A review in the human values and change in production and consuming standards were the main points raised by the theme panel “Climate changes: ways to face this dilemma – companies, public power and consumers”, held at the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference.

The president of Instituto Ethos, Ricardo Young, believes the companies will play a key civilizing role in the new development models necessary for the construction of a sustainable society. Even if companies have not realized it, they are being prepared in events like the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference to take on new responsibilities.

Any type of discrimination, besides violating human rights and the Federal Constitution, is wasteful for the private sector. This is the opinion of Laís Abramo, director of the International Labor Organization Office in Brazil, one of the debaters at the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference theme panel "Encouragement of diversity and equity in the labor market".

In the theme panel "Challenges for the sustainable use of water", held at the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference, Antônio Félix Domingues, Soil & Water Conservation Superintendent at the Agência Nacional de Águas – ANA (National Water Agency), considered the implementation of a charge for the use of water, following the approval of the Water Code (Act no. 9433) in 1997, as the main advance occurred in Brazil towards sustainable management of this natural resource.

The National Pact for the Elimination of Forced Labor, which celebrated its second anniversary this May 19th, was the topic of the theme panel "Policies to fight forced labor: challenges for their implementation".

When journalist Flávia de Oliveira, of O Globo newspaper, called singer and composer Arnaldo Antunes to talk about sustainability at the opening the 7th Ethos Journalism Award ceremony, the audience that packed Teatro Alfa, at Hotel Transamérica, applauded enthusiastically. Antunes, as expected, performed his show, even without music. In a conference where specialists enlightened the stages with their brilliant talks about complex sustainability issues, Antunes broke the routine presenting a poetic and transcending talk on the theme.

The Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference was attended by over 1.3 thousand people from several parts of Brazil and the world. Altogether, there were 1,008 attendees, 180 accredited journalists, 84 speakers, and 60 guests among Ethos’ partners in the dissemination of corporate social responsibility. In part, the success of the conference was considered a result of the current situation faced by mankind. This year, due to the visibility given by the media to the IPCC international reports, the world has become aware that, if nothing is done, the planet will face global warming-driven constraints to – if not unfeasibility of – the presence of life on Earth.

"In Brazil, the multinationals’ affiliates don’t disclose even their financial-economic reports. It’d be some progress if they did", stated Oded Grajew, chairman of the Board of Instituto Ethos, during the debate on corporate social responsibility in the five continents. According to him, of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations and 49 are countries.

"Companies must be more than a green façade". Linda Funnell-Milner, director of Corporate ResponseAbility, closed the plenary session with this comment. "Advances of corporate social responsibility in the five continents". Manuel Escudero (head of Networks of UN Global Compact), Arnon Cramer (president and CEO of BSR - Business for Social Responsibility – BSR), George Mathew (founder and director of the Institute of Social Sciences in New Delhi), Daisy Kambalane (representative of the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship – AICC), and Oded Grajew (Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Instituto Ethos) also took part in the discussion.

In developed countries, several market rules concerning labor, ethics, safety, human rights and environment are established standards – and they are complied with. "The explanation is a Government whose presence can be felt", said Oded Grajew, chairman of the Board of Instituto Ethos, in the plenary session "Advances of corporate social responsibility in the five continents".

During the plenary session "Advances of corporate social responsibility in the five continents," Oded Grajew, chairman of the Board of Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social and member of the Consulting Council of the UN Global Compact, said it is not possible to measure in financial terms how much a company spends on social responsibility. The statement was made after the lecture of George Mathew, founder director of the Institute of Social Sciences in New Delhi, who showed the expenditure of the most important Indian company, Tata Group, on social responsibility.

Created 22 years ago by the afro-descendant Olodum group, the Escola Olodum works with children and teenagers at Pelourinho, in Salvador (state of Bahia), in the Rufar dos Tambores (Drums’ Beat) project. This work helps children to acknowledge their ethnic origin while providing civic and intellectual education. The project offers several courses including computing, musical instruments manufacturing and dancing as well as classes on politics, environmental education and afro-descendant culture.

In a ceremony held this Thursday evening at Teatro Alfa, Transamérica Hotel, the six winners of the 7th Ethos Journalism Award were announced.

Culture is the key element in social transformation and sustainable development. This concept was at the core of the theme panel "How cultural activities contribute to sustainable development" at the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference, whose participants were Danilo Santos de Miranda, director of the regional department of Serviço Social do Comércio do Estado de São Paulo (Sesc-SP), Domingos Barreto Tukano, president of the Federação das Organizações Indígenas do Negro (FOIRN), Rubens Gomes, founder and director of Oficina Escola de Lutheria da Amazônia (Oela), and Kaká Wera Jekupé, director of Instituto Arapoti.

Sustainability is in the core of Petrobras’ action. The company’s social investment in 2006 was heavy in the areas of child development and human rights, with special emphasis on repudiation of child labor and forced labor in its operations and supply chain. The company acted in the social and environmental area through partnerships in over 2 thousand projects, nearly 750 of which related to the Federal Government’s Zero Hunger Program.

The effort to raise major businesspeople’s awareness about the relevance of responsible management in their organizations is a fight that has been going on with reasonable success. However, a program aimed at small and medium-sized companies could make this change even more effective. The theme panel “Corporate social responsibility in the Americas: developments of the Forum Empresa-BID Project”, held in the 2007 International Conference, gathered representatives from Brazil, Peru, El Salvador and Chile to talk about their experiences in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) training program.

Over 500 people inside and many in the waiting list outside. The attendance at the workshop “Companies and Education for conscious consumption,” held in the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference, had such a large audience that surprised even the organizers. The theme raises interest in people because sustainability is consumption-driven. Today we need a change of paradigms in this area,” comments Aron Belinky, research coordinator at Instituto Akatu.

Transforming São Paulo in an equitable and sustainable city is the mission of the Nossa São Paulo: Outra Cidade (Our São Paulo: Another City) movement, presented in the theme panel “Challenges for the construction of sustainable cities”. In order to achieve this objective, several segments of society, in partnership with public and private institutions, are mobilized and committed to developing and fulfilling an agenda and a set of goals. The idea shall serve as an example for other cities and result in a Conference on Sustainable Cities in 2008.

The main consensus reached by the debaters at the theme panel “How to implement integrity policies against corruption”, held at the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference, concerned the losses this phenomenon causes not only to society but also to companies. According to data presented by José Tadeu de Moraes, vice president of the Business Citizenship Council of Fiemg – Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais, at least US$ 3 trillion per year is wasted in the world due to corruption.

By using an interesting metaphor, Ricardo Young, president of Instituto Ethos, told how the Amazon Forum was created. Young said one of God’s secretaries came down to Earth to check how things were doing, and realized there was only one wild area left, still untouched.

Ethos Indicators, Ethos Journalism Award, and the Ethos Journalists Network are some of the Brazilian practices to be replicated by and diffused across other six Latin American countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Peru. This is the proposal of the CSR Latin American Program, announced during the 2007 Conference plenary session “Business initiatives for the construction of a sustainable and just society”.

The Instituto Ethos announced it is going to launch in the second half of this year the Grupo de Referência Empresarial em Sustentabilidade – GRES (Business Sustainability Benchmark Group). The new proposal was put forward during the plenary session "Business initiatives for the construction of a sustainable and just society," during the 2007 International Conference. The main objective is to develop, implement and disseminate sustainable business management processes aimed at managing economic, social and environmental impacts of the business activities.

In the roundtable "Energetic matrix for sustainable development", held at the Ethos’ 2007 Conference, consensus was not reached on what routes Brazil must take regarding the energy issue. The moderator was professor José Goldemberg, former São Paulo State Secretary of the Environment and member of the Board of Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia, Universidade de São Paulo.

Having Professor Décio Zylbersztajn, of Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade at USP (FEA-USP) as moderator, the roundtable "Social and environmental commitments in agriculture" included Cláudio Valladares Pádua, of Iniciativa Brasileira de Verificação da Atividade Agropecuária, Jason Clay, vice president of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Fábio Trigueirinho, Secretary General of the Associação Brasileira das Indústrias de Óleos Vegetais (Abiove), and John Elkington, of SustainAbility.

Generating employment and income, preserving the environment and eradicating poverty. These are some of the objectives of the project called Produção Agroecológica Integrada e Sustentável – PAIS (Sustainable and Integrated Agro-ecological Production), a partnership among Rede de Tecnologia Social – RTS (Social Technology Network), Sebrae, Banco do Brasil Foundation, and Ministry of National Integration.

During the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference, Fernando Almeida, Executive President of Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS), pre-launched (*) his new book – Os Desafios da Sustentabilidade – uma Ruptura Urgente (Editora Elsevier, 2007, 280 pages). In this new publication, he shows that only a structured rupture of the current economic system can halt the planet’s destruction. Companies, governments and society are the actors who shall lead the process.

Investing with sustainability in the Amazon is no easy task. That area accounts for over one third of the world flora and fauna species and one fifth of the surface waters in the planet, besides a huge cultural diversity.

The unsustainability of the current economic model is a unanimity that cannot be considered stupid. That was shown in the debate that took place in the plenary session “Economic agenda for sustainability,” held during the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference.

Although Brazil is considered the country of opportunities in the new international arena due to its great potential for clean energy, structural changes towards sustainability are still embryonic.

The Chief Executive of AccountAbility was one of the debaters in the special opening plenary “Global trends, dilemmas and advances of sustainable development in the world”, held this Tuesday.

Mobilization around an idea rather than people. This was the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference organizers' choice. Instead of opening the event around a big shot, the option was to disclose to the public gathered at the Hotel Transamérica, in São Paulo, the results of the research entitled “Raising Our Game – Can We Sustain Globalization?”, carried out by SustainAbility, which shows the major global scenarios facing the future of Governments, companies and people.

New leaderships, innovations, daring and networks are the major demands of the global arena for a sustainable development, as highlighted in the special opening plenary of Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference.

Unconcerned about getting social status or titles, Amyr Klink summed up in his lecture that the true concept of sustainability lies in simplicity. This can be translated into choosing well the tools we need to survive.

In the debate “CSR in the media: agenda and management”, moderator Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva raised the issue of critical coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR), since this is a condition inherent to good journalism.

Working as a journalist is a sacrifice, for it demands longer working hours as compared to other professions and often unpaid overtime. It also requires permanent readiness, because it is always time for news.

At the end of the debate “CSR in the media: agenda and management”, the feeling was that the role of the media as drivers of new sustainability paradigms is still an unresolved issue.

The debate “CSR in the media: agenda and management” opened the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 International Conference – Business and Social Responsibility. The third of a series of discussions organized by the Ethos Journalists Network, the roundtable addressed the main issues raised in the previous debates.