Industrialists embrace sustainable development

For the first time, leading industrialists -- including those from Taiwan -- say that not only is sustainable development good for business, the solving of environmental and social problems is essential for future economic growth.

Their thoughts were recorded in a new book released yesterday in Johannesburg.

The book demonstrates that the vanguard who have pushed cutting-edge environmental and social initiatives are benefiting in a myriad of ways that also help the bottom line and the planet. The book, Walking the Talk -- The Business Case for Sustainable Development, was introduced to the public at the Business Forum, one of forums at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The new book draws on 80 case studies and a wealth of personal interviews with business leaders around the world.

Stephan Schmidheiny, author of the influential Changing Course, joined fellow heavyweights at the WBCSD, Charles Holliday of DuPont and Philip Watts of Shell, to spell out the business case for addressing sustainable development as a key strategic issue.

Inspirational ideas

At the release party, Holliday said that the book would promote positive ideas pertaining to running a business.

The book argues that far more eco-efficient and socially equitable modes of development must be pursued in order to allow poorer nations to raise their standards of living.

To achieve these goals, according to the book, markets must be mobilized in favor of sustainability -- leveraging the power of innovation and global markets for the benefit of everyone.

In the book, interviews with two prominent Taiwanese business leaders were also included. Chen Yao-sheng (陳耀生), chairman of the Taiwan Prosperity Chemical Corp, points out common problems pertaining to the promotion of eco-efficiency in Taiwan.

"There's a lack of commitment from senior management of most businesses; thus the top-down process of integrating eco-efficiency into daily business operations is not functioning well," Chen was quoted as saying.

Chen said the concept of eco-efficiency was introduced to Taiwan in the last three or four years, with the formation of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Taiwan, and both industry and the government need time to implement eco-efficiency.

Tsai Chi-jui (蔡其瑞), chairman of Pou Chen Group, offered his insights about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the book.

Pressure from retailers

Retailers are putting pressure on their suppliers to improve labor practices; these suppliers in turn impose the same standards on their own suppliers. This has been the case for the Pou Chen Group in Taiwan, according to the book.

Given the growing pressure on suppliers to maintain high labor standards, Tsai, who employs 220,000 workers in countries such as Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and the US, said in the book that the company had adopted strict policies demanded by customers.

"This in turn has set a good example for the industry. In fact, some of the brands with which we work have adopted our CSR policies as their standard and have introduced our CSR practice to their subcontractors," Tsai said.

Niven Huang (黃正忠), secretary-general of the business council, told the Taipei Times in Johannesburg yesterday that Taiwanese companies need to be closely linked to international trends.