Based on my experiences from working as a physician and researcher in Latin America and Africa as well as in a rural Austrian community in Austria, I developed the Triple Benefit Principle (TBP) in the years from 1996 onwards. TBP is a way to realize a sustainable and ecologically compatible lifestyle. It enables us to achieve carbon neutrality and to move towards a circular economy. The three facets of the Triple Benefit Principle are:
- living a low carbon lifestyle in housing, consumption and transport
- improving health at individual, local, and global scales through sustainable nutrition and cycling
- investing the savings gained from facet 1 in renewable energy generation
Back in Austria in 1983, I first tried to reduce greenhous gas emissions from nutrition and housing. Then, after experimenting in transport logistics for over ten years, I developed the MOBILITY educational tool in 2006, in order to make sustainable transport better understandable and feasable. I began conducting MOBILITY workshops at universities, in schools and other educational institutions and at special events. Participants of these workshops explore the sustainability impact of various transport scenarios and get a training in the logistics of tailoring sustainable transport solutions for individual needs. Cycling plays a key role over shorter distances because of its multiple benefits: causing almost zero emissions, improving health, and saving money. Even across longer distances the combination of cycling with train travel is generally a cheaper, a more sustainable, and a healthier solution than travelling by car.
The crucial questions: What to do with the financial savings achieved through travelling sustainably?
In real life, the financial savings achieved through practicing TBP can amount to several thousand Euros per year, as I have experienced over many years. Investment of these savings in the provision of renewable energy and other sustainable projects (not in additional consumer goods!) brought me to the so-called individual energy break-even point within about ten years. At this stage I could already generate a net amount of renewable energy equal to my own gross energy consumption. Meanwhile, I privide more than the fivefold amount of renewable energy to the general public. (Consider that the overall gross energy consumption per inhabitant in Austria is more than 40 000 kWh per year.)
The Triple Benefit Principle has its limits but still holds enormous potential according to a large analysis (N=1247) conducted in 2014. It provides individuals with a way to take personal action where climate policy is insufficient or fails to prevent further transgression of planetary boundaries.
In the context of mounting damage in the Global South caused by man-made climate change, a short film about TBP invites those who can to take responsibility and take action.
For more information see also about Triple Benefit Principle on my old website!