page_title: ECODES
section_title: Campaigns and Initiatives
hierarchical_section_title: ECODES / Campaigns and Initiatives
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photo of the pavilion "el faro" from the 2008 Expo in Zaragoza Spain. It shows the final stage of construction bevore the Expo opened its doors. ECODES was heavely involved in coordinating and managing the building and organization of the "el faro project".
context_page_description: ECODES "huft" Foundation Ecology and Development is an independent non-profit organization that works towards sustainable and environmentally friendly development, founded on 10 March 1992.
  ECODES works to strengthen dialogue and collaboration with all stakeholders in the implementation of actions and programs that promote sustainable development and enable social change. They provide ideas and solutions as well as critical commentary based on professional expertise. The organizations main areas of focus are social responsibility, climate change resulting from global warming, water management, reducing consumption and development cooperation.
  Besides their various projects they publish an online magazine, esPosible.
context_section_description: ECODES gained significant notoriety due to their “Zaragoza, water-saving city” campaign. It started in 1997 and it aimed to promote a new water-saving consciousness through a more efficient management. It emphasized, above all, the importance of simple technological change to achieve a sustainable reduction in water consumption. The project was to issue a challenge to the city: to save 1,000 million liters of domestic water consumption in one year. The project has shown that it is possible to deal with the shortage of water in cities, using a cheap, ecological, fast and contentious-free approach, by increasing efficiency in consumption.
  For this campaign ECODES teamed up with local and regional governments as well as the European Union. (see press dossier and a summary of the campaign at the page provided here)
  In 2005 ECODES entered into a partnership with Fundación Natura to develop the program CeroCO2. It is a comprehensive program that aims to promote action against global climate change amongst all relevant stakeholders in society, including individuals, businesses, NGOs and governmental entities. CeroCO2 offers tools to calculate reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions in renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects in developing countries. It aims to ensure that improvements in living standards in these countries do not pose a further threat to the world’s climate.
  The project features an interactive web platform and was designed and developed by the two non-profit organizations with the assistance of the INCAE Business School.
  In 2008 ECODES spearheaded the project "Piensaenclima" with support from the Spanish Ministry of Environment. ECODES started a pilot project to test methodologies for analyzing the climate change policies of enterprises. They compared different commonly used methodologies for the analysis of climate change policies, mostly aimed at providing information to the financial markets (Carbon Disclosure Project, GHG Protocol, etc.). ECODES then contacted the US, not-for-profit organization Climate Counts and became their Spanish partner because of the convincing methodology in rating companies developed by Climate Counts. The project "Piensaenclima" also features a free mobile phone application for consumers, who wish to be informed about the climate and social responsibility practices of many of Spain's biggest companies.
  
  For the Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain, ECODES was tasked with organizing and managing the citizens' initiative pavilion called “the beacon” (Spanish:  el faro ). They helped bring together various non-governmental organizations and organized the various shows and discussions about water and sustainable development. ECODES (Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo) was also a member of the permanent commission of all the participating groups. The permanent commission included: 
  •	Cruz Roja Española 
  •	Ecología y Desarrollo 
  •	Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua 
  •	Ingeniería sin Fronteras
  •	Intermon Oxfam
  •	Sustainlabour
  •	WWF/Adena
  In January 2010 ECODES launched a free, online magazine called esPosible. It features stories about climate change and sustainable development and offers the reader chances to get involved in particular projects. Furthermore, it highlights exemplary (“best practice”) programs across the world in order to promote their adaptation in Spain. Titles have included (originally in Spanisch):
  (January 2010 issue) Business and climate change
  (February 2010 issue) Green employment
  (March 2010 issue) Water and cooperation
  (April 2010 issue) A responsible shopping basket
  (May 2010 issue) Tourism without a trace
  (June 2010 issue) Cities and energy
caption: Construction phase of "El faro" pavilion for the 2008 Expo in Zaragoza, Spain
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