ICC urges world leaders to scale up action towards a green and inclusive economy

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said that the transition towards a “green and inclusive economy” must be scaled up and that the back-to-back meetings of two intergovernmental forums, the G20 and Rio+20, should build momentum to pave the way to a more sustainable future.

How best to accomplish this is laid out in the ICC Green Economy Roadmap, a comprehensive guide for business, policymakers and civil society, that was presented at the Rio+20 conference today.

The 2012 G20 Mexico Summit in Los Cabos, unlike those that came before it, kicked off a week that will end with the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, commonly known as Rio+20. ICC delivered policy priorities on behalf of global business to the G20 on trade and investment, green growth, transparency and anti-corruption, and financing for growth and development. ICC has also been part of the official process at Rio+20, providing business input to the negotiations of a final text that is expected to come out of the conference.

To date, ICC has rated the G20 performance as “incomplete” across four important policy areas: trade and investment, green growth, transparency and anti-corruption, and financing for growth and development.

“We are all linked by a shared interest to increase prosperity, while dealing with environmental, social and economic challenges – and yet we have no appropriate tools to manage a globalized economy,” said ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier. “What we need are strong coordinated solutions to the worldwide jobs crisis and action to avoid a new global recession. Governments should re-balance economic incentives and provide enabling policy frameworks to boost business confidence to do what it does best – deliver jobs and growth. World leaders in Los Cabos and Rio de Janeiro have an opportunity to send clear signals to re-launch the economic activity and deliver on ‘green growth.’”

The two separate ICC delegations currently attending Rio+20 and the G20 include representatives from many of ICC’s member companies around the world.

“The private sector is already delivering solutions to global sustainability challenges such as the growing population and limited availability of the earth’s finite resources, but progress would be much faster with more collaboration between governments, civil society and business,” said Neil Hawkins, Vice President, Sustainability/EH&S, Dow Chemical Company. “With the right policy frameworks, business can make the investments and create the business opportunities that the green transition promises. This is what the ICC Green Economy Roadmap is all about.”

The ICC Green Economy Roadmap sets out 10 conditions needed to drive growth and calls for innovation, collaboration and governance. It serves as both a tool for integrating sustainability into business strategies and government policies as well as a platform to share and scale-up best practices and initiate new activities.

View the press conference launch of the ICC Green Economy Roadmap on UN web TV