Firms Urged To Adopt Eco-Management

Speakers at a Indo-US workshop on the issues involving ISO-14001 certification being held in the capital stessed that environmental issues will crop up as non-tariff barriers in world trade - due to competitive pressures and not due to any perceived political persecution.

The two-day workshop is being hosted jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and USAID.

The speakers referred to the ban on 84 types of dyes and dyestuffs, on PCPs in leather goods and on the formaldehyde content in close-to-skin products.

They added that legislation has been carried out in some parts of Europe to force companies of origin to own up responsibility for disposal of packaging material even after sale.

 

The panelists discussed the requirements of ISO-14001 certification, which demands both compliance with environmental regulations and continuous improvement of various performance parameters.

With pressure to become environmental-friendly building up from all sides, it makes more business sense to incorporate such concerns within business management systems, they said.

K P Nyati, senior advisor to CIIs environment management division, said, attention is shifting from curative steps to preventive measures of pollution control.

Referring to two case studies in the US, Shawn Delory of Arthur Anderson noted that envirnmental concerns have become a part of brand-positioning for the corporate entity. He added that an integrated management system, with environment as one of the target parameters along with revenues and profits, is the key to successful resolution of these issues.

At the inaugural session, environment secretary T K A Nair said: Faced with pressure from customers and environmental groups, the importance of being seen to be green has become an issue for industries seeking to improve their corporate image.

The session was also addressed by Ballarpur Industries joint managing director Gautam Thapar and USAID-India deputy director Terry Myers.