(d) Prepare the statement for Mr Markovnikoff to read out at the AGM. The statement you co

Question

(d) Prepare the statement for Mr Markovnikoff to read out at the AGM. The statement you construct should

contain the following.

(i) A definition and brief explanation of ‘sustainable development’; (3 marks)

Answer 1

正确答案：
(d) Chairman’s statement at AGM
Thank you for coming to the annual general meeting of Rowlands & Mendeleev. I would like to make a statement in response
to the concerns that a number of our investors have made in respect to our appointment as the principal contractor for the
prestigious and internationally important Giant Dam Project. We are very pleased and honoured to have won the contract but
as several have observed, this does leave us in a position of having a number of issues and risks to manage.
As a project with obvious environmental implications, the board and I wish to reassure investors that we are aware of these
implications and have taken them into account in our overall assessment of risks associated with the project.
(i) A definition of ‘sustainable development’
One investor asked if we could explain the sustainability issues and I begin with addressing that issue. According to the
well-established Brundtland definition, sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
This definition has implications for energy, land use, natural resources and waste emissions. In a sustainable
development, all of these should be consumed or produced at the same rate they can be renewed or absorbed so as to
prevent leaving future generations with an unwanted legacy of today’s economic activity. We believe that our involvement
in the Giant Dam Project has implications for environmental sustainability and it is to these matters that I now turn.
Tutorial note: other relevant definitions of sustainability will be equally acceptable.