Business Charter Frequently Asked Questions

The Business Charter for Sustainable Development provides a basic framework of reference for action by individual corporations and business organizations throughout the world. It has been recognized as a complement to environmental management systems and its 16 Principles remain relevant and useful guidelines for many companies establishing responsible environmental programs.

Here we present answers to questions frequently asked about the Charter.

Q: What does it mean when a company 'endorses' the Charter?

A: The charter was established more than 10 years ago, as a driver for business input to the first Earth Summit conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. A considerable effort was put into determining a set of 16 principles that would be useful as businesses undertook programmes to improve environmental management within their organizations. Within this context, the Charter is now viewed as a landmark document for the business community. Note the various executive statements in the Company Showcase section of the ICC website. The Charter was extremely useful in helping companies determine which elements should be included or adapted into their own EMS (Environmental Management Systems).

Q: Are the Principles absolute standards that we companies are being asked to meet now?

A: No. The Principles provide a basis for improving environmental performance.

Q: Do companies follow all guidelines? Is there any way of knowing if they actually do?

A: Endorsing the Charter implies that the company endorses the principles in the Charter. It is not an industry standard (like ISO), but issues guidance and advocates an acceptance of the principles in the Charter as a progressive path to follow. As noted above, many companies have chosen to incorporate, adapt and even expand upon, the Charter principles. As such, companies are not measured against the Charter as they might be measured against an industry standard or code. The ICC is not an enforcement body, and therefore promotes the Charter as a set of "good practices". The future challenge is to spread the message of continuous improvement to those companies and industry sectors which have not yet incorporated such principles into their planning and management regimes.

Q. Does the Charter live up to the modern definitions of 'sustainable development'?

A: At the time it was developed, sustainable development was defined mainly in terms of addressing emerging environmental challenges with the widespread demand for continued economic development. This explains why the Charter's subtitle is "Principles of Environmental Management". It should also be remembered that 10 years ago, only a very few companies published separate "Environment Reports". Since then, many companies, especially the larger ones, have implemented environmental management systems which go much, much further than the basic elements of the Charter. Also, the 'social dimension' of sustainable development, which is now receiving greater attention by governments and civil society, including business and industry, is being incorporated into several other Charters, Codes and Guidelines for companies to follow. The highest profile for a number of international initiatives is the UN Global Compact, in which ICC plays a leading role.

Q. Can ICC provide examples of companies which have benefited from the Charter?

A. Instead of updating the charter or trying to enforce it's principles, the ICC has undertaken to feature or "showcase" company achievements and progress toward sustainable development. This approach is represented in the "Company Showcase" in the web site. Although the development of the showcase is at an early stage, it is evident that the Charter was a valuable and visionary tool along the path toward sustainable development, and it demonstrates the high level of commitment many ICC member companies have maintained to integrate sustainable development principles into daily operations.