April 2020 – Long-term effects on global sustainability of the corona crisis have to be sought in a fundamental and lasting mentality shift in the minds of people because of the crisis. The main change is likely to be the increased perception of vulnerability and dependence on nature by people in industrialised countries. Read more >>
February 2020 – Dutch Government and some researchers think that subsidising new investments in Dutch gas fields in the North Sea is beneficial for the climate and for reducing dependency on Russian gas. Stephan Slingerland and Harro van Asselt argue in an opinion article published in the Dutch newspaper Trouw on 21 February 2020 that this is not a good idea for long-term international climate policy.
January 2020 – As of 1 January 2020, the name of the company Slingerland Policy Advice has changed into SPA Sustainability. In this way, it is clear even from the title what services the company wants to provide: New Solutions for Sustainability. The company aims to provide three main categories of products: research and sustainability actions, education and training
December 2019 – Rather than closing the often cited ‘emission gaps’ between nationally decided climate policies and international climate goals, decisive steps on international sustainability in 2020 are likely to depend on closing three far more fundamental international sustainability policy gaps. This Clingendael ‘Geopolitics of Sustainability’ column discusses which ones. Read more >>
November 2019 – A transition towards global sustainability starts locally. It will involve new forms of social engagement, democracy and local cohesion. Poems in the public environment contribute to less anonymous neighbourhoods and to community building on a neighbourhood level. SPA Sustainability contributes to poems on private walls in the community of Oegstgeest, Netherlands, that will form a walking route through the village. The project is carried out as “Oegstgeester Muurgedichten Actiecomité (OMA)” for Cultuurfonds Oegstgeest and also involves a poetry competition for primary school pupils in the village.