Green Issues
Climate change summit
Diversey’s regional president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pedro Chidichimo talks to Jo Austin about the opportunities arising from a groundbreaking summit on climate change
More than 100 senior business leaders from across Europe recently participated in a
groundbreaking Climate Change Summit. Among them was summit conductor, Pedro Chidichimo.
OBH: What was the thinking behind this event? PC: To create a forum for major businesses across multiple industries to showcase their efforts toward addressing climate change and sharing best practices. The sessions emphasised practical ideas for integrating low-carbon solutions into strategic thinking while enabling sustainable growth.
Who attended? PC: Senior executives from leading European corporations, including Kempinski Hotels, Ahold, Bunzl, Check Safety First, Hectas, Inpacs, NH Hotels and OCS. In addition, leaders from major international business associations participated, including ISSA, World Federation of Building Service Contractors and SKAL.
Why was Diversey so keen to get involved as a key sponsor? PC: Diversey is a strong believer in sustainability and is leading the way to a cleaner, healthier future across the globe. We are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; to water management and to partnerships to protect the earth. These are essential elements of our dedication to environmental
stewardship and industry leadership.
What was the main objective of the Summit? PC: To provide a business perspective to the global dialogue on climate change. Many business leaders are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to prepare their enterprises for climate change and volatility. The implications of global climate change require the urgent attention of the entire business community and bringing together influential business leaders allowed them to share new ideas and reassert the critical role sustainability must play in business strategy.
What were the major challenges that you identified? PC: The summit clearly established that business enterprise and the natural environment share a common enemy: waste. The challenge of sustainability is to waste less water, energy, carbon, materials and human capital. Sustainability is not a passing fad and the event brought industry thought leaders together to drive actions forward.
How is Diversey playing its part in tackling these issues? PC: Diversey was among the first 20 companies in the world to commit to Climate Savers, the rigorous greenhouse gas reduction programme of the World Wildlife Fund, and has made a four-year $1 million grant to the fund to establish the Global Water Roundtable.
Tell us about Climate Savers PC: To join this elite programme we had to commit to leadership in addressing climate change; to make a challenging, measurable reduction in our emissions within a specified time frame; to be accountable through a third-party validation process; and, to partner with our customers and suppliers to help them reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions. Just a year later, we upped the ante by committing to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2013, more than triple what we had committed to at first.
How will you achieve this? PC: The company has taken several steps to ensure a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions including: using more fuel-efficient vehicles in its auto and truck fleet worldwide; upgrading the energy efficiency of its buildings and operations through such measures as better lighting; installing fuel cells and wind turbines where they are most effective; reducing employee travel by upgrading its video teleconferencing capacity and web-based collaboration tools;
www.onboardhospitality.com 53
and educating employees about the impact of how they use energy at work and at home.
And what exactly is the Global Water Roundtable? PC: lt brings together the best minds in science, government and industry to establish rigorous, realistic water stewardship standards addressing water stress, river pollution and declines in freshwater wildlife species. Members include WWF, the Pacific Institute, The Nature Conservancy and The Water Stewardship Initiative.
www.worldwildlife.org www.diversey.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68