Ecobreves – CHILE:: Business Invests in Environment

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, Sep 15 2002 (IPS) - From March to August of this year, private companies in Chile in the mining, sanitation, energy and grape/wine industries, spent 60 million dollars on developing “clean production”, a sum authorities said was unprecedented. The increase is attributed to a new law that requires incorporated entities to include in their financial reports the amount of financial resources they set aside for environmental investments.

Gianni López, head of the National Environment Commission, says Chilean spending on environmental protection and rehabilitation has reached the equivalent of one percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP): 300 million dollars from the public sector and 140 million dollars from the private sector.