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Principle 7

What is a "precautionary approach"?

The Rio Declaration sets out an extremely important idea, now widely accepted by policy makers, of a "precautionary approach" to environmental protection:

"Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

Why is the precautionary approach important to my business?

The key element of a precautionary approach, from a business perspective, is the idea of prevention rather than cure. In other words, it is more cost-effective to take early action to ensure that irreversible environmental damage does not occur. Companies should consider the following:

While it is true that preventing environmental damage entails both opportunity - and implementation - costs, remediation environmental harm after it has occurred can cost much more, e.g. for treatment costs, or in terms of company image.
Investing in production methods that are not sustainable, i.e. that deplete resources and degrade the environment, has a lower, long-term return than investing in sustainable operations. In turn, improving environmental performance means less financial risk, an important consideration for insurers.
Research and development related to more environmentally friendly products can have significant long-term benefits.

"The precautionary principle is essentially a 'better safe than sorry' principle which attempts to shift the burden of proof in disputes about environmental damage. Historically, the tendency has been to assume that industrial emissions are 'innocent until proven guilty' of environmental damage. The precautionary principle suggests that certain kinds of emissions should be regarded as 'guilty by virtue of their nature'. And attempts should be made to reduce such emissions, even in the absence of proof that they have caused particular environmental effects. After all, it is too late to worry about proof of a causal link after irreversible environmental damage has taken place."

T. Jackson, 1996

Definitions: What is a "precautionary principle"?

Human activities today are transforming materials and energy into products and services at such a scale that significant environmental change is occurring. And this is occurring with respect to both the physical landscape as well as the critical biogeochemical cycles of the planet. A critical question is how much human-induced change the natural environment can absorb.

Despite an enormous amount of scientific activity over many years, knowledge of environmental systems is still not sufficient to predict with any certainty the effect of many human activities on the environment. One can point to the current scientific debate concerning the effect of burning fossil fuels on the global climate as an illustration of the dilemma. The use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC's, provides another example of how the hazardous nature of an activity can go unrecognised for many years. CFC's were introduced in the 1940's but it was not until the 1970's that Molina and Rowland predicted that emissions of CFC's persisting in the atmosphere could lead to ozone depletion in the stratosphere. The first observation of ozone-depletion over the Antarctic was reported in 1985 and the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987. This environmental treaty brought about a phasing-out of the use of CFC's - nearly 50 years after their introduction!

The Rio Declaration sets out an extremely important idea, now widely accepted by policy makers, of a precautionary approach to environmental protection -

"In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

The concept is not new, having emerged in association with Clean Air legislation in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1970s. It has become an accepted principle in the European Union and a part of international environmental law. The German concept of 'vorsorgprinzip' embraces notions of risk prevention, cost effectiveness, ethical responsibilities towards the environment, and the (sometimes) uncertain nature of human knowledge and understanding.

This precautionary approach is founded upon a number of key concepts:

Preventative anticipation - taking action if necessary before scientific proof is available on the grounds that a delay in the action will cause damage to nature and society. Safeguarding ecological 'space' - not impinging on ecological margins so that we protect and widen the assimilative capacity of the natural environment. This means refraining from undesirable resource use.
Proportionality of response - to show that selected degrees of restraint are not unduly costly. In other words, allowing for the possibly greater dangers for future generation if important life support systems are undermined.
Duty of care - placing the onus of proof on those undertaking an activity or carrying out change to demonstrate no environmental harm.
Promoting intrinsic natural rights - allowing natural processes to function such that they maintain essential support for all life on earth.
Paying for ecological debt - or compensating for past errors of judgment as indicated by the notion of 'common but differentiated responsibility' enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.