Commercial
success encourages high environmental standards
Paris, 27
June 1997 – The
International Chamber of Commerce marked the fifth anniversary of the Earth
Summit in Rio by affirming the business commitment to sustainable development
and emphasizing the link between commercial success and high standards of environmental
protection.
The ICC, the world's leading
business organization, said business had been unequalled in its contributions
to sustainable development since the Rio summit. "Individually, business
enterprises have brought environmental management and technical contributions
in the form of pollution control and prevention to developed and developing
co
untries."
Since the Rio summit, the
ICC has encouraged good environmental practice in individual companies through
environmental management systems, the statement, drafted by the ICC's Environment
Commission, said. "The ICC is pursuing this course of action because it
firmly believes that the first step to improved environmental performance of
business is to bring environmental considerations into the day-to-day process
of decision-making and operations - the principal objective of an environmental
management system."
The ICC said that commercial
success was a prerequisite for a high degree of both environmental protection
and social responsibility. "Not least important, it provides companies
the necessary financing to be innovative and engage in research and development.
"Individual companies
contribute best to sustainable development when they are competitive and successful,"
the statement said. It added that business looked to government to provide the
necessary regulatory framework based on sound science, the understanding of
risk assessment and economics. Government policies and measures should include
market-based and voluntary approaches.
The ICC said business was
best suited to contribute to economic development in the economic sphere, through
wealth creation in an environmentally sound manner. "Government, on the
other hand, is best suited to contributing to sustainable development in the
social sphere through the provision of education, infrastructure and public
services and through the sound regulation and administration of the protection
of the environment and the economic system."
Prepared by the Commission
on Environment
ICC
Commitment to Sustainable Development