Respond to basic needs with what you have, introducing innovations inspired by nature, generating multiple benefits, including jobs and social capital, offering more with less: This is the Blue Economy.

Gunter Pauli, initiator of The Blue Economy

 

blue-economy=more-good

The Blue Economy is a progressive metamorphosis from the Green Economy. Based on the notion of thinking ahead so as to create more good, instead of less bad, it uses strategic, opportunity-driven rationale to connect the environmental, social and financial puzzle. It is a business response to a changing economic landscape in which resource depletion and social costs are unsustainable.

Delivering Blue Economy solutions globally through the be sustainable® group of companies.

The be sustainable® Group thinks there are important reasons why considering beauty and arts help to anticipate landscape change and its environmental impacts.

 

In order to support the excellence offered by European culture, be sustainable® Europe is creating wide-ranging thematic areas, focusing on creating new businesses, recycling and the valuable themes and products from European countries. The aim is to promote local production to reduce the impact of distribution, including the promotion and the creation of new models. Considering natural resources, recycling, re-thinking waste, building eco-villages, dealing with organic agriculture and food, the preservation of the sea, architecture and arts and heritage sites.

 

The Blue Economy initiatives build on earlier policy initiatives to recognise the potential of young and new entrepreneurs and thus supports the European 2020 strategy towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The starting point for the be sustainable® project is the grounded belief that the systemic thinking can play a pivotal role in facing long-term challenges, such as globalisation, global warming, climate change and scarcity of natural resources.

 

One may ask how a company might adapt to join The Blue Economy style of thinking. Is it something from within, or does a company need to perceive a political “threat” to change its ways? Business can change steps of the supply chain to create more resource-efficient processes.

 

be sustainable’s ® model is not just a new theory, it is also a useful online platform for sharing ideas. It inspires many entrepreneurs to try to meet new challenges. It encourages them to develop innovative business models and is a direct way to become more respectful to the planet. That is what be sustainable® Europe and The Blue Economy is about, rethinking business models to become more sustainable and profitable.

 

Principles:

The Blue Economy principles permit to respond to the basic needs of all with what we have. It stands for a different way of designing business by using the resources available in cascading systems, where the waste of one product becomes the input to create a new cash flow. It aims at creating jobs, building up social capital and rising income while saving the environment. An international community of companies, innovators and scientists support the concept, providing open source access to develop, implement and share prosperous business models which targets to improve natural ecosystems and quality of life.

 

1. Solutions are first and foremost based on physics. Deciding factors are Pressure and Temperature as found on site.

2. Substitute something with Nothing – question any resource regarding its necessity for production.

3. Natural systems cascade nutrients, matter and energy – waste does not exist. Any by-product is the source for a new product.

4. Nature evolved from few species to a rich biodiversity. Wealth means diversity. Industrial standardization is the contrary.

5. Nature provides room for entrepreneurs who do more with less. Nature is contrary to monopolization.

6. Gravity is main source of energy, solar energy is the second renewable fuel.

7. Water is the primary solvent (no complex, chemical, toxic catalysts).

8. In nature the constant is change. Innovations take place in every moment.

9. Nature only works with what is locally available. Sustainable business evolves with respect not only for local resources, but also for culture and tradition.

10. Nature responds to basic needs and then evolves from sufficiency to abundance. The present economic model relies on scarcity as a basis for production and consumption.

11. Natural systems are non-linear.

12. In Nature everything is biodegradable – it is just a matter of time.

13. In natural systems everything is connected and evolving towards symbiosis.

14. In Nature water, air, and soil are the commons, free and abundant.

15. In Nature one process generates multiple benefits.

16. Natural systems share risks. Any risk is a motivator for innovations.

17. Nature is efficient. So sustainable business maximizes use of available material and energy, which reduces the unit price for the consumer.

18. Nature searches for the optimum for all involucrated elements.

19. In Nature negatives are converted into positives. Problems are opportunities.

20. Nature searches for economies of scope. One natural innovation carries various benefits for all.

21. Respond to basic needs with what you have, introducing innovations inspired by nature, generating multiple benefits, including jobs and social capital, offering more with less