Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam spoke about this when meeting with members of the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD), on March 27.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, Vice Chairman of VBCSD, said that, in 2019, VBCSD is carrying out programs of supporting, evaluating and ranking sustainable businesses, promoting integrity in business and the circular economy, hosting the National Conference on Sustainable Development (scheduled to take place in mid-November 2019), and the Sustainability Writings Voting Program. One of VBCSD’s key activities is scaling up typical sustainability models like Zero Waste to Nature, Blue Number and Green Map.
To further advance sustainability, we need joint efforts of VBCSD members and initiatives of the business community, and particularly the support of the Government and relevant agencies, he added. The National Conference on Sustainable Development, deemed to be the most important event of VBCSD in 2019, is seen as a festive day of sustainable businesses in Vietnam, Mr. Vinh said. Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, the event is expected to be attended by about 700 delegates from Party, National Assembly and central bodies, economists, scientists, business associations, domestic and foreign-invested businesses, international organizations in Vietnam, foreign embassies in Hanoi, and some provinces and cities.
Dr. Vu Tien Loc, President of VCCI and Chairman of VBCSD, said: “We’ve worked to uphold the leading and directing role, helping businesses to achieve sustainable development by regularly taking part in international forums and conferences hosted by WBCSD to grasp global megatrends to adapt and apply them in Vietnam.”
“To further improve its operational efficiency and spread sustainability to the community, VBCSD will continue to work closely with its members, domestic and international organizations and multinational corporations such as Heineken, Unilever, DOW and Coca Cola in the coming time, and scale up many good models and initiatives on sustainable development such as collecting, sorting and recycling waste and packaging, protecting natural resources and conserving energy. At the same time, the council needs to add more criteria for scoring and ranking sustainable businesses in Vietnam to diversify and expand its membership,” he added.
The National Conference on Sustainable Development is a great initiative of VBCSD, helping the business community raise awareness about the importance and role of sustainable development in Vietnam, said Ms. Ha Thu Thanh, Chairwoman of Deloitte Vietnam.
As for the scope of the Sustainability Writings Voting Program, awardees should not be confined to only journalists or press agencies, but to business leaders as well because they are part of sustainability stories in their business. Therefore, articles will be more intensive and innovative, she said.
Mr. Matt Wilson, Senior Corporate Affairs Director, Heineken Vietnam Brewery Co., Ltd and Co-Chairman of VBCSD, said that in 2019, the most important work of VBCSD is how to gather more and more leading, pioneering sustainable businesses in Vietnam to the Council.
In response to this, Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh said, the number of members increased more than 10% in 2018. According to a survey into 69 local councils conducted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), an average council had more than 30 members, while the Vietnamese council has about 100. Even, WBCSD has only about 200 members. The above figure is a vivid evidence of the impressively rapid growth of the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD).
Delivering a guiding speech, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam highly appreciated the Council and its member businesses for many practical and concrete activities to spread the spirit of sustainable development across the business community and the people. However, in order to sustainably develop the core criteria of gauging sustainable businesses, we need further simplify important criteria, make them easy to remember, easy to implement even for large enterprises. It should focus on main aspects such as regulatory compliance, transparency, activities and policies towards environmental protection and social responsibility, Deputy Prime Minister recommended.
PV
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