Creating a “demand market” for biobased products could be
very useful in achieving more acceptance and use of biobased products. In current “free markets”, fossil fuel-based
products usually win out in competition with biobased products because fossil fuel-based
products cost much less to produce, and therefore have much lower sales
prices. Greater use of biobased products,
versus fossil-based products, would benefit society a lot by reducing carbon dioxide
emissions. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions
is needed for society’s benefit, based on the conclusion that such emissions are
causing undesirable climate changes. Undesirable
climate changes are likely to get worse as carbon dioxide emissions continue to
increase.
Cities account for 70% of global carbon dioxide
emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions are a
major contributor to the increasing global average temperature rises and to the
changes that are occurring in global climate.
Therefore, city procurement programs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions could
be of the highest importance in reducing global carbon dioxide emissions. And because
of society’s (hoped-for) interest in reductions of carbon dioxide emissions, creating
a demand market for biobased products through city governments is warranted
Cities purchase billions of dollars (on a global basis) of
materials every year. By purchasing
materials that are made from biobased raw materials, versus fossil fuel-based materials,
a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions can be obtained. Many cities have procurement rules that provide
guidance that environmentally-friendly materials should be purchased, when
available. But at least two questions exist:
1. Are sufficient efforts being
made to ensure that biobased materials are being identified and purchased and
2. How much are carbon dioxide
emissions being (could be) reduced from the use of these materials.
I visited the websites of twenty-two of the largest United
States cities to determine which ones have procurement programs that are
committed to purchasing environmental friendly materials. I found that nine of the twenty-two (41%)
have such commitments. But, unfortunately,
none of the nine cities so far provide measured results on the success of such commitments.
Performance measurements are vital in understanding the effectiveness
of a city’s procurement program in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Here are some actions that I believe are needed
for cities to be able to implement effective measurement programs:
1. A
standards organization, such as GRI (click
here to go to GRI’s website), which
has been instrumental in companies measuring and reporting on sustainability
efforts, needs to be established for city programs to report on environmental
(sustainability) efforts.
Cities alone
cannot be expected to come up with such standards for measuring and reporting sustainability
efforts.
Standards need to be established
that all cities can respond to so that cities can be evaluated with respect to their
peers.
2. Non-profit
associations need to support research and analysis related to correlating
biobased materials use with carbon dioxide emission reductions and other positive
environmental results. These associations
need to initiate programs to influence public policy including the need for city
councils to insist that the results of their procurement programs for reducing carbon
dioxide emissions be shown on the city’s websites.
3. Chemical
companies interested in better biobased product demand should lobby their legislatures
to require city procurement departments to purchase biobased products and to
have in-place effective measurement and reporting programs on these purchases
and their results in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
