VISIONS: Integrated visions for a sustainable Europe

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 97.0425

Key words (English)

Pension fund investment; sustainability; integrated assessment

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: ENV4-CT97-0462

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 4. Frame Research Programme - 3.1 Environment

Short description (English)

See abstract

Partners and International Organizations (English)

Univ. Maastricht ICIS (NL), RIVM (NL), Univ. Manchester (UK), RMC (UK), Univ. Versailles (F), RIKS (NL)

Abstract (English)

The main goal of the overall VISIONS project was the construction of three plausible yet visionary scenarios of a sustainable Europe. The first scenario was called 'Living on the Edge' and is characterized by strong environmental degradation leading to only partly successful adaptation in the long run. The second scenario, 'Europe in Transition' describes a future of fast innovation, where low-emission technologies help to mitigate environmental problems. The third scenario, 'Shadows of Europe Ltd', is a vision where big business and globalization have reduced the role of government and where inequalities between people and between regions are high. These visions were constructed as a multi-level combination of European and regional scenarios and can be accessed in more detail at the VISIONS website (http://www.icis.unimaas.nl/visions/).
The contribution of EAWAG to the VISIONS project had two major parts. First, background information to be used in the scenario development was prepared on issues of future energy use in different world-regions, water scarcity and its impact on food production, and the problem of unemployment in Europe. These background studies were presented as VISIONS working papers and can be accessed via the VISIONS project website.
Second, the major part of the EAWAG contribution to VISIONS was a study on the connection between sustainability an long-term investment. Especially pension funds have to consider the long term in their investment strategies as they have commitments with a time horizon of some decades to future pensioners. This makes long-term viability of our economies, or sustainability of our society more broadly, an important concern for these investors. Indeed, pension funds begin to put pressure on the companies they invest in to consider the sustainability implications of their operations. And they also begin to select at least part of their stock-market investments according to sustainability criteria. Switzerland is one of the leading countries globally concering innovative concepts for sustainability investment. In order to study these developments in relation to European and global developments, we have conducted interviews and a questionnaire survey of pension fund managers and external asset managers throughout Europe and North-America. The results, to be published in the ENVIRONMENT journal, suggest that sustainability considerations have the potential to change pension fund investment substantially in the coming years.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 97.0425