Centre for Environmental Leadership
6 February 2002 at 12:02 pm
Conservation International and Ford Motor Company recently launched the Centre for Environmental Leadership in Business. Made possible through a
five-year, $25 million contribution from the Ford Motor Company Fund, the Centre engages the private sector in creating solutions to global environmental problems.
The Centre works in partnership with a wide range of companies and environmental organisations to promote business practices that reduce industry’s environmental effects and contribute to conservation.
The organisation says these practices also benefit business by cutting the costs associated with environmental impact and by enhancing a company’s
reputation with communities, customers, employees, and shareholders.
The result is what the Centre calls a “net benefit” for both the global environment and for business.
Peter Seligmann, the Chairman & CEO of Conservation International says solving the planet’s most pressing environmental problems requires the ingenuity of the private sector.
He says leading corporations like Ford Motor Company are recognising that their effect on the environment is a core business issue. We believe that the next ‘industrial revolution’ will be a move by corporations to direct their entrepreneurial energy toward solving environmental problems.
The Centre concentrates on those industries with the greatest environmental effect on critical ecosystems and those with the potential to bring about positive environmental change, including agriculture and fisheries,
forestry, energy and mining, travel and leisure, transportation, manufacturing, and financial services.
The Centre provides an open forum where business leaders, environmentalists, and academics can work together to create innovative solutions.
Once new business practices have been developed and tested in the field, the Centre will share its results with a
wide audience of business, environmental and government leaders.
Seligmann says the ultimate goal is to have industry replicate these proven best practices around the globe.
To find out more go to www.celb.org.
