WBCSD Southeast Asia partners launch new sustainable development platform
Action 2020 in Southeast Asia was announced at the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development on Wednesday and WBCSD chief executive Peter Bakker said that the partnership is essential to green fast-growing Southeast Asia, where energy use is projected to triple in the next decade
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and six partner organisations have launched a new platform designed to promote the sustainable business agenda in the region.
Action 2020 in Southeast Asia was announced at the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development in Singapore (pictured rigjht) on Wednesday and WBCSD chief executive Peter Bakker said that the partnership is essential to green fast-growing Southeast Asia, where energy use is projected to triple in the next decade.
The partnership will involve WBCSD’s six Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) business councils - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The network, whose members represent more than 200 companies in total, said it will work with governments, institutions and the Asean secretariat.
The partnership is designed to rally firms to address issues including pollution, environmental degradation, water efficiency, and food security.
The group has detailed specific steps that businesses should take to improve sustainability, as well as a timeline for what needs to get done by 2020, and what they want to accomplish in the longer term by 2050.
Bakker said: “We need to innovate business solutions. We can’t create a more sustainable world by constantly telling ourselves it’s doom and gloom.”
Speakers at the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development stressed that in order for the private sector to embrace sustainable development, sustainability must be treated as a central part of doing business and integrated reporting will be integral to the effort.