Page 44 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Motivating For ces 23

Recognizing that current patterns of resource consumption are not
sustainable, the European Commission launched a comprehensive
25-year strategy in 2003 to develop an integrated policy for sustain -
able management of natural resources [13].
Finally, the Rio Summit produced an international environmental
treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, aimed at stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system. The treaty led to the adoption
of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which established commitments for
industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gases, and was
ratified by the great majority of nations, with the notable exception of
the United States (see Chapter 3).
Although the United States has resisted pursuing new environ-
mental regulations, many worthwhile initiatives have been realized
in that country with minimal regulatory intervention. Federal govern-
ment programs administered by the Department of Energy (DOE), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and even the Defense Ad -
vanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have provided funding
for industry-university cooperative research that has yielded signifi-
cant advances in environmentally benign manufacturing technolo-
gies and alternative energy sources. EPA has also developed a number
of voluntary programs to encourage industry adoption of environ-
mentally sustainable practices (see Chapter 3). However, the level of
funding and the pace of innovation are still inadequate, given the
enormous scale of the environmental challenges that we face.

The Response of Industry
The sweeping goals of Agenda 21 were accompanied by equally
ambitious estimates of multibillion dollar investments required by
developed nations to support the agenda. Such investments did not
materialize in subsequent years. However,
apart from any government subsidies and
ENVIRONMENTAL
incentives, there has been a quiet revolution
MANAGEMENT HAS MOVED
in industry attitudes toward the environmen-
FROM A PERIPHERAL
tal issues raised in Rio. A significant factor
ACTIVITY INTO THE
in this revolution was the formation of the MAINSTREAM.
World Business Council on Sus tainable Devel-
opment (WBCSD), an inter national group of
business leaders established in 1990 to develop a global perspective
on sustainable development (see Chapter 3). Their ground-breaking
book, Changing Course, was an important mani festo describing both

the challenges and the opportunities for profitability associated with
sustainable development [14]. Today, WBCSD continues to be an
influential champion for sustainable business practices, with partici-
pation from chief executives of over 150 global companies.