2024-06-18 08:45Press release

Ragn-Sells advocates for resource efficiency in water management at WTO

Ragn-Sells advocates for resource efficiency in water management at WTO

On Monday, June 17th, the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) of the WTO held a working group session on water management. Ragn-Sells' chief sustainability officer, Pär Larshans, was the only external speaker, invited to lead the discussion on trade and water. Co-convened by Canada and Costa Rica, the session marked a significant advancement in the global conversation on water sustainability.

Global freshwater resources are dwindling, and challenges with saltwater utilisation persist, climate change intensify the threat of saltwater contamination in coastal areas, home to a majority of the world's population.

“It is a true honour to be invited to deliver a keynote speech on the impacts of global warming on our freshwater supplies and to discuss actionable solutions to mitigate these risks” says Pär Larshans, chief sustainability officer at Ragn-Sells.

Our wastewater constitutes an important solution that could ease the pressure on our freshwater supplies. Ragn-Sells has since 2018, when their group CEO was invited to the United Nations High Level Panel (UNHLP), underscored our phosphorus innovation as a model for sustainability.

Larshans advocates for transitioning today's wastewater treatment plants into tomorrow's resource plants, promoting the concept of “resource plant" principles across society.

“Challenging outdated linear principles from the 1970s, which focus on waste reduction, I advocate for embracing circular principles," Larshans emphasised. "This approach not only generates high-quality raw materials but also integrates detoxification, which paves the way for sustainable solutions."

Larshans continued, “If we are serious about creating a sustainable society, we need to use our resources we have over and over again. Through circular innovations in resource plants, we can produce freshwater for agriculture and industry, generate essential energy in various forms, eliminate N2O emissions, and create valuable products like nitrogen fertiliser and high-quality phosphorus for animal feed.”

For more information, interviews etc., please contact:
Pär Larshans, Chief Sustainability Officer, Ragn-Sells Group, +46 (0)70-927 29 63, par.larshans@ragnsells.com 
Emma Ranerfors, Press Officer, Ragn-Sells Group, +46 (0)10-927 24 16, press@ragnsells.com

FACT: Innovative solutions for water management from Ragn-Sells
The different Ragn-Sells innovations that were included in the speech was the following:

The patented solutions Ash2Phos, Aqua2N and Ash2Salt, developed by Ragn-Sells innovation company EasyMining, a subsidiary of Ragn-Sells. Ragn-Sells Havbruk, project of collection of fish sludge from fish farms. PFAS solution SELPAXT developed by Chromafora (where Ragn-Sells is one of the shareholders).


About Ragn-Sells Group

The environmental company Ragn-Sells converts waste into raw materials that can be used over and over again. Ragn-Sells drives the transition to a circular economy through solutions that reduce its own and other actors' environmental and climate impact. Ragn-Sells wants to be living proof that caring for the earth and business go hand in hand. Ragn-Sells is a family owned corporate group founded in 1881. The company operates in four countries and employs over 2,500 people. In 2023, Ragn-Sells’ turnover was SEK 8.5 billion. www.ragnsells.com


Contacts

Emma Ranerfors
Press Officer
Emma Ranerfors