'GEMI 2001: An Odyssey to Environmental Excellence' Opens With Presentations by Paul Gilding and John Elkington

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'GEMI 2001: An Odyssey to Environmental Excellence'

Opens With Presentations by Paul Gilding and John Elkington

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TO FOREIGN, NATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

'GEMI 2001: An Odyssey to Environmental Excellence'

Opens With Presentations by Paul Gilding and John Elkington

MARYLAND, BALTIMORE, Mar. 19 -/E-Wire/-- The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) today opened its Annual Conference at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.

"The conference attendees welcomed two globally recognized headliners known for their ability to identify effective approaches to sustainability and environmental excellence," said Jack Stein, Director, Strategic Environmental Initiatives, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., Chair of GEMI's Annual Conference.

John Elkington, Chairman of SustainAbility, and Paul Gilding of ECOS Corporation, former head of Greenpeace International and winner of Tomorrow Magazine's Environmental Leadership Award, each made key plenary presentations highlighting how leading companies can pursue their own journeys toward environmental excellence.

ECOS' Paul Gilding said, "I am thrilled to take part in this year's GEMI conference on Environmental Excellence. The caliber of speakers and participants and the importance of the topics discussed will provide real business advantages to each of you here today." Gilding continued, "I believe that in the not too distant future the market will be dominated by businesses who understand the commercial advantages of doing business in a sustainable way and have taken up that approach. Rather than adopting sustainability for feel-good reasons, businesses are realizing how they can improve their business, prepare for issues such as climate change and future carbon trading, and gain value through values approaches."

John Elkington, SustainAbility, said, "Business needs to wake up to the fact that the Earth Summit 2002 will push developing world issues back into the spotlight." Elkington added, "The governance agendas -- both corporate and global -- is hotting up." He urged attendees to carefully address the triple bottom line issues of environment, economics and social responsibility, "As companies wrestle with the triple bottom line, there is growing pressure for corporate boards to get involved, whether they like it or not."

In addition, GEMI conference attendees heard directly from global leaders who are key players in setting the sustainability agendas for the world, including Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., DuPont, Johnson&Johnson; and Procter & Gamble. The attendees also participated in a wide range of workshops and discussion groups.

"We are grateful to the Chair of the conference Jack Stein, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., GEMI's Conference Committee and each of the attendees for their efforts in making this meeting such a great success," said GEMI's Chair, Rich Guimond, Vice President, EH&S;, Motorola, Inc.

For more information about GEMI and the conference visit GEMI's website at http://www.gemi.org

Global Environmental Management Initiative

Amy Goldman, [REDACTED-PHONE], for GEMI

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