Sustainable development can become business opportunities of trillions of US dollars in the context of global integration, said Mr Nguyen Quang Vinh, Member of the Standing Committee and Secretary General of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Vice Chairman and Secretary General of Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD), prior to the Announcement Ceremony of Sustainable Businesses in Vietnam 2018. Huong Giang reports.
What do you think about the quality of candidate companies joining the Programme on Benchmarking and Announcing Sustainable Companies this year?
As directed by the Government, VCCI has launched the Programme on Benchmarking and Announcing Sustainable Companies, bringing the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) closer to the business community.
In 2018, the CSI continues to be adjusted and adapted in a way that it is easier to understand and consistent with Vietnamese laws and international practices, especially closer to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) on Sustainability Reporting. At the same time, a sustainability benchmarking is also established. In each of economic, social and environmental aspects, all are divided into basic (standard) and advanced criteria. For example, if meeting “the business has development strategy” criterion, the company will only meet the basic criteria, while higher criteria will require it to have a “strategy linked to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. This is also the way the CSI helps work out a roadmap for Vietnamese enterprises, especially small and medium ones, when approaching the concept of sustainability, it will figure out what to do and how to deliver corporate sustainability. In addition to CSI updating, VBCSD has also organised training courses on sustainability reporting, CSI application to corporate governance, which received very positive feedbacks from the business community.
This is the very foundation for the programme to attract a large number of businesses to participate in. Specifically, about 500 manufacturing, service and trade enterprises of different sizes have submitted applications, including many first-time candidates and many that have joined for three straight years. According to the Jury Board, the quality of candidates is quite good this year even though new entrants are still a bit perplexed and the level of law compliance is also good since a few candidates are crossed off after the Organising Board consults competent bodies. In addition, this year, businesses have reduced hard-copy submission and switched to use soft-copy applications via the online portal instead, helping the Organising Board asses their records more easily.
This is the third consecutive year that VCCI has coordinated with relevant authorities to launch sustainability ratings. What do you think about the programme’s ripple effect of bringing 17 SDGs into business life? How have businesses translated sustainable development into their activities?
Your question has brought me back to the early days. The CSI and the Programme has been introduced and deployed by VCCI and VBCSD since 2016, right after the 2030 Agenda, with a focus on 17 SDGs, and was adopted in 2015. VCCI soon clearly realised that the business would be an important partner in the delivery of SDGs and that the 15-year path to the 2030 Agenda was not long. Thus, we immediately started working on it to translate SDGs into business life.
The programme is designed to encourage and motivate the business community to achieve sustainable development and make sustainable development a wave, a movement and gradually an atmosphere of enterprises. And, clearly, we need not only words but also actions to detail it into clear ways and steps for enterprises. That is why VCCI, together with national and international experts, created the CSI.
Over the last three years, the most visible impact of the Programme is the “boost’ to raise awareness and encourage the business community to move towards more sustainable development. Even if failing to be included in the list of winners, participating companies already approached and applied CSI and thus had a general assessment of their corporate health based on very specific social, economic and environmental criteria of CSI. If they were winners, they received recognition from the Government, authorities, investors and customers, helping them enhance prestige and attract more investors. Adding the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) and the Programme on Benchmarking and Announcing Sustainable Companies to Resolution 19 of the government is the best evidence to the Government's appreciation of programme effects.
The National Council on Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Enhancement, VCCI and VBCSD are working hard to bring 17 SDGs closer to the business community. As the Vice Chairman of VBCSD, what message would you deliver to the business community on this occasion?
My message can be encapsulated in two words: Change and cooperation. As a piece in the world picture, to penetrate deeply, stand firmly and rise sturdily in the global value chain, Vietnamese businesses must follow and meet globally recognised standards. And, that standard is now nothing more than “sustainable development” because it is what the government, regulators, customers and investors are concerned about. So, if we do not change our business approach soon towards sustainable development, can we grow to become giants? Furthermore, Vietnamese companies must understand that sustainable development is not a burden for businesses but a business opportunity worth trillions of US dollars, with hundreds of millions of jobs created.
And, it is no coincidence that among 17 SDGs, the final but particularly important goal is “Revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development” because “if you want to go fast, go alone and if you want to go far, go together." That is also why VBCSD launched a series of programmes and initiatives based on public-private partnership. We encourage businesses to actively seek cooperation opportunities with partners so that they can utilise resources and strengths of each other, thereby shortening their carrying out schedule to deliver sustainable development.
Dr Vu Tien Loc
President & Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The role of business is seen in every goal among 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). For example, in the goal of ensuring people's health, enterprises are involved in supporting and providing healthcare for their employees and building public works for people health. With the goal of improving education quality, they invest in education not only by capital but also by wisdom of entrepreneurs. For the clean water and energy goal, they are investors and developers.
Directly led by the National Council on Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement and Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, from 100 initial founding members (leading domestic and international enterprises), the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD) under VCCI has created a network of 400 enterprises nationwide to deliver sustainable development goals. It is important that enterprises, irrespective of size, are also capable of anticipating and determining their development prospects when they are reflected in the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI).
We hope that Vietnam will achieve one million effective businesses by 2020. We hope that they will be internationally standardised enterprises that can join the global economic network.
Mr Nguyen The Phuong
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI)
The carrying out of three major contents: Vietnam 2035 Report, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Resolution 19 on business environment improvement and competitiveness enhancement is closely and mutually related. In the coming time, the implementation of these three contents poses many challenges. Basically, we have defined our visions, goals and steps. It is important to implement these contents with the urgent, drastic and responsible involvement of all ministries, sectors, localities, social organisations and business community; apply strict punishment and reward regimes and regular assessment mechanisms to timely adjust the implementation of programmes; strive to bring the ratio of business to people to the ratio of ASEAN; focus on innovation and business start-up driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution; give priority to high-quality human resources development to meet development requirements; and focus on addressing social and environmental issues.
Dr Bui The Duy
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology
The Government has developed a mechanism enabling the role of science, technology and innovation in sustainable development, for example establishing the National Council for Sustainable Development; assigning tasks among ministries and branches; establishing the National Office for Sustainable Development; assigning specific monitoring - assessing - reporting responsibilities to the ministries, branches and localities.
Vietnam is facing a depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution, low development level, low production and consumption efficiency, poor development level and lags behind many countries. The Action Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology to implement the 2030 Agenda includes: Perfecting mechanisms and policies on technology and innovation to enhance the technological capacity and innovation capacity of enterprises; increasing investment in science and technology; adjusting the structure of State budget expenditure for science and technology in conformity with national scientific and technological development; encouraging and mobilising private funds for scientific and technological development; financing enterprises’ research and development studies on new technologies, advanced technologies and high technologies; transferring and perfecting technologies for production of key products and hi-tech products, applying advanced standards and technical regulations towards international standards; building and developing scientific and technological human resources.