PRESS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHARTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHARTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY

An "Environmental Charter for the North American Telecommunication Industry" was to be signed at the United Nations this evening by chief executives and senior officials of diverse key companies in the industry, it was announced at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

Speaking at the briefing were Adnan Amin, Director of the Regional Office for North America of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Terry Minger, President of the Center for Resource Management of Colorado; Danilo Riva, Head of the Environmental Unit of Italian Telecom, and Chairman of the European Telecommunication Network Operators Environmental Committee; Christopher Lloyd, Director of Environmental and Safety Technical Services of Bell Atlantic; David J. Heller, Executive Director of Risk Management, US West; and Patricia MacKenzie, Assistant Vice-President of Environment, Health and Safety of BCT.TELUS Company.

Mr. Amin said the "Environmental Charter for the North American Telecommunication Industry" was developed over a year ago under the guidance of the Colorado-based Center for Resource Management, represented at the briefing by Terry Minger, its President, with input from academic groups and environmental, as well as industry, representatives.

He said that, in the context of globalization, reform of the United Nations and an internal reform being carried out by UNEP, the organization was highlighting how the United Nations engaged major actors in the world economy in bringing new perspectives into how intergovernmental decisions were made. That engagement was essential to equip agencies like UNEP to deal with the immense challenges of globalization. They viewed the charter as an important new model of voluntary industry code of conduct. The UNEP had a long history with the use of voluntary initiatives to improve the environmental performance of companies, particularly in the area of cleaner production, ozone protection and energy efficiency.

The charter was relevant to issues such as climate change, he said. Although work on the charter had been going on for over a year, it was particularly relevant today in the context of a statement made by Secretary- General Kofi Annan in Davos concerning the involvement of the private sector with the United Nations in the future. The Secretary-General had asked the private sector to participate in the implementation of global values embodied in international agreements, including in the area of the environment and sustainable development.

Mr. Amin said the initiatives had been used increasingly in the last five years by industry and governments as a policy tool to improve environmental performance and to achieve sustainability. There was a number of advantages for industry in the use of voluntary approaches, including self-regulation and flexibility, such as ways and means of reaching targets and the opportunity to present a better public image and also the question of responsibility towards shareholders. The timing of the charter initiative was also important in the context of the opening today of the inter-sessional meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development's ad hoc working group on consumption and production patterns and on tourism.

Mr. Minger, President of the Center for Resource Management, said that for the past year and a half they had been studying a European initiative on a voluntary charter for the telecommunication industry. The Europeans in 1996 had created an environmental charter of European telecommunication network operators. North American telecommunication companies, represented at the press briefing, had developed their own voluntary code of conduct in response to the call by the Secretary-General. The environmental charter for North American telecommunication companies was the "beginning and not the end of the journey". The charter was a point of departure for the telecommunications industry -- which was recognized by everyone as the industry of the future "just as we recognize the United Nations as the organization of promise for the future". The telecommunication industry touched all lives globally. The North American charter was equal to that of the European companies, and the test now was what the American companies would do with it. He hoped other companies would join with them after the signing ceremony this evening. Today was the beginning of a collaborative effort between the North American companies and UNEP.

Danilo Riva, of Italian Telecom, said it was a real pleasure to see that the telecommunication industry was gaining new momentum in the way it thought about environmental issues. The industry had not been seen as part of the problem and, therefore, part of the solution to environmental problems. That had worried the industry as they wanted to be seen as part of the solution. "We believe that telecommunication services have a great potential in helping to reduce the problem of environmental pollution." Sustainable development was a global environmental issue, and the industry wanted to be active in providing customers and stakeholders with the services and products that were in line with the best environmental practice.

He said the European Charter was launched in 1996 in Frankfurt. It had been signed by 22 out of 44 companies -- the 22 were from European States with different cultural backgrounds, but nevertheless with a strong will to work together to define and harmonize the approach to environmental problems within their companies. They would struggle hard to develop new services and new tools to clean up their operations to show stakeholders that they were corporate citizens, and that they aimed at finding solutions to sustainable development problems. They had decided to commit themselves to continuous

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improvement in certain specific areas. They wanted to strive to comply with all relevant regulations as far as environmental management was concerned. They also wanted to accede to those regulations whenever feasible or applicable. They had launched their first environmental report last year in Turin, Italy, during the second conference on telecommunication and the environment. That was just to show their stakeholders that the charter they had signed was "not just a piece of paper", but the first concrete step to demonstrate that they were trying to fulfil their commitment and their way forward for the future.

Christopher Lloyd, Director of Environment and Safety Technical Services of Bell Atlantic, said his presence not only demonstrated Bell Atlantic's commitment to environmental improvement, but also showed the promise and the cooperation of all the companies gathered at the briefing to work together, share the best practices and implement them, so that they could get the best results. The telecommunication industry was not the first to have created an environmental code of conduct. However, it was the first to create an environmentally friendly highway -- an information superhighway. They in the industry had a unique opportunity to help customers minimize their impact on the environment through the use of their technology. Their products and services could help customers improve their businesses and the quality of their life, as well as help the environment.

They were committed to working together with their partners in North America, in Europe, as well as with UNEP, to continue to really improve the environment.

David J. Heller, of US West, said work on the charter had involved many stakeholders, including some from the academic community, non-governmental organizations and from industry itself. The charter was the starting point, and was meant to acknowledge what industry had done so far. It also recognized that there was need for improvements, such as how industry could do a better job with respect to environmental issues. Most importantly, it was really meant to be a foundation whereby the industry and its wide stakeholders -- "hopefully one of which will be UNEP" -- could help build and transform the world as it moved from the "industrial age to the information age".

He said that notwithstanding the progress achieved, by some estimates two thirds of the world's population had never made a phone call. When that fact was coupled with what telecommunication and related services could do for the environment, much of the developed world could build an infrastructure that would not repeat mistakes of the past. There was an unparalleled opportunity to work out products and services into world solutions. That was the starting point for doing so.

Patricia MacKenzie, of BCT.TELUS Company, acknowledged the role that Bell Canada had played in the development of the North American charter. Many of the charters created in the past, for such industries as chemical and

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utilities like pulp and paper, had been based on manufacturing-oriented ones. Much of the legislation that regulated all companies was mainly based on manufacturing-type industries rather than service industries. It was partly that fact that had encouraged the companies represented at the briefing to come forward with a charter specific to the telecommunication industry. Given its size and the benefits, the telecommunication industry had an important part to play in environmental management. The charter set out a mission and principles which would govern their activities. They hoped to benchmark themselves and through that to continuously improve.

Mr. Amin said he hoped today's ceremony would be the beginning of a much wider process that would engage the United Nations in a much more substantive way. The initiative was geared towards ensuring that environmental issues did not become parochial in the information superhighway.

A correspondent asked: How many companies were going to be signing the charter and what percentage did that represent of the North American telecommunication industry? And, how could improving environmental practices affect company profitability?

One of the speakers at the briefing said seven companies would be signing the charter this evening. They represented a large percentage of the Canadian and United States market. They also served probably about 50 per cent of residences. Other companies would be sought to join in the future.

Ms. MacKenzie said that her company served approximately 80 per cent of Canadian homes. The largest single shareholder in her company was GTE, a United States firm. That was an example of how borders were collapsing and that, in the future, that would be a North American and global effort.

Another speaker said that one reason behind the initiative was to exchange best management practices amongst the different companies for the purpose of making more sufficient use of the resources available to address environmental issues. There was a direct correlation between environmental excellence and improving the bottom line.

A correspondent asked Mr. Riva why only half the European telecommunication firms had signed the European charter. He said that the present members represented the largest part of the telecommunication industry in Europe. Many small companies there faced complete reorganization after the fall of the Eastern bloc. Most of the companies operating in Europe had different priorities. Even if they recognized that the environment was very important, their priority now was to survive. They could not dedicate resources to environmental excellence. The 22 companies that signed the European charter included all the big ones.

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He said that companies had found over the years that developing good environmental practices could be a competitive advantage. Small companies could be helped to build up an effective way of managing environmental issues. His commitment was to get the remaining companies to sign the charter. That did not mean that those companies needed to reach excellence in a short time. It was just a way to promote the effective management of environmental issues.

The seven companies who were signing the "Environmental Charter for the North American Telecommunication Industry" this evening were Ameritech, AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Bell Canada, Bell South Telecommunications, BCT.TELUS, and US West. Those were the initial seven companies that had been working on the project along with Belgian Telecommunications.

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