On the Occasion of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen - An Ethical Perspective on the Environment - a Statement Issued by EBBF – The European Bahá’i Business Forum

A Call to Business Leaders to Take a Values-Based Approach to Climate Change While Uniting to Bring About Global Innovation and Solutions

COP-15, Copenhagen, Denmark – December 16, 2009 –EBBF (www.ebbf.org) the European Bahá’í Business Forum, an international NGO representing businesspeople across 70 countries and dedicated to inspiring responsible business practices has issued An Ethical Perspective on the Environment and a call to business leaders everywhere.

The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen offers a unique opportunity to establish a unified global approach to this enormous challenge:

• we invite businesspeople to lead by example becoming pioneers and innovators creating ground breaking solutions and not followers waiting for another nation, another company or another person to take action
• business can now leverage its entrepreneurial culture to discover and deliver sustainable solutions
• at the same time a values based approach common to the spiritual heritage of all humanity should be nurtured
• effective implementation of mechanisms of global governance for this global issue are needed
• change is required at all levels from individual lifestyle choices to the reorientation of enterprises
• justice brings about global stability and prosperity - for this reason the world needs to invest in the poorest countries who are least responsible and must be helped to adapt to the changes in agriculture, production, and the patterns of life that climate change will inevitably bring.

"Climate change is the symptom of an unsustainable world economy hitting planetary limits. The necessary rapid transformation faces barriers deeply rooted in our psyche, values and institutions, requiring spiritual as well as scientific solutions. We need an integrated perspective and a profound reconsideration of every dimension of our lives, society and environment.” said Arthur Dahl member of the EBBF Governing Board and President of the International Environmental Forum. He then continued “Rather than falling into a doomsday depression, we need to see the present chaos as an opportunity to provide spiritual and intellectual leadership to transform our personal lives, families, communities, nations and the emerging world society from the inside out."