UN Chooses San Francisco For Climate Initiative Partnership

San Francisco
Published March 1, 2007

The United Nations Global Compact, the City of San Francisco, the Bay Area Council and a wide array of Bay Area businesses today launched a unique partnership designed to provide meaningful actions that businesses and cities around the world can take to combat global warming.

The initiative - the Principles on Climate Leadership - will give Bay Area businesses a strategic framework to address climate change as well as a forum to share best practices to reduce greenhouse gasses in both large and small companies. In addition, the initiative will create a model for climate action in the commercial and public sectors that the UN Global Compact will seek to place in companies and cities around the world.

More the 20 companies from a variety of sectors, including Gap Inc., Gensler, Google, PG&E and Shaklee, officially endorsed the Principles and, in relation, announced the Business Council on Climate Change (BC3) at a special event in San Francisco - the city that gave birth to the United Nations with the signing of the UN Charter in 1945. More than 100 leaders from business, government and civil society attended the event, which was presided over by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

"Voluntary initiatives such as the BC3 and the Principles on Climate Leadership will be crucial in bringing about progressive and robust action on the global climate crisis", said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. "At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that voluntary action cannot be a substitute for effective regulation - rather, it informs and complements regulation".

"Local actions can have a positive effect on the entire planet," observed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "The Bay Area is fortunate to have a visionary business community that is willing to get out in front of a daunting issue like global warming, and we are honored that the United Nations Global Compact will be working to bring this message to other communities and companies around the world."

BC3 member companies pledge to address greenhouse emissions throughout their operations and corporate cultures, and agree to follow the five Principles on Climate Leadership: Internal Implementation, Community Leadership, Advocacy and Dialogue, Collective Action, Transparency and Disclosure.

Find out more about the initiative and the Global Compact at the UN Global Compact Website