5th Swiss Green Economy Symposium on Sustainability
Sustainability has become a significant economic factor. Society and companies have recognized this and are on a sustainable upswing, according to the results of the 5th Swiss Green Economy Symposium, whose mission statement this year was "Successfully crossing borders".
Is sustainability at all compatible with successful and profitable business? The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an important driver for the implementation of sustainability. These 17 goals are to be achieved by 2030 by all UN member states. Ambassador Michael Gerber, the Federal Council's special representative for global sustainable development, emphasized that a quarter of Swiss companies were already working with these goals. Because they are worthwhile:
12 trillion dollars by 2030 could be earned by the economy through implementation, he stressed. Dante Pesce, a member of the UN's Human Rights Working Group and sustainability expert at the University of Valparaiso (Chile), explained the connection with human rights, whose implementation throughout the value chain boosts business performance. Open trade that focuses on sustainability is also profitable trade, Christian Ewert, Director General of the Foreign Trade Association told the audience.
Sustainable investment?
Ewert his organization is getting a new name: It will be called "amfori" from 2018 and stands for responsible trade. It wants nothing more than to anchor economy, ecology and social awareness in global trade. When it comes to financing sustainable business, Jean-Daniel Gerber, president of Swiss Sustainable Finance, still sees a great need for action. "There is still no uniform definition of what a sustainable investment even is!"
In addition to financial aspects, digitality in particular also plays a major role. Siegfried Gerlach, CEO of Siemens Switzerland, explained the four levers of his group: energy efficiency, decentralized energy supply, the use of green electricity and the modernization of its own vehicle fleet. By 2030, the group wants to be C0²-neutral thanks to smart technology.
Limits of sustainability
Digitalization is changing the world of work dramatically, emphasized Hans C. Werner, member of the Swisscom Executive Board, and called for a willingness to embrace permanent change and to go beyond one's own limits. This requires ongoing training with a short time horizon and, above all, a pronounced curiosity for new things. The Smart Changemaker debate with Denise Fessler, CEO InnoPark Switzerland, Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO IKEA Switzerland and Max Schachinger, CEO Schachinger Logistik Holding, was also about personal attitudes, the inner changes that ultimately lead to a sustainable transformation of the organization.
"I reflect on my personal responsibilities more than I used to," Denise Fessler said, describing her change in awareness.
Cultural change, cooperation, knowledge transfer - these were the most important keywords of Ambassador Raymund Furrer, who shed light on what Switzerland is already doing today with an exemplary character to make tourism destinations such as Indonesia more sustainable. An open corporate culture was the topic of discussion between moderator Sonja Hasler (SRF) and Peter Gehler, communications manager of the pharmaceutical company Siegfried. He emphasized that this must be a duty and a matter of course for a company with a global presence if it wants to work in these structures.
Winterthur City Councilor Barbara Günthard-Maier summed up the common understanding of all participants: "Being smart means leaving children an intact environment."
The 6th Swiss Green Economy Symposium will already take place in Winterthur on September 4, 2018.
