Approaches to Corporate Ethics and Bio-ethics

In business, and most other types of organizations, the job of maintaining the values of the company is not the responsibility of any one department or individual; everyone—officers and board, executives, managers, supervisors, and individual contributors—has a role in fostering ethical behavior.  Each is a role model to others and can encourage and motivate fellow employees to "do the right thing."

Corporate ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations.

The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns. Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporations promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters. 

Ethical issues include the rights and duties between a company and its employees, suppliers, customers and neighbors, its fiduciary (a legal or ethical relationship of trust between two or more parties. Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money for another person.) responsibility to its shareholders. Issues concerning relations between different companies include hostile take-overs and industrial espionage. Related issues include corporate governance;corporate social entrepreneurship; political contributions.

Main tasks are:

• Governance: regulation, corporate governance committees, Sarbanes-Oxley, auditing, etc.
• Creating an Ethical Culture: strategic planning, human resources, organizational ethics, etc.
• Leadership: executive compensation, tone at the top, the role of the CEO in ethics, etc.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: sustainability, stakeholder theory, triple bottom line, etc.
• Workplace Issues: labor and employment practices, monitoring, work/life balance, etc.
• Product and Brand: consumer safety, reputation, intellectual property, and strategic marketing
• Corporate Wrongdoing: corruption, bribery, scandals, whistleblowing, etc.
• Professional Ethics: the behavior of managers and employees in matters such as loyalty, honesty, etc.
• Global Business Ethics: cross-cultural issues that arise in countries such as China and India.

Bioethics is the study of typically controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. It is also moral discernment as it relates to medical policy, practice, and research. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy. It also includes the study of the more commonplace questions of values ("the ethics of the ordinary") which arise in primary care and other branches of medicine.

The field of bioethics has addressed a broad swath of human inquiry, ranging from debates over the boundaries of life (e.g. abortion, euthanasia), surrogacy, the allocation of scarce health care resources (e.g. organ donation, health care rationing) to the right to refuse medical care for religious or cultural reasons. Bioethicists often disagree among themselves over the precise limits of their discipline, debating whether the field should concern itself with the ethical evaluation of all questions involving biology and medicine, or only a subset of these questions. Some bioethicists would narrow ethical evaluation only to the morality of medical treatments or technological innovations, and the timing of medical treatment of humans. Others would broaden the scope of ethical evaluation to include the morality of all actions that might help or harm organisms capable of feeling fear.

The scope of bioethics can expand with biotechnology, including cloning, gene therapy, life extension, human genetic engineering, astroethics and life in space, and manipulation of basic biology through altered DNA, XNA and proteins. These developments will affect future evolution, and may require new principles that address life at its core, such as biotic ethics that values life itself at its basic biological processes and structures, and seeks their propagation.

Biomimicry - Must Read Links

http://www.biomimicryguild.com/guild_biomimicry.html

http://www.biomimicryguild.com/janineinterview.html

http://www.biomimicryguild.com/janinefirstchap.html

Biomimicry - bios, meaning life, and mimesis, to imitate

Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a new discipline that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. 

Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example. It can be thought of as "innovation inspired by nature."

The core idea is that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems people are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have found what works, what is appropriate, and most important, what lasts here on Earth. This is the real news of biomimicry: After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.

Like the viceroy butterfly imitating the monarch, humans are imitating the best adapted organisms in their habitat. This discipline is learning, for instance, how to harness energy like a leaf, grow food like a prairie, build ceramics like an abalone, self-medicate like a chimp, create color like a peacock, compute like a cell, and run a business like a hickory forest.

The conscious emulation of life's genius is a survival strategy for the human race, a path to a sustainable future. The more the world functions like the natural world, the more likely human beings are to endure on this home that is for them, but not for them alone.

Looking at Nature as Model, Measure, and Mentor.

Nature as model: Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature’s models and then emulates these forms, process, systems, and strategies to solve human problems – sustainably.  

Nature as measure: Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the sustainability of our innovations.  After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has learned what works and what lasts.  Nature as measure is captured in Life's Principles and is embedded in the evalute step of the Biomimicry Design Spiral. 

Nature as mentor: Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature.  It introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but what we can learn from it.

The Triple Bottom Line Concept - Links

For detailed study the following links may help

http://www.minerals.csiro.au/sd/pubs/Vanclay_Final.pdf

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cee/tavispotts.pdf

The Triple Bottom Line Concept - Sustainable Business

The Triple Bottom Line Concept

The TBL is an accounting framework that incorporates three dimensions of performance: social, environmental and financial. This differs from traditional reporting frameworks as it includes ecological (or environmental) and social measures that can be difficult to assign appropriate means of measurement. The TBL dimensions are also commonly called the three Ps: people, planet and profits. We will refer to these as the 3Ps.

For reporting their efforts companies may demonstrate their commitment to CSR through the following:

• Top-level involvement (CEO, Board of Directors)
• Policy Investments
• Programs
• Staffing resources
• Signatories to voluntary standards
• Principles (UN Global Compact-Ceres Principles)
• Reporting (Global Reporting Initiative)

The concept of TBL demands that a company's responsibility lies with stakeholders rather than shareholders. In this case, "stakeholders" refers to anyone who is influenced, either directly or indirectly, by the actions of the firm. According to the stakeholder theory, the business entity should be used as a vehicle for coordinating stakeholder interests, instead of maximizing shareholder (owner) profit.

The triple bottom line is made up of "social, economic and environmental" factors.

"People, planet and profit" succinctly describes the triple bottom lines and the goal of sustainability. The phrase, "people, planet, profit", was coined by John Elkington in 1995 while at Sustainability, and was later adopted as the title of the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell's first sustainability report in 1997. As a result, one country in which the 3P concept took deep root was The Netherlands.

"People" pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labour and the community and region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL company conceives a reciprocal social structure in which the well-being of corporate, labour and other stakeholder interests are interdependent.

A triple bottom line enterprise seeks to benefit many constituencies, not exploit or endanger any group of them. The "upstreaming" of a portion of profit from the marketing of finished goods back to the original producer of raw materials, for example, a farmer in fair trade agricultural practice, is a common feature. In concrete terms, a TBL business would not use child labour and monitor all contracted companies for child labour exploitation, would pay fair salaries to its workers, would maintain a safe work environment and tolerable working hours, and would not otherwise exploit a community or its labour force. A TBL business also typically seeks to "give back" by contributing to the strength and growth of its community with such things as health care and education. Quantifying this bottom line is relatively new, problematic and often subjective. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed guidelines to enable corporations and NGOs alike to comparably report on the social impact of a business.

"Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental practices. A TBL company endeavors to benefit the natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and minimise environmental impact. A TBL endeavour reduces its ecological footprint by, among other things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables and reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing of it in a safe and legal manner. "Cradle to grave" is uppermost in the thoughts of TBL manufacturing businesses, which typically conduct a life cycle assessment of products to determine what the true environmental cost is from the growth and harvesting of raw materials to manufacture to distribution to eventual disposal by the end user. A triple bottom line company does not produce harmful or destructive products such as weapons, toxic chemicals or batteries containing dangerous heavy metals, for example.

Currently, the cost of disposing of non-degradable or toxic products is borne financially by governments and environmentally by the residents near the disposal site and elsewhere. In TBL thinking, an enterprise which produces and markets a product which will create a waste problem should not be given a free ride by society. It would be more equitable for the business which manufactures and sells a problematic product to bear part of the cost of its ultimate disposal.

Ecologically destructive practices, such as overfishing or other endangering depletions of resources are avoided by TBL companies. Often environmental sustainability is the more profitable course for a business in the long run. Arguments that it costs more to be environmentally sound are often specious when the course of the business is analyzed over a period of time. Generally, sustainability reporting metrics are better quantified and standardized for environmental issues than for social ones. A number of respected reporting institutes and registries exist including the Global Reporting Initiative, CERES, Institute 4 Sustainability and others.

"Profit" is the economic value created by the organization after deducting the cost of all inputs, including the cost of the capital tied up. It therefore differs from traditional accounting definitions of profit. In the original concept, within a sustainability framework, the "profit" aspect needs to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host society. It is the real economic impact the organization has on its economic environment. This is often confused to be limited to the internal profit made by a company or organization (which nevertheless remains an essential starting point for the computation). Therefore, an original TBL approach cannot be interpreted as simply traditional corporate accounting profit plus social and environmental impacts unless the "profits" of other entities are included as a social benefit.

Life cycle analysis (LCA)-Strategic Framework of LCA

As corporations seek to improve their environmental performance, they require new methods and tools. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is one such tool that can help companies to understand the environmental impacts associated with their products, processes, and activities. LCA is controversial and still evolving as a methodology. However, the principles behind LCA thinking are being adopted rapidly by manufacturers and service organizations  like as a way of opening new perspectives and expanding the debate over environmentally sound products and processes. The goal of LCA is not to arrive at the answer but, rather, to provide important inputs to a broader strategic planning process.

Components of Life Cycle Analysis

Life cycle analysis takes a systems approach to evaluating the environmental consequences of a particular product, process, or activity from “cradle to grave.” By taking a “snapshot” of the entire life cycle of a product from extraction and processing of raw materials through final disposal, LCA is used to assess systematically the impact of each component process. Ideally, a complete LCA would include three separate but interrelated components: an inventory analysis, an impact analysis, and an improvement analysis.

The components are defined as follows:

• Life Cycle Inventory. An objective, data-based process of quantifying energy and raw materials requirements, air emissions, waterborne effluents, solid waste, and other environmental releases incurred throughout the life cycle of a product, process, or activity.
• Life Cycle Impact Assessment. An evaluative process of assessing the effects of the environmental findings identified in the inventory component. The impact assessment should address both ecological and human health impacts, as well as social, cultural, and economic impacts.
• Life Cycle Improvement Analysis. An analysis of opportunities to reduce or mitigate the environmental impact throughout the whole life cycle of a product, process, or activity. This analysis may include both quantitative and qualitative measures of improvement, such as changes in product design, raw material usage, industrial processes, consumer use, and waste management.

Inventory Analysis

An inventory may be conducted to aid in decisionmaking by enabling companies or organizations to:

• Develop a baseline for a system’s overall resource requirements for benchmarking efforts;
• Identify components of the process that are good targets for resource-reduction efforts;
• Aid in the development of new products or processes that will reduce resource requirements or emissions;
• Compare alternative materials, products, processes, or activities within the organization; or
• Compare internal inventory information to that of other manufacturers.


MANUFACTURE AND FABRICATION

Data collected for this subsystem includes all energy, material, or water inputs and environmental releases that occur during the manufacturing processes required to convert each raw material input into intermediate materials ready for fabrication. This process may be repeated for several streams of resources as well as several intermediate cycles before final fabrication of the product.


TRANSPORTATION/DISTRIBUTION

An inventory of the related transportation activities of the product to warehouses and end-users may be simplified by using standards for the average distance transported and the typical mode of transportation used.


CONSUMER USE/DISPOSAL

Data collected for this subsystem cover consumer activities including use. 
• Time of product use before it is discarded
• Inputs used in the maintenance process
• The typical frequency of repair
• Potential product reuse options


Impact Assessment and Improvement Analysis

All life cycle analyses collect inventory data on raw material consumption, energy and water use, and waste production. However, a meaningful LCA should contain more than a mere inventory of inputs and outputs — it should also consider the overall contributions and risks to the environment and public health, as well as the social, cultural, and economic impacts of each option. In short, the products and processes being assessed should be seen in the context of the society they are intended to serve.

Trade and Environmental Management or the relationship between trade and environment is a complex and highly debated issue. Addressing this relationship is fundamental in order to achieve sustainable development.  As a result of increasing global economic inter-dependence and further trade liberalisation as well as growing pressure on the environment and the use of natural resources, there is an ever growing inter-face between trade and environment. It is widely recognised that trade and environment can be mutually supportive, but, differences remain on effective implementation. The Commission Communication on Trade and Environment, adopted in 1996, underlined that a mutually supportive relationship between trade and environment can occur but is in no way automatic. In fact, trade liberalisation and trade policy have positive and negative impacts on the environment. However, a number of conditions should be met to ensure that the net gains deriving from trade liberalisation will support and reinforce the protection of the environment.

One essential condition for making sure that trade and environment are mutually supportive is to ensure that the trade liberalisation process is paralleled with the development and strengthening of effective and non-protectionist environmental legislation, at national, regional and international levels. Environmental policies could, in turn, provide an incentive for technological innovations, promote economic efficiency and, consequently, improve productivity. Having recognised the need for such policies, one should also ensure that trade rules do not unnecessarily constrain but rather support and promote the ability of countries to develop and implement adequate and non-protectionist environmental measures, at both national and international levels.

Trade policy as such has also a role to play in actively supporting sustainable trade flows and, in particular, environmentally friendly trade. Trade policy and trade related instruments should be further encouraged to act as a sustainable driver by providing incentives for more sustainable trade flows. This is valid at the multilateral level but even more so at the regional and bilateral levels where the identification of positive synergies among trading partners as well as convergence and/or co-operation

should be easier than is the case at the international level. Trade tools could, for instance, be instrumental in making tangible progress towards more sustainable consumption and production patterns. Economic instruments also need to be more actively developed, notably with a view to allow for the necessary internalisation of external environmental costs. In addition, positive synergies between trade, environment and development should be further considered, particularly regarding the elimination of environmentally damaging subsidies and the promotion of environmentally friendly goods and services, with a special focus on those originating in Developing Countries (DCs)

The Multilateral Level

The relationship between trade and the environment is increasingly important in international relations. There are three main aspects to the relationship:

- the environmental impact of trade and trade policies;

- the potential effects of environmental measures on trade flows and

- the use of trade measures to achieve environmental policy aims.

The Rio Conference (1992) was the first international forum where this complex relationship was debated. Since then, this issue has been intensively discussed in the WTO, the OECD and in UNEP. The European Union takes a leading role in these international discussions, in particular in the WTO, so that trade and environment issues can be addressed and resolved. The Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) of the WTO After Rio, the trade and environment debate was translated into the WTO arena. A WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) was created in April 1994.

The existence of environmental regimes does not, however, resolve all possible trade-related environmental issues. The trade regime and international environmental regimes are structurally incommensurate. Trade deals with economic relations between individuals and social entities; environment is concerned with natural phenomena. Trade is conceptually unitary; even though it encompasses numerous regimes, these form a reasonably coherent structure because they derive from a single, powerful concept: that trade improves the economic well-being of exporters and importers alike.

Environmental policy is multiform, revolving around a number of major issues and responding to a range of principles that define overlapping levels of action which suggest integration but in practice are difficult to integrate. The structure of international environmental regimes is emerging slowly from a multitude of independently created regimes. Nevertheless, trade and environment are closely linked.

• In economic terms, environmental policy seeks to foster structural economic change to increase the efficiency in the use of natural resources. Trade policy engenders structural economic change by increasing the efficiency in the use of economically relevant resources.

• Trade policy is international by definition since it concerns only goods and services which are traded between countries, and what then happens to these goods and services within countries. Environmental policy has an inescapable international dimension since in some areas countries acting alone are incapable of solving pressing environmental problems, because of their nature or because political boundaries do not match natural ones. Together, economic and environmental policies are currently the most potent forces of change in the international system.

• Trade and environmental management involve the same kind of political bargain. Governments agree internationally to take certain domestic measures which are politically unpalatable but in reality are to their benefit. In exchange, they receive promises from other governments to take equivalent measures which are equally in the interest of the other country and which are then declared to be “concessions.” This peculiar mix of congruence and incommensurability has given rise to much confusion. It is certainly reasonable to emphasize the areas of congruence, both to ensure that viable solutions emerge and to facilitate compromise. However, it is dangerous to overlook the elements of incongruence because the resulting solutions may prove inoperable from the perspective of environmental or trade concerns.

Facts as it is

• In many countries,environmental law by now represents the largest single body of legislation. The first French Minister of the Environment gave eloquent expression to this complexity by calling his ministry “ le Minstère de l’Impossible.”

• No instrument other than an outright ban has proven effective by itself in achieving desiredn environmental results

• To the extent that international measures are not simply the sum of national efforts and require independent assessments, priority-setting and actions, they are subject to the same procedural requirements as local or national decisions. Otherwise the delicate balance which has evolved in many countries risks being distorted by procedural differences at the international level which lead — almost inevitably — to different substantive conclusions. For this reason, international environmental regimes have almost always involved a high degree of involvement by nongovernmental groups — industry, scientists, media and environmental organizations.

• Political boundaries are meaningless for the environment.

• Countries which have not established effective mechanisms for public information and participation frequently experience more difficulties in identifying important environmental problems and developing effective policies.

Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world. It exerts influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law, environmental sociology, ecotheology, ecological economics, ecology and environmental geography.

There are many ethical decisions that human beings make with respect to the environment. 

For example:

• Should we continue to clear cut forests for the sake of human consumption?
• Why should we continue to propagate our species, and life itself? 
• Should we continue to make gasoline powered vehicles?
• What environmental obligations do we need to keep for future generations?
• Is it right for humans to knowingly cause the extinction of a species for the convenience of humanity?
• How should we best use and conserve the space environment to secure and expand life? 

The academic field of environmental ethics grew up in response to the work of scientists such as Rachel Carson and events such as the first Earth Day in 1970, when environmentalists started urging philosophers to consider the philosophical aspects of environmental problems. Two papers published in Science had a crucial impact: Lynn White's "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis" (March 1967) and Garrett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" (December 1968).[6] Also influential was Garett Hardin's later essay called "Exploring New Ethics for Survival", as well as an essay by Aldo Leopold in his A Sand County Almanac, called "The Land Ethic," in which Leopold explicitly claimed that the roots of the ecological crisis were philosophical (1949).

The first international academic journals in this field emerged from North America in the late 1970s and early 1980s – the US-based journal Environmental Ethics in 1979 and the Canadian based journal The Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy in 1983. The first British based journal of this kind, Environmental Values, was launched in 1992.

Down To Earth - India's only science and environment magazine reporting about environmental threats facing India and the world.

Link

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/

 UN Global Compact

“ The Global Compact asks companies to embrace universal principles and to partner with the United Nations. It has grown to become a critical platform for the UN to engage effectively with enlightened global business.” – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The United Nations Global Compact, also known as Compact or UNGC, is a United Nations initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The Global Compact is a principle-based framework for businesses, stating ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. Under the Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society.

The Global Compact is the world's largest corporate citizenship initiative with two objectives: "Mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world" and "Catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

The Compact was announced by the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in an address to The World Economic Forum on January 31, 1999, and was officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York on July 26, 2000.

The Global Compact Office is supported by six UN agencies: the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; the United Nations Environment Programme; the International Labour Organization; the United Nations Development Programme; the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The Ten Principles  

The UN Global Compact's ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus and are derived from:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
• The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
• The United Nations Convention Against Corruption

The UN Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption:

Human Rights

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and

Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.  

Labour

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and

Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.  

Environment

Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;

Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and

Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.   

Anti-Corruption

Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - What they are

At the Millennium Summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets, with a deadline of 2015, that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the world's time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions-income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They are also basic human rights-the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter, and security.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

The world has made significant progress in achieving many of the Goals. Between 1990 and 2002 average overall incomes increased by approximately 21 percent. The number of people in extreme poverty declined by an estimated 130 million 1. Child mortality rates fell from 103 deaths per 1,000 live births a year to 88. Life expectancy rose from 63 years to nearly 65 years. An additional 8 percent of the developing world's people received access to water. And an additional 15 percent acquired access to improved sanitation services.

But progress has been far from uniform across the world-or across the Goals. There are huge disparities across and within countries. Within countries, poverty is greatest for rural areas, though urban poverty is also extensive, growing, and underreported by traditional indicators.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of crisis, with continuing food insecurity, a rise of extreme poverty, stunningly high child and maternal mortality, and large numbers of people living in slums, and a widespread shortfall for most of the MDGs. Asia is the region with the fastest progress, but even there hundreds of millions of people remain in extreme poverty, and even fast-growing countries fail to achieve some of the non-income Goals. Other regions have mixed records, notably Latin America, the transition economies, and the Middle East and North Africa, often with slow or no progress on some of the Goals and persistent inequalities undermining progress on others.

Goals, targets and indicators

The internationally agreed framework of 8 goals and 18 targets was complemented by 48 technical indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. These indicators have since been adopted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations, IMF, OECD and the World Bank. 

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

Indicators

1. Proportion of population below $1 (1993 PPP) per day 

2. Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth of poverty] 

3. Share of poorest quintile in national consumption 

4. Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age (UNICEF-WHO)

5. Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption (FAO)

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Indicators

6. Net enrolment ratio in primary education (UNESCO)

7. Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5 (UNESCO)

8. Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds (UNESCO)

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Indicators

9. Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education (UNESCO)

10. Ratio of literate women to men, 15-24 years old (UNESCO)

11. Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector (ILO) 

12. Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament (IPU)

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Indicators

13. Under-five mortality rate (UNICEF-WHO)

14. Infant mortality rate (UNICEF-WHO)

15. Proportion of 1 year-old children immunized against measles (UNICEF-WHO)

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Indicators

16. Maternal mortality ratio (UNICEF-WHO)

17. Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel (UNICEF-WHO)

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

Indicators

18. HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged 15-24 years (UNAIDS-WHO-UNICEF) 

19. Condom use rate of the contraceptive prevalence rate (UN Population Division) c*

19a. Condom use at last high-risk sex (UNICEF-WHO)

19b. Percentage of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS (UNICEF-WHO) 

19c. Contraceptive prevalence rate (UN Population Division)

20. Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans aged 10-14 years (UNICEF-UNAIDS-WHO)

21. Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria (WHO)

22. Proportion of population in malaria-risk areas using effective malaria prevention and treatment measures (UNICEF-WHO) 

23. Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis (WHO)

24. Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under DOTS (internationally recommended TB control strategy) (WHO)

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Indicators

25. Proportion of land area covered by forest (FAO)

26. Ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area (UNEP-WCMC)

27. Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1 GDP (PPP) (IEA, World Bank)

28. Carbon dioxide emissions per capita (UNFCCC, UNSD) and consumption of ozone-depleting CFCs (ODP tons) (UNEP-Ozone Secretariat)

29. Proportion of population using solid fuels (WHO)

30. Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural (UNICEF-WHO)

31. Proportion of population with access to improved sanitation, urban and rural (UNICEF-WHO)

32. Proportion of households with access to secure tenure (UN-HABITAT)

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Indicators

33. Net ODA (Official development assistance), total and to LDCs, as percentage of OECD/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors' gross national income (GNI)(OECD)

34. Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation) (OECD)

35. Proportion of bilateral ODA of OECD/DAC donors that is untied (OECD)

36. ODA received in landlocked developing countries as a proportion of their GNIs (OECD)

37. ODA received in small island developing States as proportion of their GNIs (OECD)

38. Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from developing countries and from LDCs, admitted free of duty (UNCTAD, WTO, WB)

39. Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and clothing from developing countries (UNCTAD, WTO, WB)

40. Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as percentage of their GDP (OECD)

41. Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity (OECD, WTO) 

42. Total number of countries that have reached their Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative) (IMF - World Bank) 

43. Debt relief committed under HIPC initiative (IMF-World Bank)

44. Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services (IMF-World Bank)

45. Unemployment rate of young people aged 15-24 years, each sex and total (ILO) 

46. Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis (WHO)

47. Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population (ITU)

48. Personal computers in use per 100 population and Internet users per 100 population (ITU)

Kyoto Protocol

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.

Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.  Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. In Doha, Qatar, on 8 December 2012, the "Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol" was adopted. The commitment period extended from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020.

During the first commitment period, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community committed to reduce GHG emissions to an average of five percent against 1990 levels. During the second commitment period, Parties committed to reduce GHG emissions by at least 18 percent below 1990 levels in the eight-year period from 2013 to 2020; however, the composition of Parties in the second commitment period is different from the first.

Kyoto protocol stimulate 

• Sustainable development through technology transfer and investment. 

• Help countries with Kyoto commitments to meet their targets by reducing emissions or removing carbon from the atmosphere in other countries in a cost-effective way. 

• Encourage the private sector and developing countries to contribute to emission reduction efforts

The Kyoto mechanisms

Under the Protocol, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Protocol also offers them an additional means to meet their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.

The Kyoto mechanisms are:

International Emissions Trading

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

Joint implementation (JI)

The mechanisms help to stimulate green investment and help Parties meet their emission targets in a cost-effective way.

The Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol are Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation.

JI and CDM are the two project-based mechanisms which feed the carbon market. JI enables industrialized countries to carry out joint implementation projects with other developed countries, while the CDM involves investment in sustainable development projects that reduce emissions in developing countries.

The carbon market is a key tool for reducing emissions worldwide. It was worth 30 billion USD in 2006 and is growing.

International Emissions Trading

Greenhouse gas emissions – a new commodity

Parties with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Parties) have accepted targets for limiting or reducing emissions. These targets are expressed as levels of allowed emissions, or “assigned amounts,” over the 2008-2012 commitment period. The allowed emissions are divided into “assigned amount units” (AAUs).

Emissions trading, as set out in Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol, allows countries that have emission units to spare - emissions permitted them but not "used" - to sell this excess capacity to countries that are over their targets.

Thus, a new commodity was created in the form of emission reductions or removals. Since carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas, people speak simply of trading in carbon. Carbon is now tracked and traded like any other commodity. This is known as the "carbon market."

Other trading units in the carbon market

More than actual emissions units can be traded and sold under the Kyoto Protocol’s emissions trading scheme.

The other units which may be transferred under the scheme, each equal to one tonne of CO2, may be in the form of:

A removal unit (RMU) on the basis of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities such as reforestation.

An emission reduction unit (ERU) generated by a joint implementation project. A certified emission reduction (CER) generated from a clean development mechanism project activity. Transfers and acquisitions of these units are tracked and recorded through the registry systems under the Kyoto Protocol. An international transaction log ensures secure transfer of emission reduction units between countries.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) 

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Party) to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.

The mechanism is seen by many as a trailblazer. It is the first global, environmental investment and credit scheme of its kind, providing a standardized emissions offset instrument, CERs.

A CDM project activity might involve, for example, a rural electrification project using solar panels or the installation of more energy-efficient boilers.

The mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission reduction or limitation targets.

Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry

Background

Forests, through growth of trees and an increase in soil carbon, contain a large part of the carbon stored on land. Forests present a significant global carbon stock. Global forest vegetation stores 283 Gt of carbon in its biomass, 38 Gt in dead wood and 317 Gt in soils (top 30 cm) and litter. The total carbon content of forest ecosystems has been estimated at 638 Gt for 2005, which is more than the amount of carbon in the entire atmosphere. This standing carbon is combined with a gross terrestrial uptake of carbon, which was estimated at 2.4 Gt a year, a good deal of which is sequestration by forests. Approximately half of the total carbon in forest ecosystems is found in forest biomass and dead wood.

Other terrestrial systems also play an important role. Most of the carbon stocks of croplands and grasslands are found in the below-ground plant organic matter and soil.

Human activities, through land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities, affect changes in carbon stocks between the carbon pools of the terrestrial ecosystem and between the terrestrial ecosystem and the atmosphere.

Management and/or conversion of land uses (e.g. forests, croplands and grazing lands) affects sources and sinks of CO2, CH4 and N2O. According to the IPCC WGIII (2007), during the decade of the 1990s, deforestation in the tropics and forest re-growth in temperate and boreal zones remained the major factors contributing to emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHG) respectively. The IPCC WG1 (2007) reported that estimated CO2 emissions associated with land-use change, averaged over the 1990s, were 0.5 to 2.7 GtC yr–1, with a central estimate of 1.6 GtCyr-1.

The role of LULUCF activities in the mitigation of climate change has long been recognized. Mitigation achieved through activities in the LULUCF sector, either by increasing the removals of GHGs from the atmosphere or by reducing emissions by sources, can be relatively cost-effective.

Agriculture & Forestry

General mitigation options could include forest-related activities such as reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, enhancing the sequestration rate in new or existing forests, and using wood fuels and wood products as substitutes for fossil fuels and more energy-intensive materials. A variety of options for mitigation of GHG emissions also exists in other land systems. The most prominent example is agriculture, where options include improved crop and grazing land management (e.g., improved agronomic practices, nutrient use, tillage and residue management), restoration of organic soils that are drained for crop production, and restoration of degraded lands.

However, the main drawback of LULUCF activities is their potential reversibility and non-permanence of carbon stocks as a result of human activities, (with the release of GHG into the atmosphere), disturbances (e.g. forest fires or disease), or environmental change, including climate change.