SMEs in the industrial and commercial area of Aalborg, in Denmark’s North Jutland region, have developed green business models through a novel approach in the Sustainable Synergies project. The project helped 25 companies in the Aalborg 9220 area code cut energy consumption and use resources more efficiently. Forty business models show synergies between companies and between economic and environmental benefits. The project has helped to deliver an annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions estimated at 10 000 tonnes of CO2.
Sustainable Synergies helps Danish businesses become greener
- 29 July 2020
This project has demonstrated how a systemic facilitation of industrial symbiosis can boost green business development, when being made as a focused effort with the right stakeholders. The geographical focus on a relatively small area in which several actors collaborated prior to the project provided the necessary openness among companies for sharing resources and daring to be dependant on each other in their business development.
Sustainable Synergies was a collaboration between the Port of Aalborg, the University of Aalborg and the energy cluster House of Energy. In addition, the local business network and the public energy supply organisation were engaged in the project, which has delivered around 10 attractive industrial symbioses.
The project has achieved impressive results, including a reduction in energy consumption of 11 000 gigajoules and a decrease in materials consumption of around 2 600 tonnes FE-equivalents. In addition, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was eight times more than estimated when the project was initiated, and material reduction 10 times more. The project is finalised on 30 June 2020, so the results do not include the last four months of the project.
Sharing resources creates benefits for all
While each company has its own green business model to work towards, finding areas for collaboration was also a key aspect of the project’s work. For example, businesses shared resources or participated in common solutions for the collection and transport of waste. The name of the game has been to use the area’s resources more wisely, making sure waste is reused and recycled and does not go to landfill.
A number of initiatives see one company use waste or resources discarded by another to make new products. For example, a local industrial designer is creating a new line of furniture using surplus metal, wood and fibreboard supplied by three local companies. The waste materials are being transformed into fashionable tables and lamps with genuinely sustainable credentials.
In another collaboration, corrugated plastic sheets used for packaging material delivered to local metalwork companies are being recycled for the first time. A number of businesses are pooling this type of waste, which makes recycling a more economically viable option. The project team also developed a scheme for local companies to reuse cardboard boxes cheaply and effectively, doing away with the need to recycle or throw away.
The novel approach to sustainability
Sustainable Synergies first mapped resource flows in local SMEs and assessed areas which revealed the greatest potential for savings in energy use and resource consumption. Based on the mapping, the coordinator facilitated green business development by suggesting models for optimising business’ performance, in matchmaking relevant companies, in identifying and quality checking consultants’ input – and in documenting the environmental effects through life cycle assessments.
For the development of business models for industrial symbiosis, the project created its own model ‘GAIA’, which is based on a life cycle perspective and used to complement the Business Model Canvas – a template for developing new, or documenting existing, business models
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Sustainable Synergies” is EUR 1 035 874, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 517 937 through the “Innovation and Sustainable Growth in Business” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Environment and resource efficiency”.