A paint that can knock out pollution from the air, a mobile digital laboratory for public schools, farmers supplying vegetables directly to a popular fast food chain, and a free website development workshop for small businesses – these are just a few of the sustainable solutions that companies presented during the country’s first “SOLB!: Sustainable Solutions Fair” held recently at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

With the changing landscape of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), companies now respond in different ways to address more complex social issues. These expressions of corporate citizenship include philanthropy, strategic social investments, responsible business practices, and inclusive business.

Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) organized the forum and exhibit dubbed “SOLB!: A Sustainable Solutions Fair” to present these whole range of CSR expressions, and provide companies a platform to showcase their own sustainable solutions as well as the opportunity to network and form linkages to work together for a common cause.

These innovative solutions do not only address a societal problem but more importantly, contribute to the attainment of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a set of goals agreed upon by UN member states which aims to end all forms of poverty in 2030.

The milestone event was participated in by speakers from First Gen Corporation Inc., Jollibee Group Foundation, Nestle Philippines, Inc., Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc., PLDT, Inc., Smart Communications, Inc., Unionbank of the Philippines, United Laboratories, Inc., XEPTO Computing, Inc., and the United National Development Programme. The exhibitors, on the other hand, were Citi Philippines, East-West Seed Company, Inc., Jollibee Group Foundation, Unionbank of the Philippines, PLDT SME Nation, Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc., Meralco Foundation, Energy Development Corporation, XEPTO Computing, Inc., Smart Communications, Inc., Water Alliance and Zero Basura Olympics.   

In the forum which tackled various themes such as “Sustainable Cities, Healthy People,” “Innovations that Support Education and Livelihood and Enterprise Development,” and “Inclusive Business,” the speakers shared how they came up with solutions to help address issues/problems or lessen its adverse impact.

CLEANER AND HEALTHIER CITIES

Given its significance in development, the biggest challenge in sustainability today could be energy security. With the issue on climate change taking center stage in global affairs, countries including the Philippines are seeing the importance of clean and renewable energy sources.

Although it could take the country 20 to 30 years to be able to fully rely on renewable energy, Jerome Cainglet, Vice President of First Gen Corporation is optimistic that this is possible as long as efforts to shift to this type of energy source are started as early as now. He pointed out that using natural gas which is cleaner compared to coal, will provide the country a more reliable source of energy as it develops technology to address intermittency of solar and wind power.

“Natural gas-fired power plants not only can provide us a way to get sustainable energy, it also addresses the equity requirements for a sustainable development,” he said.

Converting to renewable energy will also solve the problem on air pollution because it leaves very little or no carbon footprint in comparison to conventional fossil-fuel fired power plants that bursts tons and tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc. also presented their breakthrough solution on Metro Manila’s air pollution.

“What we thought about is what if we put air purifiers along major roads? We worked with a company called Cristal who is the world’s leader in ultra-fine titanium dioxide technology. The number one application of their technology is to reduce nox (nitrogen oxide) emission in power plants.  We said how about we use that base technology and put that in a paint so that we could take out the nox that still goes out in the air. That’s how Boysen KNOxOUT Air Cleaning Paint came to be,” said Johnson Ongking, Boysen’s Vice President.

The air cleaning property of the paint is activated by the sun’s ultraviolet rays that react with the photocatalyst and helps break down pollutants which in turn contribute to the reduction of risk among city dwellers to develop respiratory diseases.

Another notable business involvement on promoting healthy communities are the maternal and child health initiatives of United Laboratories, Inc. (Unilab).

“It is part of our DNA as a company to ensure that we’re able to engage different stakeholders to be able to reach out to, not just in terms of marketing our products, but also be more engaged in various issues on health,” said Claire Papa, Unilab’s External Affairs Director.

Unilab partnered with the city government of Quezon City in conducting trainings for midwives, as well as the LGU and the city health department to help them comply with the Department of Health’s directive on lying-in clinics.

Their project also grants the Seal of Excellence to lying-in clinics who comply with government standards to help mothers choose the right facilities. Likewise, they encourage non-compliant clinics to adhere to the standards.

I.T. LEARNING FOR KIDS

Part of the SDGs is ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all. This is what XEPTO Computing, Inc. and Smart Communications is addressing with their innovative education projects.

One of XEPTO’s digital classrooms allows teachers to access content from DepEd’s Learning Resource Management and Delivery System (LRMDS) and makes them available even without internet. Aside from DepEd’s LRMDS, learning materials from CHED and other schools such as the Khan Academy and University of California (Berkeley) are also accessible. The digital classrooms are infused with XEPTO cloud infrastructure and set up in such a way that teachers and students can easily run it.

“Xepto believes that the real challenge in education is educational infrastructure that will allow content and learning to move from the teachers to the learners. To help accomplish this, XEPTO developed digital classrooms in partnership with the

Department of Education,” said XEPTO Chief Executive Officer Paco Sandejas.

SMART Communications is also making a difference to less privileged kids through their Technocart. This mobile digital laboratory for public elementary schools helps develop literacy in early childhood education. It contains student tablets, laptops, SMART Bro pocket wifis and teacher tablets. The Technocart  has now reached 42 public school beneficiaries, 11,419 beneficiary students, and 421 teachers.

Stephanie Orlino, Smart’s Education Program Head said, “For schools that have no internet connectivity, Smart developed the school-in-a-bag so teachers can bring multi-media content to their students. It has tablets, a smartphone, laptop, hard drive, LED TV, Smart Bro pocket wifi, and solar panel.”

DOING BUSINESS WITH THE POOR

Companies also presented their models on Inclusive Business where the poor, particularly farmers, are involved in their business operations as suppliers.

“As we know, the farmers who put food on our table are among the poorest in the country.  As a food company that utilizes farmers’ produce, we were in the position to do something about this. In 2008, Jollibee Foods Corporation launched the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP) which aims to increase farmers’ income by linking them to the supply chain of Jollibee,” said Gisela Tiongson, Executive Director of Jollibee Group Foundation.

Currently, 12 farmer groups from six provinces are delivering to JFC crops such as onions, bell peppers, salad tomatoes, calamansi and hot chili.  Last year, they delivered 800 metric tons of produce which amount to about Php36 million gross income and is equivalent to 20 percent of the company’s annual vegetable requirement.

Nestlé, on the other hand, initiated an inclusive project in their own backyard by tapping people from nearby households to manufacture face masks and lab gowns for the company, hence providing additional source of livelihood.

Livelihood empowerment especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is also what the Unionbank of the Philippines is advocating through “UREKA.” Through the project, they help SMEs put up their own websites for free which they can use to engage in e-commerce and reach out to a bigger market.

“A group of painters were able to sell their artwork outside Baguio through online selling.  Now, they have buyers from Cebu, Davao and across the country,” shared James Morris Ileto, Vice President of Unionbank’s Center for Strategic Partnership.

PLDT SME Nation also promotes e-commerce among SMEs by helping them build their online presence.

Francis Oliva, PLDT SME Nation’s SME Community Partnership Head said, “In this digital age where 101 million Filipinos are online and mobile every day, SMEs need to tap to this potential market.”

PROMOTING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

By sharing these initiatives, PBSP hopes to encourage other companies to come up with their own innovative solutions or even replicate it in their communities, in a bid to collectively respond to the country’s biggest concerns including poverty.

“I hope today was an opportunity for you not just to meet other people, get to know what they are doing, but really to find those connections that will allow us to make our own solutions. I hope our collective efforts rise up to become one huge wave that lifts the marginalized and the poor to live lives with dignity. As we say in PBSP, Business United, Lives Uplifted,” said PBSP Executive Director Reynaldo Antonio Laguda.

SOLB will also be held in Cebu and Davao this year.