Peak Environment Groups call for more corporate environmental sustainability
Thursday, 22 August 2002 10:00
Australia's key national and state peak environment groups today issued a joint statement calling for further action by corporate Australia, to address the serious and potentially irreversible environmental problems confronting society.
Principles for CSR
Australia's key national and state peak environment groups today issued a joint statement calling for further action by corporate Australia, to address the serious and potentially irreversible environmental problems confronting society.
"We agree that some progress has been made by corporate Australia in moving towards practices that are environmentally and socially sustainable. However, we maintain that the changes to date are inadequate to address the serious, and potentially irreversible, environmental problems confronting our planet", the groups said.
The Statement sets down 6 joint action areas and calls upon Corporate Australia to commit to:
- move well beyond minimum regulatory compliance;
- to take prompt action to significantly and speedily reduce their ecological footprint; and
- adopt independently verifiable environmental management systems and reporting practices.
"Corporate environmental sustainability programs are of great importance but there is potential for them to become greenwash, playing into cynic's expectations and dashing the hopes of socially responsible investors. NGOs have a role to play to ensure that corporations are made transparent, accountable to society and genuinely embrace environmental sustainability."
"We are determined to play an active role at the outset to help the great potential to be achieved. This requires a common front from environment groups."
"In the past other significant tools for environment protection, such as environmental impact statements have been allowed to wither and lose credibility because of industry capture. We are determined this will not happen again."
"We also call on the federal government to introduce stronger corporate laws to regulate the environmental performance of Australian companies both here and abroad. Stronger regulations will ensure that companies not willing to do the right thing voluntarily, still improve their environmental performance."
