Daimler-Benz News from February 23, 1995

Extensive Commitment by
Daimler-Benz to the
World Climate Conference in Berlin

Technical programme demonstrates
environment-friendly products
in operation / Kleinert calls
for "free-market principles in the
protection of the environment"

Stuttgart, February 23, 1995
"The forthcoming Climate Conference in Berlin must build on the spirit of Rio '92", demanded Matthias Kleinert, head of Public Relations and Economic Policy at Daimler-Benz AG, at a press conference on February 23, 1995 in Berlin. In the run-up to the first conference of the signatory states to the UN Climate Convention, he presented an extensive technical programme from the Daimler-Benz group which will accompany the conference. Once again, Daimler-Benz was showing its willingness to accept global environmental responsibility, he said.

Daimler-Benz showed this responsibility not only by intensive striving to ensure environmentally-oriented technology in its products and production processes, he said. Daimler-Benz was also committed to critical and creative dialogue between politics and industry. As an example, Kleinert quoted the continuing discussion regarding the introduction of an ecological tax reform in Germany: "Careful thought rather than political activism is required here." Otherwise there would be the danger of encouraging, through dirigiste interventions in the market economy, developments which "would be nonsense in ecological terms." For example, cost increases due to taxes would probably lead to an enforced shift in steel production from Germany to countries with poorer technical standards, which would treble the CO2 emissions per tonne of raw steel produced.

Daimler-Benz was nevertheless ready, he said, to discuss openly and without bias the opportunities and risks of an ecological tax reform, even if such moves were viewed critically in the industry: "Free market principles are broadly speaking the best way to protect the environment."

For industry, global environmental protection also means global trading. Matthias Kleinert sees the globalisation of Daimler-Benz, which is now redoubling its momentum, as having not only an economic but also an environmental component: "Investment often means, in the case of many countries, transferring technology of a very high standard. The establishing of the necessary infrastructure often has direct environmental benefits which go well beyond the boundaries of the specific production site. This transfer of technology and investment, also known as 'joint implantation', can trigger off enormous momentum on both sides, reduce global pollution factors considerably and, at the same time, bring about a significant improvement locally."

Kleinert pointed to the co-operation with the Brazilian University of Pará as a project of particular technical importance and symbolic power. This co-operation, which was agreed upon in the run-up to the Rio '92 Environment Summit, aims to research the technical benefits of renewable organic resources, as well as to develop socially and ecologically sustainable cultivation and processing methods. As early as January 1993, coconut fibre producing and processing plants were opened on the Amazonas island of Marajo and since 1994 have been supplying Mercedes-Benz do Brasil with finished products. "Not least the purchase of 9,000 coconut fibre head restraints in 1994 and the intended expansion of head restraint production indicate that the project has developed its own momentum," Kleinert said. He pointed out that "with this project, the people who live in this region are, for the first time, offered an alternative to slash and burn and migratory cultivation." That the Daimler-Benz Research Centre in Ulm has now become Europe's leading private-sector institute with regard to renewable organic resources was due not least to this co-operation, he said.

Kleinert demonstrated with numerous examples of the work of Daimler-Benz and its corporate units that the Pará project is, however, only a part of a Daimler-Benz environmental offensive which began with the Environment Summit in Rio or before. The basic concern was always to develop sustainable solutions reconciling the various requirements of economy, ecology and technology. The yearly expenditure at Daimler-Benz on environmental protection is at present DM 1.8 billion, comprising direct environmental investment along with research and development work which has direct environmental benefits.

Within the framework of the technical demonstration programme by Daimler-Benz during the Berlin conference, six Mercedes-Benz line-service buses will be made available to the local transport authority or journalists' information tours around Berlin. Quick refuelling stations will supply the necessary fuel. Also, the Senate will be using six electric vans from Mercedes-Benz during the conference. For these and other electric vehicles, AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie will provide recharging stations. A system for measuring pollution levels, ARGOS, developed by Daimler-Benz Aerospace, will prove its efficiency during demonstrations in the city. A closer look at the theme of environment and traffic is on offer for visitors to the Mercedes-Benz "Environment Forum II" This exhibition opens on March 23 in the Berlin branch where it will stay until April 8, before spending two weeks at the Europacenter.

Kleinert concluded with the hope that the real progress and success which the Climate Conference could achieve would not be "run down" beforehand. Positive developments, particularly in the environmental sphere, called for patience and persistence. Therefore, industry expected that the government representatives would lend their support to creating a dependable framework which would allow industry to plan and to set targets.

"Long-term worldwide environmental goals must be set. Political debate must not simply hop from one 'harmful substance of the week' to the next. We hope for objective and results-oriented discussion. We are prepared to make our contribution."

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