Friday, October 05, 2007 Peña: Ecology and profit By Rox Peña E-ssue
FOR business firms, being eco-friendly doesn't necessarily mean added expense. In fact, it can even save money. This is the idea behind Ecoprofit, the "Ecological Project For Integrated Environmental Technology", a program for sustainable economic development established by the City of Graz in Austria in 1991.
The goal is to reduce the cost for waste, raw materials, water, and energy, which is good for the environment and the company's bottom line.
The fundamental idea of Ecoprofit is a win-win-model. It tends to strengthen companies economically by using clean or environmental-friendly technologies and simultaneously improves the ecological situation in the communities where the firms are located.
One factor for the success is the special manner of co-operation between local authorities and companies as well as the networking of the companies taking part in the program. That way, effects of synergy develop and assure the Ecoprofit success for authorities and companies, and points out that Ecoprofit is a model for Public Private Partnership (PPP).
In Graz and Vienna in Austria, the local government provided the bulk of the funding for the implementation of the project in their areas. They want companies within their localities to be efficient and environment friendly. The cities will reap the benefit in the long term due to job creations, increased tax payment and clean surroundings. I wish our LGUs here in the Philippines will extend the same support to companies.
From Graz and the rest of Austria, the Ecoprofit approach was implemented in other organizations worldwide. Companies from our Asian neighbors particularly in India, China and South Korea, have embraced the concept and reaped its benefits. And now Philippine companies, particularly those around Subic and Clark, will also take the Ecoprofit program and are expected to realize its potentials in the next few months.
The application of the Ecoprofit concept here in our country is called Green Philippines. The project's general objective is to transfer the Ecoprofit know-how to companies in the Philippines.
It is a joint undertaking of two local organizations, the Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (MACCII) and the Environmental Practitioners Association (EPA) together with ASSIST (Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation), a Makati-based organization.
The foreign experts and main project partners are the Center for Appropriate Technology in Vienna, Austria and VSB Technical University Ostrava in the Czech Republic. The project is funded by the European Union's Asia-Eco Programme.
For the first phase, 15 companies that members of MACCII and EPA were selected. They were chosen from a list of applicants submitted by the local partners. Another 15 firms will be selected within the project's three-year duration.
The first training and orientation workshop, as well as initial plant visit by local and foreign experts for participating companies, was held last July. The training in Austria of local consultants from ASSIST, MACCII and EPA was done in September.
To ensure the sustainability of the project, the trained local partners together with European experts will coordinate with the Ecoprofit Training and Consulting Center for the Philippines which will serve as an information, knowledge and communication platform.
As one of the trained local experts, I have so much to share about the Ecoprofit concept, including its actual application in some companies in Austria. So watch out for my succeeding write-ups.
