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If you have read my blogpost from yesterday you know that I recorded a video blog yesterday.
Recording the video blog
Please have a look on the video (best of course if you understand Swedish…). It is a good introduction to the seminar called “Miljömärkta tabletter” (in English roughly “Green pharmaceuticals”) which will be the first one I make comments upon in today’s report from the political summit in Almedalen.
The seminar on green pharmaceuticals was arranged by Kronans Droghandel, and they had invited a panel consisting of Anders Finnson from the Swedish Water and Wastewater Association, myself representing the pharmaceutical industry, Anders Andersson from the government (politician representing the Christian Democrats on issues on health and social affairs), Louise Ungert from the consumer association in Stockholm, and Cecilia Marlow from Kronans Droghandel.
The panel debates
A background was given to environmental matters and pharmaceuticals. Focus of course on both potential effects from exctreted susbtances from patients and on environmental effects from releases of active pharmaceutical substances from manufacturing. For more information on the latter read my blog post from August 16 last year. The panel all agreed upon the necessity for actions to be taken. We discussed both regulatory initiatives and “market driven” solutions. And as I already mentioned in the end of my blog post from yesterday, my key message was a request that politicians should make adjustments in the pricing and re-imbursement system to allow for green incentives. To read more about green incentives, follow this link.
Friends of the Earth
After the morning seminar I visited Friends of the Earth and their discussion about Greenwashing and the presentation of the Swedish Greenwash Award 2011. Before the announcement of the Greenwash award, we received a good lecture on Greenwashing, based on a report issued by Friends of the Earth.
A greenwash report
The report was discussed already last year in Almedalen and you can read my comments from last year via this link (after scrolling down…). Friends of the Earth then presented the nominees for the award:
- IKEA
- Vattenfall
- Preem
- Mitsubishi
- Maud Olofsson (Swedish minister for Enterprise and Energy)
The “winner” of the Swedish Greenwash award 2011 was Maud Olofsson. Read more about the award here. I am looking forward to more discussions next year. It would add great value if Friends of the Earth invited industry and politicians and stakeholders to a more open debate and not only a “one-way communication”…
Next seminar was on the issue of young girls smoking and drinking, and how the tobacco and liquor industries use “dirty tricks” to introduce young girls to cigaretts, moist snuff and spirits. The seminar was arranged by KSAN, a network of women’s organizations collaborating on alcohol and narcotic issues.
At the KSAN seminar
Ruth Arvidsson from KSAN gave several examples of “dirty tricks” in marketing of spirits and tobacco products. Examples included product placements, utilization of celebrities, and products directly aimed for young girls (e.g. pink cigarettes and snuff with “candy” taste). Ruth stressed the need for positive role models for teenagers, and also inititiatives that would make it “cool not to smoke and drink”. In relation to that I would like to mention the Dizza Tobak project that I have written about here at the blog several times.
Dizza Tobak is a youth tobacco prevetion project ran by SAMBA in collaboration with A Non Smoking Generation, sponsored by Pfizer Foundation and Pfizer AB. The need for action is obvious if you look on results in the “CAN report on pupils drug habits 2010″:
-28% of the girls and 21% of the boys in class 9 (age 15) smoke
-43% of the girls and 36% of the boys in high-school’s second year (age 17) smoke
The idea in Dizza Tobak is that the kids know that smoking is dangerous, and that the kids do not stop smoking when adults communicate with them on the issue. It is much more effective if the information comes from other kids, and if the information is in a “cool” formate and on social media platforms where “the kids hang around”. See one of my favourite uploaded Dizza Tobak contributions from 2011 via this link. The Dizza Tobak platform on the Internet has received a lot of interest from several parties and the project manager Anders Lönegård gave a brief introduction to the project and the ideas at the social media seminar “Engagemang i digitala medier” arranged by TechSoup and Microsoft here in Almedalen yesterday.
I plan to talk briefly about Dizza Tobak tomorrow at 11.30 at the University (Cramérgatan 3, B24) when I participate on the panel in CSR Sweden’s seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in industry: “CSR -behövs piska eller morot?”. To me Dizza Tobak is a very good example of a CSR project where “everybody wins”.
At the KPA Pension seminar
My final seminar for today was arranged by KPA Pension. Sofia Hagman, CSR manager at KPA Pension, discussed ethical pension investments. Since roughly 33% of all money on the global stock markets are pension money, their investments do really matter… Sofia gave a good presentation, but to be honest I have to admit that the best part of the seminar was the improvisation theater played by the Stockholm Improvisation Theater Group. A lot of fun, and a smart way for KPA Pension to make their seminar extra worth remembering!
Then as always their was a party leader lecture in Almedalen. Today it was Jan Björklund from the Liberals. Read about the lecture via this link.
Tomorrow I once again have a tight schedule. My most important seminar is of course CSR Sweden’s seminar at 11.30 at the University (Cramérgatan 3, B24) called “CSR - behövs piska eller morot?” where I sit on the panel. But there are quite a few other semianrs as well:
July 7
0800-0945 ”Energieffektivisering som smittar – är det rätt att använda skolan som samhällspåverkare?”, Sustainable Innovation, M/S Teaterskeppet, Visby Hamn
0830-0930 ”CSR – Samhällsansvar med flera vinnare”, CSR Sweden och Fryshuset, Högskolan, Cramérgatan 3 (B24)
0900-0945 ”Klimatanpassning för ett säkrare samhälle”, FOI, Gotlands Museum, Strandgatan 14
1000-1130 ”Vad är orsaken till ökad ohälsa bland barn?”, Apoteket AB, Wisby Strand Congress och Event
1100-1200 ”Det lokala samhällsentreprenörskapet – effekten av lokala politiska initiativ?”, Mötesplats för social innovation och samhällsentreprenörskap, Hamnplan
1130-1245 ”CSR – behövs piska eller morot?”, CSR Sweden, Högskolan, Cramérgatan 3 (B24)
1100-1145 ”Vattenpiperökning, en oroande trend bland ungdomar”, Smart Ungdom och Folkrörelser mot Droger, Blå trädgård (150 m väster om Almedalsscenen)
1200-1430 ”Vilken näringspolitik behövs för att göra Sverige klimatneutralt 2050?”, Svensk Energi och Teknikföretagen, Clematis, Strandgatan 20
1300-1445 ”Miljön förstörs – förstår ekonomerna det?”, FORES, Krukmakarens hus, Mellangatan 21 (Oscarssalen)
1400-1530 ”Regeringens läkemedelsstrategi – i väntan på kejsarens nya kläder?”, Pfizer, Clarion Hotel Wisby, Vinterträdgården, Strandgatan 6
1500-1600 ”Social innovation och CSR”, Mötesplats för social innovation och samhällsentreprenörskap, Hamnplan
1700-1800 ”Man vill bli älskad – i brist därpå avskydd och föraktad”, Fryshuset och Natur & Kultur, Länsteatern, Bredgatan
1700-1800 ”Vilken plats har miljöfrågorna i politiken?”, Swedish Water House, Gotlands Museum, Strandgatan 14
2000 Stora Miljöfesten, Gotlands Museum, Strandgatan 14
Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg kommer att ta upp aktiviteter som vi själva gör inom ramen för det vi kallar ”ansvarsfullt företagande” men som i den vardagliga debatten ofta benämns CSR. Jag som bloggar heter Bengt Mattson och arbetar som CSR- och miljöchef på Pfizer AB. 