Business leaders gathered at a Rio+20 conference June 18 pledged sustainable policies and joined a call for world leaders to usher in “a green industrial revolution” to save the planet.
Two days before a UN summit on sustainable development opens here, 1,200 CEOs wrapped up a four-day meeting with more than 150 voluntary commitments to greater energy efficiency, reforestation and a lower carbon footprint and other green policies.
Forty-five chief executives vowed to make water security a strategic priority and called for decisive action by governments.
“Problems related to water availability, quality and sanitation are undermining development in many regions of the world — exacting an enormous human cost while also undermining critical life-giving ecosystems,” they said.
Signatories include chiefs of global companies such as Pepsico, Coca Cola, Nestle, Saint-Gobain, Royal Dutch Shell, Akzo Nobel, Bayer, Heineken and Pernod Ricard.
Roughly 800 million people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion lack basic sanitation, according to the United Nations.
The UN Global Compact, the sponsor of the business forum, said it tallied more than 150 “time-bound, measurable commitments” on which companies are required to report annually.
The commitments centered on the forum’s six core themes: energy and climate, water and ecosystems, agriculture and food, social development, urbanization and cities, economy and financing.
U.S. chemicals giant Dupont pledged $10 billion to research and development and announced plans to launch 4,000 new products by late 2020 to produce more food, enhance nutrition and curb food waste.
U.S. technology titan Microsoft vowed to achieve net zero emissions for its data centers, software development centers, software development labs, offices and employee air travel by boosting energy efficiency and buying renewable energy.
Global clothing retailer H&M said it would upgrade to 100 percent sustainable cotton — organic or recycled — in its cotton garments while U.S. sporstwear giant Nike set a target of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals across its entire supply chain by 2020.
And South Africa‘s state-owned utility Eskom and U.S. Duke Energy pledged to assist the development of an electrification roadmap to ensure 500 million people across Africa and developing countries have access to energy by 2025.
Source: MNN.com
By Gerard Aziakou, AFP