SDG Stories

Today I'm talking to Senior Executive Vice President at BDO Unibank, Walter Wassmer. We talk about how banks have a significant role in sustainable development, for example BDO has an impact on all the SDGs, through green financing targeted towards energy efficiency and renewable energy. BDO also finances infrastructure projects in collaboration with the government to increase livelihood opportunities. BDO also values social inclusion, and they are trying to give people in rural areas access to banking facilities, to enable development, since 70% of the Philippine population is unbanked.  BDO also supports the OFW in education on financial literacy, along with more independent management of the inward remittances, which is a huge engine of development.

Today I'm talking to Chairman and Country Managing Partner, Wilson Tan, Deputy Managing Partner, Maria Vivian Cruz Ruiz and Partner for Climate Change and Sustainability and Head of Learning and Development, Clair Mangangey, from SGV & Co. We talk about how they help their clients with services such as non-financial reporting of environmental and social impact. We also dive into how they do consulting for sustainability, e.g. scenario analysis - which offers firms to see what the financial impact will be on their books if the temperature increases by 2 degrees. We talk about how SGV helps the Philippines prosper by providing trust and confidence in firms through consistent reporting. Lastly, we also discuss how SGV is promoting sustainability from within the organization with equal opportunity for all through diversity and inclusion, and how they value gender equality highly.

Today I'm talking to Antti Inkinen, Regional Director for Asia & Pacific and Managing Director for Philippines, at NIRAS International Development Consulting. NIRAS, with a strong Nordic identity and the SDGs as an integrated part of its business strategy, is an agent and active promotor of sustainable development through consulting and solutions for clients from the private and public sector, at local and regional levels, across many countries in the world. We talk about some of the challenges to sustainable development in South East Asia, as well as the projects they have in the region, examples are renewable energy, biodiversity, environmental protection and natural resources management. We also discuss how they engage with social sustainability, such as improving conditions for gender equality. Lastly, we dive into how they have developed SDG tools to quantify and calculate impact for their clients.

Today I'm talking to Rosalyn Mesina, Program Manager for WeEmpowerAsia within UN Women. We dive into SDG 5 on gender equality and SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth in the Philippines. We focus on how gender equality and economic empowerment of women is instrumental to reaching the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We discuss how women are expected to do unpaid labor at home, taking care children and elderly, while also doing productive work as employees. Then we also explore how WeEmpowerAsia is collaborating with the private sector and financial institutions to create awareness on gender equality and how to make businesses mindful about their supply chains. Lastly we also talk about the impact of covid-19 on women in the Philippines, as well as the challenges and opportunities of Filipina migrant workers. Source of photo courtesy of UN Women.

Today I'm talking to Dan Mejia, Head of Communications and Press at H&M in the Philippines. We talk about the 3 pillars of the H&M sustainability strategy - leading the change, circular and climate positive, and fair and equal. We go into depth about the different circular business models and how H&M's cotton supply is almost 100% responsibly sourced. We explore how H&M are changing the market by being the first to disclose supplier information. We also discuss how H&M is introducing transparency, responsibility and accountability in the value chain and rewarding suppliers with loyalty, if they are sustainable. Lastly, we also talk about how H&M contribute to decent work for young women in impoverished areas, like Payatas and Tondo, as well as donate profits to Waves for Water.

Today I'm talking to the Vice President and General Manager, Cihan Serdar Kizilcik, and Jacqueline Anne Del Castillo, the Public Affairs and Communications Manager, of Novo Nordisk Philippines, producer of nearly half of insulin and other life-saving medicines in the world. We talk about their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. We focus on SDG 3 on good health and well-being, as they want to not only cure the symptoms of diabetes, but also prevent obesity, diabetes and other serious chronic diseases from happening in the first place. We also dive in to SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production, as they are optimizing the recyclability of their insulin pens through their programme Circular for Zero. We also talk about their ambitious goal of wanting to achieve 100% renewable electricity throughout the supply chain, as suppliers make up 80% of Novo Nordisk's carbon footprint. Lastly, we dive into how Novo Nordisk is engaged in gender equality, diversity and inclusion, with 51% female employees and many of them in leadership positions.

Today I'm talking to Georg Platzer, Market Development Manager and Store Manager for IKEA Philippines. We talk about how he has been leading the process of opening the first IKEA store in the Philippines. We discuss how it is important to find companies and suppliers to align values with, through their code of conduct, IWAY. We also talk about IKEA's values, and their long history with CSR and sustainability, and how they are working with the SDGs as well as circular business models, using waste and recycled materials in production. We also dive into the topic of social entrepreneurs in the Philippines, with the NGO Rags2Riches.

Today we're talking to CSR Consultant for PacificTech Solutions, Rikke Fabrin. We talk about how PacificTech Solutions are incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals into their business model and how they overcome the challenge of starting their CSR strategy right in the middle of the pandemic. We also talk about how they are donating money to poor communities, such as the orphanage Concordia Children's Services and Project Bantu, of which Rikke herself plays a big role.

General manager, Stamatis Solomakos and HR and administration manager, Clarissa Uy, from Jotun Philippines explain how Jotun is highly committed to local communities and how good relations to local communities are necessary for business success. For example, Jotun Philippines is contributing paint and monetary donations to the NGO Bridge Builder Foundation, who are helping street children and their families in the Philippines.

Steen Andersen, the former general secretary for UNICEF Denmark and new director of First Chair Group Global Goals, talks about the importance of education and how to utilize the Sustainable Development Goals as a business opportunity to solve societal problems.