Global business leaders reassert commitment to environmental action

A UN-backed meeting of some of the world's top business leaders kicked off in Seoul earlier today with a reassertion of the commitment by many of the world's largest firms to develop more sustainable business models.

The fourth annual meeting of the Business for Environment Global Summit (B4E) was attended by around 1,000 senior executives from some of the world's largest multinationals, including Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, HP, Hitachi, LG Electronics, McKinsey & Co, Puma, Siemens, and Virgin Group.

Speaking at the opening of the summit, which was organised by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and environmental group WWF, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said that he was looking to businesses to play a "major role" in efforts to tackle climate change.

"We need green growth for our economic and environmental well-being," he said. "Climate change, desertification and declining biodiversity are themselves a threat to the Millennium Development Goals. We need action. Innovation. Resolve."

His comments were echoed by Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary-general and executive director of the UNEP, who warned that businesses could either take part in a well-managed transition to a low-carbon economy or face a rapid and potentially unplanned change in business models brought about by climate change and resource constraints.

"The blunt economic models of the 20th century are unlikely to deliver the kind of low-carbon, resource-efficient development path so urgently needed on a planet of six billion, and rising to over nine billion people by 2050," he explained. "Thus a transition to a Green Economy is in the end inevitable. The question now is whether this happens by design or by default."

The summit demonstrated that large numbers of firms now accept this argument and are exploring how best to develop new sustainable business models.

Georg Kell, executive director of the UN Global Compact, said that the UN's corporate responsibility programme had grown to include nearly 6,000 businesses from more than 140 countries over the past 10 years. "We must build on this momentum," he added. "The message is clear: incorporating environmental, social and governance issues into business strategies and operations leads to long-range value creation for companies and societies. It is a winning formula for the global economy and our planet."

Executives attending the summit in South Korea discussed a range of different proposals for reducing the environmental impact of their operations, including the widespread adoption of green procurement policies, improved marketing to encourage consumers to purchase sustainable products, a shift in investment priorities designed to encourage investors to back low-carbon projects with long-term rewards, and the development of new water and biodiversity corporate policies.