International CSR & Sustainability Summit 2020: Call for Business to Commit to a Higher Purpose Beyond Profits

23 September 2020

Enterprise Asia, Asia’s leading non-governmental organization for responsible entrepreneurship hosted its first virtual summit; the 6th International CSR & Sustainability ICS Summit 2020 (ICS) on 23 September 2020. The summit was reimagined and hosted as a virtual event due to public health and safety concerns.

The Summit themed “Purpose Before Profits: An Equilibrium World”, convened over 600 corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability leaders and practitioners representing 19 countries with high international participation from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Participants gathered online to collaborate and exchange insights on the most stirring conversations in CSR today, and in deliberating solutions to current society issues.

To drive a fundamentally important shift in this decade, the Summit serves to urge corporations to share the same central objective – to reshape capitalism for an environmentally endangered age. This movement calls for business decision makers to take decisive actions to solve global problems; looking beyond financial returns to creating benefits to all stakeholders to achieve a cohesive and sustainable world.

The Summit was officiated by Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn, Chairman of Enterprise Asia. He expressed that, “how businesses work now affect not only people, but also the planet. The environmental costs created by businesses are estimated at US$4.7 trillion per year. Now is the time for businesses to give back. From reducing environmental impact to contributing to healthier societies and fighting forced labour, companies can achieve tremendous results if they place purpose before profits.”

Among the speakers were Petrus Ng, Chairman and Managing Director of BASF (Thai) Ltd.; Vivek Pathak, Regional Director, East Asia and the Pacific of IFC – International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group); Constant Van Aerschot, Asia Pacific Director of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); Janet Salem, Economic Affairs Officer. Sustainable Urban Development Section of Environment and Development Division UNESCAP; Alexandra Tracy, President of Hoi Ping Ventures Hong Kong; Captain Simon Bennett, General Manager for Sustainable Development of Swire Pacific Offshore & China Navigation Company; Foroogh Foyouzat, Country Representative of UNICEF Cambodia; Dr. Niven Huang, Regional Leader, KPMG Sustainability Services Asia Pacific of KPMG Taiwan; Dr. Naoki Adachi, Founder and CEO of Response Ability Inc. and Executive Director of Japan Business Initiative for Diversity; Tracy Nilsson Senior Director, Global Environment (Supply Chain), Social & Environmental Affairs of Adidas Group; Shinji Onoda, Policy Researcher of Sustainability Governance Center, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and Julie Rezler, Director, Singapore of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Weaving in insights from world class speakers across the globe, the Summit’s key takeaway was the call for global corporations to commit in delivering long term value to their stakeholders, and produce sustainable solutions to global problems in an equal, inclusive and resilient future. The Summit has explored on topics such as measurements and recovery actions taken by the government and business leaders in mobilizing climate actions, building an equitable society and in the same time being financial profitable.

The ICS Summit was supported official PR partner Two Way Public Relations, supporting organizations Circular Economy Club, CSRone Taiwan, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia, National Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (NIEL) Cambodia, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan, Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy and Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development