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SHOW: MarketPlace

DATE: September 3, 2002

DAVID BRANCACCIO, anchor: This is MARKETPLACE. I'm David Brancaccio.

Bleary-eyed delegates to the sustainable development summit in South Africa emerged from their meetings in the wee hours of this morning with a broad plan to alleviate poverty. The draft statement is 70 pages long and is already being criticized by activists for lacking in detail. But one new development at this year's summit is giving even activists cause for hope. A record number of businesspeople are attending that summit, many of them up-and-coming young executives who were raised in an era of environmental awareness and who are now committed to improving corporate behavior. From Johannesburg, Beth Schmidt reports.

BETH SCHMIDT reporting: Paula Austin Ivey represents a new trend in corporate America: the ascendence of young, environmentally friendly executives.

Ms. PAULA AUSTIN IVEY: Well, there is a real movement f--towards businesses being more responsible.

SCHMIDT: Ivey was one of the architects of Compaq's corporate ethics department. Today she consults international businesses on how to tow the triple bottom line. She says it's exciting and refreshing to see young businesspeople, like herself, in positions where they can effect change. Torsten Bartsch could be a poster boy for this new breed of socially responsible executive. He grew up in the '70s, when environmentalism was popularized. Today he works for Caterpillar.

Mr. TORSTEN BARTSCH (Caterpillar): We grew up with environmental issues; our parents did not. And I think it's fair to say that the young managers, who are represented at the summit, have a higher sensitivity and awareness.

SCHMIDT: Bartsch says, for the first time at a world summit, you saw a very young face to business. He and the other young managers at the summit say that within corporate culture itself, the old guard is paying an increasing level of respect to environmentally committed employees.

Mr. BARTSCH: We are being listened to in our own companies because they want to know what is happening. They ask us questions where we think the world is going.

SCHMIDT: One CEO who values the input and experience young, environmentally aware managers bring to the table is DuPont's Charles Holliday Jr.

Mr. CHARLES HOLLIDAY Jr. (DuPont): They've been able to sit back and more objectively observe the negatives o--of some of the industrialization that's happened. I think it's going to make a big difference, and we can't wait till they get further up on the ladder.

SCHMIDT: The businesspeople in their 20s and 30s who attended the World Summit say they feel more confident than ever that as they move up the ranks, they'll be able to make business more environmentally friendly. In Johannesburg, I'm Beth Schmidt for MARKETPLACE.