The Green Code for business six years on
The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro five years ago in June generated high hopes and ambitious plans for safeguarding the planet from environmental degradation. The ICC's own Business Charter for Sustainable Development was just one year old when the biggest-ever gathering of heads of state and government got under way.
Five years on, governments, business and environmentalists are assessing progress in a series of meetings that will culminate in a special General Assembly of the United Nations in November. For the ICC, it is a time to scrutinise the Business Charter and how the more than 2,000 companies that have endorsed it are applying its 16 principles.
ICC experts are currently analysing corporate responses to a series of questions about their experiences in implementing the Charter. A group of 15 major companies across the whole range of industry is preparing case studies that will provide insights into how business is translating the fine words that came out of Rio into concrete achievement.
Business support for the concept of sustainable growth
- economic progress without eating into the world's environmental capital - is no transient fad to assuage public opinion, but a lasting commitment based on the conviction that good environmental conduct is sound business practice, essential if a company wishes to remain competitive.
We have placed the full text of the Business Charter for Sustainable Development on the ICC's Web site, and commend it to companies large and small that visit these pages. We shall soon be adding the case studies and detailed analysis of the Charter itself, clause by clause. Other material will follow, so that visitors to the ICC pages will be able to build a complete dossier on a crucial aspect of successful business management.
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