November 17, 2003—World Bank President James Wolfensohn called on global business leaders last week to encourage environmentally and socially sustainable wealth creation as the world aims to fight poverty as a way to decisively contribute to peace and stability.
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- Click here and herefor more information on the Global Gas Flaring Initiative and Partnership, respectively.
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"The issues of environment and social responsibility and the issues of development are getting pushed back from the front burner," Wolfensohn told the annual meeting of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Washington. "The largest single force for job creation is the private sector. You as a community and we as an international institution together underline the importance of commitment to social responsibility."The WBCSD is a coalition of 170 international leading corporations that pursue a shared commitment of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. The group’s members represent a combined market capitalization of $4 trillion and conduct business with 2 billion customers a day. Referring to the imbalance in relations between poor and rich countries, Wolfensohn emphasized that rich countries said to the developing world: "We will do three things, we’ll help you build your capacity, we’ll increase our development assistance, and we’ll open our markets for trade. Well, there isn’t an increase in aid, and the trade discussions, as you all know, have hit a rock in Cancun." "A long time ago," Wolfensohn added, "we talked about the need for 0.7 percent for development assistance. In today’s world of a $32 trillion economy, and $26 trillion in the developed world, that’s probably $160 (billion), $170 billion a year. At the extreme, we are providing 0.22 percent rather than 0.7, so we’re at around $55 billion instead of $170 billion on the promises that we made". World Bank officials also briefed the Council’s members separately on efforts to achieve the UN-backed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of targets for 2015 that include halving global poverty, reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters, achieving universal primary education and halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Governments will not be able to reach the goals on their own—the participation of the private sector and civil society will be crucial. "Business is good for development, and development is good for business. So we have much to work together for," Ian Johnson, World Bank vice president for Sustainable Development, told the meeting. "Poor people want their wealth increased and that is also good for business." Kristalina Georgieva, director of the World Bank’s Environment Department, told the WBCSD members that meeting some of the goals will be impossible without the involvement of the private sector. Financing for meeting the water-related targets, for example, must double—a goal governments will not be able to reach on their own. "We feel there’s a great deal more we can do to build partnerships between the World Bank and the private sector," Georgieva said. A number of initiatives exist already, such as the different funds for Carbon Finance that are benefiting poor countries and the global community, the African Stockpiles Program, the African Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Program and the Global Gas Flaring Partnership. The World Bank also works with governments to reduce policy constraints to investment and help to minimize risks. Georgieva said the Bank, the private sector and non-governmental organizations can also team up for advocacy and global dialogues. |
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