Promises and Pleges

Industry leaders from across the continent joined the Asia Tatler Sustainability Forum at Soneva Kiri in Thailand for three days of brainstorming, workshops and debate. We report on the commitments they made and their hopes for a greener future

have 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 founder and executive director of the Goalblue Low Carbon Development Centre, a China-based 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. Ignorance was also not 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, entire 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 their 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 topic.” 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,” said impact investor Kent Ho, founder of venture capital company Empact28, 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 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 delegates. “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 the use of singleuse plastics by running educational programmes in schools and partnering 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 in 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 several 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 retrieve whatever they could. In just half an hour, they had recovered 131 pieces of nonbiodegradable rubbish weighing more than 5kg. 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, who also owns 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. “By the end of 2019, our places of business will be completely