[7] On June 3, 2013, the judgment given in February was confirmed and increased to 18 years imprisonment for environmental damage by the Turin Appeals Court,[8] In November 2014, it was ruled that the statute of limitations had passed.

Beyond the aforementioned legal proceedings, Stephan Schmidheiny set up funds for victims of asbestos-related diseases in South Africa and Italy, as these countries had no successor company to Eternit, which could bear the financial consequences of asbestos exposure.

[15] The ruling marked the latest twist in a decade-long battle between Schmidheiny, the Italian government, former Eternit workers, and residents of towns near the company's asbestos plants.

Prosecutor Gianfranco Colace said the ruling was the "first step" in setting a precedent on deaths from cancer and pulmonary diseases, which can take years to develop after contact with asbestos fibers.

[3] While Schmidheiny withdrew from asbestos production and Eternit, he invested in new industrial segments, building up a multinational conglomerate of shareholdings by adding enterprises in the areas of forestry, banking, consumer goods, power generation, as well as electronic and optical equipment.

He also joined the boards of directors of leading companies such as ABB Asea Brown Boveri, Nestlé, Swatch, and UBS AG.

This led to the creation of the newly positioned, market leader in its segment, ASEA Brown Boveri, today known as ABB Group.

The Mapuche charge that some of the land Schmidheiny bought was stolen from them during the Pinochet dictatorship, using that regime's standard techniques of intimidation, torture, and murder.

[22] In 1990 Schmidheiny was appointed chief adviser for business and industry to the secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), better known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992.

Schmidheiny was elected honorary chairman, in recognition of his pioneering role in the phase-out of production of building materials containing asbestos.

Following his involvement in the Rio Summit, Schmidheiny authored the book Change of Course: Global Business Prospects for Development and the Environment,[23] published by MIT Press in 1992.

In the 1990s Schmidheiny established the Fundación AVINA ,[26] which contributes to sustainable development in Latin America by encouraging productive alliances among social and business leaders and today is a leading player in that field.

Stephan Schmidheiny's charitable activities in South America have meant a donation of over one billion US dollars to the region.

[citation needed] According to information from Fundacion MarViva, Schmidheiny has played a foundational role in starting this organization that bridges scientific research with public activism for the promotion of marine habitat near and in the Costa Rica Thermal Dome, with an organizational presence in Costa Rica, Panama, and Columbia.

[37] In 2001, Schmidheiny received the Zayed International Prize for the Environment for "Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in Society".