Business offers DIY kit for environmental management
New York, 22 April1998 - The Chief Executive of the world's leading business organization has promised a new "Do-It-Yourself" environmental tool kit to enable global industry to tackle the challenges of sustainable development in the 21st century.
Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, said ICC would deliver a "practical, effective and pragmatic business tool" to assist companies of all sizes in improving their environmental performance.
Mrs Cattaui was addressing the sixth meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) on behalf of world business. ICC has thousands of member companies and business associations in more than 130 countries.
The UNCSD is the annual follow up meeting launched to track implementation of international environmental agreements made at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
Mrs Cattaui told the opening session: "ICC's commitment to Sustainable Development is absolute. Our 16 point Business Charter for Sustainable Development, published in 20 languages and now entering its 8th year, remains one of the key foundation stones for corporate environmental thinking during the 1990s."
She continued: "ICC is now actively exploring complementary voluntary environmental assessment tools to build on what the ICC Charter helped achieve."
The ICC Secretary General praised industry efforts since the Rio meeting saying: "In the six-years since the Rio Earth Summit, industry has been seriously addressing the complex and challenging Sustainable Development agenda. The generation and implementation of voluntary codes of conduct, the launch of international environmental management systems, and a business-driven technological revolution to introduce environmentally sound technologies represents a significant investment of time, finances and knowledge capital."
The ICC initiative comes at a time when business efforts to improve environmental management through the use of voluntary codes of conduct are being heavily criticized by environmental pressure groups. Environmentalists say voluntary codes "lack teeth" because they are not policed properly.
ICC environmental policy manager Paul Clements-Hunt said: "The ICC initiative will allow business to take a new, measured look at how voluntary environmental codes are conceived and implemented and it will enable them to make improvements where necessary."
Mr Clements-Hunt continued: "It is important for business that it does this against its own timetable and is not put on the defensive as a result of the stance taken by environmental pressure groups."
A 1998 report, "Voluntary Industry Codes of Conduct for the Environment", published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), lists more than 40 codes covering 12 industry sectors.
Leading examples of industry voluntary codes include the global chemical industry's "Responsible Care" programme, the finance and banking sector's "Statement by Banks on Environment and Sustainable Development" and for off-shore Japanese industry, the "Keidanren Global Environmental Charter."
The UNEP report states: "Voluntary initiatives are an important tool for improving industry's environmental performance in an increasingly globalized world. By fostering long-term, cultural changes in business management, voluntary approaches can reach beyond some government regulations in improving industry's environmental performance."
Full text of Maria Livanos Cattaui's speech at the Opening Session, UNCSD 6, 20 April 1998, United Nations Headquarters, New York
ICC Commission on Environment