Sustainability Committee Launch

On April 27, the Nordic Chamber of Commerce Philippines launched the Sustainability Committee together with more than 20 business partners at Spaces in World Plaza, BGC. 

Attendees included representatives from: Arla Foods, Converge ICT Solutions, Danish Embassy Manila, Einar’s Natural Food Export, Global Process Manager, H&M, IKEA, Nokia Solutions and Networks Philippines, Norwegian Embassy Manila, Novo Nordisk, Odfjell Technology, Oxford Business Group, Retail Associates Corp., SN Aboitiz Power, Swedish Embassy Manila.

As the keynote speaker at the launch, Ma. Victoria (Vickie) Tan, Chairperson of Global Compact Network Philippines and Head of Group Risk Management and Sustainability Unit at Ayala Corporation, shared interesting insights on the progress for sustainability in the country, but also highlighted where challenges still remain, as the Philippines ranks 109 out 165 according to the Sustainable Development Report 2021. She shared how the UN Global Compact entity in the Philippines have 41 members adhering to the 10 UNGC principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, as well as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Global Compact entity in the Philippines supports businesses in achieving their sustainability objectives through thought leadership, action and collaboration.

At the Committee launch the main findings were also presented from the report “Journey of Sustainability”, which highlights the sustainability and CSR initiatives of several business partners, as well as their approach to embedding sustainability in their organization and their motivations behind sustainability. The report can be downloaded here.

The launch also served as a great opportunity to physically present the Nordic Sustainability Awards for “Small and Medium-Sized Business Partner of the Year” to the winners, Bjørn and Liezl Tomter of Einar’s Natural Food Export, which they won at NordCham Nordic Sustainability Awards Night on March 24.