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Environment
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| Filed with: Alcan Aluminum, Home
Depot |
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Implement the CERES Principles
WHEREAS:
Leaders of industry acknowledge their obligation to pursue superior environmental
performance and to disclose information about the performance to their
investors and other stakeholders;
We believe that the integrity, utility, and comparability of environmental
disclosure depend on using a common format, credible metrics, and a set
of generally accepted reporting principles. This will enable investors
to assess environmental progress within and across industries;
The Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) - a fourteen
year partnership between large investors, environmental groups, and corporations
- has established what we believe is the world's most thorough and well-respected
environmental disclosure and stakeholder engagement program. CERES has
also taken the lead internationally, convening major organizations together
with the United Nations Environment Programme in the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), which has produced guidelines for standardizing environmental,
social and economic (sustainability) performance worldwide that were recognized
in Article 17 of the Plan of Implementation at the Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development (August 2002);
CERES' engagement and disclosure program consists of a corporate commitment
to endorse the CERES Principles, engage with stakeholders in transparent
environmental management and use the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines
as the consistent standard for environmental reporting;
The CERES Principles have been endorsed by leading firms in various industries:
Arizona Public Service, Bank of America, Baxter International, Coca-Cola
USA, Con Edison, FleetBoston Financial, Ford Motor Company, General Motors,
Interface, ITT Industries, Nike, Northeast Utilities, Pennsylvania Power
and Light, and Sunoco;
Recent studies show that the integration of environmental commitment
into business operations provides competitive advantage and improves long-term
financial performance for companies. In addition, we believe that the
depth of a firm's environmental commitment and the quality with which
it manages its environmental performance are indicators of prudent foresight
exercised by management.
Alcan Inc. has made a fundamental commitment to sustainability and sustainability
reporting.Given this commitment, given investors' needs for credible information
about a firm's environmental performance, and given the number of companies
that have already endorsed the CERES Principles and its reporting requirements,
it is a rational and prudent next step for Alcan Inc. to endorse these
Principles if it wishes to demonstrate its seriousness about superior
environmental performance.
We believe endorsing the CERES Principles commits a company to the prudent
oversight of its financial and physical resources through: 1) protection
of the biosphere; 2) sustainable use of natural resources; 3) waste reduction;
4) energy conservation; 5) risk reduction; 6) safe products/services;
7) environmental restoration; 8) informing the public; 9) management commitment;
10) audits and reports. (For the text of the CERES Principles see www.ceres.org
or contact CERES, 99 Chauncy Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, (617)
247-0700. The GRI Guidelines are available at www.globalreporting.org).
RESOLVED:
That shareholders request that Alcan Inc. endorse the CERES Principles
as a reasonable and beneficial component of their corporate commitment
to be publicly accountable for environmental performance.
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