 FORUM I: Monday ( pm). November, 20th 2006.
Win-Win Scenarios for Industry:
The Triple Bottom-Line Approach
Chair: Dr. Basel Al-Yousfi Acting Deputy Regional Director, Regional Technology, Industry & Economics Officer at the United Nations Environment Program in West Asia. UNEP/ROWA
Abstract:
The concept of Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER), alternatively known as “Corporate Citizenship” and “Corporate Governance”, has permeated the world during the past decade in tandem with the new trend of globalization and market economy. The CSER has many interpretations but can be defined generally as a set of ethical obligations owed by corporations to society and to the environment.
The three pillars of corporate sustainability, also known as the “Triple Bottom-Line”, are the balanced interest and equal weighting of social, environmental and economic factors. This is in contrast to the traditional obligation of a corporation, which is to ensure maximal profit to shareholders above all other considerations.
The depth, breadth, pros and cons of the CSER and the Triple Bottom-Line concepts will be debated in a consortium-based forum consisting of representatives from industry, governments, academia, non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental and international organizations. The multi-stakeholder panel will be assessing the state of play in CESR, with an update on new developments (such as the Global Compact and other voluntary initiatives), focusing on the challenges and opportunities for the private sector in the region to achieve economical prosperity, social responsibility and environmental sustainability.
Forum II: Tuesday, (pm). November 21st, 2006.
Regional Carbon Management: Vision, Strategy and Way forward
- Chair: Dr. Zara Khatib; Shell Exploration and Production International, Middle East/Caspian and South Asia
Abstract:
There is widespread scientific consensus that concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rising due to human activities since the industrial revolution and has contributed to the climate change. Most of this increase is attributed to the burning of carbon-rich fossil fuels- coal, natural gas and oil. If energy demand grows as rapidly as we expect, CO2 emission can double by 2100. The world and industry dilemma is how to achieve sustainable growth from carbon based feed stocks while controlling CO2 emissions at current levels. This panel session will focus on Carbon Management in the Middle East Region and will review the CO2 case for action from articulating the vision and regional strategy and setting the path for planning integrated CO2 projects to identify CO2 sources, develop business opportunities and to identify R&D that will provide innovative CO2 solutions and enable sustainable growth without having a major local, regional and global environmental impact. Participants will learn about the challenges, planning and application of technologies, best practices, trends, and outlook. Focus will be on:
- CO2 sources and volumes
- CO2 emission reduction and energy efficiency increase
- CO2 capture: separation, dehydration, compression and transportation
- CO2 Storage and Sequestration: Subsurface Injection
- CO2 utilization: Enhanced Oil recovery
The outcome would be an outlook for the use of policies, best practices and advancing technologies for the sustainable development and growth of the Region.
The session will have a keynote speaker (Shell will provide the speaker to paint the issue and present the vision and strategy for initiating regional alliances, setting policies and creating energy investment funds for promoting R&D to reduce emission and cost of carbon capture, sequestration and utilization. Short presentations from the selected industry/institute panelist will follow to focus on the bulleted focus areas. The panel will then open to the audience for Q&A and/or to invite comments and promote further discussions
|
