PRESS BRIEFING ON BUSINESS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON BUSINESS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Voluntary industry initiatives were important policy tools for promoting sound environmental management, participants at the High-Level Advisory Panel on Business and Sustainable Development declared today at the end of its one- day informal dialogue.

Briefing correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon on the outcome of that informal dialogue were the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai; the Director of Industry and Environment at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel; and Peter Scupholme, Manager for Environment Relations, British Petroleum Company.

Besides voluntary business initiatives for environmental management, the three officials said that the panel had discussed catalysing partnerships between the United Nations and business to foster sustainable development, as well as the draft International Declaration on Cleaner Production to be launched by UNEP in September this year. The panel brought together representatives of governments, United Nations bodies, business, environmental groups and trade unions. The meeting was held in conjunction with talks on business at the high-level segment of the Commission on Sustainable Development, scheduled to conclude on 1 May.

Ms. de Larderel said UNEP had a long history of cooperating with industry. The UNEP had regular consultations with industry. From today's discussions, it was apparent that there was a growing consensus that voluntary initiatives played an important role, in addition to other measures such as regulatory instruments and economic incentives. Voluntary initiatives were helping to foster environmental improvement. However, those initiatives should be monitored and reviewed regularly.

She said UNEP had published a recent report on voluntary initiatives and codes of conduct for industry in general. It had also produced a report on the role of voluntary initiatives in climate change. The meeting also discussed the UNEP International Declaration on Cleaner Production to raise the awareness of industry and put them on the road to cleaner productions and eco-efficiency. All that would lead to sustainability and better improvement in resource efficiency.

Mr. Scupholme said the key issues on today's agenda were responsible entrepreneurship; corporate tools for sustainable development; technology cooperation and assessment; and freshwater. There was a degree of overlap about challenges and solutions. Participants spoke the same language, the language of partnership between business and industry, governments and unions.

He said some participants had expressed concern about the transparency of those voluntary initiatives and the verification process. The process and scope of a review mechanism were discussed. Participants were concerned about how to put such a mechanism in place without creating a new bureaucratic mechanism. The dialogue had been successful. Participants agreed to find ways of continuing it without institutionalizing it.

Asked about the suspicions of third world countries towards big business, Mr. Scupholme said it was up to big business to demonstrate its sincerity by fulfilling promises made. British Petroleum had recognized that good environmental practices were good business. It had recognized the need to act in a more responsible way to deal with environmental, ethical and social issues in the way business was done today. As people interacted and dialogued, the suspicion would diminish.

Responding to the same question, Ms. de Larderel said the key word was transparency. Companies should produce environmental reports, documenting their emissions and use of materials and energy. The UNEP had been working on that since 1994. When it started, there were hardly 100 reports all over the world. Now, there were thousands of them. The UNEP was now trying to standardize them to make them comparable. The trend was good. A lot of work still needed to be done.

Also speaking on the same question, Mr. Desai said a few industrialists from the third world -- India and Thailand -- were participating in the process. So the mood had changed in the third world towards big business.

A correspondent asked for concrete examples of voluntary initiatives from industry. Ms. de Larderel cited the example of China, where the retail sector had decided to reduce the consumption of energy. In the Netherlands, such initiatives were not done unilaterally, but through negotiations between the governments and industry where targets were set. In the United States, there was a voluntary initiative on the use of toxic chemicals; she added that voluntary initiatives were part of many measures needed. However, it was not the answer to all environmental problems. It had to be above regulatory standards; it had to be monitored.

Citing other examples, Mr. Scupholme said chemical industries in 44 countries had voluntarily committed themselves to community dialogue to report emission problems. In Europe, the chemical industry as a whole had committed itself to 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption by the year 2005. In Australia, there was the greenhouse gas challenge into which the industry had voluntarily entered with the government. Last week, British Petroleum published its social report, a sort of social audit listing the values by which the company was run. It could be verified independently. That kind of initiative at the local level was most important.

Business and Development Briefing - 3 - 29 April 1998

Asked why the panel had not addressed the misuse of freshwater, Mr. Scupholme said it had. The whole issue of freshwater, water pricing, supply and demand and the sustainable way of using it had been discussed.

A correspondent raised the issue of pollution in India and Pakistan from diesel-run trucks, Mr. Desai said although diesel fume looked nastier, it was not the problem. The problem was the quality of the gasoline used for the engines.

Another correspondent asked for specific results and actions from voluntary initiatives. Mr. Desai said the idea of reviewing the efficacy of those initiatives on a joint basis -- between non-governmental organizations and industry, for instance -- had been discussed.

Responding to the same question, Ms. de Larderel said participants had decided to work together to promote voluntary initiatives. The UNEP had been working with the fertilizer industry to prepare guidelines. It was a useful partnership. The industry said it had, as a result of those guidelines, identified a number of cost-effective technologies. In future, there would be a lot of room for technology innovation and assessment in order that people make informed technology choices. The UNEP's role was to promote the transfer of better technology among countries.

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