Sustainable Development

Fostering Green Growth

USCIB’s work on sustainable development is based upon a conviction that economic growth, innovation and a robust private sector are essential to improved environmental protection and living conditions worldwide. Our privileged access to major international forums and policy makers means that USCIB members can influence the course of global discussions of green growth, climate, energy and related issues.

Green Economies Dialogue

A new project funded by the United States Council Foundation, USCIB’s educational and research arm, the Green Economies Dialogue, aims to bring the policy and business communities together for intensive discussion of policies to promote environmentally friendly growth and development. We are mobilizing experts from the public and private sectors, along with leading academics and NGOs, with the goal of providing a clear road forward on green growth, green jobs and a host of related issues.

We expect the Green Economies Dialogue to inform policy debate in the lead-up to the June 2012 UN Rio+20 Summit and beyond, addressing such questions as:

· How can environmental innovation best be disseminated around the world?

· What role should international institutions play?

· How can the logjam of trade and climate negotiations be broken?

· What is the proper role of subsidies in encouraging investment in new technologies?

Working in concert with BIAC, the Business & Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, we convened Green Economies Dialogue workshops in Washington, D.C., Paris, Beijing, Tokyo and Brasilia. In addition, we commissioned research by more than a dozen highly regarded experts exploring a variety of aspects of green growth and green jobs, for publication in the journal Energy Economics ahead of Rio+20. Visit www.green-dialogue.org to learn more.

Some Progress on Climate Change

Defying low expectations and difficult circumstances, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 17th Conference of the Parties, which was held in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa, opened the door to a new international climate framework, with appropriate reductions and other actions from both developed and developing countries. (Pictured at left: USCIB’s Norine Kennedy at COP-17.) The Durban platform lays out new institutions for financing, adaptation and technology to address climate change. “While it will be challenging for all major economies to construct a new international agreement, we look forward to working with governments to seek opportunities for U.S. companies to offer their insight and practical recommendations on implementation

in ways that will grow economies, create jobs and advance sustainable development,” stated USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson.

Chemicals in Products

USCIB represented business at key meetings of the Aarhus Convention and the UN’s SAICM (Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management), both of which address disclosure of information regarding chemicals in products across the entire value chain. Timely work by USCIB and other business groups was rewarded when parties to the Aarhus Convention rebuffed efforts to widen possible public environmental disclosure rules to include proprietary product information.

Promoting Clean Energy Exports

Meeting the global demand for American clean energy technology will be critical for job creation and American technological leadership in the years ahead. We need a more coordinated and aggressive approach by the U.S. government in promoting exports of environmental goods and services. USCIB urged accelerated efforts to promote U.S. clean energy exports at a July 2011 Capitol Hill briefing, putting forward a six-point plan to help guide U.S. action in promoting exports of environmental goods and services.

Related USCIB Policy Committees: