How cooperatives contribute to environment and sustainable development?
On 18 November, CICOPA in collaboration with its regional organisation, CECOP-CICOPA Europe, organised a seminar on environment in Geneva, Switzerland. It took place in the afternoon just after the CICOPA General Assembly which meets every 2 years and the discussions focused on how industrial, service, social and artisans’ cooperatives contribute to sustainable environment. Waste management in a municipality of the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, ski equipment recycling in France, sustainable and low carbon building in Canada were among the discussed best practices as well as 3 other examples from Japan, France and Spain which showed the potentiality of cooperatives as far as environment and sustainable development is concerned. This seminar is a first step which came at a critical time, just before the United Nations Climate Change Conference which will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, where a successor will have to be found to the Kyoto protocol planned to end up in 2012. But the wo
