Facilitator Paul Hohnen welcomed participants to the side event and described the “Class of 2006,” a report on the progress made by business and industry towards sustainable development since the WSSD in 2002.

Paul Hofseth, Ministry of the Environment, Norway, highlighted the Oslo Conference on Good Governance and Social and Environmental Responsibility and called for the adoption of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Tshenge Demana, Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa, urged UNEP to profile effective initiatives to implement sustainable development in developing country businesses.

David Runnalls, President of IISD, described three studies that IISD is conducting on timber, cotton and e-waste supply chains to China, and addressed the need to explore the limits of multinational companies’ voluntary actions for reporting on economic, environmental and social performance.

Panel 1: Jacqueline Coté, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, said that a thriving small and medium-sized enterprise sector is critical to economic growth.

Susana Marti, Telefonica, described her company’s efforts in Latin America to improve the sustainability performance of its suppliers.

Barbara Morton, DEFRA, UK, discussed the UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan to ensure that supply chains and public services have increasingly low carbon emissions and deliver wider sustainable development goals.

Richard Lloyd, Consumers International, discussed how consumer purchases are affected by development, human rights and environmental issues, highlighting the need for governments to provide public education to change consumers' behavior.

Lucien Royer, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, highlighted an investigation into Gold Peak Industries’ use of cadmium in its manufacturing facilities in China, and called on the international community to help remedy the situation.

Panel two: Angeline Kung, Goldman Sachs, described her company’s environmental policy framework, and highlighted involvement in a proposed leverage buyout of TXU Corporation, a Texas utility, with a goal of returning TXU's carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Andrea Moffat, CERES, discussed the importance of disclosure and reporting as a tool for implementing sustainable development in businesses, saying that disclosure builds trust with stakeholders, employees and shareholders.

Jack Cogen, Natsource LLC, called for mandatory actions in the supply chain in order for the industrial society to implement sustainable development measures.

Robert Kee, Bank of America, said his company would commit $18 billion in lending to help commercial clients finance the use and production of new products, services and technologies for addressing climate change.

Mark Radka, UNEP, looked forward to continued work with the event’s co-hosts to advance sustainable development.

Peter Rae, IREA, stated that 20% of global electricity generation currently comes from renewable energy sources. He highlighted the need to examine renewable energy’s potential in Africa and Asia as they are key regions for implementing the MDGs, and noted that forms of renewable energy are available in every country.

Robert Dixon, IEA, stated that although renewable energy is undergoing rapid growth, the global energy supply is still dominated by fossil fuels. He said that no single technology can “do it all” and that each country should consider which energy resources they have available.

Richard Taylor, International Hydropower Association, said that Africa and Asia are important regions for future hydropower development, and have currently developed only 7% and 22% respectively of their realistic potential. He stated that hydropower is clean and very cheap in the long term, although upfront costs can be high, and added that hydropower can be used in combination with wind power or geothermal energy to combine base load power with peak load capacity.

Yogi Goswami, University of Florida, highlighted massive recent growth in use of solar water heating, especially in China. He said that new technologies are expected to cut the cost of photovoltaic electricity generation to one-third of current levels within the next six years. He emphasized that some solar technologies require almost no maintenance and last for over 30 years, making them a good choice for rural regions and areas with limited technical expertise.

Brent Kopperson, World Wind Energy Association, reported that global wind power generating capacity has grown fivefold since 1999. Noting wind power generation’s decentralized nature, he said it can provide energy security, carbon offsets, sustainable income for local communities, and increased value for agricultural land.

Gordon Bloomquist, International Geothermal Association, outlined new developments in geothermal technology. He added that indirect geothermal energy can be applied for heating and cooling by any country, even those far from volcanic zones, with conventional equipment and minimal start-up time.

Participants discussed political will, noting that more government investment in renewables is required, especially as fossil fuel use is currently highly subsidized.