Corporate Symposium on Sustainable Development
as appeared in Semi-Annual Report, June 1997
In June 1997, Ian Ihnatowycz, President of Clean Environment Mutual Funds Ltd., was invited to speak at the first Corporate Symposium on Sustainable Development. This symposium brought together many of the foremost leaders in business, academia and government. In a common forum, they addressed how the application of sustainable development to business results in enhanced profitability, and greater environmental and economic well-being.
All participants agreed that the alarming rate of depletion of the earth's resources and the continuous degradation of our environment, particularly those areas leading to climate change will result in our children having to face the negative consequences of our actions. The shift to sustainable development practices is not only important to our future well-being but also represents unprecedented opportunity for business. For innovative companies, sustainability represents hundreds of billions of dollars in new products, services and technologies.
The growing pollution problem
The population of the world is about 6 billion people and is expected to double within the next 30 to 40 years. The developed countries, representing only 1/6 of the total population, are responsible for 75% of the energy and resource consumption which represents the bulk of industrial, toxic and consumer waste. Attempting to catch up, the emerging and developing world has begun an intense focus on industrialization and growth based largely on commodity extraction and refinement, and heavy manufacturing, using technologies which are extremely destructive to the environment. Air and water pollution are already major problems in these countries.
Economic development always leads to greater urbanization. Today one of every three people lives in a city. By 2025 that will change to two out of every three people. There are oppressive levels of pollution in cities of developing nations already and the number of cars in each city is growing more quickly than the population. Growth of cities results in greater need for energy and generation of electricity resulting in rising levels of acid rain, smog and emissions of greenhouse gases.
Climate change
Power plants and cars are the greatest contributors of greenhouse gases which the vast majority of scientists agree are resulting in global warming. This warming of the atmosphere has the potential to change the climate causing an increasing likelihood of catastrophic changes in weather patterns within the next 30 to 40 years.
Depletion of renewable resources
While non-renewable resources such as oil and metals may be associated with the causes of pollution, the depletion of our renewable resources may pose an even bigger problem to our future. Forests, water, fisheries and agricultural land are all being pushed beyond their limits by human population growth and rapid industrial development. Fresh water shortages and fishing quotas are already present in many parts of the globe. The world has lost about 15% of its productive topsoil in the last 20 years. The existing farmland is less responsive to fertilizers and less productive due to increased salinity caused by long term irrigation.
Sustainable Development is the solution
While these factors pose huge challenges to researchers, government and business alike, the concept of sustainable development provides a viable solution if implemented on a large scale. Therein lies the unprecedented opportunity for business. The unique approach adopted by Clean Environment Mutual Funds Ltd. of investing in companies that are contributing to a sustainable world was very well received by all at the symposium.
Mr. Ihnatowycz stated that the future is already here and provided numerous examples of very successful, rapidly growing companies within the Clean Environment Funds that are using sustainable approaches in such areas as alternative energy production (Calpine, CalEnergy, Northland Power, Drayton Valley Power), water treatment (Trojan, Zenon), fuel cell technology (Ballard), raw material efficiency/closed loop systems (Zenon), industrial recycling (Philip, Newalta, Conor Pacific), new industrial processes (Thermo Electron) and many more.
The investment results have been outstanding and Mr. Ihnatowycz believes the best is yet to come, "The continuous development of clean sustainable technologies is inevitable. Innovation will be the key and the financial rewards of accomplishing these tasks will be staggering."