Business leaders from the two countries will collaborate on economic,
social and environmental projects, specifically the establishment of a
joint communication center in Beijing to disseminate information on
project results involving economic, environmental, and societal benefits.
The Sino-U.S. sustainable development communication center will allow the
two councils to trade expertise and technologies. They will pursue funding
from both the U.S. and Chinese governments and other funding organizations
to assure mutual support for the center.
The focus will begin on expanding the use of clean-burning bio-fuels,
creating a more sustainable strategy for the cement industry, of which
China is the world's largest producer, and implementing byproduct synergy,
a system that allows companies from one industry to reuse byproducts as
feedstocks for another.
"It is exciting to consider the possibilities of a U.S.-China
collaboration on sustainable development, which should offer new business
opportunities that produce clear and measurable economic, environmental
and societal benefits," said Terry Welch who, in addition to serving as
vice-chairman of the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development (US
BCSD), directs the Global Environmental Technology Center for Dow
Chemical. Welch and Andrew Mangan, executive director for the US BCSD,
signed the agreement.
The agreement came about after the Chinese business contingent asked the
US BCSD in June 2005 to establish a formal mechanism so the two could
cooperate on sustainable development matters. That request coincided with
a suggestion from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency to the U.S.
Department of Commerce that the two national governments establish a
bilateral office to promote joint projects in environmental protection,
cleaner production, pollution prevention and clean energy. These two
objectives could potentially be realized through the Beijing communication
center.
Launched in 2002, the US BCSD is a nonprofit association of businesses
that serves as a partner organization of the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a global network of 170 international
companies with members from 30 countries and 20 major industrial sectors.
The WBCSD plays a leading role in shaping the business response to the
challenges of sustainable development. The US BCSD plays a complementary
role by communicating those policies to the U.S. business community and
its stakeholders and by implementing projects that apply sustainable
development principles to real-world problems. The Chinese Business
Council plays a similar role in its country.
"These agreements hold tremendous value for companies committed to
sustainable development as a part of their business strategies," said
Andrew Mangan, US BCSD executive director. "Much work remains to be done
to implement the agreements, but I am excited about the potential of this
partnership."