World Environment Center and U.S. Department of State Innovate Environmental Performance in Honduras
San Pedro Sula, Honduras, March 27, 2014 /3BL Media/ - Based on a unique partnership designed to advance environmental and economic growth in the private sector, the World Environment Center (WEC), in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, has delivered significant results to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Honduras by improving their performance and strengthening their competitiveness in the international market. WEC’s team worked with Honduran agro-industry to reduce energy and water consumption, minimizing waste and raw material usage and lower operating costs.
Through their participation in this project, 13 Honduran Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) generated savings of $257,888 and invested $222,498 in Cleaner Production practices and technology. In addition, collective environmental benefits realized by these companies as a direct result of this project include:
- 3,774,355 gallons of water saved
- 163,025 less kWh used
- 20,122 gallons of fuel saved
- 346 tons of CO2 reduced
Significant benefits achieved, and that will continue to be garnered by these companies, include lower energy costs, reduced water consumption and increased production efficiencies, as well as identifying process improvements and strengthening performance monitoring at facilities.
WEC and its partners, the Honduran National Cleaner Production Center to provide advanced technical expertise for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) members of the Agroexporters of Honduras (FPX) and the Federation of Poultry Producers of Honduras (FEDAVIH), two of the leading national industry associations in the country. Throughout the project’s two years, WEC’s team has worked with the participants and the Cleaner Production Center, laying the foundation to improve environmental performance in the SMEs while increasing their competitiveness through a business model that integrates best practices into their operations.
WEC has been partnering with local technical experts throughout Latin America for over six years in projects such as this to combine economic growth with sustainable environmental best practices in SMEs. The combined results of these activities have generated over $1.4 million in savings, reducing CO2 emissions collectively by 2,100 tons, water usage by more than 13 million gallons, and electricity by more than 1 million KWh during the life of the projects in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
This project’s success in achieving sustainable market scale, and its relevance to the companies’ growing export goals, was highlighted by WEC’s President and CEO, Dr. Terry F. Yosie, at today’s conference. “Addressing environmental externalities is essential to companies looking to export to the United States and the European Union,” he stated, “and this partnership successfully demonstrates that innovative solutions to more sustainable operations can be coupled with increased savings and greater access to international markets.”
About World Environment Center
WEC is an independent, global non-profit, non-advocacy organization that advances sustainable development through the business practices and operations of its member companies and in partnership with governments, multi-lateral organizations, non-governmental organizations, universities and other stakeholders. WEC’s mission is to promote business and societal value by advancing solutions to sustainable development-related problems. It manages projects for companies across their global operations, builds executive-level learning and competency in applying sustainable development across a number of business sectors, and recognizes performance excellence through an annual awards program. WEC is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in China, El Salvador and Germany.
