In a year of major events on the global sustainability agenda – the presentation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the possible signing of a new global climate agreement, the World Water Forum preceding the Brazilian meeting in 2018 – CEBDS, as part of the international network of WBCSD, will work together with its associates in 2015 on the global and national sustainability agenda.
“The aim is to show, in the country and in global forums, that large Brazilian companies with a vision for the future are committed to defending the expansion of the scale of sustainable actions that we understand are capable of promoting transformation, combining business and society.”, says Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS.
Many of the projects that make up the CEBDS 2015: From Vision 2050 to Action 2020 is developed and executed in partnership with associated companies through the Thematic Chambers. Another part is inspired by the network's global projects, such as Action 2020 which will guide CEBDS' actions over the next five years.
The platform of the Action 2020, launched last year, will provide an exchange between companies for the joint construction of business solutions, nationally and internationally. The challenge for CEBDS and our associates will be to build and/or identify business solutions and enabling factors capable of contributing to the achievement of society's objectives.
Anticipating discussions
In 2015 we will hold the seventh edition of the International Sustainable Congress, as in other editions it will anticipate the discussions of two major global agendas: the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN, in September and the result of the UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, COP XXI, in Paris, in December.
Sustainability in practice
Among the training courses offered by CEBDS for next year, we will have actions aimed at different audiences and on various topics. The Business Partnership for Ecosystem Services (PESE) is going into its third edition (know the previous one) and aims to improve impact management and knowledge about the company's dependence on ecosystem services. Due to the success of the last three editions (see the previous ones: 3rd edition. 2nd edition, 1st edition ), the 4th edition of training for measuring and preparing an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the supply chain will be carried out once again.
After the release of the Sustainable Purchasing Manual, This year, the Council will hold a training session on sustainable purchasing, which aims to incorporate sustainability criteria into the purchasing process. Another new feature will be training on climate risk management, which aims to provide professionals with technical knowledge to identify, assess and develop response strategies to climate risks specific to their businesses.
With the aim of making sustainability knowledge more transversal within companies, there will be training for sustainability communication by company department, for the HR, Finance, Marketing and R&D areas. Continuing what was developed last year, the second Life Cycle Assessment Network training will deepen knowledge and provide more input on the use of the LCA tool. In addition, the LCA Network database will be launched, a partnership between UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), IBICT (Research Institute linked to MCTI) and CEBDS with the objective of promoting the training of specialists in adapting Life Cycle Inventories to the Brazilian reality. As a result of this training, we will have the first inventories qualified to be included in the national database.
Eight new publications for 2015
Providing content and reporting the results of projects carried out is a constant at CEBDS and for 2015 eight new publications will be produced on different topics.
The Thematic Chamber of Communication and Education (CTCom) has started a project to develop Sustainability Guides for different areas of companies, divided into 10 volumes to be published over a period of 5 years. Two of them have already been produced in 2014, Finance and People Management guides and two more will be produced next year, for Marketing and Research & Development.
In 2015, the Sustainable Mobility Thematic Chamber (CTMobi) will launch a study on Corporate Mobility with the aim of drawing the attention of the business sector to this issue that brings constant challenges to the day-to-day running of companies, impacting costs, productivity, employee quality of life and talent retention, for example. By building scenarios, the study will seek to show the impact of business solutions in employee transportation on urban mobility and the existing alternatives that bring positive returns for companies and, mainly, for the surrounding areas where they are located.
The Social Impact Thematic Chamber (CTSocial), created in 2014, will launch a publication next year to analyze the current scenario of social impact of businesses to guide the choice of methodologies and tools that can improve the management of social impacts, also providing a critical analysis of the main tools available today.
CEBDS will work on developing a reference publication on reports for Latin America. Inspired by the recent publication of the WBCSD, a study on non-financial reports of its members, the Reporting Matters aims to provide a series of inspiring examples, encouraging the sharing of best practices and recommendations so that reports can help companies create value for their customers. your stakeholders in the short, medium and long term.
The Thematic Chambers on Climate, Biodiversity and Finance will also have publications on topics linked to discussions, cases, public policies that are discussed with associated companies and the CEBDS technical team.
“In 2015, we will face the challenge of increasing engagement, maintaining the strong pace of creation and implementation of a relevant business agenda for sustainable Brazilian development, relating the actions of companies over the next five years to society's objectives for the end of the decade, through the Action 2020 project.”, adds Marina Grossi.
