There's nowhere else to go so it must s tay healthy

New York, 11 April 2001 - With the Second Earth Summit scheduled for Johannesburg next year, the United Nations is calling on business and other stakeholders next week to help assess progress in the vital area of sustainable energy and transport and recommend further action.

The International Chamber of Commerce is sending an 80-strong delegation of business experts to take part in a "multi-stakeholder dialogue" on 16-18 April, called by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the body set up at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Industry sectors represented in the ICC delegation include the primary energy sources: coal, gas, oil and nuclear; the transport industries: shipping, road, rail and aviation; manufacturing industry: aluminium, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, chemicals.

Other business organizations attending the meeting at UN headquarters in partnership with ICC will be the World Energy Council and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Representatives of trade unions, the world of science, local authorities and other non-governmental organizations will also participate.

The idea is to consult the various stakeholders concerned with Agenda 21 - the environmental plan of action agreed by the world's governments at Rio - and to encourage the stakeholders to work together in the interest of the world's physical health and economic development.

ICC environmental manager Jack Whelan said: "The aim will be to have a constructive dialogue on the immense environmental challenges associated with energy and transportation that we all face and get away from the confrontation that impedes genuine progress in finding solutions."

Energy production and use is a critical area for successful environmental management. Transportation alone takes up over half of world oil demand and will account for two thirds of projected growth in oil demand over the next two decades, according to business calculations.

Defining the term "sustainable energy", the World Energy Council says it includes accessibility to modern and affordable energy for all, availability of energy and acceptability in terms of social and environmental goals. WEC is the leading international organization covering all energy sources.

The dialogue on sustainable energy and transport will be during the ninth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, set up at Rio to monitor implementation of the Agenda 21 agreement reached at the first Earth Summit. Agenda 21 is a plan of action covering every area in which human activity has an impact on the environment.

A background paper by the three business organizations says economic growth is the main factor driving energy demand. It points out that world gross domestic product (GDP) roughly doubled between 1970 and 1993.

During that period, the 2.3% per year growth in energy consumption closely matched the 2.8% annual GDP growth rate. By 2015, gdp is expected to have almost doubled again - and the path of energy consumption will depend on both government policies and business actions.

The paper raises the issue of how adequate energy suppli es are to reach the poorer regions of the word. It says: "Social welfare in the future will depend on the ability to deliver commercial energy supplies to the nearly two billion people who are currently doing without."

At present, about 20% of the world's population, that is slightly more than one billion people living in industrialized countries, consume nearly 60% of the total energy supply.

Summarising the approach of the three business organizations to the dialogue, the background document says that business and industry are prepared to play a leading role in meeting the goal of achieving a sustainable growth path.

"Over the next century, business and industry will be the source of innovation, commercialisation and global distribution of new technologies that will enable society to aim for the target of sustainable growth while continuing to satisfy people's hopes for a more prosperous future.

"Together, business and industry, with its managerial, financial and technical expertise, and governments, which must create stable and predictable investment conditions, can stimulate investment programmes that will achieve the common goal of sustainable access to energy and transport services," the business paper said.