Middle East Centre For Sustainable Development

The Middle East Centre for Sustainable Development (MECSD) was established in 2007 to facilitate sustainable development throughout the Middle East region with the intention of evolving into a global sustainability company. MECSD provides sustainability services across various sectors of development and carbon management services for our clients. Our clients include multi-national corporations, business and commercial developers, national and local governments and global utility agencies. Our services include sustainable development education and research, creation and implementation of sustainable corporate and government policies or regulations, consulting and management of sustainable development projects, and carbon validation and finance solutions.

MECSD’s Green Building division has over 200 projects and over 40 million Sqft under sustainable development. MECSD is the largest independent green building consultancy in the world, with over 30 USGBC LEED Accredited Professionals to guide our clients through the process of sustainable development and certification for the built environment.



We are headquartered in Dubai within the Pacific Control Systems platinum rated green building in Techno Park, the 16th Platinum rated building in the world and the first in the Middle East. MECSD’s Green Building division and Pacific Controls have the innate ability to collaborate to provide our clients with seamless sustainable services that offer design and installation, measurement and verification plus real time monitoring of sustainable measures. These solutions include Green Building Systems (GBS) created out of the convergence of IT networks and building automation systems that manage building energy consumption in real time. Together, we can also offer Green Home Systems (GHS) that are fully integrated home automation systems which monitor a myriad of home systems energy consumption and raise the sustainable style of living to a new era.

MECSD Mission

MECSD promotes and advances global sustainable development by empowering individual client projects with the tools and information necessary to create economic, environmental, and social vitality throughout the world.

MECSD Vision

MECSD envisions a world where safety and abundance of sustainable natural habitat exists for all people. We realize that everything is interconnected and that all actions must ensure that the well-being of Earth and humanity is protected. We see people and planet living in harmony without compromising the future of both. To create this reality, we vigorously pursue sustainable development solutions.



They include:

• Urban regeneration
• Community development
• Energy
• Transport
• Ecology
• Pollution
• Climate change
• Peak oil
• Resource efficiency
• Carbon footprinting
• Workforce development
• Organizational learning
• Corporate responsibility
• Human rights
• Social justice

The importance of these issues varies between different communities, localities and organizations, sustainability education and development seeks to explore these issues in ways which are meaningful to people, and to provide solutions which enable people to respond appropriately.

Global goals of Sustainability

At the global level a number of key sustainability goals have been isolated:

Intergenerational equity - providing future generations with the same environmental and economic potential as presently exists

• Decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation - managing
economic growth to be less resource intensive and less polluting

• Integration of all pillars - integrating environmental, social and economic sectors when developing sustainability policies

• Ensuring environmental adaptability and resilience - maintaining and enhancing the adaptive capacity of the environmental system

• Preventing irreversible long-term damage to ecosystems and human health

• Ensuring distributional equity - avoiding unfair or high environmental costs on vulnerable populations

• Accepting global responsibility - assuming responsibility for environmental and social effects that occur outside areas of regional jurisdiction

• Education and grassroots involvement - people and communities investigating sustainability problems and developing new solutions
 

Threats to these aspects of the environment mean that there is a risk that these things will not be maintained. For example, the large-scale extraction of non-renewable resources (such as minerals, coal and oil) or damage done to the natural environment can create threats of serious decline in quality or destruction or extinction.

Traditionally, when environmental problems arise, environmental managers attempt to create solutions that can reduce the damage or wastage. But it is not always easy to determine exactly when and where threats will have their effects and often the impacts are hard to reverse. So increasingly environmental managers adopt strategies aimed to prevent damage being done
in the first place. A full sustainability program needs to include actions to prevent threats and impacts from arising, actions to protect the environment from threats and damage, and restoration to reverse damage already done.

Sustainability issues arise wherever there is a risk of difficult or irreversible loss of the things or qualities of the environment that people value. And whenever there are such risks there is a degree of urgency to take action.

Environmental sustainability programs include actions to reduce the use of physical resources, the adoption of a “recycle everything/buy recycled” approach, the use of renewable rather than finite resources, the redesign of production processes and products to eliminate the production of toxic materials, and the protection and restoration of natural habitats and environments valued for their livability or beauty.

Environmental sustainability implies that society must preserve its life-support systems in order to sustain life on Earth. This concept is based on the premise of an inherent carrying capacity that can not be exceeded without catastrophic or irreversible results to the biophysical world. The twin concepts of ecosystem stability and resilience to perturbation are keys to this interpretation. Some ecologists argue that man’s use of the Earth’s biophysical resources must be limited in order to guarantee stability and resiliency. Closely aligned with ecological sustainability is the idea that society wishes to enhance the biodiversity of the species that inhabit the Earth. Lastly, some argue that the current generation must leave the Earth’s biophysical systems in better condition than they inherited in order for future generations to enjoy a better life.

By itself, environmental sustainability is not sufficient to ensure sustainability because it does not directly incorporate human needs, equity considerations or preferences for the various goods and services provided by an ecosystem.

What is Economic Sustainability

There are several facets to economic sustainability. On one level, economic sustainability focuses on development, not simply growth. This implies economic activity that is conducive to, and supports, sustainable human development. Economic sustainability is a means to a much broader end - sustainable human growth. It also requires the use of appropriate technologies. Economic sustainability encourages the use of renewable resources as inputs to production. It actively discourages the generation of externalities arising from economic activity, such as air, water and soil pollution.

Economic sustainability strives to reduce inequity among groups in society by providing opportunities for meaningful employment to marginalized citizens such as the urban poor or citizens in underdeveloped countries. The financial impacts of decisions are also addressed under economic sustainability. For sustainable development to occur, development must be financially sustainable and carried out within the community’s means.

An economically sustainable policy would create economic activity that contributes to the quality of life without compromising the natural environment.
In the context of cities, economic sustainability could be achieved by employment opportunities that offer meaningful work at reasonable rates of pay. Further, employment should be readily accessible. Many economists note the spatial divide between employment opportunities and poor areas as recurring and synonymous problem, which sustainable economics seeks to solve.

Employment opportunities could also build upon indigenous skills and knowledge, rather than reliance on imported expertise and resources. Sufficient services and supports should be in place to provide economic security in the event of disability or disease. People need economic security when unemployed, ill, disabled or otherwise unable to secure a livelihood.

There is a need to make more and better use of appropriate technology, materials and designs. Technologies could contribute to production processes that minimize negative impacts on the natural environment. New, environment-friendly products exist in many industries to replace products that pollute and/or consume excessive energy or natural resources to produce.

Technologies could make optimum use of renewable resources, preferably with origins in the home region, and local, indigenous expertise. The technologies should also be inexpensive to build and maintain. Finally, technology should be relatively simple to design, build and operate. Whether it is to maintain or to improve existing lifestyles, society must ultimately make investments and associated technological improvements to foster sustainable resource use. Thus, economic sustainability is a key component of the triumvirate of sustainability. Economists use prices (not the condition of the physical ecosystem) to allocate scarce resources over time. The idea is to determine the maximum level of consumption by current generations such that capital (natural or man-made) accumulates to permit future generations to enjoy the same opportunities. Implied is the notion that some capital stock is maintained indefinitely in order to perpetuate future levels of consumption.

Further, economic sustainability is blind to the physical state of the ecosystem and does not directly consider equity considerations. In addition, the treatment of common property resources, externalities and resources without market prices is a vexing problem for economists. Thus, by itself, economic sustainability is not sufficient to ensure sustainability.



Social sustainability reflects the relationship between development and current social norms. An activity is socially sustainable if it conforms to social norms or does not stretch them beyond the community’s tolerance for change. Social norms are based on religion, tradition, and custom; they are rooted in values attached to human health and well-being. The norms may or may not be codified in law. Some have to do with intangibles, such as deep seated beliefs about right and wrong or values that are attached to the importance of different aspects of life and the environment. Even though they are intangible, these are very powerful factors. Other social norms are less abstract: they concern language, education, family and interpersonal relations, hierarchies and class systems, work attitudes, tolerance, and all the other aspects of individual or group behavior that are not primarily motivated by economic considerations. The main indicator of socially unsustainable development is antisocial behavior, including damage to property, community disruption, and violence. Most social norms are difficult to define and measure and their limits are therefore hard to determine and evaluate. These difficulties are compounded in multicultural countries because of the variety of communities with different social norms. In addition, social norms are not immutable, particularly in countries where change is pervasive. We live in a world of fast-moving social and economic change: behavior that is unacceptable today may one day become fully acceptable, or vice versa. Social norms may persist in the short term, but most will almost certainly change in the longer term.

Nevertheless, the main consideration in assessing social sustainability is that, even though social norms may change, many are extremely persistent. Any proposal that would breach existing social limits will fail because the people involved will resist or oppose it. This leads to the question of how to deal with the social limits that must be respected to achieve sustainable development. It is clear that they cannot be measured. For instance, environmental features highly valued by some communities, such as a wild, free-flowing river, may seem worthless to an outsider. People who rely on traditional ways of making a living, particularly in occupations that are dependent upon a natural resource base, such as fishing, hunting, farming, mining, and logging, are often resistant to change to an extent that cannot be comprehended by others.

To be sustainable, resource or environmental practices must be ecologically and economically feasible and are only as durable as the society from which they emerge.

Societal views related to the distribution of wealth across various economic classes, whether regional or global in scale, also exert a great influence on efforts to achieve sustainable resource use. Achieving social sustainability by itself is not sufficient to ensure sustainability as neither the biophysical or economic dimensions are directed considered.

It is clear that sustainability requires the integration of ecological, economic and social science metrics and all three must be considered simultaneously. By focusing on these three factors of sustainability, the World Centre for Sustainable Development intends to provide the leadership and knowledge required to identify and solve environmental and natural resource issues in the coming years.



The Middle East Centre for Sustainable Development (MECSD) is partnering with the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to expand its knowledge base and research capabilities.

This East/West collaboration couples the practical application of the sustainable development expertise of MECSD with the scientific research and development capabilities of UTA. Our joint efforts will include collaborative research projects in the areas of sustainability and the building of green communities, supporting students and faculty in conducting research in the area of sustainability, and the development of specific economic, sociological and environmental projects.

This conciliation will allow both entities a higher level of organization and integration for the advancement of sustainability that would not otherwise be possible. This kind of global collaboration is a model for what is needed in the
21st century to mitigate the effects of climate change. The University of Texas at Arlington is a leading comprehensive doctoral research university in the U.S. which has recently established an “Engineering Sustainable Engineers” program that brings together three engineering departments to improve knowledge and competency in addressing sustainable design and problem-solving issues.

As a Sustainable Think Tank, MECSD will be highly proactive in gathering and disseminating to its regional partners and global centre cutting-edge concepts that are determined to have enormous benefit to sustainable and regenerative human development.

MECSD Overview of Services

In this era of energy and water management and climate change, small businesses to global corporations must examine all facets of their business operations to establish sustainable development strategies and policies that reduce their carbon footprint.

Carbon footprint, also called Ecological footprint, is a measure of our impact on the Earth’s resources. Based on statistics provided by the World Wildlife Fund’s “Living Planet Report for 2008”, the UAE’s per capita footprint is 9.5 global hectares, while the average global footprint per capita is 2.7 global hectares. The ecological footprint is heavy in the UAE due to a large demand for fossil fuel resources (80% for power and transit). The average individual electrical usage is 20,000 kWh per annum, and individual water usage is 130 gallons per day. These statistics place the UAE among the highest per capita resource consuming countries in the world. For these reasons, MECSD established Sustainable Consulting Services for all sectors of development in the Middle East. Our consulting services create strategies to measure carbon footprints, initiate sustainability measures, and incorporate life cycle costing and analysis for implementation of sustainable practices. With these services, businesses, corporations, developers, and government entities can better understand capital improvement paybacks, portfolio spending and value, optimization of products and processes, and elegantly communicate the strategies of these investments to internal and external stakeholders.

MECSD combines expertise with globally developed tools and methods to accurately analyze strategies and options for sustainable development and carbon reduction. In addition, MECSD, as a regional entity to the World Centre for Sustainable Development, has made alliances with global organizations that promote sustainable development. These partnerships allow MECSD to tap a vast network of global resources to ensure that our knowledge remains cutting edge. Furthermore, MECSD is seeking to extend its reach to assist global clients with their sustainable initiatives by working with other local and regional sustainable organizations.

MECSD Educational Services

Since its inception, the Middle East Centre for Sustainable Development (MECSD) has held dozens of educational seminars, lectures and interactive forums to educate development stakeholders in the advantages of integrated sustainable development strategies and technologies. Through these educational services, MECSD showcases highly respected experts of differing sustainable theories and advancing technologies from around the world to expand the knowledge and practice of sustainability - both within our organization and throughout the region. The Green Dubai World Forum (GDWF), sponsored in part by MECSD, Pacific Control Systems, and Solar Technologies, held its inaugural reception in October 2008 to correspond with the anniversary of Sheikh Mohammed’s green building decree and to celebrate MECSD’s green building accomplishments in Dubai. The forum brought together the Dubai sustainable development community and global sustainability thinkers to exchange ideas and advance the cause of sustainability.

The Green Dubai World Forum is an annual event and will continue to focus on key issues of global sustainability, environmental problems and possible solutions. The GDWF will connect the best scientists, technologists, thinkers, and promoters in the field of sustainability to create integrated and innovative approaches for the betterment of humanity. Likewise, MECSD aims at promoting large scale change towards sustainable development through collaborations, including the University of Texas at Arlington, as a research
and development institution. MECSD engages decision makers in government, business, NGO’s and other sectors of development and policy implementation to simultaneously benefit the global economy, the global environment and global social well being. Our collaborative research enables guidelines, technical support and sustainable certifications for our clients who wish to initiate sustainable directives.

Corporate Sustainability Consulting

MECSD Corporate Sustainability Consulting assists companies in creating, implementing and managing global sustainability initiatives and policies. From company operations to product design, our sustainability consulting services pinpoint areas for improvement and detail possible solutions in regards to energy efficiency, carbon emissions, environmental management and sustainable strategy.

The complete service will enhance company efficiency and increase profitability, while promoting a new philosophy of operating as a sustainable business.

MECSD Corporate Sustainability Consulting can perform a systematic analysis of company operations or products including:

• Life Cycle Assessment according to ISO 14040/44
• Carbon footprint analysis
• Greenhouse Gas Accounting
• Design for Environment, Design for Compliance
• Energy Efficiency / Benchmarking studies
• Greening the supply chain
• Material Flow Analysis
• Global Reporting Initiative

MECSD Corporate Sustainability Consulting is a combination of services in different areas of Corporate Social Responsibility that offer corporations a solution to the implementation of sustainable business practices. Sustainability solutions include:

I. Environmental Management

• Material and energy flows
• Environmental impacts
• Environmental balance, Waste balance, GHG balance
• Security
• Compliance Management
• Environmental Impacts of Products

II. Sustainability Management

• Ecological, economical and social key indicators
• Corporate carbon foot printing
• Corporate reporting
• Strategic trading

III. Emissions Management

• Emissions monitoring
• Market information and evaluation
• Allowance management
• Risk management and strategy

A combination of industry experts and technical hardware allows MECSD to offer sustainability consulting services on a global scale. Our Global Command Control Center acts as a central repository of information to conduct analyses, build databases, and monitor processes and markets globally. Information from this central point is relayed back to international corporate headquarters
in the form of compliance and research reports and company dashboards that give up-to-date accounts of sustainable business operations or opportunities. This real time information allows companies to make strategic decisions on emissions, supply chains, and product flows to continuously improve efficiency. MECSD Corporate Sustainability Consulting transforms corporate
emission reductions into assets and supports companies in managing or trading these assets through global exchanges.

In addition, by compiling global data and utilizing expertise across all disciplines of sustainability, MECSD can integrate social and environmental impacts into decision making on corporate sustainability strategies. At any point in time, companies can access data to analyze decisions in terms of the triple bottom line that achieve optimum sustainability. MECSD conducts research into regional socio-economic factors as well as environmental impact assessments and regulations, ensuring our clients make informed, strategic decisions.




MECSD Carbon Accounting and Finance services provide third party validation and verification of carbon emissions reductions that allow qualifying offset projects to trade carbon credits on global carbon exchanges. As an accredited verification and validation body under ISO 14065, MECSD utilizes recognized greenhouse accounting techniques to ensure that carbon reductions meet the requirements for international trading. MECSD offers expertise in the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Initiative project based certification procedures of the Kyoto Protocol, with special emphasis on energy efficient projects. Further, accreditation from ISO empowers MECSD to verify carbon emission reductions globally for various carbon exchanges, including:

• Voluntary Markets
• European Climate Exchange
• Australian Climate Exchange
• Chicago Climate Exchange

MECSD’s extensive experience in efficient energy offset projects creates additional value for our clients through carbon reduction consulting and carbon finance assistance. This experience allows us to optimize the performance of offset projects, insuring our clients achieve the maximum carbon asset.

Carbon Finance Consulting Services

Certified emission reductions and their expected future cash flow represent additional revenue streams that offer capital intensive energy efficient projects greater return on investment. MECSD provides clients a range of transaction models, from directly purchasing the project’s credits, arranging specific buyers for credits, providing access to the carbon pooling facilities that we manage, to bringing investors and project financing into the transaction.

Finance Services for Project Developers

MECSD helps project owners identify sources of investor financing. To ensure the lowest financing costs for our client partners, we work closely with project lenders and take measures to incorporate the proceeds from the carbon transactions in the financing structure of the project.

One way we work with developers is to form early commitments to purchase carbon credits, in lieu of fees for our advisory services. This transaction type aligns our long term interests with the project developer, and provides a long term partnership model to both parties. Our consultants also help project developers negotiate the best price and terms for their emission reduction sale transactions. MECSD, with the help of its efficient carbon consultants, provides project developers with consulting services to develop and design forward contracts and transaction structures for long term carbon emission transactions. We identify buyers for the credits, and negotiate long term forward sale contracts on behalf of our client partners.




These principles are integrated into the design and construction processes by builders, architects, designers, community planners, and real estate developers to create buildings and communities that benefit the stakeholders and the environment. These principles also apply to existing buildings and this huge market must look to better conserve resources and promote occupant well-being. Building construction and operation have an enormous direct and indirect impact on the environment. Buildings not only use resources such as energy and raw materials, they also generate waste and potentially harmful atmospheric emissions. As economy and population continue to expand, designers and builders face a unique challenge to meet demands for new and renovated facilities that are accessible, secure, healthy, and productive while minimizing their impact on the environment.

Benefits of Sustainable Building

There are several environmental benefits to sustainable building. These benefits include reduced pollution and waste and the restoration or preservation of natural resources.

Buildings built sustainably have better indoor air quality. Reduced level of pollutants and toxins in the indoor environment help people feel better. Studies have shown this leads to increased productivity and occupant well-being in the built environment. In addition, the use of sustainable materials compares in quality to their nonsustainable counterparts, yet sustainable materials often offer more durable or healthier alternatives. Local or regional economies also benefit as these materials are sourced near the project site. Sustainable buildings are generally more energy efficient than traditional buildings (up to 40% or more). Better site and systems design, proper equipment sizing, and a tightly sealed envelope all contribute to a reduced need for heating and cooling. With constrained global energy resources, energy efficient buildings create value for the owner and provide grid relief for utilities.

How can MECSD help

MECSD delivers complete sustainable building solutions for all project stakeholders. One of the MECSD’s primary purposes is to consult with clients to guide them through an integrated sustainable design and construction process and to obtain sustainable certification from nationally recognized sustainable rating systems such as the USGBC. We are assisting clients with project of varying sizes in this endeavor for individual buildings as well as entire neighborhoods and communities. MECSD projects include mid-rise to sky-rise residential and office buildings as well as mixed-use facilities. Other projects include large hotels and resort projects such as beach front resorts, resort communities and multiple tower hotels. In all of these facilities, we implement solutions for our clients that reduce water and energy use, improve their air quality, reduce toxins, and increase the use of healthy and resource efficient materials. These sustainable facilities also reduce waste during construction using responsible construction practices.

MECSD utilizes in house expertise and proprietary tools to ensure that client projects achieve maximum value for their sustainable building before, during and after construction.

Other MECSD sustainable building projects include:

• Schools
• Healthcare facilities
• Homes
• Government Buildings
• Existing Buildings




Movement in cities is not an end in itself. We move in order to gain access to people and things. But in car-oriented cities, activities tend to spread out. This forces people to travel further and further for the same level of accessibility as before. The resulting urban sprawl creates a multitude of problems including traffic congestion, infrastructure degradation, loss of productivity, and increases in carbon emissions from vehicles.

Sustainable transportation concerns systems, policies, and technologies
for the safe and efficient delivery of people and products while minimizing the problems of urban sprawl. Sustainable transportation aims for the well-organized transit of goods and services, and sustainable freight and delivery  systems.

The design of vehicle-free city planning, along with pedestrian and bicycle friendly neighborhoods is a critical aspect for the transformation of urban congestion into productive mobility. In addition, sustainable transportation design considers alternatives to physical movement such as telecommuting and flexible work centers that reduce or eliminate vehicular travel.

A sustainable transportation system achieves

• Allowance for the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and with equity within and between generations.

• Affordable, efficient operations, choice of transport mode, and support for a vibrant economy.

• Limits on emissions and waste which are within the planet’s ability to absorb them, minimal consumption of non-renewable resources, limits on consumption of renewable resources to the sustainable yield level, the reuse and recycling of components, and minimal use of land and noise production.

Benefits of Sustainable Transportation

Creating transportation infrastructure that is conducive to moving people and products safely and efficiently with minimal vehicular traffic offers many benefits. Cities all over the world that have developed on sustainable transportation principles have been rewarded with greater community access, stronger economies, and a higher quality of life. Measures taken that enhance public transportation, walking, and cycling also produce distinct local advantages such as:

• Attraction of New Businesses
• Stimulation of Local Retail Trade and Sales
• Encouragement of High Value Land Use
• Reduction in Transportation/Infrastructure Costs
• Job Creation
• New Technologies/Services
• Greater Community Livability

How can MECSD help

MECSD provides strategic direction on the key principles of sustainable transportation to assist urban planners, policy makers, and other stakeholders in the development of local and regional transportation infrastructure. Through extensive collaboration with local stakeholders, creative and individual solutions are developed that improve access, strengthen the community and protect environmental resources. MECSD facilitates an integrated approach to ensure a diversity of options and to ensure interregional equity is maintained. Our sustainable transportation services are one more way to
move the world towards a sustainable future. MECSD sustainable transportation strategies target the following:

Urban Planning and Transportation Planning:

• Concentrate urban growth, limit sprawl and provide for more mixed land use through urban structure and land use policies. This reduces demand (especially for automobile trips) by moving origins and destinations closer together and also help reduce habitat destruction and loss of agricultural and recreational
lands.

• Give priority to less polluting, lower impact modes of transportation in the design of transportation systems and urban areas. Pedestrian and cycling paths should be provided as attractive and safe alternatives to cars.

• Maintain and enhance the health and viability of urban public transit systems.

• Integrate transport modes, whether for passengers or goods, in order to provide more efficient goods movement, and to increase the availability of lower impact transportation options such as public transit.

• Protect historical sites and archaeological resources, reduce noise pollution, and consider aesthetics in the planning, design and construction of transportation systems.

Effective Transportation Decision Making Processes:

• Ensure public and private sector stakeholders coordinate their transportation planning, development and delivery activities. These transportation decisions should also be integrated with environment, health, energy and urban land-use decisions.

• Make transportation-related decisions in an open and inclusive process. Inform the public about transportation options and impacts, and encourage them to participate in decision making so that the needs of different communities (i.e. rural vs. urban; cyclists vs. drivers, etc.) can be understood and accounted for.

• Anticipate environmental or social impacts of transportation-related decisions rather than trying to react to them after they have occurred. This will result in considerable cost savings since transportation decisions often involve costly, long-term infrastructure investments.

• Consider both the global and local social, economic and environmental effects of decisions.

Improved Access:

• Incorporate demand management to protect social and economic needs for access by altering urban form, promoting new communications technologies, and developing more efficient routes - while reducing total transportation needs.

• Provide access to varying transportation options to give the public a diversity of choices in transportation access




• monitoring
• collection
• transport
• processing and recycling
• disposal

Waste materials can originate from a variety of sources and include industrial, agricultural, commercial and domestic activities.

Sustainable waste management strategies minimize or avoid adverse impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing economic development and improvement in the quality of life.

The aims of sustainable waste management are to:

• conserve resources of water, energy, raw materials and nutrients
• control pollution of land, air, water and sediment
• enhance business performance and maintain corporate social responsibility
• improve occupational health and safety

Sustainable waste management also includes waste reduction strategies throughout the supply chain such as:

• cleaner production
• product dismantling
• recycling
• repair
• reuse

Benefits of Sustainable Waste Management

Sustainable waste management preserves natural resources and reduces the environmental and economic burden of traditional waste management practices such as landfills. Urban societies are faced with increasing populations that require more space for further development. Typically, urban planners must allot space for the disposal of waste by setting aside areas for landfills. Landfills impose a variety of problems on society and other living things including degradation of water and air, transportation logistics, and high costs of maintenance. All of these problems are amplified as the human population increases.

However, sustainable waste management addresses the problems of landfills by making them the option of last resort. Sustainable waste management emphasizes strategies that:

• Significantly reduce the amount of waste that a society produces
• Make best use of products (re-use where possible)
• Select waste management practices that minimizes the risks of immediate and future environmental pollution and harm to human health
• Engage policy makers and industry experts to continue the implementation of waste management best practices

The combination of these strategies shrinks the waste stream of society by productively reusing or recycling waste materials into new materials or energy sources, which adds economic value to an otherwise troublesome problem. Sustainable waste management creates a new industry dynamic within the society that involves planners, businesses, government, and the individual in a coordinated effort that the increases environmental, social, and economic well-being of the entire community.

How can MECSD help

MECSD works with a variety of industry experts to deliver cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waste management solutions. Our expertise assists better management of government policies to efficiently and productively reduce urban waste streams.

Our researchers solve waste management challenges by:

• Assisting in the creation and commercialization of innovative technologies and cleaner, less toxic processes
• Developing implementation strategies for new remediation techniques and industries
• Helping governments and businesses understand waste stocks and flows

MECSD can create and manage waste flow databases and processes in collaboration with our clients to solve individual company needs or larger community needs. Information on waste quantities and composition can be collected and monitored continuously to achieve specified waste reduction targets and objectives and to optimize waste productivity. MECSD employs highly sophisticated analytical capabilities for sampling and analysis with large scale monitoring abilities to execute the most appropriate strategies for tackling any waste management issue.




This is a time of great change for business and global communities as they adapt to technological transformation as part of a deeply interconnected world. And for the oil and gas industry, which has seen a wave of consolidation and major technical advances, it’s also a time of great change in the way business interacts with society. Now, the oil and gas industry faces a need to reduce its environmental footprint, improve its social impact and reputation, and use energy and resources more efficiently. These challenges can be overcome with a sustainable approach by the industry. A sustainable oil and gas sector focuses on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profits to create a truly beneficial energy source.

Sustainable Oil and Gas focuses on these key issues:

• Biodiversity
• Climate Change
• Engagement and Community Outreach
• Ethics and Human Rights
• Health Management
• Oil Spill Prevention and Response
• Product Stewardship
• Safety
• Technology Cooperation and Capacity Building
• Urban Air Quality
• Waste Management
• Water Management

Benefits of Sustainable Oil and Gas

An oil and gas industry that incorporates sustainable best practices and the highest standards will offer benefits on a global scale. Because this sector is an integral part of our everyday lives, a sustainable approach can have dramatic effects. Oil and gas operations around the world that emit less greenhouse gases, engage the local community, and protect the environment would not only supply our energy needs but substantially improve global development.

In developing nations with large reserves, sustainable practices by oil and gas companies can empower communities to overcome poverty, attain education, and incorporate new technologies that extend the reach of citizens. Sustainable oil and gas operations are a boom for local citizens economically and socially, which ensures that the region benefits from its natural resources. Further, sustainable oil and gas delivers energy with less harm to the environment by protecting biodiversity, minimizing waste and pollution, and implementing the latest technologies in accident prevention. Sustainable actions will enhance the viability of oil and gas companies and continue to attract investors and capital into the sector. The sustainable products of this continued growth, such as technologies and best practices, will spill over into other sectors to enhance all areas of sustainable development.

How can MECSD help

MECSD recognizes that no single solution will deliver the necessary changes. We need to develop a mix of options which focus on supplying more energy sources, using energy more efficiently and reducing carbon intensity. The global energy market’s opportunities belong to those who employ expertise in a concerted manner across geographical boundaries and throughout the operational life cycle.

MECSD will collaborate with oil and gas stakeholders and industry organizations to create strategic sustainability plans for individual projects or company wide policies. MECSD can assist in the implementation of sustainable initiatives for the following oil and gas industry issues:

• Reputation management
• Supplier and vendor environmental and social responsibility
• Climate strategy, renewable energy and clean fuels
• Bio-diversity and environmental impacts of resource exploration and operations, including depletion of natural resources
• Workforce health and safety
• Social/community impact
• Operational disclosure and end-product greenhouse gas emissions
• Integration of climate risk into core business strategies
• Absolute greenhouse gas reduction targets




Sustainable manufacturing uses a more holistic approach that considers all life-cycle stages, from pre-manufacturing, manufacturing and use through post-use. These stages are spread across the entire supply chain with different partners managing activities at each of these stages. Thus, many players in the manufacturing process must adopt sustainable principles to ensure that higher production standards are met. To overcome this challenge, sustainable
manufacturing involves these key drivers:

• Development of frameworks to manage the new generation of sustainable supply chains

• Identification of effective metrics to measure economic environmental and societal impacts at each life-cycle stage in the supply chain

• Concurrent optimization of product and supply chain designs Sustainable manufacturing recognizes that the total lifecycle of a product, from its design, through its use to its retirement, is affected by a whole range of technical, economic, ecological and social aspects. Historically, product design has been used to ensure efficient manufacturing and market appeal, but now products must also be designed to take account of factors such as decommissioning and recycling. The holistic view of sustainable manufacturing takes the aim of adopting sustainable principles across the whole manufacturing life-cycle, and identifying all inputs and outputs for continuous improvement action.

Benefits of Sustainable Manufacturing

Many large, multinational companies are cognizant of impending global environmental regulations and growing consumer demand for a new generation of environmentally friendly products, and they are beginning to formulate their response. Some have embraced the notion that sustainable manufacturing techniques are competitive tools.

These companies are finding that sustainable manufacturing initiatives offer competitive market advantages. Manufacturers can actually save money by institutionalizing greener products and processes. Sustainable manufacturing has become not only a more responsible way for many organizations to do business, but a more profitable way as well.

With growing concerns in the world about the environmental effects of modern living practices and the role of manufactured products, the manufacturing industry is facing an escalating need to introduce sustainable manufacturing strategies. The benefits of these strategies include:

• Elimination of costly or wasteful materials
• Reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions
• Innovation in renewable or non-toxic materials
• Cleaner production and industrial outputs
• Optimization of supply chains and production structures
• Creation of additional product value
• Compliance with international standards

In addition to factors such as quality, cost-effectiveness and safety, sustainable manufacturing enhances product life-cycle and services. Sustainable manufacturing is the way to face future environmental and business concerns, including the escalating cost of resources such as water, energy and raw materials, and the introduction of more stringent regulations in relation to the use of these resources.

How can MECSD help

MECSD offers manufacturers access to extensive analytical tools and established databases to create strategic solutions for sustainable manufacturing. These tools combine life-cycle assessment and supply chain optimization with material and process analysis to appropriately balance factors including greenhouse gas emissions, energy and water consumption, waste outputs and associated costs.

MECSD expertly guides product designers, suppliers, and manufacturers during the creation and implementation of individual and corporate sustainable policies to ensure that all stakeholders receive the best return on investment.

Further, MECSD will assist in the documentation of sustainable practices to allow companies to follow Global Reporting Initiative protocols to gain benefits from carbon trading markets and international recognition. MECSD utilizes business analysis and sustainable expertise to not only reduce a manufacturer’s environmental footprint, but also reduce energy and raw material costs, mitigate risk, minimize costs associated with future carbon or other emissions taxes, improve public image, and increase customer acceptance.



When talking about global utilities, this refers more often than not to electricity, water, and wastewater – generation, distribution and supply.

Utility generation has enormous environmental impacts and the more a utility company can do to maximize efficiency and minimize impacts the better. Some of the sustainability practices employed by utility generators:

• Improved supply and distribution efficiency - huge transformation losses (especially in coal, gas and geothermal generation) and transmission losses (which amounts to about 10% of all electricity generated globally) are an obvious target to get efficiencies
• Fuel switching from coal to gas
• Nuclear power
• Renewable heat and power (hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy)
• Combined heat and power
• Early applications of carbon capture and storage (CCS, e.g. storage of removed CO2 from natural gas)
• A basic water requirement guaranteed to restore and maintain the health of ecosystems.
• Institutional mechanisms developed to prevent and resolve conflicts over water.

Future initiatives include:

• CCS for gas, biomass and coal-fired electricity generating facilities
• Advanced nuclear power
• Advanced renewable energy, including tidal and waves energy, concentrating solar, and solar PV
• Water planning and decision-making will be democratic; ensuring representation of all affected parties and fostering direct participation of affected interests.

To achieve sustainability within the utility sector, companies that provide energy and water services must incorporate key concepts into business and production operations. These concepts not only improve upon business performance and return on investment, but provide the communities in which utility companies operate environmental protection and greater social well-being.

A truly sustainable utility integrates the following:

• Sustainable objectives set for economic, social & environmental
• A structured set of policies, procedures & practices externally audited
• Robust regulatory framework rewards best practice
• Highly developed risk management skills & techniques
• Excellence in demand management / asset management
• Business focus on efficiency & customer service
• Stewardship of the total water and energy cycle
• Right sized to professionally manage task

Benefits of Sustainable Utilities

Adoption of better management practices is an emerging trend throughout the utility industry. Widespread adoption of better management practices offers great promise to reduce costs and direct system investments using a risk-based approach. WCSD works with utility companies to better understand what attributes are critical to their success, so that their success can be shared broadly across the industry.

By creating sustainable utilities, the companies and communities that utilize water and energy sources can realize many benefits. These benefits include:

• Higher product quality
• More customer satisfaction
• Employee and leadership development
• Operational optimization
• Financial viability
• Infrastructure stability
• Operational resiliency
• Community sustainability
• Resource adequacy
• Stakeholder understanding and support

How can MECSD help

WCSD works to create programs that are intended to help shift the utility management model beyond compliance to sustainability and improved performance. These programs emphasize more efficient network design and
enhanced data quality for more sustainable utilities.

• Effective Utility Management – working collaboratively with national and global organizations that support electric, water, and wastewater utilities to identify the attributes of sustainable utilities and to promote effective utility management.

• Asset Management - managing infrastructure capital assets to minimize the total cost of owning and operating them, while delivering the desired service
levels.

• Environmental Management Systems – integrating the environment into everyday business operations, and environmental stewardship becomes part of the daily responsibility for employees across an entire organization.

WCSD uses experience in industry assessing, planning, and implementing programs with utilities companies to address the strategic, management and operational challenges facing these organizations. WCSD develops close working relationships with the executive level and senior management teams of city governments, special water and energy districts, and private utility operators and is sensitive to the business needs of global clients. WCSD is particularly adept at strategic planning, information technology master planning, organizational capabilities and work process improvement projects, workforce development and knowledge management programs, and asset management program development and implementation.



Sustainable finance and investment favors companies that:

• Have identified and developed emerging markets for their products and services;
• Devise and market technologies (both “hard” and “soft”) that meet pressing environmental, social and economic needs;

• Use every environmental efficiency that is economically viable.

However, sustainable finance and investment differs from the traditional services in that money will come first from investors who share an understanding of the new economic paradigm of sustainability. As the sector demonstrates its ability to generate competitive returns, more investors will be attracted into it and  the entire world will benefit.

Sustainability can add value, in terms of the economic, environmental and social objectives of communities and nations. This thinking translates the concept of sustainability into language that the average businessperson comprehends. As sustainable finance and investment becomes more prevalent, the company that does not add value to a product or service will be forced to
leave the marketplace, especially in today’s increasingly competitive global economy.

Benefits of Sustainable Financing and Investment

Sustainable finance and investment has grown enormously in the past decade. In the past, it was regarded as a fringe interest, mainly for small investors or banks with strong views on the environment and human rights. Since then, the amount of money invested in sustainable funds and companies has increased dramatically, and many of the large financial services firms have begun offering their clients a sustainable option.

This increase in capital flow to sustainable investments and directly to companies has reinforced the market’s view that sustainability matters. Banks must now consider how their financing arrangements are going to affect the environment and community at large.

Integration of sustainability into the banking sector offers two key directions:

• The pursuit of environmental and social responsibility in a bank’s operations through environmental initiatives (such as recycling programs or improvements in energy efficiency) and socially responsible initiatives (such as support for cultural events, improved human resource practices and charitable donations);

• The integration of sustainability into a bank’s core businesses through the integration of environmental and social considerations into product design, mission policy and strategies. Examples include the integration of environmental criteria into lending and investment strategy, and the development of new products that provide environmental businesses with easier access to capital.

Banks or investors which ignore the new importance of sustainable practices not only risk collateral damage to their reputations, but also to shareholders’
capital, if environmental or other social liabilities impact the cash flows and residual value calculations on long-term asset finance and investments.

How can MECSD help

MECSD actively seeks out firms that are breaking new ground in social and environmental performance. As an independent entity, MECSD will offer reviews on company policies, initiatives, and sustainability performance to assist banks and investors in sustainable finance and investment decisions.

Firms that demonstrate compliance with internationally recognized standards for sustainability will be recognized as potential investment opportunities. MECSD will compile data and monitor corporate activity to ensure that
sustainable policies are implemented and shareholder value is created.

In addition, MECSD can help develop long-term strategies for investment in sustainable markets and help enterprises offer new opportunities to attract investors. Companies seeking to attract sustainable financing and investment can look to MECSD for policies and strategies that match core competencies and market dynamics.




Sustainable governance is, among other things, participatory, transparent and accountable. It is also effective and equitable. And it promotes the rule of law. Sustainable governance ensures that political, social and economic priorities are based on broad consensus in society and that the voices of the poorest and the most vulnerable are heard in decision-making over the allocation of
development resources.

Governance has three legs: economic, political and administrative. Economic governance includes decision-making processes that affect a country’s economic activities and its relationships with other economies. It clearly has major implications for equity, poverty and quality of life. Political governance is the process of decision-making to formulate policy. Administrative governance is the system of policy implementation. Encompassing all three, sustainable governance defines the processes and structures that guide political and socio-economic relationships.

Benefits of Sustainable Governance

Sustainable governance has all the characteristics of efficient government, successful businesses and effective civil society organizations, in addition to well defined characteristics of societal terms. These characteristics include:

Participation - All men and women have a voice in decision-making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.

Rule of law - Legal frameworks are fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights.

Transparency - Transparency is built on the free flow of information. Processes, institutions and information are directly accessible to those concerned with them, and enough information is provided to
understand and monitor them.

Responsiveness - Institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders.
Consensus orientation – Sustainable governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interests of the group and, where possible, on policies and procedures.

Equity - All men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.

Effectiveness and efficiency - Processes and institutions produce results that meet needs while making the best use of resources.

Accountability - Decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil society organizations are accountable to the public, as well as to institutional
stakeholders. This accountability differs depending on the organization and whether the decision is internal or external to an organization.

Strategic vision - Leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on sustainable governance and human development, along with a
sense of what is needed for such development. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded. Interrelated, these core characteristics are mutually reinforcing and cannot stand alone. For example, accessible information means more transparency, broader participation and more effective decisionmaking. Broad participation contributes both to the exchange of information needed for effective decision-making and for the legitimacy of those decisions. Legitimacy, in turn, means effective implementation and encourages further participation. And responsive institutions must be transparent and
function according to the rule of law if they are to be equitable.

How can MECSD help

MECSD believes that societies should aim, through broad-based consensus-building, to define which of the core features are most important to them, what the best balance is between the state and the market, how each socio-cultural and economic setting can move from here to there. We can help in this approach by engaging stakeholders and global organizations to create sustainable governance programs and policies for implementation on national, regional, or local levels. Our involvement in the development of sustainable governance insures impartiality, while we pursue appropriate mandates with national priorities. MECSD has the capacity to facilitate global and interregional programs for sustainable governance that allocat support for policy formulation, decentralization and strengthening of civil society. MECSD draws from its experience in management development, government policy consulting, and sustainable development implementation to assist government entities that aim to better their societies.