In face of the changing climate, sustainability by all means is encouraged to maintain a healthy and liveable environment and ecosystem for all inhabitants of the planet.
Sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future to meet their needs,” according to the Brundtland Commission, an international organization whose mission is to unite countries across the world to pursue sustainable development together.
In the context of business, it is simply defined as “making a decent income,” said Roderick De Castro, executive director of TeaM Energy Foundation-Philippines.
Speaking at the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations Corporate Sustainability Summit, Mr. De Castro stressed businesses have the responsibility to do “what is right” and “be conscious with the environment and the community.”
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The Asean Corporate Sustainability Summit, held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manila last April 4 to 5, was the first ever carbon neutral event in the Philippines and aimed to scale up the adoption of sustainability within businesses across Southeast Asian region.
With the theme “Shifting Gears. Mainstreaming Sustainability,” the Summit underscored that a more sustainable approach to business is not just about doing the environment a favor but also providing companies with economic gains.
According to SAP, provider of business management software solutions, the world’s population is set to explode to 9 billion by 2050, creating new generations of consumers with a need for raw materials and energy while at the same time, increasing environmental awareness and geo-political uncertainty. This puts pressure on supply chains and business processes to improve their sustainability.
With stakeholders becoming more and more interested in social and environmental performance vis-a-vis economic performance of companies, business development nowadays is being anchored on a triple bottom line approach or the “people, planet and profit” approach to ensure social and environmental equity while keeping strong business strategies.
Proof of success
Many of the top companies around the world are currently implementing more sustainable business practices for substantial cost savings, to improve operating margins, boost their brand reputations and attract investors.
For instance, Energy Development Corporation-Philippines is reaping the benefits of sustainability as it is able to save and make money while keeping the environment in mind.
“We avoided 5.2 million tons of carbon for every year of operation and $197 million of oil to save our country $9 million,” said Agnes de Jesus, E.D.C.’s senior vice president for Environmental and External Relations.
Since E.D.C. was founded in 1976, it has been integrating sustainable means of providing clean and reliable electricity for the Philippines. It is currently manages geothermal and hydropower plants, accounting for about 14 percent of the country’s power supply.
For every project, the company uses a combination of directional drilling technology and multi-well pads, which enables several wells to be drilled from a single well pad. This allows for the least amount of disturbance on all the ecosystems on top of the geothermal reservoir.
For over 30 years of managing steam fields, E.D.C. has been able to reverse forest degradation in geothermal sites.
Ms. de Jesus said instead of creating business strategies before sustainability efforts, it is the other way around for the company as sustainability efforts became the groundwork of its business strategies, including “excellent processes, exemplary environmental management, strong stakeholder partnerships and resilient business.”
Meanwhile, United Pulp and Paper Co., a subsidiary of SCG paper which is the largest integrated paper manufacturer in Thailand and the Asean region, has been hailed as a “green company” for years.
According to Wichan Jitpukdee, U.P.P.C.’s president and chief executive officer, this is mainly due to the company’s 100 percent use of recycled paper and significant investments allocated for greening its technologies as well as operations.
U.P.P.C. uses recycled paper as a major raw material for its production. The recycled paper is supplied from both domestic and import sources from countries like the United Sates, Middle East and Japan.
Three key technologies are being employed by the company for its operations, including circulating fluidized bed boiler, effluent treatment plant and two paper machines.
The circulating fluidized bed boiler converts organic wastes into useable steam energy through safe and clean combustion of biomass. It produces high pressure steam used in the paper manufacturing process and generates power in the steam-driven power generator for use in the entire plant.
The effluent treatment plant treats wastewater ranging up to 11,000 cubic meters per day while the two paper machines have a combine capacity to process over 220,000 tons of recycled pulps annually.
“[The] manufacturing process shows how our company minimizes waste and contributes to environmental preservation,” said Mr. Jitpukdee.
In 2010, the company formally affirmed its commitment to sustainability and environmental protection with the launch of the U.P.P.C. Green World campaign. This campaign takes in several activities and initiatives incorporated in three key branches namely Greendividual which aims to make U.P.P.C. employees as SCG Paper Brand Ambassadors; Green Corp which engages customers, end-users, suppliers and other stakeholders; and Greenvironment which is supported by community, government, nongovernmental groups and academe towards good corporate citizenship.
Way forward
While many companies have already started their shift toward a more sustainable business, still their number is relatively small compared to those companies who have not yet recognize the need for integrating sustainability within their operations.
“It is imperative for the private sector to learn from each other, benchmark against the best, strive to lead through the maze of risks by turning them into opportunities to innovate- now more than ever,” said Sreeni Narayanan, chairman of the Asean Corporate Sustainability Summit.
“Inclusiveness, partnerships, sustainable development and value creation while always made sense, has now become the cornerstones for an organization to operate sustainably,” stressed Mr. Narayanan.
