Polaris Submission Nominated for International Award!

In Zurich, Switzerland the Public Eye Awards' Committee announced today that the Polaris Institute’s nomination of the CEO Water Mandate has been shortlisted in the Greenwash category.

Since 2005, at a ceremony outside the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, The Public Eye Awards have been given out to corporations that have exhibited irresponsible and damaging behaviour.

In 2009, Polaris submitted a nomination of the United Nations’ CEO Water Mandate in the ‘Greenwash’ category for its role in facilitating greater control of water resources by multinational corporations while simultaneously ‘greenwashing’ socially and environmentally damaging corporate behavior.

On January 27th the CEO Water Mandate will join a group of corporations and institutions vying for a Public Eye Award in the ‘Global’, ‘Swiss’, ‘Greenwash’ and ‘People’s Award’ categories.

TAKE ACTION! While the Global, Swiss and Greenwash award winners are chosen by jury, the People’s Award is selected by the public. Nominees for the 2010 People's Award are: Arcelor Mittal (Indian steel company); Farner PR (Swiss PR company); GDF Suez; International Olympic Committee; Roche; Royal Bank of Canada

VOTE TODAY! Voting for the People's Award starts today and is open until January 26th. Click here [1] to vote

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Public Eye Award:

Organized by the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace, the Public Eye Awards provide a critical counterpoint to the annual World Economic Forum that takes place in Davos every January. Past Public Eye Award winners include Nestlé, Dow Chemical, Shell, Walmart, Citigroup, Chevron and Newmont mining.

CEO Water Mandate:

A project of the United Nations Global Compact, the CEO Water Mandate is a non-binding, voluntary public-private initiative that is presented as a model of environmental stewardship, as well as, a platform for assisting companies with the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices. The real impact of the CEO Water Mandate, however, gives greater control of water sources and services to corporations and greenwashes their socially and environmentally damaging production processes.

The Polaris Institute has been following the CEO Water Mandate since it was launched in July 2007, and, along with Corporate Accountability International, we have sent two letters signed by over 125 public interest leaders from 35 countries to United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki Moon calling on him to withdraw his official support for the CEO Water Mandate.

For more information on the CEO Water Mandate please read our nomination here [2]

Public Eye Press Release:

Public Eye reloaded: With Stiglitz, Jentsch and Hard Facts Against Corporate Arrogance

Zurich, 14.01.2010 - On Opening Day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace will pre-sent the Public Eye Awards 2010 in Davos. Screen star Julia Jentsch will moderate the WEF-critical event on January 27th, joined by keynote speakers Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, and Jürgen Trittin, former German Environment Minister and current parliamentary leader of The Greens. Six corporations are once again nominated for the (in)famous awards, including Arcelor Mittal, Roche, the Royal Bank of Canada and the IOC. Online voting for the People’s Award is possible at www.publiceye.ch [3], and for the first time a Greenwash Award will expose the most implausible social and eco labels.

At the Davos counter-gala for the 40th WEF, firms contemptuous of humans and the environment will once again receive one of the (in)famous anti-Oscars. German actress Julia Jentsch, known for her roles in “Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei,” “Sophie Scholl – The Final Days,” and “Tannöd” (now playing in cinemas), will conduct the awards ceremony jointly organized by the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace. In this third year of the global financial crisis, the organizers call more emphatically than ever for legally-binding rules for transnational enterprises. And they get prominent assistance: US star economist and adviser to the UN Joseph E. Stiglitz, promoting his new best-seller “Freefall,” will outline the special responsibility of global financial institutions. And the Berliner “Minister of Nuclear Phase-Out,” Jürgen Trittin, will analyze the shattered remains of the Copen-hagen summit. Carlos Leal, Greis, and Patrick Frey will provide satirical and musical interludes.

Out of the more than 40 nominations received from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), a panel of experts chose the three most scandalous firms in each category for this year’s shortlists. The Global Award includes nominees from three continents: The Indian steel giant Arcelor Mittal operates the largest – and at the same time the filthiest – steelworks in South Africa. The Royal Bank of Canada is the largest financier of environmentally as well as socially disastrous oil sands extraction in the Canadian province of Alberta. And GDF Suez is the driving force behind a huge hydroelectric plant on the Brazilian Madeira River that entails staggering environmental destruction and massive displacement of the indigenous population.

This year’s aspirants for the Swiss Award are Farner PR (for spying on the GSoA), Roche (for organ transplant studies in China, where over 90% of all transplanted organs come from prisoners), and the International Olympic Committee (based in Lausanne and responsible for the Winter Games in Vancouver, a catastrophe for the local indigenous peoples). The nastiest firm of these two categories, chosen by the Internet community, will be given the People’s Award. Online voting begins today and continues until January 26th.

A Greenwash Award will be presented for the first time this year. As the “Mother of all Window Dressers,” the WEF would naturally be a serious contender for this special award. Nonetheless the shortlist for the most dubious eco or social distinction includes the Round Table for Responsible Soy, co-initiated by WWF and Coop; the partially state-owned Health Promotion Switzerland foundation; and the highly-diluted CEO Water Mandate, a greenwashing project launched in 2007 within the fra-mework of the UN Global Compact by (then) Nestlé boss Peter Brabeck.

* Davos Program, Nomination Shortlists and Voting on www.publiceye.ch [3]

Further Information:

* Oliver Classen, Public Eye Coordinator, The Berne Declaration, Tel.: +41 44 277 70 06, E-Mail: oliver.classen[at]evb.ch

* Bruno Heinzer, Public Eye Coordinator, Greenpeace Switzerland, Tel.: +41 79 400 88 31, E-Mail: bruno.heinzer[at]ch.greenpeace.org

A Project of the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace Switzerland
The Public Eye Awards c/o The Berne Declaration, Postfach, CH-8026 Zurich
Tel.: + 41 (0)44 277 70 06, Fax + 41 (0)44 277 70 01, info[at]publiceye.ch, www.publiceye.ch [3]