NEW DIRECTIONS GROUP

Convening leaders of the business and NGO communities for dialogue on sustainability issues

First convened in 1990, the New Directions Group provided a neutral forum for dialogue among leaders of Canada's business and NGO communities on potentially divisive business and environment issues or issues on which there was a mutual interest in fostering greater understanding or better public policy. Paul Griss, President of Boldon Group Incorporated, was a founding member of the NDG and acted as the NDG Coordinator from 1996-2011 when it was supplanted by other initiatives.

On behalf of the NDG, Paul convened several workshops annually to enable business and NGO leaders to discuss priorities. Paul also led NDG task forces of senior business and NGO leaders through in-depth dialogues on a wide range of issues that produced the following reports:

• Applying Precaution in Environmental Decision-Making in Canada
• Plant-based Biotechnology
• The Application of Life Cycle Assessment to the Development of Environmental Policy
• Developing Effective Business-NGO Partnerships
• Criteria and Principles for the Use of Voluntary or Non-regulatory Initiatives to Achieve Environmental Policy Objectives