Call to make businesses environmentally friendly
Private push can spark govt actions to adopt sustainable development
Chen Huifen, Business Times 23 Apr 08;
THE private sector needs to start investing to make their businesses more environmentally friendly, say speakers at the Business for the Environment Global Summit (B4E).
Their engagement will not only help to push political leaders to set up policies that will enhance sustainable development, but also help them better manage the burden of climate change in the future.
'Business prides itself on being able to read the future better than governments can, and I think this is perhaps true,' said United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Achim Steiner. 'It requires our governments also to be more coherent and. . .to invest in longer term policy decisions.'
The call comes on the heels of the Bali Road Map, sealed at the UN climate change conference last December. The road map, which almost fell apart, is to pave the way for another two years of negotiations for countries to agree on greenhouse emission regimes following the lapse of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
UN Global Compact executive director Georg Kell is hoping that the greater scrutiny placed by investors on environmental, social and government policies will give governments and businesses more incentive to be more proactive.
'Environment, social and government issues are . . .increasingly material to long-term performance,' he said, adding that they are becoming part of the risk assessment that long-term investors are beginning to consider seriously.
Singapore's National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan also urged the involvement of the business community at the conference. He said engagement need not come at the expense of profitability, especially in the case of Singapore when government support is available.
He listed a number of programmes spearheaded by the government to encourage sustainable development. They include a $50 million Sustainable Energy Fund to co-fund design projects, fund the implementation of energy-efficient equipment, and train relevant manpower.
There is also a $10 million scheme to help companies conduct energy audits and identify energy efficiency measures. So far, 87 manufacturing facilities have benefited from the scheme, which has collectively led to $23 million in annual energy savings.
'In addition, companies that learn to be more resource-efficient ahead of the competition will reap first mover advantage in a new carbon-constrained world,' said Mr Mah. 'Businesses that adopt environmental sustainability as a form of corporate social responsibility will distinguish themselves in a world of increasingly discerning consumers.'
Germany was cited as one of several 'green economies' that had the foresight years ago to invest in innovative technologies that have the potential to combat the growth of carbon dioxide emissions. Because of that, it has developed the capabilities to take advantage of the emerging clean energy industry today.
Held at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the two-day B4E summit co-organised by the UNEP and UN Global Compact was attended by some 500 delegates.
Governments must lead private sector in going green
Lynnette Khoo, Business Times 23 Apr 08;
THE urgency for managing climate change has not really sunk in and governments have to lead the private sector in efforts to cope with climate change, the audience at the Business for Environment Global Summit was told.
The panelists comprising former prime ministers and former ministers drew attention to some constraints faced in pursuing this climate agenda. They include limited resources and perceived disconnection between economic gains and environment conservation.
'We need to establish economic development more and more on sound ecological principles,' said Liz Thompson, former minister of energy and the environment in Barbados.
Ms Thompson, who used to handle the portfolios of energy and environment, said there is no contradiction between the two disciplines. She said that they developed their energy policy based on sustainable development strategies.
She noted that some 60 per cent of the country's households now use solar energy for water heating and the country has put in place incentives to encourage people to retrofit their homes in ways that enable them to tap solar energy.
Balgis Osman-Elasha, a senior researcher at Sudan's Higher Council for Environment & Natural Resources and lead member of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), pointed to the lack of resources in her country to deal with climate change.
The Sudanese researcher has worked on a range of research projects in her country, including Darfur, demonstrating to vulnerable communities the feasibility of adapting to climate change and extreme weather events.
While the government has to take the lead in managing climate change, private sector involvement is vital, Ms Thompson said. She advocated more communication with the private sector and the development of public-private partnerships and recommended the use of 'more carrots than sticks' for the private sector.
The tourism industry, for instance, can be given incentives like tax savings to retrofit hotels and restaurants with green products and fixtures, she said. 'As long as the private sector sees the benefits for them, then we are going to move forward.'
Ms Thompson is the winner for Latin America and the Caribbean and Ms Osman-Elasha is the winner for Africa for this year's United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Champions of the Earth Awards.
The annual prize rewards individuals from around the globe who have made a significant and recognised global and regional contributionto the protection and sustainable management of the Earth's environment and natural resources.
Other winners who received the award at the gala evening held here last night were Prince Albert II of Monaco; former US Senator Timothy E Wirth; New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark; Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, the secretary general of the Yemen People's General Congress.
Environmental initiatives can give firms an edge
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 23 Apr 08;
BUSINESSES should take the initiative and invest in making their operations more environmentally friendly, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said yesterday.
Those that learn to be more resource-efficient ahead of the competition can gain a 'first-mover advantage in a new carbon-
constrained world', he said.
The minister told a 500-strong audience at the annual Business for the Environment Global Summit that this competitive edge did not have to come at the expense of profits.
Singapore, for example, has an energy efficiency improvement scheme that has helped 87 manufacturing plants save $23 million in annual power bills through energy audits, said Mr Mah.
To build the Republic into a sustainable development hub, he said, a 'third pillar' was needed: People and businesses must drive local efforts towards sustainability.
Climate change expert Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said there had been a 'major shift' in business attitudes, with investments pouring into researching ways to increase energy efficiency in business operations.
But 'environmentalists must become more economics-literate, while economists must become more environmentally aware', he said at the two-day summit.
The summit was staged with the UNEP Champions of the Earth 2008 awards ceremony last night. This year's laureates include Prince Albert II of Monaco and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
The third 'green' pillar
Business community has a part to play in becoming more environmentally friendly
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 23 Apr 08;
WHERE governments are unwilling to take steps to tackle the issue of climate change, businesses should take the initiative.
And even as such calls were being made by United Nations (UN) officials at the Business for Environment (B4E) Global Summit on Earth Day yesterday, Singapore urged the business community and domestic population to play their part as the "third pillar" of efforts to build the Republic into a "sustainable development hub".
With Government schemes and incentives to promote energy efficiency already in place, it was time for companies to "be prepared to take the initiative and invest in advance to make their businesses more environmentally friendly," said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan.
This, he stressed, need not come at the expense of business profitability.
Making the opening address at the conference — organised by the UN Environment Programme and Global Compact — Mr Mah emphasised the importance of "joint leadership" even as the Government took the lead in addressing climate change.
To build Singapore into an "international exchange for knowledge and expertise in sustainable development", a "ground-up movement among the people and private sectors" will have to be nurtured, he said.
Said UN Global Compact programme head Georg Kell: "Business ... can show that solutions are feasible, that solutions are possible, and thereby prepare the ground for governments to be proactive where they have not been."
But getting businesses in Singapore to heed the message could be a challenge: Singapore came last in a ranking of 32 countries in a survey last year on what businesses had done to manage future energy cost pressures.
Hyflux group executive vice-president and chief technology officer Fong Chun Hoe felt it was a "tough call" for small businesses to foot the green bill because many were struggling to get their concerns going.
What the Government has done so far — allocating $350 million for clean energy research and providing assistance to encourage and support energy efficiency programmes — was good, but perhaps many businesses were still unaware of the initiatives, he suggested.
"When the cost of going green was less expensive or at least equal to current costs, perhaps more companies would be encouraged," he added.
Businesses, it seemed, were ready to heed the call, according to an ongoing B4E survey of global business leaders, but a lack of clear directives and consistency from governments was a barrier to doing so.
Another significant barrier was competing strategic priorities for businesses.
Senoko Energy Supply managing director Eu Pui Sun said businesses need not wait for signals from governments to go ahead with green efforts. Innovative solutions to becoming resource efficient in an economically viable way however, would need to come from the industry itself, he said, citing power generation companies that desalinate their own water as examples. "And other companies will follow," he said.
Agreeing, Hyflux's Mr Fong said: "As businesses, you don't wait for it to come. You forecast what is coming and prepare yourself for it and try to be ahead of the curve."
And yet "carrots rather than sticks" remain key in galvanising companies to become more environmentally friendly.
Relating the experience of Barbados in promoting energy efficiency, senator and former Minister of Energy and Environment Liz Thompson said that financial incentives and tax rebates helped to push businesses to make changes.
More than 500 participants from over 30 countries attended the B4E summit, which also saw the launching of a new initiative for benchmarking and research on becoming a less carbon-intensive business.
