The environment in the news friday, 20 April 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News
Malaysia Sun : Asian businesses urged to be eco-friendly
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Malaysia Sun : Asian businesses urged to be eco-friendlyThursday 19th April, 2007, (IANS) Business executives in Asia were warned Thursday of the urgent need to change practices contributing to global warming if they want to succeed in the Western marketplace. 'Climate change is not a northern problem,' said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 'It touches on every sector.' More than 600 business leaders were attending the Global Business Summit for the Environment, the first major international conference on business and the environment in Asia. The event was organized by the UNEP to raise corporate environmental responsibility by bringing companies together with the UN and other agencies. 'If you want to be a global player, these issues will affect your global competitiveness,' Steiner said. 'Every day we receive new evidence of the harm that human activities are inflicting on the environment,' Steiner said. 'We face formidable challenges.' Climate change can even have a destabilizing impact on collective security, he added. Delegates focused on market risks and business opportunities resulting from environmental change. Among the risks that businesses face is 'how to factor in climatic change,' Steiner said. Looking ahead, he cited the predictability of biofuels. 'We are seeing rising waters, droughts and floods chasing each other and diseases,' Steiner said. 'It can never be too late' to tackle the environmental concerns. A regulatory framework is needed, Stiner said. Among the companies with an eco-friendly product is lighting maker Osram, a wholly owned subsidiary of German giant Siemens. Chief executive officer Martin Goetzeler said in emerging and developing countries, many are still hesistant to replace incandescent lighting systems with energy-saving ones. This is due to the lower purchase price of incandescent lamps despite the energy savings of up to 80 percent with the alternatives. 'There are countries where the question is about affordability,' Goetzeler said. Under a clean development mechanism programme, these countries will receive energy-savings lamps free in order to help them reduce carbon dioxide emissions. http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/242764/cs/1/ …………………………… The Nation, Thailand : Business world urged to play role on climate: UN meetingSINGAPORE - Global businesses must play a major role in mitigating the impact of climate change by embracing practices that protect the environment, experts told a UN-backed conference in Singapore on Thursday. While companies worldwide have started seeing the benefits of environmental responsibility, many more need convincing to join the cause, they said at the start of the two-day Business for the Environment Summit. It comes two days after the UN Security Council held a groundbreaking debate on the security implications of climate change as the issue takes on increasing urgency. Last year a report commissioned by the British government warned that climate change could bring economic disaster on the scale of the world wars and the 1930s Great Depression unless urgent action was taken. Georg Kell, executive director of the United Nations Global Compact, an initiative that brings companies together with UN and other agencies to support environmental and social principles, said the compact included 50 corporations when it began in 2000. While this had expanded to more than 4,000 from 100 countries, it was only a fraction of the 70,000 trans-national corporations worldwide, he said. "Clearly, we still have a long way to go to achieve a tipping point and we bet on you the front-runners to help us in this," he said. Kell urged the world's top firms to "make engagement and pro-active management of environmental and social issues into a business model that becomes a standard" for others to follow. Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said climate change issues had been gaining increasing popularity, and companies that adopt environment-friendly policies and standards were likely to gain support from consumers. More investors were also putting their money into companies that incorporate protection of the environment as part of their social responsibility, he said. "Here is a clear message for many business and industry sectors, particularly energy-intensive ones with a heavy carbon footprint," he said. "Not adopting and adapting to a sustainability approach will increasingly be judged by the markets as ignoring issues which are financially material and in doing so not fulfilling the basic requirements of responsible management." Steiner warned that because climate change issues had been neglected in the past, dealing with them now had become more expensive. "We are faced with climate change, with potentially catastrophic consequences, and they are because we have taken so long to act," he warned. More than 600 business executives and environment experts from 40 countries are attending the summit, the first major international conference focusing on business and the environment in Asia, according to UNEP. In his opening address, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said companies now "are being more frequently judged on the basis of their environmental stewardship." Yaacob warned that the need for energy to fuel economic growth had further increased the risk of unsustainable energy production and waste management problems. "In Asia, we could see an increase in the number of nuclear power installations. We would need to fully address the safety of nuclear power plants, and ensure that nuclear installations meet the highest operational safety requirements," he said. Indonesia is pursuing plans to develop nuclear energy. Among other subjects for discussion are sustainable tourism and environmentally-sound building and construction. A special session on Friday will be devoted to discussing solutions to the forest-fire haze that blankets parts of Southeast Asia each year. Agence France-Presse http://nationmultimedia.com/worldhotnews/read.php?newsid=30032193 …………………………………. Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 423.36 Kb. Share with your friends:
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