Agility teams up with environmentalist Jose Maria Figueres to highlight global warming

Speaking on "Mitigating Climate Change: Our responsibility with the Next Generations" at the Agility offices in Kuwait recently, Figueres pointed that the larger role of corporations will help in educating future generations and mobilising important support in safeguarding the environment.

The thought-provoking presentation, a part of Agility's ongoing corporate social responsibility program, covered the causes and effects of global warming and how they can be controlled through individual contributions.

The presentation was attended by senior management and employees from Agility, the Kuwait Projects Holding Company, Metal & Recycling Company (MRC) and The Sultan Center.

Welcoming Figueres to Agility, Tarek Sultan, Chairman and Managing Director of Agility, said: "We are honored to have President Figueres here to address our team. Issues of environmental consciousness are high on Agility's agenda and Corporate Social Responsibility is a key foundation to our company. We continue to empower people within our organization to make sure we are working to achieve our goals of good corporate citizenship."

Some of Agility's recent CSR initiatives in Kuwait included the Earth Day celebrations, comprising of a coastal clean-up and a screening of the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth', and running a corporate recycling programme with bins to collect paper at various locations throughout the company's offices.

Agility also introduced initiatives which ensure that 100 percent of the oil and solid gas waste generated by its warehousing and transport divisions is recycled and running a vehicle fleet of new trucks that use cleaner emission technology.

Sultan concluded: "We are a top ten logistics company and it's critical that we have a sound and sustainable environmental program in place. We are very lucky to be among the audiences to which President Figueres will speak. I am certain we can - and will - learn and act upon his creative and pragmatic approach to environmental consciousness and sustainable economic and business growth to improve our organization."

Figueres is one of the biggest shapers of global environmental and social policy. He is widely recognized as a preeminent visionary and executive who effectively places environmentally conscious and economically sound principles into effective practice for the benefit of local and global communities. As president of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998, he successfully led initiatives to improve environmental oversight, governmental accountability, education, social services, health care and sustainable economic and social development.

A well-known thinker of the modern times, Figueres gave several examples of how global warming was affecting our world with disappearing glaciers, forests, coastlines, and above all human beings - lost to natural calamities like typhoons, floods or droughts.

He explained how our earth is a fragile planet and the critical role of the Polar regions in our climate change. Finally, he highlighted the different ways in which each and every one of us as individuals and as a company can make a difference in affecting climate change.