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The Week in Germany: Business, Technology and the Environment March 14, 2008 In Good Company: First Global Business Initiative to Protect Biodiversity
Presented by Environment Minister Gabriel
A group of international businesses from a wide range of sectors have for the first time jointly acknowledged their responsibility for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity. The "Business & Biodiversity" initiative, spearheaded by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and recently presented in Berlin now comprises more than 12 companies. In a joint declaration they have committed themselves to far-reaching actions placing special emphasis on biological diversity in their company policies. "If we want to implement the goals of the Convention on Biodiversity and safeguard the natural basis of life for future generations it is indispensable to involve all spheres of society, including and in particular businesses," said Gabriel. "Conserving biodiversity is not only an ethical commitment, it is also an economically necessary and essential task. These companies are trailblazers in their respective sectors," he added. Among the current participants are: Volkswagen, HeidelbergCement, the Otto Group, KfW banking group, Bionade (organic beverages), Krombacher (beer), Weleda (natural medicine) and Hipp (organic baby food) from Germany; Miramonte Mining from Switzerland; Kajima Construction and Oji Paper from Japan; as well as the Orsa Group (timber) and Natura (cosmetics) from Brazil. They will seek to determine the effects of their business activities on biodiversity and to craft their environmental management systems accordingly, notably by ensuring that a senior management position is maintained to provide ongoing oversight. In addition, suppliers are to be informed about the biodiversity goals of the company and to be involved at every step in the production chain. From May 19 to 30 Germany will host the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, with 5,000 delegates from 190 countries expected to attend. It will aim explicitly at involving trade and industry in achieving the aims of the convention. At the conference, the "Business & Biodiversity" initiative will be introduced to the global community under the motto "Biodiversity in Good Company". More companies are expected to join the initiative by then as global pioneers. Brazil, host of the last such conference in 2006, Japan as host in 2010 and the European Commission are also involved in the initiative. "We have just developed an ambitious climate protection strategy," said Johannes Merck, corporate responsibility director at the Otto Group, a leading international trading and services corporation popular in Germany for its massive mail order catalogs offering a wide range of consumer products. "We believe that our planet's ecosystems can only be preserved in the long run if we tackle imminent global warming, which also contributes to the conservation of biodiversity," he added. At the same time Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn stressed that the German carmaker "has been actively supporting specific nature and species conservation projects all over the world for many years." And Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement, said: "Handling natural
resources from 750 quarries and excavation sites worldwide in a responsible
way is the foundation of our business and makes us fit for the future.
We incorporate promoting biodiversity as a fundamental goal." (TWIG/Federal
Environment Ministry) Links: Volkswagen Researchers Unveil New High-Temperature Fuel Cell (TWIG, Nov. 10, 2006) Bionade
Quenches German Thirst for Natural Beverages (TWIG, Oct. 27, 2006) |
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