Promises and Pledges
Industry leaders from across the continent joined the Asia Tatler Sustainability Forum at Soneva Kiri for three days of brainstorming, workshops, and debate. We report on the commitments they made and their hopes for a greener future
“Ihave an 11- year-old son. I don’t want him to have to pay for my ignorance.” So said May Mei, one of the delegates at a forum organised by Asia Tatler to workshop ways to make our lives, businesses and countries more eco-friendly. May effectively was speaking for all present, but hardly from a position of ignorance. She is the founder and executive director of the GoalBlue Low Carbon Development Centre, a Mainland Chinese NGO that aims to promote sustainable lifestyles by encouraging responsible consumerism, a low-carbon economy, protection of the oceans, and healthy eating—for ourselves and the planet.
Nor was ignorance a trait of the other delegates gathered at the eco -friendly Soneva Kiri resort in Thailand. Some of the smartest business minds across Asia, they shared a passion for and experience in promoting sustainability, a desire to share their know-how, and connections through the Asia Tatler network.
It was her knowledge of this continentwide network that led Julie Lee to conceive the idea of the Asia Tatler Sustainability Forum at Soneva Kiri. As chief innovation officer of Edipresse Media Asia, publisher of the eight Asia Tatler titles, she realised the organisation could make an important contribution to developing sustainability by drawing together influential industry players from across Asia.
“There is a possibility here to create long-lasting relationships, and because everyone here is powerful and connected to other powerful people, this enables positive change,” Julie told the delegates on the first day of the inaugural three-day forum in November last year.
The English poet John Donne once wrote that “no man is an island, entir e of itself,” expressing that, individually, we cannot be self-sufficient and therefore have to rely on each other to thrive, and it was in that spirit that the forum’s discussions proceeded. The topics included “Waste To Wealth,” where delegates brainstormed ideas on how to build more circular economies, and “The Power of Influence,” focusing on how to make a difference through impact investing. The lively debates often overran their time slots as impassioned speakers shared concerns, ideas and possible solutions.
“We all want to make a difference but sometimes we don’t know where to start,” said Clara Goh, Fendi’s marketing and communications director for Southeast Asia and Australia. “Being here with industry partners focuses our minds on this t opic.”
“I’m so proud of Eco Drive’s short film Start Small, Start Now. My plastic pledge is to have it seen by 10 million people by the end of 2019” —claire yates
Sustainable and socially responsible companies need help to compete in a challenging world, and obtaining finance is a crucial factor in their ability to achieve success. “We’re looking for founders who have a sustainable business model that can drive very large impact long-term,” impact investor Kent Ho, founder of venture capital company Empact28, said in explaining the types of ventures that would attract his attention.
An example of the forum’s power to find solutions involved Malaysia’s Cold Stone Creamery. Executive director Aubry Rahim Mennesson and his wife, Selangor’s Princess Zatashah, explained that they had been searching in vain for an alternative to the plastic spoons provided with the company’s products. May Mei was immediately able to point them towards a Taiwanese company making such items that are 100 per cent biodegradable. This one exchange probably saved countless thousands of plastic spoons from going to landfills.
A variety of concerns led delegates to take part in the forum, but plastic pollution was a big one. Busaba Chirathivat, executive vice-president of corporate communications at Central Group, Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate, said she was hoping to find an alternative to single-use plastics, especially the sheets used in packaging. “I’m not convinced that changing the plastic bag to a paper bag or another type of bag is the only answer,” she told the forum. “The way that we want to help protect the environment is to reduce the use of unnecessary packing at all levels of the shopping experience.”
Plastic is also a topic close to the heart of forum founder Julie. Last year, she joined 10 other Hong Kong women in establishing EcoDrive, an NGO that fights single-use plastics by running educational programmes in schools and partnering with corporations to help them implement eco-friendly practices. Four of her fellow founders—Emily Lam-Ho, Yolanda Choy-Tang, Claire Yates and Laura Derry Southwood—also joined her at the forum.
“It’s part of my personal goal to try to educate as many people as possible that every piece of plastic we use on this earth does not simply go away,” said Yolanda, who became a prime mover behind EcoDrive after becoming fed up with seeing plastic waste whenever she went for a walk or hike. “When I’m outdoors with my dog, I want to be looking at nature and breathing fresh air.”
The extent of the plastics crisis was brought home to members of the group personally when they took a break on the final day to go snorkelling in the Koh Rang National Marine Park. They were shocked to discover that even at a remote spot in protected waters kilometres off the Thai coast, plastic was floating in the water and littering the seabed. Princess Zatashah, whose #sayno2plastic campaign went viral in Malaysia early last year, took charge and had everyone retrieving whatever they could. In just half an hour they had recovered 131 pieces of non-biodegradable rubbish weighing more than five kilograms.
Back at the forum, the final sessions focused on how business leaders, corporations and brands could spread the word about the various environmental crises facing our planet. And then it was time for the delegates to make personal pledges, recorded on video, as to how they would make their businesses more eco-friendly and sustainable.
Claire Yates, owner of the Lion Rock Press, promised to see that viewership of EcoDrive’s short film, Start Small, Start Now: Hong Kong’s Plastic Story, which reveals the extent of the pollution crisis, would grow from the current tens of thousands of people to more than 10 million within a year.
“There is a possibility here to create long-lasting relationships and enable positive change”
“We are fighting to keep our oceans clean for the generations to come”
“By the end of 2019, our places of business will be completely plastic-free,” pledged Malaysian businessman Daryl Foong, general manager of aquarium operator Aquawalk, on behalf of himself and his wife, Melissa Lam, general manager of property developer Senja Aman. “We are fighting to keep our oceans clean for our children and for the generations to come.” Philippine pearl farmers Jacques Christophe Branellec and Mia ArcenasBranellec made a similar pledge.
Hong Kong-based William Davies, head of sustainability at Swire Beverages, the world’s fifthlargest Coca- Cola bottler, promised that “by 2025, 100 per cent of Swire Beverages’ packaging will be recyclable.” Since the forum, Swire Beverages has announced it is working with Alba Group Asia and Baguio Waste Management and Recycling to open a state-ofthe-art plastic recycling facility in Hong Kong. Scheduled to open in 2020, this new plant should be able to recycle all of the PET and HDPE plastic used in the city.
Thailand’s Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, executive vice-president of Sukosol Hotels, pledged that by 2020, single-use plastics would be reduced by 20 per cent in 20 of the group’s hotels. “Sustainability is a big part of our company DNA,” she said.
Kent and Emily Ho pledged to help sustainable and socially responsible companies get the investment backing they need to compete in a world that expects more from its entrepreneurs. Emily, who as the mother of two, said she was driven by a desire to make the world a better place for the next generation, adding that she would like to see more women lead companies.
GoalBlue’s May pledged to work with 5,000 restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai to reduce their use of plastic and red meat. The production of meat, whose consumption is rapidly rising around the globe, is a big contributor to greenhouse gases and requires vast tracts of land and volumes of water. These are just a few of the inspiring pledges made at the end of the inaugural forum. And the exchanges didn’t stop when the curtain came down. The conversations that started at the think tank are continuing, with delegates in touch and bouncing ideas off one another on an almost daily basis. We look forward to seeing what they come up with next. To see the pledges made by the participants of Asia Tatler Sustainability Forum at Soneva Kiri, go to ph.asiatatler.com