Best practices in sustaining the sustainable

Over the past few years, the word sustainability has grown in popularity and has become the term that covers green business practices that have been incorporated into many corporate strategies. The United States environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines sustainability as “everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permits fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Sustainability is important to make sure that we have and will continue to have the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.”

Studies have show that more and more people care about sustainability and want to partner with businesses that incorporate social responsibility into their business strategy. As they become more educated, people will look for businesses that share their values.

As a consequence of this, sustainability reporting as emerged as a common practice for companies globally. reports indicate that 93 percent of the world’s largest 250 companies and 75 percent of the top 100 companies in 49 countries report on sustainability. However, for the Philippines, less than 22 percent of publicly listed companies have published a report on sustainability impacts and performances.

Reporting

IT is with this context that Businessmirror

decided to devote two Coffee Club sessions on sustainability. The first session was titled “Sustainability reporting: Sustaining the Sustainable” which was held last July 28, 2021 and the second session was titled

“Best Practices in Sustainability” which was held August 26, 2021.

“There is a positive correlation between good sustainability practices on one hand and business profit and financial returns on the other. Stakeholders of corporations mentioned that they want to know how businesses impact on the economy, environment and society so that’s precisely why we want sustainability reports.”

So said Securities and exchange Commissioner (SEC) Kelvin Lester Lee who was the first speaker during the July 28 session. It was also for this reason that the SEC issued the Sustainability reporting Guidelines for Publicly Listed Companies and required Publicly Listed Companies (PLCS) to start submitting their sustainability reports that same year.

He added that the goal of these guidelines were to promote sustainability reporting and make it relevant for PLCS.

“PLCS will be given ample time to determine what is considered significant and if they are going to determine the material impact, collect data, provide explanations if they have no available data,” he added.

Mother company

THE next speaker for that morning was Atty. Joseph Fabul, Country Manager for Corporate and Government Affairs of Mondelez Philippines. He related in his talk that since Mondelez is an international company, the company in the Philippines is required to submit its sustainability report to its mother company.

“We are tracking the adoption of standards such as those published by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board or SASB and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures or TCFD,” he said.

Fabul added that their main goal at the moment is to push for sustainable snacking and to gradually replace the packaging of their food items with more environment friendly materials.

Due to the nature of their industry, Philex Mining Corporation, according to their President and CEO eulalio Austin Jr., has been submitting sustainability reports since 2015 as “a way of being accountable to our stakeholders with respect to our performance’s future directions.”

He added that while mining companies are seen as “destroyers of the environment,” Austin said Philex is into “sustainable mining which means helping the community become self-sufficient along with environmental management.”

New formula

THE last speaker for the first sustainability session was Jo Ann B. eala, vice President and Head of BPI’S Sustainability Office. In her presentation, she talked about BPI’S unique sustainability formula which not only looks into ESG (environment, social and governance) but economic impact as well.

“BPI’S unique sustainability formula is esg+e2 which takes into consideration the economic impact of things that we do,” she said, adding that BPI also places a lot of focus on environmental risks and opportunities.

Sustainability best practices were the highlight in Coffee Club’s 2nd sustainability session and the first guest was Crispian Lao, vice Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Commission and the founding President of the Philippine Alliance for recycling and Material Sustainability.

Raising awareness

Here Lao focused on the need to continuously raise awareness about the need to embrace sustainability to address the challenges the earth presently faces. “The earth’s resources are not finite. We need to replenish what we take and then we have to make sure that there is enough for future generations to come.”

He was followed by June Cheryl Cabalrevilla, Chief Sustainability Officer of Metro Pacific Investment Corporation, who strongly believes that sustainability is “a collective responsibility.”

“Sustainability is a collective responsibility. It’s a cohesive thing—the triple bottom line is all connected to each other. At the end of the day, sustainability is about impact for all,” Cabal-revilla said.

rounding off the roster of speakers for that day was Arlene Tan-bantoto, Head of Public Affairs, Sustainability and Communications of Nestle Philippines. In her talk, Tan-bantoto reiterated Nestle’s commitment to attaining their environment goals of achiving net-zero carbon emission by 2050.”

“reducing emissions and reaching netzero require collaborative approaches with suppliers, customers, academics, policymakers and civil society at large,” she said.