Financial Express.bd : Business world has big role on climate: UNEP

Financial Express.bd : Business world has big role on climate: UNEP

SINGAPORE, Apr 19 (AFP): More than 600 business executives and environmental experts gathered Thursday in Singapore to thrash out ways the corporate world can help tackle the threat of climate change.

The two-day summit is the first major international conference focusing on business and the environment in Asia, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) which is co- organising the event.

It comes two days after the UN Security Council held a groundbreaking debate on the security implications of climate change.

Delegates in Singapore plan to examine how the private sector, governments and non-government organisations can cooperate to ensure development balances economic, social and environmental factors, organisers said.

UNEP organised the event with the UN Global Compact, an initiative that brings companies together with UN and other agencies to support environmental and social principles.

"The private sector is now becoming an active partner in environmental protection," Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Yaacob Ibrahim, said in his opening address.

"Many governments and businesses have also started to realise that environmental protection and economic growth can go hand in hand," he added.

"Companies are being more frequently judged on the basis of their environmental stewardship."

Yaacob warned that the need for energy to fuel economic growth has 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.

A key UN report released this month warned that billions would face a higher risk of water scarcity and millions more would likely go hungry as damage to the Earth's weather systems from greenhouse gases changed rainfall patterns, powered up storms and boosted the risk of drought, flooding and water stress.

More than 1.2 billion people, or about one-fifth of the world's population, lack access to drinking water, conference organisers said, warning that without any action this could rise to 2.3 billion people by 2023.

Among other subjects for discussion are "green investment and financing," sustainable tourism and environmentally-sound building and construction.

A special session Friday will be devoted to discussing solutions to the forest-fire haze that blankets parts of Southeast Asia each year.

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.

Among the organisations to be represented at the Singapore meeting are the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), World Resources Institute and the Carbon Disclosure Fund.

Scheduled speakers include Kirsi Sormunen, Nokia's vice president of environmental affairs, Diana Bell, a senior vice president at Hewlett-Packard, Greenpeace International director Steve Sawyer and actress and environmental activist Daryl Hannah.

http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=4/20/2007§ion_id=22&newsid=58765&spcl=no

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Zee News : Business world urged to play role on climate: UN meeting

Singapore, April 19: More global corporations need to get involved in fighting climate change, experts told a major conference in Singapore on Thursday, adding that many companies are already seeing the benefits of environment-friendly practices.

International businesses have a major role in helping protect the environment, experts said at the start of the UN-backed business for the environment summit.
ACHIM Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said climate change has gained increasing prominence, and companies that adopt environment-friendly policies and standards were likely to gain support from consumers.
"If Asian companies are going to succeed as global players, they essentially have to also address a global marketplace in which the issue of environmental sustainability is an increasingly important one," he said.
This will translate not only into ethical practices but "is real money in real markets with real consumers."
As an example, the market in Germany for organic food has grown to more than four billion euros a year in fewer than 10 years.
Steiner also cited the booming market in energy-efficient lightbulbs, and Toyota's success with "hybrid" cars whose engines combine gasoline power with an electric motor.
Speakers said energy efficiency is an important contribution that individuals, companies and governments can make to help reduce dangerous carbon emissions.
If 30 per cent of the world switched to environment- friendly lighting, global carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 260 million tonnes, said Martin Goetzeler, Chief Executive of German lighting giant Osram, which makes energy-saving lamps. Bureau Report

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=366699&ssid=26&sid=ENV

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The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand : UN Urges Businesses to Tackle Climate Change

By Tanalee Smith/AP Writer/Singapore

April 19, 2007

Businesses in both developed and emerging economies must implement environment-friendly operations if they want to compete in this more environmentally aware world, UN officials said Thursday.
The Global Business Summit for the Environment gathered about 600 business executives and environment experts to discuss ways that corporations can fight climate change. It was touted as a "green" event, with brochures printed on recycled paper, handmade carrying bags made of hemp and no plastic bottles or cups.
"Climate change is essentially an environmental change that is so all-encompassing at the moment that it touches on every sector in the economy and society," Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, told reporters.
He said companies in Asia and elsewhere would have to adapt or be overlooked by a world that is increasingly aware of climate change and its implications.
"If ... companies are going to succeed as global players, they essentially have to also address a global marketplace in which the issue of environmental sustainability is an increasingly important one," Steiner said. "Not only corporately ethical, but important to real money and real consumers."
He challenged businesses, entrepreneurs and investors to help "decarbonize" economies, be it via electricity, forestry or water usage.
"We have to speed up the way we bring the environmental and sustainability dimension into the marketplace," Steiner said.
The conference was co-organized with the UN Global Compact, a 7-year-old initiative that works with businesses to enhance environmental and social ideals.
The head of that program, Georg Kell, commended companies that have already embraced the goals of Global Compact but lamented that only 100 of the top 500 global companies were on board.
"The big, big impact we're still chasing," he acknowledged.
He noted that businesses in emerging economies such as China and India were proactive in embracing environment-friendly concepts in order to catch up or even surpass global competitors.
"It is in a way a race to the top. In today's world, if you want to be a leader, you have to be a leader in the ESG side," said Kell, referring to Environmental, Social and Governance.
While speakers and forum participants encouraged government and policymakers to incorporate "green thinking," they stated that businesses should not wait to implement their own sustainability efforts.
Thursday's events were to conclude with the UNEP awarding its Champions of the Earth award to seven people who have made achievements in areas including sustainable waste management, the greening of sporting events and the conservation of deserts and rainforests.
The recipients include former US Vice President Al Gore and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. The two were not attending the Singapore events.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=6963&z=163

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