
 Strategic inputs to improve local processing capacity and end-market
 Municipal Glass Processing Grants
 Recycling Business Development Grants