The Club of Budapest International has selected the International Network for Environmental Management (INEM) as a winner of the Change the World-Best Practice Award for 2003.
INEM is being honoured for its work in developing and spreading environmental management concepts and instruments to business and industry world-wide.
Currently, more than 30 national business organisations for environmental management and cleaner production centres in 25 countries are affiliated with INEM. The INEM network encompasses more than 3,000 companies of allsizes and sectors in industrialised and developing countries.

Dr. Georg Winter, former Chairman of  INEM, accept the prize on behalf of the organisation. In 1972 Dr. Winter declared environmental protection as a business goal of the diamond-tool manufacturer Ernst Winter & Sohn, and began with the development and implementation of the world's first integrated system of environmental management at the company.

In 1991 he established INEM. Already in 1984/85 Dr. Winter, together with Dr. Maximilian Gege, had created the German Environmental Management Association (B.A.U.M.) and in 1990, together with Swedish enterprises, Svenska BAUM, now called Swedish Association of Environmental Managers (NMC).
Currently, INEM is carrying out a major three-year project to provide environmental management information, training and services to enterprises in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and to establish national business associations for environmental management in each country. In addition to direct assistance to companies, the Establishment of Environmental Management Associations in Estonia,Latvia and Lithuania (BALTEMA) project also supports national environmental policy goals, e.g. accession to the European Union andimplementation of international agreements. Major funding for BALTEMA is provided by the German Federal Environment Foundation (DBU). INEM intends to increase the number of national member associations to 50 by the year 2012.
The Change the World - Best Practice Award recognises innovative projects that put into practice the criteria of Agenda 21 for socially and environmentally sustainable global development. The other prizewinning projects are the relief organisation "People for People" of Almaz and Karlheinz Böhm, which is active in Ethiopia; the rainforest project POEMA, by Willi Hoss, co-founder of the German Green Party, and Mathias Kleinert, Member of the Board of Daimler Chrysler; the "Fashion forDevelopment" project of ex-model Bibi Russel in Bangladesh; and the cultural project "Mariposa" of Helga and Hans-Jürgen Möller.
Presentation of the awards will take place on 11 October 2003 in the Neues Schloss in Stuttgart, Germany. Expected presenters include the actor Sir Peter Ustinov, ex-Foreign Minister of Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher, researcher and theorist and co-developer of the Factor10 concept Dr.Ernst Ulrich von Weizäcker and the television presenter Franz Alt.
The award ceremony is part of the global initiative, "You can change the World", which was launched last year under the patronage of the 50 top VIPs of the Club of Budapest International. An accompanying illustrated book will be published to highlight the prizewinning projects.



Club of Budapest International
Mr. Peter Spiegel
Secretary-General
Morsestr. 35
D-70435 Stuttgart
Tel.: +49-711-826-3550
Fax: +49-711-826-3558
Email: club-of-budapest@online.de
Internet: http://www.clubofbudapest.org