One of the first orders of business for participants in the PA Chamber’s Green Initiative was the creation of an official position paper on sustainability.
PA Chamber member companies developed the position paper to explicitly state their commitment to the sustainable use of natural resources. The position paper is a statement of the view and manner in which member companies have and will continue to conduct business activities in the Commonwealth, while providing the goods and services, employment and tax benefits that sustain Pennsylvania’s social and economic activities.
Available here, the position paper on sustainability was shared with both Gov. Tom Corbett and acting Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Krancer in order to help foster the dialogue between the business community and the administration about the need to balance environmental protection with economic growth and competitiveness.
Stakeholders stress that laws and regulations imposed outside of the framework of free-market best management practices can directly or indirectly provide artificially imposed limitations on the entrepreneurial, enterprising manner of achieving the sustainable use of natural resources.
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The PA Chamber Green Initiative supports policies that encourage and support sustainable business practices, but not policies that dictate and legislate how sustainable business practices must be implemented.”
The Green Initiative was created to serve as a forum for PA Chamber member businesses to share ideas and best practices with their peers regarding sustainability and "going green;" to highlight business' voluntary efforts to help the environment; and from a policy perspective, to bring businesses together to discuss what is needed to grow the "green" industry within the framework of the free enterprise system. This includes eliminating obstacles to new product development.
At the recent meeting of Green Initiative stakeholders, one theme came out loud and clear: innovation flourishes under less regulation.