H.E. Mr. Stavros Kalafatis, Deputy Minister of Development, kicked off the CEO & CSR Conference 2008 at the Hilton Athens. In his opening speech, he referred to the political dimension of CSR as well as his government's commitment to the promotion of CSR's values among Greek corporations.
Main speaker: Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, Co-founder of MDBC, LLC, U.S.A.
In his keynote address, German chemist Prof. Dr. Braungart, who has been a professor of Process Engineering at Universitat Luneburg, Germany since 1994, referred to the prevalent behaviour towards the environment which leads, on the one hand, to a constant population increase, while at the same time adding to a drastic elimination or reduction of numerous species as well as valuable, non-renewable natural resources. Countering this destructive practice, the "Cradle-to-Cradle" concept asks both producers and consumers to consider each other as partners instead of opponents, setting as their main target the quality and recyclability of products, which will be produced through procedures that guarantee the healthy future of mankind and its 'home', the natural environment. Ecology, Economy and Corporate Profitability can be combined effectively and harmoniously.

PANEL I: Cradle to Cradle: Introducing the Concept
During the conference's first panel session, which was co-ordinated by Mr. Nikos Avlonas, Managing Director, Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE), the "Cradle-to-Cradle" (C2C) concept was presented to a Greek audience for the very first time. Cradle to Cradle is a business model that believes that economic and ecological development not just go hand in hand, but also is consist a way for businesses' further profitability. Prof. Dr. Braungart explained the C2C model in further detail, while at the same time providing examples on how the production procedures or products can be designed in such a way that the Cradle-to-Cradle principles are implemented, according to which products do not have a straight life line but a round (full circle) one. Mr. Ken Alston, CEO, MBDC, LLC, focused on the differences between the existing business model, according to which corporations reduce their negative
impact on the environment, with that of the Cradle-to-Cradle one, where negative impacts are totally zero. He underlined that this eco-efficient model leads to more just, cost-effective business entrepreneurship with low risk and increased product quality.
Mr. Jack Wysocky, Global Outreach, CSRwire, LLC, noted the need for a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) "movement" that should support and follow the Cradle-to-Cradle model. He also underlined that everyone working in the CSR communication field should help spread and reinforce the communication of business models such as Cradle-to-Cradle, which support real and essential sustainable development. Mr. Angelos Moschonas, Deputy Mayor of Athens, referred to the constant efforts and strategy of the City of Athens towards raising environmental awareness among citizens as well as implementing essential projects in order to tackle climate change and promote environmental protection.

Main speaker: Emmy Labovitch, Head of Investment Specialists, Fortis Investments, Luxembourg

Under the pressure of public opinion, but also due to common sense, there are many professionals and corporations involved in the investment community who/that prefer to invest in businesses promoting solutions to current environmental issues with their activities, while excluding investments in companies that do not adopt to modern needs and continue to excessively pollute and deplete natural resources. Ms. Labovitch referred to specific examples of large corporations, which ensure that their production processes or services that they provide respect natural resources and, in general, the environment. She underlined that such companies can be encouraged and increase in numbers with investors' behaviour and choices as their incentive.

Panel II: Green Finance and Socially-Responsible Investments (SRI)

During this interactive session, which was moderated by Greek journalist Mr. Christos Konstas, the new trend regarding investments in environmental and socially-responsible businesses was discussed as well as the reasons behind investors making such choices and how corporate performance can be calculated in these sectors. Ms. Emmy Labovitch, Head of Investment Specialists, Fortis Investments, based in Luxembourg, talked about the need of corporate investments to be conducted under renewability and responsibility criteria towards the environment and raw materials, because this aspect is the only one balanced and guarantees the long-term interests of investors themselves. Mr. Joe Sibilia, CEO, Meadowbrook Lane Capital and President, CSRwire, LLC, referred to the need of counting a company's social and environmental performance which can lend added value. He also underlined that most of the traditional financial analysts fail to take those features into consideration. He explained that "Being a good business citizen" has a positive impact on a business' corporate image, it creates loyal customers, staff and partners and according to the latter reduces or sets under better administration any possible risk. Mr. Sebilia supported that this kind of corporations have the possibility of selling their products in higher prices than those set by the competition and not just maintain their but also raise their profitability. Ms. Franka Morroni, General Manager and co-founder of of OpenSRI underlined the need for global networks which will make the counting of social and environmental performance of businesses possible and will also favour sustainable investments. Ms Morroni explained that the lack of transparency, of a globally acceptable methodology and of correct information is the main obstacle towards such a direction. Mr. Konstantinos Tsolakidis, Environmental Consultant, Interamerican Group, spoke about the extent to which financial institutions are capable of evaluating their risks as well as the need of viable approach. He also noted that that such an approach demands seriousness, innovation and long-term commitment to the clients. Mr. Tsolakidis added that everyone needs to take responsibility accordingly from
governments and corporations, to the media and consumers. The market, he explained, has just opened in Europe as well as in the rest of the world and the players should take their positions.

PANEL III - Sustainable Building

Taking into consideration the extreme concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere building according to the Cradle-to-Cradle model consists a unique chance for resolution to this problem. The panel was co-ordinated by Mr. Michael Spanos, Managing Partner, EuroCharity, and during the session the speakers had the opportunity to address the audience on sustainable building and bioclimatic design. Mr. Alexandros Tombatzis, architect, speaking about bioclimatic designing explained that it is not a privilege of an "elite" and that the experience, so far, of a large amount of buildings has proved that this kind of design can apply to any building without necessarily costing more. Greek architect Dr. Elias Messinas, Founder and President, ECOWEEK, combined bioclimatic architecture with sustainable building and explained that designing a building with the correct direction and adequate thermal insulation is not enough as long as the orientation of the materials and the distance they cover to reach the construction are not known. Talking about the future Dr. Messinas referred to sustainable building as a one-way street and that it is only a matter of time before it is applied widely around Greece. Mr. Nikos Vitatzakis, Senior Quality and Development Adviser, Sol Energy Hellas S.A., an Athens-based firm that developed and owns Europe's first energy-autonomous building, talked about the lack of a central (governmental) energy policy in Greece and emphasised that in order for such a project to success, the co-operation among architects and mechanical engineers is vital. Indeed, the collaboration of these specialists can lead to truly impressive results. Mr. George Kalantzopoulos, Managing Director, Global Challenges, talking about the international dimension of bioclimatic architecture, supported the view that environmentally-friendly construction goes hand in hand with combating climate change and that the international community tries to face its energy footprint both in the design and operating phases based on the "embedded energy" logic.

Main speaker: Prof. Christos Zerefos, Nobel Price for Peace winner 2007, President, Athens National Observatory.
Prof. Zerefos referred to the researches of the IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which showed that the protective ozone is not just eliminated mainly during the two last decades, but the fuel concentrations raise dangerously and play an important role to the controlling the planet's heat shieldsystem. These fuels are mainly CO2, which is released by industry and transport, and methane, which mainly comes from farming and other ecological, or not, procedures. Greenhouse gas concentrations rise and the consequences become serious: CO2 lives for almost 100 years in the atmosphere. Therefore, even if strict measures are adopted today, its removal will take time. It is obvious that as long as greenhouse gases are increased, the Earth's climate will be disturbed. The rain zones change and regions facing depopulation or heat problems become more vulnerable. Greece is among them and really situated on the crossroads of change. The initiation of the Kyoto Protocol on February 16, 2005 consists a cornerstone towards stabilising climate changes on the planet, which come from human emissions to some extent. The way to stabilisation will be long and hard since new countries, such as China, are making their entrance with high economic growth rates and increasing emissions. Prof. Zerefos underlined that they, with restrained optimism, will keep studying and observing the atmospheric environment of the planet.
Following his keynote address, CSE organised and presented an interactive workshop entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility and Climatic Change" which was led by Dr. Fotini Sfakianaki, CSR Communication Specialist, and Mr. Panagiotis Panagiotakopoulos, Climate Change Solutions Specialist, CSE.

Mr. Thomas M. Countryman, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in Athens, then presented his government's policy regarding the Climate Change phenomenon. He referred to the co-operation between Greece and the United States, stating that "Our efforts in encouraging private investment does not stop in the U.S. though. Greece and the United States, in fact, have been building collaboration efforts in the field of renewable energy right here in South-East Europe. Over the course of the past six months, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has worked closely with Hellenic Aid to assess ways in which we can increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy in the Balkans. This past Friday, Secretary General Skylakakis, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Mefford signed a Memorandum of Understanding which solidifies these efforts. Within the coming year, we hope to establish specific projects ranging from improving energy efficiency in different types of buildings to providing advice on building the capacity of governmental renewable energy bodies. Looking closer still, let me tell you about what we are working on at our Embassy. I'm very proud of it. In March, Ambassador Speckhard signed our Embassy into the League of Green U.S. Embassies. Already twenty-two U.S. Embassies and diplomatic missions in Europe, including ours, have joined the league." He continued by saying: "Our Embassy specifically has started what we call the "Green Embassy Initiative," which aims to drastically reduce our net energy consumption. We are reviewing energy consumption data for our official buildings and our individual residences in an effort to first raise awareness, and then work together to reduce our 'footprint'."

PANEL IV: Climate Change Solutions
The panel was moderated by Ms. Rika Vagianni, journalist and anchor of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp.'s popular "Green Team" environmental TV show. During this panel session, the resolution of environmental issues has been approached from many angles. H.E. Erkki Huittinen, the Finnish Ambassador to Greece, described how Finland's forestry Industry resolved these issues. The industry once was the country's biggest polluter for some years. He gave examples noting that today, even though the national paper production volume has increased, Finland's air and water pollution has seriously been reduced. Mr. Rene Estermann, Μanaging Director, myclimate, described how climate offsetting, through organisations such as myclimate, can be part of the solution to tackle climate change, and how corporations should get started by incorporating such practices into their CSR strategy. Mr. Manolis Koutlis, Managing Director, Talent, made it clear - by providing practical examples - how the use of modern technology and the Internet can become effective tools for resolving environmental management issues, such as forest protection, monitoring and illustrating greenhouse gas emissions and monitoring additional environmental challenges.