Be one of the rescuers of the Baltic Sea - the company becomes more profitable, attractive and competitive
Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), formally "The Foundation for a Living Baltic Sea" was founded in 2008 with the intention to save the Baltic Sea in a new way. We strive to bring together various sectors of the society to work with what they do best and have the resources for – to make commitments and concrete projects, not only donations according to the other, more conservative model. This approach has resulted in the "BSAS process" and the first summit, the Baltic Sea Action Summit 1.0 in February 2010. The initiative for this was made by BSAG and the heads of state around the Baltic Sea. During the Helsinki summit, we got commitments, from all coastal nations, heads of state, businesses, organizations and individual experts. These commitments concern the different problems of the Baltic Sea: eutrophication, risks associated with shipping and pollution, hazardous substances and circumstances that threaten biodiversity, and lack of knowledge of the Baltic Sea. At the summit, Prime Minister Putin announced Russia's commitment, as well as the King of Sweden and Sweden's minister of environment announced their commitments.
BSAG has so far received almost two hundred commitments from all Baltic countries, which you can study more closely at http://www.bsag.fi/commitments/all-commitments. The "BSAS process" has got considerable international publicity and the next summit, the Baltic Sea Action Summit 2.0 will take place in St. Petersburg at the invitation of Prime Minister Putin. As part of this summit in the fall of 2012, we expect that prominent Swedish and Russian companies, with operations in the northwestern Russia will participate in the Baltic Sea cooperation.
We can also welcome the fact that Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria has a deep commitment to the Baltic Sea and its environment. This became very clear when the Crown Princess and Prince Daniel visited Turku and BSAG’s "Baltic Sea Living Room" in September. Crown Princess Victoria is also the godmother for the brig Tre Kronor af Stockholm, which together with BSAG and in the presence of the Crown Princess has initiated a collaboration between industry, researchers and organizations to jointly promote the sustainable solutions for the Baltic Sea (www.briggentrekronor.se).
Baltic Sea Action Group invites you to cooperate in these matters. Together we can formulate a commitment to the Baltic Sea, ie. a project or action, related to your company and the Baltic Sea. These commitments are public and especially interesting projects could possibly also be presented at the next summit. My hope is, therefore, that together we could develop a commitment that suits you and get your company to join the BSAS process and perhaps also take part in the summit in St. Petersburg in 2012 with the commitment.
It is natural that those companies whose businesses are linked to the Baltic Sea, are also involved in its rescue. Both the Baltic Sea and those who participate in the work benefits from the collaboration. Companies can develop new products and test techniques, make new contacts and expand their markets. Companies receive positive publicity and the opportunity to demonstrate environmental, social and economic responsibility in practice. Such actions make companies more profitable, attractive and competitive.
With a friendly and hopeful Baltic Sea Greeting,
Baltic Sea Action Group
Foundation for a living Baltic Sea
Michael Aminoff
Senior Advisor
+358 400 412805
www.bsag.fi
Concrete commitments to save the Baltic Sea
– How do you get started?
· A commitment is an act or a process that contributes to a healthier Baltic Sea. A commitment should be as concrete as possible: It can have a direct or an indirect impact on the Baltic Sea. The commitment should offer fresh solutions that have not been tried before.
· The best kind of commitment is something that fits the processes, business models and targets of your company. Your company can help the Baltic Sea with something that the company does already and does very well! The basic idea is that you provide the knowledge and resources which are strengths of the company.
· It can, for example, be a new product, or an R&D project. It can be financial or non-financial, operational. A commitment can also assist the BSAG in reaching its goal – to clean the Baltic Sea.
· By committing yourself to act you will get a possibility to take concrete action to restore the Baltic Sea and ensure that our children will have a cleaner Baltic Sea. Added value, positive image and goodwill can also be achieved through publicity resulted by the project?
· A commitment can be direct or indirect in terms of the Baltic Sea recovery process, HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan: http://www.helcom.fi/BSAP/en_GB/intro/ or the EU Baltic Sea strategy: http://eu.baltic.net/Baltic_Sea_Region_Strategy.7428.html
· Everyone can and is welcome to make a commitment! If you want to be a part of the Baltic Sea Action Summit process and help saving the Baltic Sea, you can make a commitment with BSAG.
· Commitment makers can set milestones to monitor their progress which can be revised in the future.
· All commitments are open to the public. The commitment will be published on www.bsag.fi.
· We hope that this information clarifies the idea of a commitment and help you make a commitment.
BSAG can help you plan and formulate the commitment. Here you can also find useful ideas for commitments that are needed:
http://www.bsag.fi/focus-areas
http://www.bsag.fi/commitments/commitments-needed
http://www.bsag.fi/commitments/how-to-commit
Please do not hesitate to contact us:
· Mikael Aminoff, Senior Advisor, +358 400412 805,
· Mathias Bergman, Secretary General, +358 50 380 7155,
· Anna Kotsalo-Mustonen, Co-founder, +358 500 200 480,
2/2012