City's key role in world treaty!
20th April 2004
The city of Bath is building on its reputation as a leading player on the environmental stage. A conference has been held at Claverton Down to cement the commitment of local organisations to the United Nations's Global Compact - a treaty that encourages signatories to pay more attention to the world in which we live.
And one of the figures behind Bath's role in the compact has met her international counterparts to discuss how countries could achieve a greater movement towards sustainable behaviour.
The Bath conference was held earlier this month at the headquarters of Wessex Water, and was attended by 17 members and potential members of the Bath Global Compact, who explored how the city could progress.
Some of their ideas were to help businesses work together, to ask firms to apply for Global Compact accreditation, and perhaps to encourage the city to produce its own energy.
Delegates included Colin Skellett, chairman and chief executive of the water firm, John Everitt, chief executive of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Carole Bond, sustainable development adviser for Bath-based Carbon Data, and chair of the environmental charity Envolve, and Nicky Rylance, a director of Business West.
The guest speaker was Malcolm McIntosh, a special adviser on Global Compact for the UN, who lives in Bath.
Later Ms Bond attended another event in France to discuss sustainability with representatives of European countries and the US.
Mr Skellett, who chairs the Initiative for B &NES, which administers Global Compact in Bath, said: "The concept of corporate social responsibility is about treating people properly, including staff, customers and suppliers. Global Compact is concerned with actually doing this, rather than just talking about it."
Mr McIntosh said: "As a resident of this city, I am especially proud that Bath was the first UK city to sign up for an initiative that is all about writing new rules for the 21st century, as well as debating how to minimise some of the negative impacts on our planet.
"No other project brings together so coherently such vital issues as human rights, labour standards and the environment.
"When this started, it was primarily viewed as a way of linking the business world more closely with the UN - and as a means of the UN learning more about market activity.
"We didn't expect cities to join up, but why not?"
Mr Rylance, who sits on the Global Compact UK Forum, said: "These are still early days for the Bath initiative, but we were all most encouraged by the support for the seminar. It was clear that people are keen to engage their own companies in a positive way, and to support the city's overall approach."
Ms Bond said: "The first seminar was a grounding in the principles.
"There is an awful lot of activity going on in Bath. It was to acknowledge that and say: where are we going to go from here?"
Six months ago, Bath was one of only four cities worldwide signed up to the compact, alongside Melbourne, Nuremberg and San Francisco, and it received a letter of confirmation from the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
As a member, it pledges to drive a development programme addressing nine core principles concerning the environment, human rights and labour.
In addition to the support of B &NES, groups that have signed up include Business West, Rotork plc, Wessex Water and Zenith International Ltd.
The latest organisation to join is The Consortium, a Trowbridge- based procurement and fulfilment company, employing 220 people.
Supply chain director Mark Barnett said: "We already operated a sustainable development strategy within the business, but this really pulls together many of our ideas in a dynamic new way."
For more information, see www.unglobalcompact.org