Ensuring environmentally responsible production

Ensuring ethical management of industrial processes
Managing sustainable production
Promoting environmental Process and Production Methods

Description

To develop, design and operate facilities and conduct activities taking into consideration the efficient use of energy and materials, the sustainable use of renewable resources, the minimisation of adverse environmental impact and waste generation, and the safe and responsible disposal of residual wastes.

To recognise environmental management as among the highest corporate priorities and a key determinant to sustainable development; to establish policies, programmes and practices for conducting operations in an environmentally sound manner.

Context

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Implementation

Proctor and Gamble Company use four criteria as a guide to the sustainability of their products: (1) they must be safe for workers, consumers and the environment; (2) they must meet the letter and spirit of the law (compliance as a minimum target); (3) they must use resources wisely and minimize waste; and (4) they must improve the quality of people's lives and must address stakeholders' need and concerns.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Business Charter for Sustainable Development provides a basic framework of reference for action by individual corporations and business organisations throughout the world. It has been recognised as a complement to environmental management systems. To this end, the ICC, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) have developed a kit to help enterprises integrate environmental management systems in the daily management practices.

Claim

Governments concerned about the methods by which goods are produced in other countries and their effects on the environment should use Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and/or labelling to deal with these problems, rather than resorting to direct trade measures. It is one thing for there to be an agreed international standard on a particular production method or use of a particular substance, such as CFCs. It is quite another for each WTO member to decide, purely unilaterally, that it disapproves of some practice elsewhere in the world and for it to ban imports on that basis.

Rules on process and production methods must be reexamined at the WTO to promote sustainable commerce. WTO rules have, in the past, been interpreted to prevent governments from regulating imports that are produced in a way that would negatively impact the environment, animal welfare, human rights and sustainable development.