UNEP and Chinese CEOs share views on green economy

Monday, 06 July 2009 10:43

Last week, 16 top business leaders from China attended a workshop at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi to learn more about UNEP’s work and its initiatives in such areas as ‘green economy’, climate change, reforestation, and green construction and technology.

The CEOs are members of the Society of Ecology and Entrepreneurs (SEE), a Chinese NGO with more than 200 members. Wang Shi, the head of the group, is chairman of Vanke, the world's leading real estate company. In 2002, he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro after reading Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro. He was astounded at how little snow was at the top when he arrived. "It became clear to me that environmental protection was important," he said.

Five years ago Wang Shi led the effort to create SEE, which is now the only NGO in the world working on desertification control in China.

"We are trying to protect the biodiversity of the desert," Wang said. "In the last thirty years in China, entrepreneurs have learned how to make money. Now they must learn how to spend money for the environment," he added.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said: "The group of leading entrepreneurs visiting UNEP HQ today provides us with an opportunity to demonstrate that significant progress can be achieved in the transition towards a low carbon society. Their pioneering work shows that, given incentives, the shift is possible. China is not only the economy with the fastest growth rate, but also a country with enormous potential to move towards a green economy."

According to the UNEP news story, the visiting Chinese CEOs shared Mr. Steiner’s views and said they were committed to being part of this green future, and that they would like to expand their cooperation with UNEP in several areas.

In other UNEP news, all five past and present Executive Directors of the organization gathered last week in Switzerland, and on this occasion lent their support to the global UN-led campaign to “Seal the Deal” on an effective climate agreement in Copenhagen (COP15) in December.

Photo: UNEP