The Earth Charter Initiative - Values and Principles for a Sustainable Future

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Mission

The mission of the Earth Charter Initiative is to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace.

Business

Recognizing the need for new collaborative forms of governance, the Earth Charter states: “A partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance” (The Way Forward).

In accord with this principle, ECI has adopted a strategy for engaging businesses in the Earth Charter Initiative.  A major part of this strategy involves working in partnership with business leaders and building alliances with business related initiatives, such as the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

In the context of these alliances, business leaders are invited to use the Earth Charter as a common ethical framework in their dialogue with civil society actors and other stakeholders.  Businesses that support the Earth Charter, but do not yet participate in GRI are encouraged to do so. The following document The Earth Charter, GRI and Global Compact was developed to help guide business groups.

After extensive research and dialogue, ECI, in cooperation with the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), has developed a Guidance Paper that responds to questions about how the Earth Charter relates to other leading global initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This paper is designed to help Earth Charter users and those using the GRI and Global Compact to understand the synergies and complementary strengths of these three initiatives. It endeavors to explain how businesses can integrate the Earth Charter into the reporting processes organized by GRI and other similar efforts. ECI places special emphasis in its work with businesses on the value of adopting GRI guidelines. An alliance with the GRI is developed along these lines.

The Earth Charter International encourages all businesses to use the Earth Charter in one or more of the following ways:

Engage employees with the Earth Charter for the purpose of learning, training, and inspiration.

Assess the activities of the business in the light of Earth Charter values and principles, using the Global Reporting Initiative's Guidelines.

Incorporate Earth Charter values and principles in the business mission statement and its core operations with the goal of developing a more socially and ecologically responsible business.

ECI will not attempt to create a special administrative staff for this focus area, nor will it monitor individual business participation. Instead, ECI will develop resources that will be made available via the website, and encourage businesses to participate in this focus area by endorsing the Earth Charter, making use of the resources, and taking actions of the kind described above.

A Task Force to help implement the Earth Charter strategy in the field of business is being put in place.

See the following resource materials also available in the EC Virtual Library

Sample cases of businesses usnig the Earth Charter:

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NEWS


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With Southern Cross Community Enterprises you can get funded, or help projects or charities of your choice and have fun playing lottery at the same time!
See here the summary report of the EC+10 event held in June at the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands.
This agreement will strengthen the collaboration that both initiatives that started in 2008.
Take a look at how some businesses are using the Earth Charter as an ethical guide
On 26 - 28 May 2010 GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) held a global conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which featured the Earth Charter.
With the presence of the President of Mexico, Veracruz celebrated Earth Day
The Federal Delegation of SEMARNAT (Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources) in Aguascalientes held several activities
The 12th Ethos International Conference will be held in Sao Paolo, Brazil, from 11-14 May 2010.
The yearlong Earth Charter+10 celebrations begins this week with major events and the launch of the video - It starts with one - on 22 April, Earth Day.
The Earth Charter International Secretariat is pleased to announce the release of the Earth Charter Annual Report for 2009
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