PRESS CONFERENCE BY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
Press Briefing
PRESS CONFERENCE BY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
19970421
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
At a Headquarters press conference Friday, 18 April, sponsored by the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), speakers addressed the progress made by the private business sector towards sustainable development. The speakers were: the Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Maria Livanos Cattaui; the Executive Director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Bjorn Stigson; the Chairman of Scudder, Stevens and Clark, Dan Pierce; and Eugenio Clarion Reyes of Grupo IMSA of Mexico. The Assistant Director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Division, Lowell Flanders, moderated the conference, which followed a dialogue held today at the Commission between representatives of business and government.
Mrs. Cattaui, of the ICC, said that the morning's dialogue had been infused with examples of how the business sector had advanced the practical role of sustainable development. The discussion looked at the business of approaching the issue of sustainable development, and how business viewed its partnership with government and civil society. The ICC had developed its business charter for sustainable development in April 1991. One of its greatest concerns and challenges was encouraging small- and medium-sized enterprises world-wide to make a commitment to sustainable development in management practices. For the ICC, a world business organization spanning 140 countries, addressing that issue was critical.
Mr. Stigson, of the WBCSD, said that the discussions focused on the progress made by business towards sustainable development, and the road ahead. He drew attention to the WBCSD report entitled "Signals of Change". The morning's discussion was a constructive starting point, but much more dialogue was needed, he said.
Mr. Pierce, of Scudder, Stevens and Clark, said that its $90 million environmental value fund, "Storebrand Scudder Environmental Value Fund" was very exciting for the financial community. So far, the portfolio's performance was better than the benchmark, a Morgan Stanley world index, by about 3 per cent. If it worked, it could be very helpful in demonstrating to all concerned -- business, investors and citizens -- that those who practised good environmental procedures would be recognized in the financial marketplace.
Mr. Reyes, of Grupo IMSA, said that he represented a company in Mexico with operations throughout the United States. He became involved in the WBCSD before the 1992 Summit at Rio Conference to convey the message from the
private sector at the Conference. While the morning's meeting had provided an excellent exchange of ideas, much remained to be done. Fellow businessmen, for example, needed to be encouraged to change their habits. Sustainable development and issues of the environment were not a problem solely of a single government, business or any one sector of society. Indeed, governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, trade unions and even churches had to be involved.
A correspondent asked if there had been any discussion at the morning meeting about investments in so-called "clean technologies". Mr. Stigson, of the WBCSD, said there had been questions on the subject. Yet, it was very difficult to define clean technology. Every new generation of technology was normally cleaner than the previous generation. Since technology increased the capacity of ecosystems, the fast dissemination of cleaner technology was extremely important.
A misconception existed that there was a clear distinction -- clean technologies and dirty technologies, he continued. But, all technologies in which business invested should be clean. "The problem is that we are accustomed to an end-of-the-pipe cleaning process", he said. That is, after we have been polluting, then we put a filter at the end." The investment in clean products, which would not require future investment to clean up the dirty ones, should occur at the outset.
Another correspondent asked about the relationship between the lobby pushing for a multilateral agreement on investment and the focus of today's presentations. He noted that while the discussions centred on environment and sustainable development, the investment agreement was not at all about sustainable development or the environment. Rather, it contained several explicit attacks on environmental regulations.
Mrs. Cattaui, of the ICC, responded, saying that the ICC did not represent any one particular position and, with a constituency of 140 countries, was trying to build a consensus. Foreign direct investment had been at the root of enormous economic benefit and progress for those countries that needed it the most. The ICC was looking at the factors that made those investments most attractive. The concept of developing a framework of investment principles was acceptable to everyone. The dispute rested in the details. The job at the ICC was to thrash out those details among members of the business community.
Asked if there had been any discussion today on the subject of corporate accountability, Mr. Stigson, of the WBCSD, said that corporations worldwide were under much scrutiny and living within a framework of a lot of rules, regulations and legislation. The question of accountability seemed a bit "absurd" at times, given the enormous flood of requests for transparency by governments and other organizations.
Sustainable Development Briefing - 3 - 21 April 1997
Asked further about the ICC's role in investment rules, Mrs. Cattaui said that the ICC would not imply support for or support the use of sanctions for protectionist reasons, particularly towards those countries in the process of emerging. That principle was a basic premise of the ICC and would apply to the area of trade-environment linkages, and any linkages whatsoever. There was an old distinction between trade and investment, which no longer reflected business realities. The ICC was asking not for trade sanctions, but for a consensus in understanding those linkages. It was no longer possible to separate the problems of global investment from the problems of trade flows.
Mr. Reyes, of Grupo IMSA, said he had lived through the experience of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiation, the first trade agreement which attached an economic and labour agreement. For Mexico, as the developing country of the three members of NAFTA, such an agreement meant a lot of compromise and obligation. To say that every trade agreement had to have that -- and to run the risk of using those as protectionist measures -- was a necessary risk and obligation to level the playing field in trade. In the area of environmental concerns, a single set of rules was required.
To a question about whether the ICC would make any particular recommendations to the Commission on Sustainable Development on ways to improve cooperation between governments, the international community and the business community, Mrs. Cattaui said that recommendations were contained in a statement circulated by the ICC. She added that it was imperative that governments begin to consider ways to provide the conditions under which businesses could improve the quality of life and protect the environment.
To a question regarding corporate accountability and the lack of forums in local communities in which to raise concerns of corporate liability, Mr. Stigson, of the WBCSD, said that all local communities lived within the legal framework of a country. The business community wanted to see to it that it lived by the rules and regulations of society, and was even willing to take the lead on further developing those rules. The idea was not to live by different standards in different countries, but try to live by one set of standards. And that did not mean the lowest standard, he said.
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