GM Signs On to Environmental Code of Conduct : Policy: Proponents of the Ceres Principles praise the pact, but others are suspicious of the auto maker’s motives.

The Ceres Principles, a business code of conduct long advocated by environmentalists, may be revived from obscurity thanks to a surprise agreement with General Motors Corp., the world’s largest industrial corporation.

Under the pact announced Thursday, GM pledges to reduce waste, use renewable resources wherever possible, publicly divulge its environmental progress and even protect company whistle-blowers when these measures fail to adequately protect employees and the public from environmental risks.

While proponents praised the agreement, other environmentalists and consumer groups expressed suspicion about GM’s motives. One group called the move “greenwashing” by an auto company that is vigorously fighting California’s mandate to cut air pollution through the use of electric cars.

But Ariane van Buren of the New York-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a Ceres member, defended the pact.

“This is not an agreement to agree on every issue,” Van Buren said. “It’s rather to create a forum for discussion and moving forward.”

As to the Ceres Principles, introduced with much fanfare in 1989, they have had few takers so far.

Once known as the Valdez Principles--after the Exxon Valdez oil spill that inspired them--the guidelines have been the subject of routine but mostly unsuccessful shareholder initiatives at U.S. corporate annual meetings in recent years.

Advocates, grouped under the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, control about $150 billion worth of corporate stock. Despite this clout, only 75 companies have endorsed the principles, the largest being Sun Co., a Philadelphia-based oil marketer.

GM’s endorsement will “break the logjam,” said Ceres board member Mindy S. Lubber, who is president of Green Century Capital Management Inc., a Boston mutual fund that considers companies’ environmental policies in its investments.

“It’s definitely a coup . . . and I do think you’ll see a lot more companies signing on,” said Carl Frankel, editor of Green Market Alert, a Bethlehem, Conn.-based environmental newsletter. “But one reason this is happening is that Ceres is being less adamant and finger-wagging with corporations. . . . The fact that this exists is a reflection of the willingness of environmental interests to sit down and negotiate.”

The principles have also been amended from environmentalists’ initial demands. For instance, the demand for an environmentalist on every board of directors has become a demand that companies pledge to “consider demonstrated environmental commitment as a factor” in choosing directors.

On Thursday, some environmental advocates praised the principles but questioned GM’s timing.

Bill Magavern, director of energy projects for Public Citizen, a national consumer organization, contended that GM is “promising to do things like make their products more energy-efficient and reduce harmful emissions, while at the same time lobbying against higher fuel efficiency standards and zero-emission vehicles.”

Said Christine Quirk, spokeswoman for the California League of Conservation Voters: “It sends signals to my brain that GM is up to no good.”