Paris/Nairobi,
23 April 2009 - Sealing a comprehensive
climate deal in 2009 will be crucial for
the future health of business and societies
across the world, a gathering of senior
business leaders said today at the close
of the Business for the Environment (B4E)
summit in Paris.
In a closing 'Manifesto',
summit participants urged governments "unlock
the potential for sustainable, green innovation
and job creation" by forging ahead
towards a low-carbon society.
"Agreement on a
new climate regime is urgent?. the global
crisis requires recovery plans that provide
for drastically expanded investment in clean
technologies and sustainable infrastructure
systems, building the Green Economy,"
says the document.
"Now is the time
to remove uncertainties, enable green investments
to flow, and build scalable public-private
partnerships that can leapfrog in terms
of technological innovation," it adds.
The Manifesto, coming
from over 400 delegates at the summit, underlines
that the short-term economic models of the
previous century need replacing by a more
creative, long-term vision.
Participants to the
Business for the Environment included the
2009 Champions of the Earth winners including
Suzlon head Tulsi Tanti, photographer and
activist Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Norwegian
Environment Minister Erik Solheim and campaigner
Kevin Conrad. Also in attendance at the
Summit were Mexican Environment Minister
Juan Elvira Quesada, WWF Director James
Leape, and CEOs including Alcatel-Lucent
boss Ben Verwaayen, Suntech CEO Shi Zhengrong,
and Philippe Carli, the head of Siemens
France. John Kerry, the Chairman of the
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
was one of the panelists joining the discussion
through a live video link from Washington
DC.
The event was hosted
by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and
the UN Global Compact, with the support
of Business for Social Responsibility and
the French business confederation MEDEF
(Mouvement des Entreprises de France).
The Manifesto underscores
that the global economy needs to capture
not just corporate profit and loss, but
also environmental, employment and social
concerns as well if it is to be relevant
to six billion people, rising to nine billion
by 2050.
"For business,
we need increased transparency, a stronger
ethical orientation and an expanded risk
paradigm that includes not only traditional
business and financial factors, but also
relevant extra-financial issues in the environmental,
social and governance realms," its
says.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"Combating climate change represents
perhaps the biggest stimulus package of
the first decade of the 21st century?one
that can assist in delivering a resource
efficient, innovation-savvy, employment-
generating global Green Economy."
Georg Kell, Executive
Director of the UN Global Compact Office,
said: "As stated in the Manifesto,
we need to shift to a longer-term orientation
of value creation, one that accommodates
the understanding that the sustainability
of business and societies are inextricably
linked."
Afterwards, while attending
the G8 Environment Minister meeting in Siracusa,
Italy, Steiner added that: "It is time
for governments to lift the uncertainty
hanging over carbon markets, investors and
business and to seal a scientifically-credible,
economically-defensible and socially-responsible
deal at the UN climate meeting in Copenhagen
in December. That is what business leaders
are saying at the B4E Summit, that is what
leaders are calling for across the world."
Notes to Editors
B4E, the Business for
Environment Global Summit, is the world's
leading international conference for dialogue
and business-driven action for the environment.
Now in its third year, B4E 2009 addressed
the most urgent environmental challenges
facing the world today. Key topics on the
agenda included resource efficiency, renewable
energies, new business models and climate
policy and strategies.
CEOs and senior executives
from leading global companies joined leaders
from government, international agencies,
NGOs, and other organizations to discuss
environmental issues, forge partnerships
and explore innovative solutions for a greener
future.
The Business for the
Environment Summit is co-hosted by the United
Nations Environment Programme and the UN
Global Compact. The event is organized by
UNEP and Global Initiatives, and supported
by leading international organizations including
MEDEF (the French Employers Confederation),
the AFP Foundation, WWF, Greenpeace, Business
for Social Responsibility and many others.
For more information visit:
http://www.b4esummit.com/
For more information on the UNEP Champions
of the Earth awards, visit:
http://www.unep.org/champions/
The B4E Manifesto in full:
The Green Imperative - from the B4E Summit,
Paris, 2009
The global economic
downturn has exposed the extent to which
markets and societies are increasingly interconnected
and interdependent. We, the participants
of the B4E Summit 2009, recognize that the
economic, environmental and social challenges
and risks we face demand a new level of
leadership and cooperation. We are confident
that by exercising such leadership, restoring
trust and by working together we have the
opportunity to put our global economy, our
markets and lifestyles, our livelihoods
and security, and, ultimately, our planet
on a sustainable path. We emphasize the
following:
Agreement on a new global
climate regime is urgent, offering all countries
the opportunity to unlock the potential
for sustainable, green innovation and job
creation that exist as we head towards the
low-carbon society. We call on Governments
to complete a comprehensive and successful
COP-15.
We call on Governments
to promote global integration, based on
fundamental principles of non-discrimination
in trade and investment, so that we can
more efficiently disseminate clean technologies
globally.
We call on Governments
to provide appropriate regulatory and incentive
structures to encourage more sustainable
consumption and production, and send the
right market signals for business to act.
Now is the time to remove
uncertainties, enable green investments
to flow, and build scalable public-private
partnerships that can leapfrog in terms
of technological innovation.
Capturing the global
crisis requires recovery plans that provide
for drastically expanded investment in clean
technologies and sustainable infrastructure
systems, building the Green Economy with
transformative improvements that avoid lock-in
in high carbon and resource inefficient
systems.
For business, we need
increased transparency, a stronger ethical
orientation and an expanded risk paradigm
that includes not only traditional business
and financial factors, but also relevant
extra-financial issues in the environmental,
social and governance realms.
We need new due diligence
requirements that strike a fair balance
between the needs of shareholders and other
stakeholders, including future generations.
We need to shift from
a product to a services perspective, applying
life cycle approaches that support cradle-to-cradle
strategies in business along all value chains
and using ecosystem services sustainably.
We need to shift from
the tyranny of "short-termism"
to a longer-term orientation of value creation,
as embodied in the UN Global Compact.
We need broad-based
use of sustainable procurement and criteria
that are both green and decent in the management
of our supply chains.
We need reporting and
accountability systems which combine internationally
recognized financial and sustainability
standards to mainstream forward-looking
approaches.
We recognize the importance
of promoting small business development
and social entrepreneurship in the making
of truly sustainable enterprises.
We underscore the importance
of revamping business education and training
in order to properly nurture and develop
the leaders and managers of tomorrow.
We offer our energy
and commitment to work with Government and
society, to jointly take leadership, ownership
and accountability for our contribution
as responsible citizens, consumers and leaders.
This implies our engagement from local to
global level, including cooperation with
UNEP and others in the UN facilitated process
on sustainable consumption and production
leading to a 2012 World Summit.
We, the participants of the B4E Summit 2009,
underline the need for business to take
its part - along with Government, the research
community and other societal partners -
in creating a more sustainable world and
drive the way towards the sustainable, green
and responsible enterprise. We call on all
stakeholders to work together in order to
achieve these aims.
For more information please contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson
