|
|
Johannesburg, August (GYRP) – They are mostly men. Besuited, bespectacled, with slicked-back hair and confident smiles. They are the business contingent at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
"We came here because we wanted to challenge the myths regarding business and sustainability. It's not something you do to your bottom line, but for your bottom line," said Peter Woicke, Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation, at ‘Doing Good and Doing Well,’ a Summit side-event.
There is no doubt that the business presence here means business. And despite widespread cynicism from the NGO community, business is putting forward a convincing argument that it can work for sustainable development, and it has to – private sector flows to developing countries are four times those of official development assistance.
If their Summit performance is anything to go by, it bodes well for action: the business press conferences and events start punctually, they attract a large crowd and presentations run to time. All in all, it's a slick and confident set-up they have here.
But amidst all this positive energy, something seems to be lacking – admissions of failure, examples of things that have gone wrong and acceptance of the barriers to change are few and far between. It may be a lot to ask for a multinational corporation to be humble – BW's spacestation-scale invasion of Sandton Square outside the conference centre testifies to this. But saturating delegates with success stories of eco-efficiency savings and community investment will slow the conversion of the sceptics.
José Juis Blasco of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in Spain, offers one voice of caution. "There are difficulties," he says. "In particular, to get true CEO commitment." In many companies the enthusiasm of the environment, health and safety or the corporate social responsibility department is not reflected at board level and therefore not translated into a concerted effort for change.
Once the Chief Executive Officer has seen the light you are halfway to the other goal – making sure that sustainability is integrated throughout the company.
As Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, former Shell CEO who is leading the business presence at the Summit, says: "We in business consider that if we are to achieve sustainable development it must run right through corporations."
© GLOBAL YOUTH REPORTERS PROGRAMME
|
1
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Annabel Short
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
It takes a lot of guts Solace Asafo | Jan 21st, 2004
This is a wonderful piece and i enjoyed reading it. The truth is that most of these sleek business men cannot admit they have failed. I tell you it takes a lot of guts and high doses of humility to make this admission and since that cannot be found within the corriders of most board rooms and conference halls, there can be no admission of failure. Let us hope that the corporate world would sooner than later begin to understand that sustainable development goes beyond the pledging money but encompasses developing programmes aimed at sustaining all aspects of living.
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
