Interoffice Memorandum

21 July 1998

To:

Ms. Thelma M. Awori,
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director,
Africa
Mr. Fawaz Fokeladeh,
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director,
Arab States
Mr. Nay Htun
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director,
Asia and the Pacific
Mr. Anton Kruiderink,
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director,
Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States
Mr. Fernando Zumbado,
Assistant Administrator and Regional Director,
Latin America and the Caribbean

Cc:

Mr. Bruce Jenkins
Deputy Assistant Administrator and Director,
BPRM/Office of Planning

From:

Elmi Watanabe
Assistant Administrator and Director
Bureau for Development Policy

Subject:

Global Sustainable Development Facility (GSDF) Project

Further to the presentation of the GSDF Project made to the Executive Committee 13 February 1998, I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with a brief update on the project and to ask for your assistance in the upcoming critical phase of this project.

I am pleased to note that the project has been progressing well since February and that, to date, 11 leading international corporations have joined UNDP in this initiative and 19 corporations are presently involved in discussions regarding participation in this initiative. The 11 confirmed corporations are:

1. ABB (Sweden/Switzerland)
2. Citibank (USA)
3. AT&T (USA)
4. Owens Corning (USA)
5. Cultor Corporation (Finland)
6. ESKOM (South Africa)
7. Telia AB (Sweden)
8. IKEA International (Sweden)
9. LM Ericsson (Sweden)
10. Statoil (Norway)
11. Rio Tinto plc. (United Kingdom)

Since Mr. Andrei Marcu, Manager, GSDF Project, joined UNDP at the end of February, the main activities have been:

• Completion of the Project Team;
• Activities to attract corporate participation;
• Preparation of presentation material for external dissemination;
• Creation of project structure, including recruitment of Senior Advisors, creation of the Steering Committee, Etc.

At present, the Steering Committee consists of the following:

Mr. James Gustave Speth, Chairman
Mr. Maurice Strong, The Earth Council
Mr. David Buzzelli, Dow Chemical Corporation
Mr. Goran Lindahl, ABB Group

The following have accepted to contribute to the GSDP Project as Senior Advisors:

Ms. Jane Nelson, Research and Policy Director, Prince of Wales Business Leaders' Forum;
Mr. Bjorn Stigson, President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development;
Ms. Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary-General, International Chamber of Commerce;
Mr. Nicholas Sonntag, Executive Director, Stockholm Environment Institute;
Mr. Geoffrey Lipman, President, World Travel and Tourism Council;
Mr. Bob Tucker, President, The Council of South African Banks.

Following the first Steering Committee meeting 16 July 1998, the project moves into a phase that will be marked by the start of all the sub-activities and will culminate with the Launch Workshop of the new Facility, in early June 1999. As you may recall, there are two phases in the GSDF Project: The Feasibility Phase that will last until June 1999, when a new Facility will be launched, and the Operational Phase, that will follow.

The Feasibility Phase of the GSDF project is composed of four sub-components and is illustrated below:

1. Interviews with corporations
2. Scenario Planning on the 2B2M vision
3. Pilot projects
4. Definition of a new Facility