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Corporate Social Responsibility
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6.03.2008 - 01:49pm ET
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Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas M. Countryman's speech to the CEO & CSR Conference 2008 in Athens, May 28, 2008
(CSRwire) ATHENS,GREECE, - June 3, 2008 - Thank you, and good afternoon.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to join
EuroCharity once again, following a series of presentations on topics
which I consider to be of utmost importance. You have heard about the
steps that individual companies and organisations are taking to make a
difference, and the importance of promoting innovation in order to change
the way we think and act. I would also like to tell you a bit about what
the United States is doing, including steps we are taking at our Embassy
in Athens. As this afternoon's discussions focused on climate change,
I will begin there.
Climate Change
While many people do not know the details, the United States is actually
very active on addressing climate change and helping the environment.
People often lose track of the considerable progress we are making, and
are unaware of the fact that we continue to out-perform Kyoto member
countries. In fact, the growth in U.S. emissions has slowed considerably
since the 1990's. Between 2000 and 2005, the latest period for which we
have comparable UN data, the U.S. and the EU-25 experienced roughly the
same rate of growth in emissions -- about 1.5% or 1.6%. To put this in
perspective, however, let me note that during that same period the U.S.
economy and population both grew at approximately twice the rate of the
EU. More recently, in 2006, U.S. emissions actually declined. The 2007
U.S. energy law mandated targets that are on a par with the emissions to
be cut under the Kyoto Protocol.
Last month, President Bush announced a new national goal to stop U.S.
greenhouse gas emission growth by 2025. The centerpiece of our strategy is
in setting high, but realistic goals. We believe that it is essential for
other nations to do the same, because as promising as our new initiatives
are, U.S. action cannot stand alone. Even if we reduced our emissions to
zero tomorrow, we would not make a meaningful dent in reducing growth in
carbon emissions without the concerted action of all major economies.
Already, experts believe that emissions in China have surpassed those of
the United States. That is why we believe that effective global efforts to
combat climate change must include the developing world. This is the
foundation of our ongoing efforts to address climate change via the Major
Economies process. This process aims to help countries in the developing
world gain access to the technologies, and financing that will enable them
to take a lower carbon path to economic growth. At the Major Economies
leaders' meeting that will be held in conjunction with the G-8 summit in
July, we will seek agreement on a long-term global goal for emissions
reductions, as well as agreement on how national plans will be part of the
post-2012 approach.
This approach must be environmentally-effective and economically
sustainable. To be effective, this approach will require commitments by
all major economies to slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of
greenhouse gas emissions. To be economically sustainable, this approach
must foster the economic growth necessary to pay for investments in new
technology and to raise living standards. Rather than drastic emissions
cuts that have no chance of being realised and have every chance of
hurting national economies, we believe in setting realistic goals
consistent with advances in technology, while increasing our energy
security and ensuring that our economy can continue to prosper and
grow.
U.S. Actions
As this morning's keynote speaker, Dr. Braungart's noted -- "being less
bad is not being good." I would like to say that the primary reason that
we are no longer the world's top emitter is due to a dramatic reduction in
our carbon emission levels, rather than to China's numbers rising. Such a
reduction is, however, our goal which we aim to achieve through promoting
innovation and development at both the federal and state levels.
Our advances have come primarily through the application of market-based,
high-technology solutions to power generation and increasing fleet
efficiency in transportation. At the federal level, a recent report by our
Department of Energy outlines steps which would allow us to produce 20% of
all U.S. electricity via wind energy by 2030. If we are able to achieve
these goals, we would avoid the accumulation of 7.6 gigatons of CO2.
Already, I am proud to say, existing wind energy facilities produce enough
electricity to serve 2.9 million American homes and displace approximately
23 million tons of carbon dioxide -- the leading greenhouse gas -- each
year.
As Dr. Braungart also indicated this morning, the answers cannot always
come from the Government. What our Government can do, however is continue
to promote private investment. At the State level, many of you are at
least vaguely familiar with the strong efforts in California, but states
such as Texas are also very active in pressing environmentally-sound
solutions. A recently announced public-private initiative for wind energy
in Texas already lists more than USD 10 billion in committed investments
for new wind projects.
U.S.-Greek Efforts
Our efforts in encouraging private investment does not stop in the U.S.
though. Greece and the United States, in fact, have been building
collaboration efforts in the field of renewable energy right here in
South-East Europe. Over the course of the past six months, the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) has worked closely with Hellenic Aid
to assess ways in which we can increase energy efficiency and the use of
renewable energy in the Balkans. This past Friday, Secretary General
Skylakakis, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and USAID Deputy Assistant
Administrator Mefford signed a Memorandum of Understanding which solidifies
these efforts. Within the coming year, we hope to establish specific
projects ranging from improving energy efficiency in different types of
buildings to providing advice on building the capacity of governmental
renewable energy bodies.
Green Embassy
Looking closer still, let me tell you about what we are working on at our
Embassy. I'm very proud of it. In March, Ambassador Speckhard signed our
Embassy into the League of Green U.S. Embassies. Already twenty-two U.S.
Embassies and diplomatic missions in Europe, including ours, have joined
the league. In joining, the missions signed a commitment to take concrete
steps to increase energy efficiency at each of their properties; and adopt
other environmentally responsible practices, including targeting our
Embassy vehicle fleet. Furthermore, these Embassies are working together
to advance our initiatives and gain support in Washington.
Our Embassy specifically has started what we call the "Green Embassy
Initiative," which aims to drastically reduce our net energy consumption.
We are reviewing energy consumption data for our official buildings and
our individual residences in an effort to first raise awareness, and then
work together to reduce our "footprint."
Additionally, the most ambitious component of this initiative so far
investigates the installation of photovoltaic panels on the rooftops of
our buildings. We are currently working to install 100kW of these panels
at the Embassy in the near future, and are working with Washington to
approve a larger program as soon as possible. We applaud the Greek
Government for its focus on renewable energy initiatives, and given the
location of the Embassy, hope our project stands as a strong and visible
symbol of support for these initiatives in the future. We are excited to
explore this ground-breaking project, in hopes that it will also motivate
local companies to use alternative forms of energy. The fact is,
preserving the environment is the moral responsibility of each and every
one of us. Advancing policy initiatives accomplishes little if we are
unable to live in practice of these same goals. My Embassy is taking that
responsibility seriously and I hope our efforts will pay off and encourage
others to do the same.
Conclusion
Working at the U.S. Embassy, I'm sure you can imagine that it isn't
unheard of for people to question, even jokingly, at a hidden agenda for
some of our actions. In regards to climate change and efforts to "go
green," I imagine that many of you have faced similar questions. This
morning, I heard that there is even a term for it now -- "Green Washing."
A few months ago, an article in the Financial Times commented on the
Harvard Business Review's "Conversation Starter" blog in relation to CSR.
The article noted that many bloggers wrote that Corporate Social
Responsibility was only a "public relations sham" and that all such
efforts are self serving. Certainly, "Green Washing" exists. In contrast
to these "bloggers" -- I think we have seen today that cradle-to-cradle
approach, and CSR in general, is indeed on the rise. It has the potential
not only to support better business practices but to increase economic
transparency and efficiency.
At EuroCharity's CEO and CSR conference last fall, I spoke about the
evolution of government's and business's approach to CSR. More
specifically, I said that the smart country and corporation is the one
which recognises that social, cultural, environmental and historical
sensibilities can affect a nation's prosperity and an international
corporation's bottom line. Our future is inextricably linked to the
choices we make today. The cradle-to-cradle concept is not only good
business sense, it is simply good sense. In a world of budgets and
financial limitations, however, it is refreshing to be able to fall back
on the business sense to encourage others to rethink how we go about our
daily business. I would like to thank the conference organisers, today's
speakers and panelists, and the efforts of those of you here today, and
others like you, who seek ways to optimise and refine day to day practices
and business in ways that improve the world around us.
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