C-level Roundtable on Responsible Production created an exclusive space for exchange insights-7.11.2019
On the 7th of November IGCC and amfori welcomed C-Level representatives from the corporate world to discuss challenges and opportunities in the area of responsible production at Taj Mahal Palace, Colaba. The delegates from various industries shared their Best-Practices and discussed lively the role of the private sector on sustainable development, responsible business conduct and sustainable production.
After amfori presented a short summary about the relevance of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct for India’s production sectors, two Best-Practice companies outlined their strategy on corporate sustainability and shared their valuable experiences on how to ensure manage a sustainable production. The discussion followed has touched many verticals on responsible business conduct and sustainable production. A Best-Practice speaker shared for instance, that in order to cut down carbon emissions while balancing costs in their supply chain, using railway instead of road transportation appears as the best option. Another voice stressed that in order to manage the transition to a more responsible business conduct the entire organisation needs to be looked at. Each and every staff is required to follow the philosophy and become sustainable ambassadors internally, which then will automatically spill-over to the product lines, the suppliers and ultimately the customer. Moreover, the representatives touched on how businesses from the production and manufacturing industries are upgrading their facilities towards zero-waste/zero-carbon emission and to adhere to recognised environmental and social standards, for instance, ESG. Also, some representatives emphasized that within sustainable production the keeping the balance between cost-effectiveness, adaptiveness to customer needs and ensuring product quality and production standards is a challenging endeavour. Therefore, a holistic concept on responsible business conduct is a much needed comprising management strategy, supply chain, environment and social standards, and customer and community focus. Ultimately, all delegates shared the opinion that education, cooperation (supply chain, civil society and public sector) and awareness raising towards end-consumer remains key to ensure responsible business conduct and a successful transition to a sustainable economic development.
Reflecting on the inter-connectivity of the SDGs this activity focused on: