WASHINGTON -
WHAT: Businesses around the globe are struggling to balance their commitments to protect ecosystems and the needs of local communities while meeting increasing demand for forest, energy and mineral products.

As part of WRI’s Seventh Sustainable Enterprise Summit, representatives of leading-edge firms which have already made significant commitments to environmentally and socially responsible operating practices will discuss the business motivations and challenges to sustainable operations in extractive industries. They will also share their views on the future of this new trend.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 from 10:45am - Noon

WHERE: Watergate Hotel
2650 Virginia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20037
(800) 289-1555

WHO: Madeleine Jacobs, senior vice president, head of reputational risk management, ABN AMRO

Thomas C. Jorling, vice president, environmental affairs, International Paper

Sofie Beckham, forestry manager, IKEA Trading Services Canada

Moderated by: Steve Cox, director Biological Resources Program, WRI

WHY: Global demand for forest, energy and mineral products is steadily increasing, while the ecosystems that generate these resources face growing threats to their long-term viability. Many of the leading firms in these resource-based industries – as well as banks and insurance companies that underwrite their activities – have made far-reaching commitments to operate in ways that respect the integrity of ecosystems and the needs of local communities that rely on them.

Meeting those commitments will require new ways of harvesting resources, making investments decisions, and collaborating with allies who can provide relevant information and expertise. These transitions create a host of new opportunities for information services and product differentiation.

WRI’s Seventh Sustainable Enterprise Summit will take place on March 17-18, 2004 at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. “Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Markets” will bring together innovative corporate leaders and sustainability experts to explore solutions that corporations can provide in response to today’s most pressing global challenges, and, in so doing, position themselves as the competitive enterprises of the future.

For more information on WRI’s Seventh Sustainable Enterprise Summit, please visit http://summit.wri.org.

World Resources Institute

World Resources Institute

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Because people are inspired by ideas, empowered by knowledge, and moved to change by greater understanding, WRI provides—and helps other institutions provide—objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development. WRI organizes its work around four key goals:

People & Ecosystems: Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services.

Access: Guarantee public access to information and decisions regarding natural resources and the environment.

Climate Protection: Protect the global climate system from further harm due to emissions of greenhouse gases and help humanity and the natural world adapt to unavoidable climate change.

Markets & Enterprise: Harness markets and enterprise to expand economic opportunity and protect the environment.

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