2η Ετήσια Έκδοση Ambassadors Club of Eben

AMBASSADORS CLUB OF EBEN BOOKLET 2019 29 UNION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS OF GREECE The era of Sustainable Development Giorgos Iliopoulos, Chairman of the Union of Environmental Scientists of Greece Last decades have something really interesting to present for our civilization globally: It is the era that, we, as humans, realized for the first time that the model of development we are implementing and following globally is causing serious environmental problems (and therefore economic and social) which are threatening global development and our civilization itself. Recently our global community started talking about a kind of development that will be conducted in a way “that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.» In other words, we started talking about a development that will be sustainable. Towards this direction, very significant is the role of businesses that can contribute to the elimination of those challenges and problems. The responsibility of businesses for their impacts on economy, environment and society, is what we call Corporate Social Responsibility (or Corporate Responsibility). Corporate Social Responsibility is the vehicle through which businesses can contribute to a sustainable development at a local, regional, national and international level, depending of course of their size and therefore influence. United Nations recently adopted 17 goals for sustainable development, known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or Global Goals. These goals are aiming to tackle the main challenges that humanity is facing globally, such as poverty, climate change, environmental protection, equality of men and women, hunger, education and other problems. It is very interesting to see the positive reaction of governments and businesses worldwide. There are lots of businesses that try to present the way they are contributing to those sustainability goals through their annual Sustainability Reports and this creates a positive momentum for sustainable development globally. It is now commonly acceptable that environmental protection is an issue of survival of next generations and Union of Environmental Scientists of Greece (EPPE) is focusing its actions towards this direction. As a scientific organization which has the protection of environment at the core of its purpose, EPPE is taking a series of actions, and some of the most recent are: • Contributing to the education for the environmental protection in secondary schools and universities • Expressing opinions and supporting the government in issues related to the protection of environment • Participating in public dialogue when new environmental legislation is to be introduced • Having a continuous presence in national and European media, aiming to educate and inform the public on topics related to the protection of environment • Participating in events organized by civil society, such as for example about plastics and the new European directive on the banning of single use plastics, which was recently organized • Cooperating with other organizations aiming to join forces for the protection of environment. As the role of businesses is critical for the protection of environment, EPPE supports and encourages businesses taking action and initiatives towards environmental protection and pursues cooperation towards this direction. It is clear that new challenges require new ways of responding and the success of tomorrow is heavily dependent on how fast our society will move on today.