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Sydney, July 15, 2003 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called on Australian entrepreneurs, advertisers and marketers to make consumption patterns compatible with the environment.

Delivering the Jack Beale Lecture at the University of New South Wales tonight, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer, will say dire predictions and guilt-wrapped environmental messages do not work.

"We need to tap into what really drives consumer choice - and that is price, quality and image."

He said the primary responsibility for creating market conditions suitable for green consumption lay with Governments, who could use economic instruments to ensure the price of products reflected their true environmental costs.

Mr Toepfer meets with Australian Minister of Environment and Heritage Hon. David Kemp tomorrow.

He called for businesses to commit the same degree of financial risk, market research, innovation in high technology and aggressive marketing to sustainable products. Fuel-efficient cars, solar energy heaters, ozone-friendly fridges and sustainably harvested timber need not be seen as inferior or pricey, niche products, he said.

And advertisers - often accused of encouraging a widespread, mass consumption culture - needed to use their skill to make sustainable products "cool", linking them to joy, fun, fashion and quality of life.

Mr Toepfer said Governments could also stimulate markets with procurement of cleaner, greener products. And encouraging public awareness of the environmental and social consequences of economic development policies.

Mr Toepfer said Australia had come out near the top of a recent global survey of implementation of UN sustainable consumption policies by UNEP and Consumers International. This recognized programmes such as the Green Games Initiative, energy consumption labeling, tax on leaded petrol, subsidies for installation of solar hot water heaters, educational programmes, household recycling programmes and legislation on ozone-depleting substances.

But Australia also ranks as one of the world's largest consumers of natural resources on a per capita basis, well ahead of the UK, France, Japan and Germany. A report released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) last year, based on UN statistics, shows that if everybody on earth were to live like an average person in a high-income country such as Australia we would need another 2.6 planets.

He said UNEP was playing an active role in building a 10-year framework of programmes to support government, business and civil society actions for sustainable consumption and production, one of the major commitments made at last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development.

His lecture was part of a four day programme of activities about sustainability called Eco-Innovate 03 organised by Bayer, the University of New South Wales and UNEP, involving over 100 young people from Australia, Asia and Pacific.

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For further information contact Tim Higham, UNEP Regional Information Officer, phone 04 10793470, email higham@un.org, or Angelique Doueihi, Information Officer UN Information Centre, Sydney, phone 9630 1411 or 0416 072 326.

Further information on Eco-Innovate 03 available at www.eco-innovate.net