Business sector urged to adopt sustainable practices

MANILA, Philippines –  The business sector should help raise the public’s environmental consciousness by incorporating sustainable practices in their operations, according to a multi-sectoral forum.

Sustainable practices by businesses start from the purchase of supplies down to the manufacturing and marketing of their products.

The call for “greening the supply chain” was recently made during the third ASEAN +3 Leadership Program on Sustainable Production and Consumption held in Manila. The forum was in line with the declaration by the United Nations of 2005-2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Rodrigo Fuentes, executive director of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), highlighted the role of the business sector in adopting measures that would use and produce goods and services with less environmental impact.

“Businesses should practice sustainable production and consumption through their own initiative and not as mere compliance to government regulations,” he said.

Sustainable production and consumption initiatives are needed especially in developing countries like the Philippines, where raw materials for consumer products, whether for domestic or export purposes, are extracted from available natural resources, he pointed out.

Dr. Raman Letchumanan, environment division head of the ASEAN Secretariat, elaborated that “developing countries are in a position to reduce their carbon footprint by being more sustainable in using their rich biodiversity while they are on the path to economic growth.”

He stressed the need to put in place market mechanisms that would “compel businesses to put their own initiatives to educate consumers.”

In the Philippines, such mechanisms include certifications from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), green or eco-labeling, and recognition of local industries that demonstrate environmental initiatives.

Unfortunately, it was observed that products from companies with such mechanisms in place were more expensive compared with other mass-produced or commercial products.

Prof. Govindan Parayil, director of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, suggested that the public must be acquainted with responsibilities that are usually attached to the supply and production processes.

“Organic and other environmentally-friendly products require more extensive research on biodiversity, which is the source of almost all raw materials used by humans,” Parayil explained.

“Sometimes, some companies also work in partnership with and support communities who ensure a constant yet sustainable supply of raw material. Thankfully, there are environmentally-aware consumers who patronize such products,” he noted.

Nestle Philippines ’ Jesus Reyes, who chairs the environment committee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( PCCI ), welcomed the challenge to make the entire business process sustainable from pre-production to marketing.

Citing current initiatives in greening the local supply chain, Reyes assured that “many industries are already implementing environmental policies to cut operating costs, like tapping available and viable energy sources such as solar and biomass in the manufacturing process, as well as encouraging water stewardship through water conservation or rainwater harvesting.”

Reyes cited that Nestle, for instance, assesses the life cycle of products, evaluating their environmental impact from the time the raw material is collected by the supplier to the time the final product is disposed of by the consumer.

Fuentes emphasized that environmental practices in business operations mean an investment that would redound to long-term benefits for the investors, the community, the local government and the economy in general.

 “There will be a cut in production costs, so goods will eventually cost cheaper; goods and services produced will put less strain on the environment; and there will be less to pay in terms of fines for environmental violations,” he said.

 “This provides a very wide area of opportunities for industries to apply different approaches in increasing the level of awareness among suppliers and consumers,” he added.