Presentations on Reform of Water and Electricity Regulatory Systems in Caribbean and Pacific Small Island States

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Mar 252014

Just gave these two presentations here at the Pacific and Caribbean Conference on Effective and Sustainable Regulation of Energy and Water Services organized by ADB and SPC in Nadi, Fiji:

Caribbean Energy and Water Policies: An Overview of 8 Case Studies
This presentation gives an overview of key preliminary findings from an examination of water and energy regulations and regulatory structures in Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, and St. Lucia.

Statutes and Regulation: The Low-Discretion Model of Saint Lucia
Like many small-island developing states, one of the major regulatory challenges facing Saint Lucia is how to regulate effectively with limited financial and human resources. Its experience with a Low-Discretion Model provides important insights.

I would like to thank my whole team at Worldwatch for contributing to, and particularly Evan Musolino and Katie Auth for taking the lead on, preparing these two presentations.

EINLADUNG ZUR BUCHPRAESENTATION: COMMUNICATING SUSTAINABILITY

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Jan 202013

Josef Mantl • Alexander Ochs • Marc R. Pacheco (Hg.)

EINLADUNG: COMMUNICATING SUSTAINABILITY
Perspektiven der Nachhaltigkeit in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft

Buchpräsentation und Verleihung der Sustainable Future Awards

Montag 18. Februar 2013, 18.00 Uhr
Marmorsaal Regierungsgebäude, Stubenring 1, 1010 Wien

Eröffnung
DI Nikolaus Berlakovich, Bundesminister für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft, Wien

Lee A. Brudvig, Gesandter der Amerikanischen Botschaft, Wien

Zum Buch „Communicating Sustainability – Perspektiven der Nachhaltigkeit in Politik,
Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft“ (Böhlau Verlag)

Herausgeber:
Dr. Josef Mantl, MA, Sprecher der Sustainable Future Campaign, Wien

Alexander Ochs, Direktor des Klima- und Energieprogrammes des Worldwatch Institute, Washington D.C.

State Senator Marc R. Pacheco, Chairman des Massachusetts Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, Boston

Communicating Sustainability: Perspektiven der Nachhaltigkeit in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft

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Oct 172012

Herausgegeben von: Josef Mantl, Alexander Ochs und Marc R. Pacheco

http://www.boehlau-verlag.com/978-3-205-78817-1.html

Nachhaltigkeit muss aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln betrachtet, diskutiert und umgesetzt werden: Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Diese klassische Triade bildet den Rahmen für viele Diskussionen und Vorträge, die jungen Menschen, PolitikerInnen, UnternehmerInnen, WissenschafterInnen u.v.m. dabei helfen sollen, sich an die komplexe Struktur globaler Probleme heranzuwagen, diese zu reflektieren, Meinungen auszutauschen und miteinander zu diskutieren.
Das Buch enthält Beiträge von ReferentInnen und UnterstützerInnen der Sustainable Future Campaign, einer Initiative der Hochschulliga für die Vereinten Nationen (Akademisches Forum für Außenpolitik). Das Ziel ist es, Nachhaltigkeit zu kommunizieren, die Bemühungen der letzten Jahre zusammenzufassen und zu weiteren Diskussionen anzuregen.

Link zum Versenden: http://www.boehlau-verlag.com/978-3-205-78817-1.html

A new sustainable energy model

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Aug 212012

Alexander Ochs, Director and Katie Auth, Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute welcome a new energy model, and encourage governments to undertake Sustainable Energy Roadmaps.

Climate change and the reliable, affordable supply of energy are among the most pressing issues we will face in the twenty-first century. Despite recognition of these unprecedented collective challenges, the international community has so far failed to take
aggressive action. Fortunately, signs point to the appearance of a new paradigm – fuelled in part by the growing efficiency and plummeting costs of renewable energy sources. Facilitating a shift to clean, low-carbon societies does not mean sacrificing
economic or human development. On the contrary, it increasingly represents our only way to attain both.

Already, people around the world are dealing with the effects of changing weather patterns, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss – with negative implications not only for the environment, but also for human health and well-being. Commonwealth countries, located across a wide geographic range, will face a broad array of climaterelated impacts. These include changes in the distribution of fish stocks, the melting of Arctic ice, coastal flooding, and drought. It is vital that Ministers within the Commonwealth take heed and look for sustainable solutions.

[Find the whole article, published in the 2012 Commonwealth Ministers Reference Book, HERE]

“Die dreckigste Firma kriegt keine guten Leute”

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Sep 022011

ALEXANDER OCHS

DER STANDARD | INTERVIEW | 02. September 2011 17:03

Alexander Ochs, Experte beim US-Thinktank Worldwatch Institute, hat sich einen Ehrenpreis für besondere Verdienste um Nachhaltigkeit abgeholt

STANDARD: Wir sind sieben Milliarden Menschen, bald brauchen wir drei Planeten – ist die Klima-Krise in ein paar Jahren überhaupt zu verhindern?

Ochs: Ja. Dazu muss aber auf allen politischen Ebenen gehandelt werden. Die Fragestellung, ob wir mehr Top-down-Global-Governance brauchen oder mehr Bottom-up-Eigenverantwortung der Staaten, Kommunen, der Einzelnen, ist ein Schmarrn. Wir brauchen all das.

STANDARD: Was macht Sie da so hoffnungsfroh? Auch wenig ambitionierte Klimaziele werden dauernd verfehlt, der Klimagipfel in Kopenhagen war eher ein Waterloo …

Ochs: Also erstens bin ich Zweckoptimist, sonst käme ich ja morgens nicht aus dem Bett. Und zweitens: Der Paradigmenwechsel findet mancherorts schon statt. Und zwar nicht auf einem ethischen Gerüst, sondern aus knallharter ökonomischer Notwendigkeit, Firmen werden vom Saulus zum Paulus, weil sie auch unter Druck Green Labelling betreiben, weil Investitionen in Nachhaltigkeit sich rechnen und weil sie als dreckigste Firma keine richtig guten Leute mehr kriegen. Da tut sich sehr viel.

STANDARD: Wo sehen Sie den Paradigmenwechsel auf staatlicher Ebene? Wo ist denn da der Schmerz groß genug?

Ochs: Schauen Sie China an – das ist vom Kohleexporteur zum -importeur geworden. Das begrenzt das Wachstum. In der Regierung dort toben Kämpfe um die Frage, ob man erst reich und dann sauber werden soll oder umgekehrt – es braucht noch ein bisschen Zeit, aber es ist schon da.

STANDARD: Haben wir diese Zeit? Ihren Daten zufolge reden wir von zehn Jahren Spielraum …

Continue reading »

Worldwatch’s Ochs to Receive Award Recognizing Contributions to Global Sustainability Research

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Sep 012011

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, September 1, 2011

published, amongst others, at
http://www.worldwatch.org/worldwatch%E2%80%99s-ochs-receive-award-recognizing-contributions-global-sustainability-research,
http://www.internationalsustainableenergy.com/3179/news/worldwatchs-ochs-to-receive-award-recognising-contributions-to-global-sustainability-research/

Contact: Supriya Kumar, skumar@worldwatch.org, (+1) 202-452-1999, ext: 510

Washington, D.C.-Alexander Ochs, Director of Climate and Energy at the Worldwatch Institute, will receive the Sustainable Future Award today at an event in Vienna, Austria. The award recognizes Ochs’s contributions to the research of global sustainability issues and his commitment to using knowledge of the world’s social, environmental, and economic trends as a yardstick for political action at all levels.”Alexander Ochs has become a tireless connector of people from the most diverse backgrounds, professions, and nationalities,” said Josef Mantl, spokesman for the Sustainable Future Campaign, which administers the award. “In his writings, speeches, and moderations, his goal is always to improve our knowledge of economic, environmental, and political interconnections; our ability to see more clearly what is going wrong; and our capacity to rethink and act smarter-all in the interest of the environment and people’s quality of life around the world.”

The Sustainable Future Campaign is an international initiative founded in 2007 by the Austrian Academic Forum for Foreign Affairs in coordination with the United Nations Youth and Student Association of Austria. Ochs is the second recipient of the group’s award after Marc R. Pacheco, a Democratic senator from the U.S. state of Massachusetts who served as the first Chairman of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change of Massachusetts and as a Climate Messenger of former U.S Vice President Al Gore.

First edition of CONNECTED published!

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Feb 102011

CONNECTED_1_2011

Dear Readers,

In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama set the national goal to generate 80 percent of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035; the German government recently outlined its long-term energy concept which envisions full energy import independence and a 60 percent renewable energies share by 2050; the City of San Francisco launched an initiative aiming at a 100 percent renewables supply within just a decade; and under the motto “growth with foresight,“ Hamburg, this year Europe’s green capital, shows how urban development can be both economically beneficial and environmentally sustain-able. These are only a few examples illustrating that true leadership willing to tackle the twin challenges of climate change and energy security can be found on both sides of the Atlantic.

Content_CONNECTED1_2 Welcome to the first edition of CONNECTED – a newsletter discussing climate and energy from a transatlantic perspective. With CONNECTED, partners adelphi and Worldwatch, headquartered in Berlin and Washington DC, will support the Transatlantic Climate Bridge, an initiative that since its inception in 2008 has promoted numerous activities by public authorities, the private sector, civil society, and academia in order to strengthen climate protection and energy security. CONNECTED aims to showcase and review policy and research initiatives that are aimed at low-emissions development. Opinion pieces, interviews, as well as reports on studies, dialogues and conferences will provide a regular update on the progress made toward building climate-compatible economies in Europe, the United States and beyond.

[I am co-editor of CONNECTED, together with Dennis Taenzler. Please find the full first issue of CONNECTED here]