March 23, 2007—The United Nations Global Compact, the City of San Francisco, the Bay Area Council, and a wide array of San Francisco Bay Area businesses have launched a partnership designed to provide meaningful actions that businesses and cities around the world can take to combat global warming.
The initiative—the Principles on Climate Leadership—will give Bay Area businesses a strategic framework to address climate change as well as a forum to share best practices to reduce greenhouse gases in both large and small companies. In addition, the initiative will create a model for climate action in the commercial and public sectors that the UN Global Compact will seek to place in companies and cities around the world.
More than 20 companies from a variety of sectors officially endorsed the Principles and announced the Business Council on Climate Change (“BC3”). Founding members include: 3 Phases Energy; AccessFlow; ARUP; CH2M Hill; Clif Bar; EcoAdvantage Network; Food from the Park; Gap Inc.; Gensler; Google; Green Impact; Green Squared Consulting; Hallisey & Johnson; HOK; New Resource Bank; Organic Architect; PG&E; Ponderosa Homes; Shaklee; SMWM Architecture; Solutions; Swinerton; Waldeck’s; Webcor; Wendel, Rosen, Black and Dean; and William McDonough + Partners.
BC3 member companies pledge to address greenhouse emissions throughout their operations and corporate cultures, and agree to follow the BC3’s five Principles on Climate Leadership: Internal Implementation, Community Leadership, Advocacy and Dialogue, Collective Action, and Transparency and Disclosure.
UN Global Compact notes that voluntary initiatives such as the BC3 and the Principles on Climate Leadership are crucial to bring about action on the global climate crisis, but that they cannot be a substitute for effective regulation. The launch of the initiative follows by only several months the State of California ‘s passage of AB 32, the nation’s most aggressive climate legislation.
For more information visit UN Global Compact.
