CALCUTTA – The Environment Management Centre of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC-EMC) signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Clean Technology & Environment Management (CTEM) of the United States-Asia Environment Partnership (USAEP) here yesterday to provide assistance to the EMC.

The letter of intent (Lol) was signed by Richard Goldman, director of USAID’s Office of Environment, Energy and Enterprise; ICC president Aditya V Lodha; and Ronald F. Cornell, group vice-president of Louis Berger International, Inc. on behalf of US-AEP/CTEM.

The former chair of the White House Council for Environment Quality, Kathleen A McGinty and U.S. Consul General in Calcutta, Cheryl J Sim, attended the ceremony.

Assistance worth up to $200,000 will be provided to the chamber to strengthen EMC?s technical capabilities and institutional capacities through online database linkages and technical assistance to support industry in the region. A fund of $150 million per annum is allotted to India under the USAID. Of which, nearly $100 million is for providing healthcare and the remaining $50 million is evenly split for providing assistance for developmental activities in the areas of environment and energy.

EMC, in turn, will aim at establishing a self-sustaining environmental information outreach mechanism in the eastern region and assist industry to adopt sound environmental management systems by providing information, training, and technical help leading to cleaner production, resource efficiency and greenhouse gas mitigation.

US-AEP works directly with industry associations and multiplier (facilitator) groups to promote the adoption of voluntary business standards (VBS) into organizational charters and by members.

VBS are guidelines and codes of conduct adopted voluntarily by companies and organizations to improve performance in areas related to health, safety, and environmental quality. Environmental VBS are gaining global recognition as tools for reducing harmful pollutants and emissions without compromising product quality, competitiveness of profit.