The positive trend of recent years continues. Demand for organic products continues to rise, more and more producers are farming organically, the organic area is growing, and figures on organic farming are now available from 179 countries. This is shown in the latest edition of the study "The World of Organic Agriculture". This statistical yearbook on global organic agriculture is published by FiBL and IFOAM - Organics International jointly published. The Yearbook is supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and NürnbergMesse. The following is a selection of the latest figures.

The global organic market is growing

The market research company Organic Monitor puts the global market for organic products at $81.6 billion (approx. 75 billion euros) in 2015. The largest market is the United States (35.9 billion euros), followed by Germany (8.6 billion euros) and France (5.5 billion euros). Key markets also recorded double-digit growth in 2015. The highest per capita consumption was in Switzerland (262 euros), and the highest organic market share was in Denmark (8.4 percent).

Over two million organic producers

There are 2.4 million organic producers worldwide. As in previous years, the countries with the most producers are India (585,200), Ethiopia (203,602) and Mexico (200,039).

50.9 million hectares of organic farmland

50.9 million hectares of agricultural land were farmed organically at the end of 2015. This is almost 6.5 million hectares more than in 2014. Except in Latin America, the organic area has grown in all continents.

Forty-five percent of the global organic area is in Oceania (22.8 million hectares), followed by Europe (25 percent; 12.7 million hectares) and Latin America (13 percent; 6.7 million hectares). Australia is the country with the largest organic area (22.7 million hectares), followed by Argentina (3.1 million hectares) and the United States (2 million hectares).

Eleven countries with an organic area share of at least 10 percent

The countries with the highest organic share of agricultural land are Liechtenstein (30.2 percent), Austria (21.3 percent) and Sweden (16.9 percent). In eleven countries, at least 10 percent of agricultural land is farmed organically.

The World of Organic Agriculture 2017 study, infographics and online tables can be accessed via.

www.organic-world.net/yearbook/yearbook-2017.html

Source: FibL

Despite a well-functioning waste management and a successful recycling system, a lot of waste is carelessly thrown away or left lying around in public spaces in Switzerland, too. A study conducted by the IGSU and the ETH Zurich on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) now shows: space sponsorships effectively contribute to reducing and preventing littering. By taking responsibility for the cleanliness of a certain public or semi-public space and cleaning it up regularly, these places are demonstrably cleaner, according to the study.

Mix of proven and new measures
"In the fight against littering, we rely on proven measures on the one hand, but are also always looking for new ways," explains Nora Steimer, IGSU Managing Director. "Following the encouraging results of the study, we have now also included space sponsorships in our catalog of measures."

Now others should be able to benefit from the findings of the analyses carried out and expert interviews with existing sponsorship projects: In order to promote the effective method, the IGSU has now written a guide that supports municipalities, schools, associations and companies with important tips when implementing a space sponsorship project.

Cheap and effective
Space sponsorships are not only an extremely cost-effective measure against littering, they also have an effect: through regular maintenance, the places are tidy and clean, which increases the inhibition threshold to leave litter lying around. The positive effect of space sponsorships is additionally strengthened by the erection of information boards or the dissemination of further information on space sponsorship, as the field experiment within the framework of the IGSU study proves. Notices ensure that passers-by are made aware of the project and sensitized to the correct handling of waste and thus take more care of the area in question.

Successful space sponsorship projects
Many successful space sponsorship projects already exist in Switzerland and abroad. In collaboration with the Zürcher Oberland Waste Disposal Association (KEZO), for example, the town of Illnau-Effretikon has been running a successful space sponsorship project since 2006. It has been able to motivate numerous private individuals, associations, schools and companies from trade and retail to act as sponsors for a section of space.
In Basel-Stadt, the Office for Environment and Energy (AUE) enables committed school classes to become a so-called "Green Team". A "Green Team" does something for the environment and receives something in return from the AUE. For example, for cleaning the school grounds every week, a team receives a new basketball hoop on the playground.

The study and guidance on space sponsorship projects can be found at:
www.igsu.ch/de/aktuelles/leitfaden-raumpatenschaften

Source: IGSU

Renewable energies should be promoted even after the cost-covering feed-in tariff KEV expires. This is because the planned replacement, the climate and steering system KELS, is no guarantee that investments will be made in renewable power generation. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the Swiss energy research center SCCER CREST in a recently published White Paper.

Funding expires
The energy strategy stipulates that five years after the first package of measures comes into force, probably in 2018, no more new plants are to be subsidized via KEV tariffs. In addition, there are to be no more new investment contributions or one-off payments from 2031. The Energy Strategy 2050 envisages that the support measures for renewable energies will be replaced by the climate and energy steering system KELS, which levies charges on fuels and electricity.

Electricity imports instead of renewable generation?
However, according to the authors, this prevents the construction of new fossil-fuel power plants - but does not guarantee that investments will also be made in renewable power generation. Instead, electricity imports will increase. The researchers call for one of two groups of measures to be implemented instead: Either with flexible quantity instruments - such as quotas or tenders - or with flexible price instruments - such as feed-in premiums.
Both measures could be designed close to the market and implemented in such a way that it is possible to reliably control the total costs. Good design of the measures is crucial here. The research group therefore calls for planning to begin as soon as possible.
The whitepaper is available at www.sccer-crest. ch published.

For several years now, motorists have been able to make use of the "Bike4Car"The climate protection movement myblueplanet, supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, wants to motivate people to try out an alternative means of transport. In this way, the climate protection movement myblueplanet, supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, wants to motivate people to try out an alternative means of transport in order to experience its advantages directly. But does it also encourage participants to change their mobility behavior in the long term? ZHAW researchers, together with the University of St. Gallen, surveyed participants from 2015 and found that Bike4Car has a measurable effect - even a year after the campaign.

More than half drive less today
According to the survey, most of the e-bike testers still have fond memories of riding an e-bike a year after the campaign and have recommended people in their circle to try it out as well. More than half of the survey participants also state that they have been traveling more often without a car since the campaign. In addition, after trying out an e-bike, participants associate typical everyday mobility situations such as commuting more often with the e-bike than with a car - after one year, this effect was even stronger than immediately after the trial phase. "This is an indication that trying out an e-bike can change mobility habits," explains study leader Corinne Moser from the ZHAW School of Engineering.

Majority wants e-bike
A majority of the survey participants would like to buy an e-bike or have already done so. Testing and trying out during Bike4Car 2015 played an important role according to participants. Important reasons for the purchase decision were the improved fitness and the fun factor. However, the idea of environmental protection was less central. For Corinne Moser, this is an important finding from the survey: "It seems that it is easier to motivate someone to use an e-bike via the topic of health or fun than via the topic of the environment. This affects people more directly."

Participants were interviewed three times
The survey was conducted in three runs. First at registration and directly after the action in 2015 and then one year later (fully completed questionnaires 1st survey: 405, 2nd survey: 218, 3rd survey: 300). The survey was conducted as part of the Swiss National Science Foundation's (SNSF) National Research Program "Control of Energy Consumption" (NRP 71) - in collaboration with the Energy Competence Center SCCER CREST, funded by the Commission for Technology and Innovation CTI, and the climate protection movement myblueplanet. In addition to the ZHAW, the research partner was the University of St. Gallen. Across Switzerland, 1854 people participated in the Bike4Car campaign in 2015.

Source: ZHAW

Forest management has a positive impact on forest services: A well-tended and healthy forest can meet the demands placed on it, for example, as a recreational area, for protection against natural hazards, to ensure high drinking water quality, in the sequestration of carbon dioxide or to maintain jobs in the forestry and timber sector. Around 5 million cubic meters of wood are harvested from Swiss forests every year. Without the forests being overexploited, around a third more could be used in addition.

Encounters of the wooden kind

The focus of the awareness campaign launched by the forestry and timber industry and the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN #WOODVETIA are life-size figures of Swiss personalities. These are each made from a type of wood that comes from the region of origin of the person portrayed. Zurich artist Inigo Gheyselinck creates the statues with the involvement of various partners from the forestry and wood industries. Foresters, sawyers and woodturners are among those involved in the artistic process. The selection of the statues was made by a jury consisting of representatives from the forest and timber industry and the FOEN.

The first Swiss personality to start the #WOODVETIA figurine series is Marie Tussaud, the founder of the world-famous waxworks. The figure was carved from a Bernese winter linden tree. According to her, Tussaud was born in Bern, even though the official place of birth is Strasbourg.

Throughout the year, new wooden figures are repeatedly placed in public spaces throughout Switzerland, so that the population encounters them in surprising places. In the process, the figures are always freely accessible. Because only when people touch and smell the statues can they experience the sustainable raw material wood in a sensual way and become enthusiastic about it. At the end of 2017, all the figures - we will not reveal how many there will be - will be presented together in Bern. Until then, the website www.woodvetia.ch Information about the locations of the statues. Further information about Swiss wood is also compiled on the same page.

Increase demand for Swiss wood

The #WOODVETIA campaign aims to encourage consumers to choose Swiss wood. The "Swiss wood origin mark" distinguishes this material at a glance. In this way, they are to be made aware of the importance of Swiss wood in new buildings, in renovation or extension projects, in interior fittings or when buying furniture. Only in this way can the value chain linking the processing stages of wood - from the forest to the end customer - remain intact. In concrete terms: If the demand for Swiss wood on the part of the population is high, sawmills in Switzerland, for example, can sell a lot of Swiss wood to customers such as timber builders or carpenters for further processing. This ultimately benefits the forest owners. The timber revenue makes an important contribution to a functioning forest management, because the forest management has a positive effect on the forest services.

Source: Initiative Wood Switzerland

According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, around one third of the food produced worldwide is lost. The same amount is assumed for Switzerland, which corresponds to about 300 kg per capita and year. Food waste is defined as food that has been produced for human consumption and is lost or thrown away on its way from the field to the plate.

The Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, in cooperation with the industries, has been calculating food waste figures for four years, pursuing three goals:

1. Food losses in Switzerland are to be quantified; broken down into the individual areas of food production.
2. The figures are intended to provide information on whether these losses are avoidable or not. Avoidable losses are food scraps that would be edible at the time of disposal and if used in a timely manner. Examples include plate scraps, produce not accepted by the marketplace such as stained apples, or byproducts such as buttermilk. Unavoidable food waste includes inedible parts, such as peels and bones, or arises during food preparation (grub waste).
3. Finally, they want to have detailed information on which industries are incurring the losses.

Reasons for the losses in the food industry

The Swiss food industry produces 2.3 million tons of food and semi-finished products per year. This is what the FOEN found in its latest study "Organic losses from the food industry in Switzerland". was determined. Across all eight main sectors (e.g. grain processing, cocoa and coffee or dairy products), losses amount to around 500,000 metric tons. 125,000 tons of these losses, a good quarter, are inedible components such as bones or peeling waste.

Three quarters of the losses concern edible ingredients. The amount is 375,000 tons or 14% of total food production. Two main causes dominate:

• The lack of an outlet for by-products such as whey or bran (20%).
• The state of the art (20%): this food waste is edible but not preventable according to the current state of the art.

Causes for these losses are inaccurate planning or technically related declassified products such as damaged chocolate bars. It can therefore be seen that there is great potential in technology to prevent food waste.

The main share (75%) of organic losses from the food industry is fed to animals and thus remains in the food production cycle. Around 20% is recovered to biogas or recycled as compost. Only a small proportion is incinerated in waste-to-energy plants. Goods given away account for a marginal share of less than 1%.

The FOEN makes this study available to the food industry, shows the savings potential for the industries concerned and also supports the industries in implementing measures to prevent food waste.

Source: FOEN

The Swiss Ethics Award is recognition for ethical performance in business and has been presented by the Swiss Excellence Forum since 2005. The 2016 award went to Weleda AG. Interested companies and organizations are invited to submit their application by September 30, 2017. The award honors achievements of organizations and companies that assume responsibility in a special way and are committed to sustainable corporate governance. The award will be presented on April 26, 2018 at the KKL Lucerne as part of the Swiss Entrepreneur Conference.

The application forms are available from the Swiss Excellence Forum and can be downloaded from the homepage of the www.swiss-excellence-forum.ch can be downloaded.

More information and registration:
Swiss Excellence Forum
Ruth Buholzer
Alley 1 A/B
6210 Sursee
Tel. 041 229 30 40
swiss@excellence-forum.ch

Since it is currently unclear how much nitrogen oxide diesel engines actually emit, the car-sharing provider is replacing Mobility will gradually replace 700 diesel vehicles with gasoline-powered ones starting in the spring. She believes that legislation and the manufacturers have a duty to ensure transparency as quickly as possible.

Share instead of buy

Studies show: The big sustainable lever of car sharing is that users share cars instead of buying one themselves. In Switzerland alone, 30,000 fewer private cars are on the roads thanks to Mobility. But it is not only the concept of sharing that protects the environment, but also the carsharing cars themselves. "We only include the most energy-efficient vehicles possible in our fleet," explains Mobility communications manager Patrick Eigenmann. The company finds it all the more shocking that it is currently completely unclear how much nitrogen oxide small-displacement diesel engines emit in reality. "Experts assume a multiple of the manufacturer's data, but unfortunately there is no reliable information. That's why, as a first step, we're deciding to gradually replace 700 diesel cars with gasoline cars in the economy category." This corresponds to just under a quarter of the entire Mobility fleet.

The dilemma: the more gasoline, the more CO2

The fact that Mobility is increasing the proportion of gasoline-powered cars puts the cooperative in a dilemma: Although gasoline-powered cars emit less nitrogen oxide than diesel vehicles, they also emit more CO2. "It will therefore be more difficult for us to achieve the federal government's CO2 targets," Eigenmann knows. On the basis of current manufacturer specifications, the car-sharing provider believes it is absolutely still in a position to do so, but as soon as new test procedures such as the WLTP test are introduced that show more realistic values, "the federal government will probably be called upon to adjust its specifications downward," he says. In general, Mobility welcomes all measures on the part of legislation and manufacturers that serve to determine more transparent, more realistic emission values.

Digitization - does it affect me too? Swiss fiduciaries say "yes" to this, as a study by the Swiss Association of Fiduciaries TREU-HAND|SUISSE and bexio, the leading provider of web-based business software, shows. More than 90 percent of finance professionals are convinced that the digital transformation will have a major impact on their industry by 2025. For the study, around 2100 members of the fiduciary association were surveyed online in fall 2016.

The study shows that today 60 percent of fiduciaries spend a large part of their working time on administrative work for their clients. A third even need more than half of their time, for example, to record documents or book business transactions.

Such simple administrative tasks will be eliminated in the future, as figures from Oxford University show: The professions of accountant and trustee will be 94 percent automated. This will affect almost 50,000 people in Switzerland alone.

These changes are not unexpected: Those surveyed by TREUHAND|SUISSE and bexio know that their everyday working lives will change in the next few years and therefore state that they will spend less time on administrative tasks in 2025.

This is also a consequence of the high time requirements of administrative work today: There is no time for other important work of fiduciaries, such as advising their clients: Today, for example, only just under 60 percent monitor their account balance on a quarterly basis or even less frequently. Yet staying liquid is essential for a healthy SME: 9 out of 10 bankruptcies are due to liquidity problems, according to figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs Seco.

But how can financial professionals keep up with digitization? At bexio, we spoke with over 500 accountants and fiduciaries last year. Our conclusion: fiduciaries need to move with the times. The solution is digitization in three steps:

Venture into the digital terrain. Whether LinkedIn, XING, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram: Opt for certain of these social platforms and share there. Make sure that all your digital information is up-to-date (website and social media). Tip: Show digital presence!

Integrate digital processes into everyday work. In the past, a rather closed mindset prevailed: due to limited technical possibilities, accounting processes were increasingly manual and more complex. This has changed: Today, customers and clients have more control and influence. Processes are increasingly automated; repetitive, manual work is no longer necessary. Tip: Be open and always in contact with your business partners.

Improve constantly - everywhere, including digitally. Ask your customers and employees what they need, and listen carefully. As technology changes, so do their needs, for example in terms of sharing and transparency. Tip: Ask your customers. There are now various (free) online solutions for this.

And why all this? What does digitalization bring to finance professionals in SMEs? At bexio, we are convinced that only digital accountants will survive. The external finance professional is the small business owner's expert and sparring partner. And no longer the 'document typist' as in the past.

In 2015, the water utilities of Switzerland and Liechtenstein provided 933 million cubic meters of water, 32 million cubic meters more than in 2014. The additional volume corresponds to about twice the content of Lake Davos. Average per capita consumption is 307 liters per day, an increase of 2.3% compared to 2014. Also significantly higher was the maximum daily discharge of 512 liters per inhabitant; in 2014 it was 438 liters. As a result of the dry weather, the proportion of spring water in 2015 was also lower than the average of the last ten years, at 38.3%. This was offset by the increased use of groundwater (42.4%) and lake water (19.3%). The industry association SVGW does not interpret the increased water consumption compared to 2014 as a trend reversal, but rather as a result of the pronounced drought in 2015. Over the past 25 years, drinking water consumption in Switzerland has decreased by a good 20% overall.

Water treatment
In 2015, 30% of drinking water was supplied to consumers without treatment or treatment, and another 30% only after a UV disinfection stage. The fact that the majority of drinking water in Switzerland is not treated or is only disinfected as a preventive measure is thanks to the precautionary principle in force and the measures for groundwater protection. This will become even more important in the future. 10% of the discharged water was filtered in a single stage (with subsequent disinfection). The remaining 30% went through multi-stage treatment, including all the water extracted from lakes and rivers.

Water price, operating costs and investments also higher
The average water price (median), comprising the basic charge and the volume price, has increased slightly compared with the previous year. Assuming an annual consumption of 120 m3 per household, single-family homeowners pay an average of CHF 2.58 per 1000 l, while households in apartment buildings pay CHF 1.94. The higher water price is also a result of higher operating and capital costs, which at Fr. 1615 million were around 4% higher in 2015 than in the previous year. At CHF 922 million (CHF 107 per inhabitant), water utilities invested about 5% more in 2015 than in 2014.

Well networked and with more power
84% of the water utilities had at least one third-party procurement option for drinking water in 2015. The high degree of interconnectedness increases the security of supply, which is particularly important in view of the more pronounced dry periods to be expected as a result of climate change. Increasingly, drinking water plants are also being used for electricity production. For example, Swiss water utilities generated an estimated 170 GWh of electricity in 2015, 92% of which was generated by turbining drinking water. The industry thus covered around 40% of its electricity needs from its own production in 2015.
648 water utilities participated in the survey for the 2015 operating year. This means that almost 70% of the publicly supplied population in Switzerland and Liechtenstein were covered.

Source: Swiss Gas and Water Association SVGW

The independent testing and certification system for textile products Oeko-Tex is launching a new Standard for leather goods tested for harmful substances.

This means that producers and suppliers of leather goods can now also have their products tested for harmful substances and certified accordingly.

The basis for this is the new Leather Standard from Oeko-Texa strict catalog of criteria. In many cases, the test criteria and limit values go far beyond national and international requirements. From the consumer's point of view, the standard thus contributes to a high and effective level of product safety, and manufacturers of leather goods at all stages of production are able to label their articles that have been tested for harmful substances in order to offer consumers in the trade a reliable decision-making aid when purchasing leather products.

The Oeko-Tex Association has been able to win over the Research Institute for Leather and Synthetic Materials (FILK), Freiberg, and the Pirmasens Testing and Research Institute (PFI) as further partners for testing leather goods, both of which enjoy a high level of recognition within the leather industry in their specialist field. Together with six Oeko-Tex institutes that have already been established for many years, the two new facilities FILK and PFI will also carry out tests and certifications in accordance with the Leather Standard from next year.