Annual Report 2011

Photo acknowledgment: Chris Jordan, Jet Trails, 2007

Authors

Franziska Barmettler, FFGS

Nick Beglinger, FFGS

Christina Berger, FFGS

Layout Darja Unold, FFGS

July 2012

Foundation for Global Sustainability

Minervastrasse 99

8032 Zürich

Switzerland

T: +41 58 450 1000

F: +41 58 450 1001

Email: contact@ffgs.org

Website: www.ffgs.org

3

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 5

2. Team 5

3. Funding 5

4. swisscleantech 7

5. Cleantech Visionary Club 7

6. Cleantech Framework 7

7. Cleantech Database 7

8. Cleantech Compass 9

9. Cleantech Information Service, Cleantech Institute 9

10. Swiss Village Abu Dhabi 9

11. Cleantech Innovation Parks 11

12. Minergie/IFBE 11

13. Biomimicry 11

4

Top: FFGS Team: Nick Beglinger, Holger Bazali, Eva Növer, Franziska Barmettler, Christina Braun, Beat Rohrer, Darja Unold

5

1. Introduction

Our foundation’s fourth business year was shaped by

Swiss climate and energy policy, which took on topical

importance. Most of our capacity was made available

to the swisscleantech business association. The shift

in energy policy (phase-out of fossil fuels and nuclear

energy) and the new CO2 act enabled swisscleantech

to set important milestones for Switzerland as a centre for

Cleantech and sustainable development on a global

level. As a result of the campaign for the new CO2 act,

Switzerland will reduce its CO2 emissions by 25 million

tonnes between 2013 and 2020. It should be noted that

a great deal of resistance was encountered from all the

other business associations, industry, and councils and

administrative bodies with regard to the CO2 act and the

shift in energy policy.

Furthermore, the creating of knowledge bases in the form

of concrete project partnerships reaped rewards for the

fi rst time in 2011. The Compass internet platform was set

up, based on the Cleantech Framework, in cooperation

with the Canton of Bern. This is a signifi cant fi rst step in rais-

ing awareness of the framework as well as the news items

it classifi es, which are supplied by the Cleantech Institute.

2. Team

Thanks to its interdisciplinary composition, the FFGS team

brings with it a wide knowledge base. Under the man-

agement of CEO Nick Beglinger and the operational

leadership of COO Holger Bazali, approximately 6.5 full-

time members of staff were employed during 2011. Erika

Soliani and Darja Unold assisted us in the administration of

all projects, with the latter providing support in the area of

layout and graphic design in particular. Programmer and

all-round IT expert Beat Rohrer continued to develop the

Cleantech database and provided cross-project support

in all technical and web-related areas.

Franziska Barmettler played a leading role in the setting up

and development of the swisscleantech business associ-

ation, in particular its political and content-related tasks.

She was supported in these areas by Christina Braun, who

established the swisscleantech newsletter and continued

to develop the Cleantech Framework.

The demands on the team increased sharply in 2011, due

in particular to the growing number of tasks connected

with swisscleantech. Much of its capacity was tied up with

drawing up the Cleantech Energy Strategy in particular

as well as with the related focus groups, and increased

involvement in the specialised sections of the government

alongside rising demands in the fi eld of communications.

Thanks to the great commitment and exemplary initiative

shown by the team members these tasks were able to be

dealt with successfully. Many thanks are due here to the

whole team for their valuable contribution.

The board, consisting of Walt and Nick Beglinger along

with Daniel Urech and Adriel Caro, supervised the foun-

dation’s activity and met on a regular basis.

3. Funding

FFGS is fi nanced by income from project mandates and

donations. These fi nancial resources are supplemented

by the foundation’s capital. The most substantial man-

date in 2011 was that of swisscleantech, on which 90%

of staff capacity was employed. Another mandate was

undertaken for the Swiss Village Abu Dhabi Association.

As had been the case in 2010, swisscleantech was only

able to cover part of FFGS’s mandate costs. FFGS waived

the association’s outstanding mandate invoices. In return,

as swisscleantech’s insuffi cient revenue can be attributed

to a large extent to state-fi nanced competition in the

form of the Cleantech export platform (free membership,

great danger of confusing the two organisations as has

already been proved, disregard for the subsidiarity prin-

ciple), swisscleantech has transferred the rights to legal

claims by swisscleantech and FFGS with regard to sub-

sidiarity and name infringement to FFGS. FFGS intends

to take concrete steps in this respect during the coming

year (there was insuffi cient team capacity available

for this in 2011 due to the work created by the shift in

energy policy).

5

6

Top: swisscleantech membership plaque, presented at the 2-year anniversary of swisscleantech in December 2011Bottom: Screen shot of the CVC brochure

Membership Application FormCleantech Visionary Club

Mr./Mrs. ...............................................................................................herewith declares to become a member of the Cleantech Visionary Club (CVC), which is part of the Foundation for Global Sustainability (FFGS). This implies the following:

1. The member supports the aims and the tasks of swisscleantech.

2. CVC membership costs 1000 CHF per year and per person. For students we offer a special fee of 200 CHF per year and per person (proof of enrolment required). In case of failure to pay after having received a reminder of payment, the membership is terminated automatically.

3. On a voluntary basis you may donate a larger sum. At 10’000 CHF you will automatically be granted the status of a permanent member of the Club.

4. All membership contributions of the CVC will solely be used for projects and tasks of swisscleantech as part of the foundation’s (FFGS) mandate. This division of tasks is clearly described in a separate contract regulating the working relationship between the foundation (FFGS) and swisscleantech.

5. As CVC member you have guest access to all internal member events organized by swisscleantech and a 50% discount on the news service of `Cleantech.ch`. The CVC membership does not correspond to a membership of swisscleantech, consequently CVC members do not have a right to vote within the association.

MemberFirst name, last name

Function/position/academic title:

Amount of annual donation (min. CHF 1000 & for students min. CHF 200, please attach proof of enrolment)

CHF

Telephone:

E-mail:

Postal address - street & house no:

Zip Code & City:

Place and date:

Signature:

Herewith I do NOT agree with making my name as member of the CVC public.

Cleantech Visionary Club

What is this Club about?

The Cleantech Visionary Club (CVC) is a project of the

Foundation for Global Sustainability (FFGS) to support the

business association swisscleantech.

Membership with swisscleantech is only possible for com-

panies. As there have been numerous requests by indivi-

duals to support the activities of swisscleantech, this Club

was founded. The Club aims at connecting individuals

who share the vision of swisscleantech and giving the

opportunity to financially support its activities.

Who can become a CVC member?

CVC membership is open to all individuals who want to

endorse the aims and the work of swisscleantech.

Why should I become a member?

With your CVC membership you have the chance to

actively and effectively contribute to a sustainable Swiss

and international economy. You support swisscleantech

that represents the interests of sustainable companies

and lobbies for a clear and transparent policy framework.

Within these guidelines the liberal market economy shall

freely operate. Opportunities are not turned into succes-

ses automatically – they must be seized.

swisscleantech aims at positioning Switzerland as inter-

national Cleantech leader and actively contributes to a

sustainable development at the global level - and there-

with contributes to keep Switzerland competitive for the

years to come. Within the first months since its founda-

tion swisscleantech has been able to genuinely engage

with policy-makers, business representatives, investors

and scientists and has scored substantial successes in the

realm of climate and energy policy, and business.

What are your advantages as CVC member

• Networking

You gain guest access to all member events organized by

swisscleantech.

• Information

You receive the weekly newsletter of the association.

Further, you benefit from a 50% price reduction on the

personalized news service 'CLEANTECH.CH'.

• Contribution

You are part of and actively contribute to a sustainable

development of the Swiss economy and society.

How much does it cost?

CVC Membership costs 1000 CHF per year and per per-

son. For students we offer a special fee of 200 CHF per

year and per person (proof of enrolment is required).

On a voluntary basis you may donate a larger sum. At

10’000 CHF you will automatically be granted the status

of a permanent member of the Club.

What will my contribution be used for?

All membership contributions of the CVC will solely be

used for projects and tasks of swisscleantech. All acti-

vities are published in the financial statement of the

association’s annual report.

© FFGS, November 2011 "

FFGS Modell for a sustainable market economy

7

4. swisscleantech

swisscleantech’s objective remained the concrete

implementation of a sustainable market economy –

synonymous with the Green Economy or Cleantech.

Even in the association’s second year, important steps

were able to be taken to set the course of climate and

energy policy.

The year was marked by the reactor accident in

Fukushima and, later on, the Swiss elections. Despite a

strong headwind, swisscleantech succeeded in bringing

the arguments of the Green Economy into the public arena

effectively - via discussions with politicians, the placing of

advertisements and publishing of policy documents as

well as through cooperation with other associations and

players. Through this work, swisscleantech signifi cantly

contributed to the future course of a Switzerland with less

CO2 and more Cleantech. This in turn led to a consid-

erably higher media presence and active participation

by swisscleantech team members in presentations and

podium discussions. By focusing on the theme of energy,

swisscleantech was able to establish itself as a key player

in the shift in energy policy.

Membership numbers increased from 164 to 272, while

the expertise and political weight of more than 20 profes-

sional associations were pooled in the association’s advi-

sory board.

You can read more on swisscleantech in the business

association’s annual report.

5. Cleantech Visionary Club

By creating the Cleantech Visionary Club (CVC), FFGS

has also given individuals the opportunity to support

the activities of the swisscleantech business association.

Individuals can join the Visionary Club for an annual sub-

scription fee, for which they receive the newsletter and

invitations to all swisscleantech events. The Visionary

Club is managed by FFGS on behalf of swisscleantech.

FFGS makes all funds earned in this way available to

swisscleantech. The Visionary Club gained its fi rst mem-

bers in 2011.

6. Cleantech Framework

The Cleantech Framework, based on nationally and in-

ternationally recognised industry classifi cations, is one of

the foundation’s key assets. The analysis matrix aims to

identify sustainable business management and thus facili-

tate its effi cient statistical recording and the matching of

companies with Cleantech problems and solutions.

Since the content-related bases of the framework had

been prepared in 2010, FFGS was able to start implement-

ing it in 2011. This involves, among other things, using the

framework as a web-based client (http://plus.ffgs.org). In

a beta version, this is intended to introduce the frame-

work classifi cation system to external partners and assess

the fi rst companies.

Unfortunately, our efforts to fi nd backing for the develop-

ment of the framework once again failed to bear fruit in

2011. However, the framework still represents a very impor-

tant tool for FFGS and was therefore further developed

using the limited funds available internally. Expansions

into the news and Compass areas will lead to licensing

income for FFGS in the medium-term.

7. Cleantech Database

The Cleantech database was developed further in 2011

and is increasingly proving to be an important asset for

the foundation. All relevant FFGS contacts are pooled

there – including those of the swisscleantech business as-

sociation and contacts from other FFGS projects.

The database was used for the fi rst time in 2011 as a

customer relationship management (CRM) for the

activities of the swisscleantech business association. In

June 2011, following weeks of intensive work on changes

to the GUI (General User Interface) and the basic func-

tionalities of the CRM, the database was used for man-

agement of the association. Many processes, such as the

organisation of events, are now specifi ed more clearly

and can be undertaken more effi ciently.

The database offers a good foundation for further devel-

opment – in particular links to news and project-specifi c

applications such as Cleantech Compass.

8

Top: Masdar CityMiddle: Simulation of the sprinter building in MasdarBottom: Photovoltaic panels on the rooftop of an Abu Dhabi hotel, with the Sheikh Zayed mosque in the back. Cleantech is gaining rapid attention, internationally

9

8. Cleantech Compass

FFGS launched the Cleantech Compass project (Com-

pass of the Green Economy) in 2011. It is a practical appli-

cation of the Cleantech Framework and the Cleantech

database. The Compass is intended, on the one hand,

to promote an awareness of Cleantech quality among

companies – and, on the other hand, to offer a project-

based source of revenue and contacts for FFGS.

The objective is to use the Compass in cooperation with

business development organisations in the cantons - and

thus rapidly generate company entries providing a high

regional presence.

A cooperation agreement was concluded with the

Canton of Bern in 2011 for the first implementation

of Compass (http://kompass.swisscleantech.ch). In

early 2012, Bernese companies should be able to use

the Compass to register themselves in accordance with

the Cleantech Framework and as a result be found more

easily, receive structured news and present their

corporate activities and Cleantech qualities. From mid-

2012 other cantons should be able to come on board.

9. Cleantech Information Service, Cleantech Institute

Promoting public awareness and cooperation in the area

of sustainability remains one of the three objectives of the

FFGS foundation. Since the development of the platform

nachhaltigkeit.org in 2008, a considerable contribution

has been made. By mid-2011 nachhaltigkeit.org was

receiving 1´000–1´500 individual visits per day and had

already published over 8´500 articles.

As a news partnership was not able to be reached with

the state “Cleantech Switzerland” export platform, and

because no other external funding could be secured

for the FFGS information service, FFGS and Café Europe

were forced to take the decision to change the free news

website nachhaltigkeit.org into the news service Clean-

tech.ch for which a charge is made. In addition, the

“Cleantech Switzerland” magazine ceased publication

temporarily after the Q1 2011 edition.

FFGS and Café Europe used this realignment as an

opportunity to formalise their partnership by setting up

the “Cleantech Institute”, held equally by the two part-

ners. The “Institute” will operate for the time being as a

partnership and as a next stage could be formalised in

a project-specific organisation.

One of the first significant customers of the news service

is the swisscleantech business association. Another cus-

tomer gained in 2011 was the Minergie association. It and

other customers receive a high-quality weekly newsletter

with the latest Cleantech news and trends. cleantech.ch

subscribers can consult the website for up-to-the minute

news and also search the archive there (where all nach-

haltigkeit.org articles are also available).

The cleantech.ch information service, based on the

Cleantech Framework, is given a competitive edge by

the fact that each reader is able to personalise their pref-

erences with regard to subject matter. The cleantech.ch

news round-up was sent to around 1,800 recipients on a

trial basis.

The Cleantech Institute also entered a partnership in

2011 with the Unternehmerzeitung business newspaper. A

Cleantech.ch heading has regularly appeared in the

paper since the April 2011 edition maintained by the

editorial team at the Cleantech Institute. The paper’s

direct readership amounts to 73,000 people and the

wider audience 155,000.

10. Swiss Village Abu Dhabi

2011 also began for the Swiss Village project with the

World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. A key objec-

tive for the official Swiss delegation at the WFES was to

visit Masdar City and ascertain the current situation with

regard to the Swiss Village Abu Dhabi project. There Nick

Beglinger (also in his capacity as President of the Swiss

Village Abu Dhabi Association, the supporting associa-

tion of the project) and Rudolf Trachsel, architect at Bob

Gysin + Partner, presented, together with those respon-

sible for Masdar, the project plans for the Swiss Village

Sprinter Building (which is to be realised as the first building

of the Swiss Village). According to the Masdar plan the

building should be ready to move into at the start of 2014.

10

Top: Defi nitionsBottom: Nick Beglinger, president of swisscleantech and CEO of FFGS, seated on top of PET plastic bottle cubes during a photo shooting for the customer magazine of EKZ, the cantonal energy provider and swisscleantech member, in September 2011

Defi nitions

“Sustainable development is human development

within the ecological means of our planet, while

leaving a substantial share of Earth’s biosphere

to species other than humans. In addition to this

ecological framework, sustainable development

requires a social regulatory framework which focu-

ses on improving the quality of life for all, in current

and future generations. Within those transparently

set frameworks, a dynamic market economy can

thrive.”

“Cleantech includes all goods, services, processes

and business models across all industries and all

value added steps that contribute signifi cantly to

a sustainable economy. The main components of

this contribution are increased resource effi ciency,

decreased demand for natural land, reduced

emissions of pollutants and the further reduction of

detrimental impacts on the environment, as well as

bringing about the necessary changes in society.”

11

12. Minergie/IFBE

Because of the intensive workload created by

swisscleantech issues, FFGS was only able to make very

limited progress with the IFBE (International Federation for

the Built Environment) strategy. Unfortunately the Miner-

gie Association only had limited resources available too

for the further development of the standards and its in-

ternational marketing. The development of the “Network

for sustainable building Switzerland” (supported by official

bodies) begun as a result of the CCRS workshop and the

efforts of the Eco Bau association and the KBOB should

lead to a new Swiss standard for sustainable construction.

The further development of IFBE is dependent on avail-

able resources.

13. Biomimicry

With the aim of picking up on the theme of biodiversity

and enterprise in mid-2011, the foundation started to or-

ganise, together with external partners, the international

conference “Biomimicry Europe Innovation and Finance

Summit”. This will take place from 29-31 August 2012 in

Zurich. Christian Häuselmann, responsible for exports and

international networking at swisscleantech is managing

the project.

“Biomimicry” stands for innovation that is directly inspired

by nature - and is what links the economy to the theme

of biodiversity. This is the first conference in Switzerland on

this theme. The foundation and its partners have already

secured the participation of swisscleantech, the Biomim-

icry Institute, the Harvard Wyss Institute, San Diego Zoo

and Zurich Zoo.

In the second half of the year, two road shows about the

Sprinter Building took place in Zurich and Geneva. A num-

ber of Swiss companies showed an interest in moving into

the Sprinter Building.

Unfortunately, Osec’s support for the project, which had

been taken up in 2010, could not be developed further

with the “Cleantech Switzerland” export platform. To the

astonishment of Swiss Village and FFGS, “Cleantech Swit-

zerland” even began to hold discussions with Masdar in

parallel to the Swiss Village Abu Dhabi Association. Rather

than joining forces to deal with the slow-moving project

development on Masdar’s part, Switzerland gave an

appearance of being indecisive and uncoordinated. As

a result FFGS reduced its project activities sharply and is

waiting - hoping - for positive project development and

firm steps from the Masdar project management and the

relevant Swiss parties involved.

11. Cleantech Innovation Parks

The results of the consultation on the total revision of

the federal law on the promotion of research and

innovation showed that implementing innovation parks in

Switzerland is certainly acceptable to the majority. How-

ever, various Swiss locations must be created and coordi-

nated (a “holding” entity with 4-5 park locations) as FFGS/

swisscleantech had called for in their consultation

response.

In order to be able to submit an appropriate project to

Parliament immediately after the bill has been passed

(probably in 2013), cooperation with the Research Foun-

dation Switzerland was strengthened by Ruedi Noser, a

member of the National Council, and further joint action

decided on.

At the end of the year, swisscleantech was invited to

submit a response to the draft bill for the Committee for

Science, Education and Culture of the National Council

(WBK-N). FFGS was likewise invited to join the board of the

newly formed “Swiss Innovation Park Holding”.