World Business

World Business is a weekly half hour features programme presented by John Defterios and broadcast weekly on CNBC Europe, at 20.30 CET on Friday nights. It also appears on some PBS stations in the United States. The show covers recent trends in global business, technology, luxury markets and the business of sport.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led, global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development.

Its origins date back to the 1992 Rio Summit, when Stephan Schmidheiny, a Swiss business entrepreneur, was appointed chief adviser for business and industry to the secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), better known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992. He created a forum called "Business Council for Sustainable Development", which went on to "Changing Course", a book that coined the concept of Eco-efficiency.

The WBCSD was created in 1995 in a merger of the Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Industry Council for the Environment and is based in Geneva, Switzerland with a North American office in Washington, D.C..

The Council provides a platform for companies to explore sustainable development, share knowledge, experiences and best practices, and to advocate business positions on these issues in a variety of forums, working with governments, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations.

It works on a variety of issues related to sustainable development. While its focus is on the overarching areas Energy & Climate, Development, Ecosystems and the Role of Business in Society, it also executes sector specific projects on cement, mobility, tires, chemicals, water, energy efficiency in buildings and forestry.

The Council’s objectives are to:

• Be a leading business advocate on sustainable development;

• Participate in policy development to create the right framework conditions for business to make an effective contribution to sustainable human progress;

• Develop and promote the business case for sustainable development;

• Demonstrate the business contribution to sustainable development solutions and share leading edge practices among members;

• Contribute to a sustainable future for developing nations and nations in transition.

Membership of the WBCSD is by invitation of the Executive Committee to companies committed to sustainable development. Among its members are well-known companies such as General Motors, DuPont, 3M, Deutsche Bank, Coca-Cola, Sony, Oracle, BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Member companies pledge their support and contribution to the WBCSD by making available their knowledge and experience, and appropriate human resources. They are asked to publicly report on their environmental performance and to aspire to widen their reporting to cover all three pillars of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental.

A key element is the personal commitment of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), acting as Council Members. They are influential advocates for the WBCSD’s policy positions, and they co-chair our working groups. They also organize support for the WBCSD’s work program and ensure the adoption of sustainable management practices within their companies.