Green Business conference kicks off

Choucair: Businesses need state support to enhance environmental action

“Boosting our businesses must never be at the expense of the environment,” said Mohamad Choucair, President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture in Lebanon.

Choucair was speaking during the opening of Green Business Opportunities II conference, held from June 13 to 14 at the Movenpick Hotel in Beirut.

The conference, organized by Lebanon Opportunities, aims to show the business community ways to become environmentally friendly in an economically feasible manner.

Choucair said that the absence of public sector intervention has increased environmental suffering: “Environmental problems have increased with the absence of initiatives by the State and its institutions. The private sector once again took the initiative to battle against environmental maladies.”

“We, as chambers of commerce, launched a set of initiatives to alleviate the environmental degradation, by encouraging businesses to undertake measures that could reduce the impact of their activities on the environment,” said Choucair. This, he said, requires raising environmental awareness among the business community, and communicating with international organizations to benefit from their experiences in the field.

According to Choucair, this initiative also requires the support of the public sector. “The State should offer incentives through updated regulations.”


The two-day conference will host a series of workshops addressing various topics, including: How to make money from reducing the carbon footprint, Net Metering, Green Training, Green Manufacturing, Green Procurement, Green Packaging, Green Retail, Green Buildings, and Green Information Technology.