industry and environment - DTIE

N e w s
ered paper to make their products, with 37% of
the raw material for new paper coming from
recovered paper.
In 2002 AFPA adopted the goal of recovery of
55% of all paper consumed in the United States
by 2012. Through public and private sector partnerships,
it has launched educational campaigns
to encourage the recovery of more high-quality
papers in communities and workplaces.
For more information, see www.afandpa.org/
Content/NavigationMenu/Environment_and_Recy
cling/Recycling/Recycling.htm.
◆
Recycling electronic waste
The decision by computer equipment manufacturer
Hewlett Packard to recycle electronic waste
worth US$ 1.8 billion by the year 2007 has been
greeted positively by environmental groups in the
United States. “It is a step in the right direction,
but the company has a long way to go,” said Ted
Smith, Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics
Coalition (SVTC), a San Jose-based environmental
group that conducts research and is an advocate
for environmental issues related to high tech industry.
According to Smith, a billion and a half dollars’
worth of electronic products and printing supplies
translates into roughly 20 million computers to be
recycled over the next two and half years. “We have
found that most manufacturers couldn’t provide
recycling data for their US programmes, or their
recycling rates were below 2%. What’s important is
to compare the number of computers and printer
supplies recycled by HP compared to the $76 billion
in sales last year,” he added. “It’s encouraging
to see that HP has combined recycling goals with
concerns about raising social and environmental
standards in the supply chain. [But they] can do
more harm than good if it is done in an environmentally
or socially irresponsible manner.”
SVTC, along with some other environmental
organizations, has launched the Computer Take-
Back Campaign, which recommends that brand
owners “take back and recycle computers in a
responsible way”. The campaign was launched
after the 2002 report Exporting Harm revealed the
devastation experienced by the environment and
human health in entire communities caused by
pollution from recycling.
For more information, contact: Ted Smith, Silicon
Valley Toxics Coalition, Tel: +1 408 287 6707,
E-mail: tsmith@svtc.org; or David Wood, Grass
Roots Recycling Network, Tel: +1 608 347 7043,
E-mail: david@grrn.org.
◆
UNEP Focus
Global principles for
responsible investment to be
developed
UNEP will work with major institutional investors
to develop a set of globally recognized principles
for responsible investment. The new principles,
which will come into force from September 2005,
will be designed to protect both the planet and
long-term shareholder value by integrating environmental,
social and governance concerns into
investor and capital market considerations.
The launching of the Responsible Investment
Initiative follows a recent meeting of more than
40 investors and fund managers in Paris, organized
by the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
and hosted by the French company, Groupama
Asset Management. Participants proposed a global
alliance of investors to guide responsible investment
best practice.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director,
stresses that the time is ripe to develop principles
for adopting best practice in investment decisions
being made around the world: “We believe
the investor community is now ready for similar
principles to assist with the complex process of
responsible investment that meets investor expectations.”
The global public and private investor community
has a duty to protect long-term asset values. It
is therefore a key factor in bringing environmental,
social and governance disciplines to the heart
of capital market considerations. As Toepfer
points out, most investors still see environment
and social issues as mid- to long-term issues with
little relevance today. Sir Graeme Davies, Chairman
of the Universities Superannuation Scheme
Ltd., the UK’s third largest pension fund, emphasizes
that “Pension funds have liabilities which last
several decades, so it’s inevitable that the serious
social and environmental issues which the UN
system seeks to address will increasingly become
material investment issues as well.”
Michael Hölz of Deutsche Bank, the chair of the
UNEP Finance Initiative, adds that “UNEP FI is
the largest and oldest public private partnership
between the UN and the financial sector, with 226
member companies worldwide. As chair of this
Initiative, Deutsche Bank firmly believes in the
potential of public-private partnerships to develop
and ensure governance, environmental and social
performance. The results of UNEP FI’s Asset
Management Working Group, which form the
basis for this announcement, are an example of the
success of this network.”
For more information, contact: Robert Bisset,
UNEP Spokesperson in Europe, Tel: +33 1 4437
7613, Mobile: +33 6 2272 5842, E-mail: robert.
bisset@unep.fr.
For information about the UNEP Finance Initiative,
contact: Jacob Malthouse, Tel: +41 22 917
8268, Mobile: +41 79 707 6932, E-mail: jacob.
malthouse@unep.ch.
◆
UNEP opens Brazil office
The opening of a UNEP Office in Brazil is part of
efforts to strengthen the delivery of programmes
at the regional and sub-regional levels, in line with
decisions taken by the Governing Council. The
new office, inaugurated in April, will focus on
issues including cleaner and greener energy, early
warning and assessment, and emergency response
to natural disasters.
“The inauguration of this new office in Brazil
marks a significant development in our organization’s
activities in Latin America and the
Caribbean and will boost our abilities to deliver
sustainable development to the continent as a
whole,” says Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of
UNEP. “It should also be mentioned that Brazil is
one of the world leaders in the area of biomassbased
renewable energy and is one of the nations
with a rich and important source of genetic diversity.”
The new office will help UNEP respond more
effectively to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
with respect to developing new and
coordinated approaches and mechanisms for
achieving sustainable development, focusing on
emerging themes of local and sub-regional interest.
It will also play an important role in achieving
the Millennium Development Goals, especially
regarding environmental sustainability and the
integration of sustainable development principles
into country policies and programmes to help
reverse the loss of environmental resources.
UNEP’s Brazil office will work closely with the
Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry for the
Cities, and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment
and Renewable Natural Resources
(IBAMA) in implementing its programmes.
It will also contribute to the process of horizontal
cooperation and integration of environmental
UNEP Industry and Environment April – September 2004 ◆ 79