NORTH AMERICAN TELECOM GIANTS
TO SIGN
INDUSTRY-WIDE ENVIRONMENTAL
CHARTER
United Nations Headquarters,
Monday, 22 February
NEW YORK, 19 February 1999 - CEOs
and senior officials from the North American
telecommunications industry, world leaders
in innovative technologies, will sign an industry-wide
environmental charter on Monday evening, 22
February, at United Nations Headquarters in
New York. Also expected at this event
are representatives from the United Nations,
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
the Commission on Sustainable Development
and senior representatives from several major
European telecommunications companies.
The "Environmental
Charter for the North American Telecommunication
Industry" was developed over a one-year
period of time under the guidance of the Colorado-based
NGO, Center for Resource Management (CRM),
with input from environmental and academic
groups, as well as industry representatives.
It outlines environmental principles in the
areas of management; technology, service and
product innovation; facilities and perations;
and external relations and communications.
North American companies expected to officially
endorse the charter on Monday evening
include Ameritech, AT&T, Bell Atlantic,
Bell Canada, BellSouth, BCT.TELUS and US WEST.
UNEP views the Charter as an important new
model of a voluntary "industry code of conduct".
The global environment organization
has a long history with the use of voluntary
initiatives to improve companies' environmental
performance, particularly in the areas of
cleaner production, ozone protection and energy
efficiency. It is also in line with
the initiative, announced two weeks ago in
Davos, Switzerland, by Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, in which he called on the private
sector to take part in the implementation
of global values embodied in international
agreements, including in the area of environment
and sustainable development.
Joining their American counterparts at this
event will be several representatives of major
European telecommunications companies: Telecom
Italia, Belgacom, France Telecom, as well
as the European Public Telecommunications
Network Operators' Association, ETNO. ETNO
completed an nvironmental charter for
the European telecommunications industry
in 1996. Work sessions planned for
Monday will provide an opportunity for
North American and European telecommunications
executives to discuss possible areas of future
environmental collaboration.
Also to be considered on Monday is a possible
collaboration between the telecom industry
and UNEP. This discussion will represent
a continuation of talks initiated at
UNEP's recent 58-member Governing Council
meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on 4 February 1999.
A special round-table presentation on
telecommunications technology and the
environment focused on how telecommunications
technology might be used globally to
address serious environmental and social
problems. Several of the companies to
be represented at Monday night's signing
ceremony took part in these initial discussions
in Nairobi.
Voluntary approaches have been used increasingly
in recent years, by both industry and
governments, as a policy tool to improve
environmental performance. They can
range from commitments of individual
companies to entire industrial sectors at
both the national and international
levels. Such initiatives present
advantages to both industry and the environment,
including greater flexibility in meeting
environmental performance targets, incentive
to go beyond compliance, opportunity for inter
and intra-industry cooperation, and
stakeholder involvement in and recognition
of industry efforts.
* *** *
Note to Journalists: Representatives from
UNEP, CRM and the telecommunications
industry will hold a press briefing at 10:30
a.m. on Monday, 22 February, in Room S-226
at UN Headquarters. Information on one-day
UN accreditation can be obtained from Ms
Sonia Lecca, Chief, UN Media Accreditation,
tel: (212) 963-6394, fax: (212) 963-4642.
For more information on the signing ceremony,
please contact: Pierre Quiblier, UNEP
Liaison Officer, tel: (212) 963-8144, fax:
(212) 963-7341, E-mail: quiblier@nyo.unep.org.
