Global Compact Network India (GCNI) a local arm of UN Global Compact, New York held the 3rd Sustainable Development Goals Summit (SDGs) on the theme of “Emerging Trends in CSR to Achieve SDGs” on December 20, 2018 at Hotel ITC Grand Central, Mumbai. The agenda of the event was to discuss the various initiatives by the corporates to implement SDGs and the roadmap for the following year.
SP Shukla, Summit Chair & Vice President – Western Region, GCNI and Group President & CEO – Aerospace & Defense Sector, Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra opened the summit by summarizing aptly how essential it is for corporates to set realistic goals when it came to sustainable development and trying to be successful in those goals.
“A short-term strategy is always to focus on specific targets through CSR funds, which can be a useful way for companies to make a beginning and learn from our experience of doing things to formulate longer term strategies.”
To give an overview of the summit Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Secretary General, Indian Steel Association stated that companies and corporates have changed their mindset looking at section139 and have started looking at CSR activities with considerable amount of maturity working on substantial detailed strategies.
“When we talk about emerging trends, today we see that corporates have changed their mindsets looking at section 135 as no longer a challenge but an opportunity”
K.K Maheshwari, MD, Ultra Tech Cements Ltd. Aditya Birla Group delivered the keynote address where he stated how there needs to be a balance in the goals for a sustainable development. He spoke about working towards building rural infrastructure, providing clean water and sanitation facilities everywhere. He also spoke about the influencing factors in young people’s mind and how education plays an important role in it. One of the primary goals in sustainable development would be to ensure provision of education and reduce the rate of drop-outs across the country. He concluded saying, “CSR activities by companies have a multitude positive effect and it is one of the main ways to achieve the goals we set for the country.”
Key Highlights of the Summit:-
- 250 Delegates from all over India
- Launch of GCNI – KPMG – Thought Leadership on “Assimilate, Blend, Converge for SDGs”
- Exclusive Case Studies session focusing on Quality Education – SDG 4 and Clean Water & Sanitation – SDG 6
- 3rd Sustainability Quiz was held with over 60 entries received from Kolkata, New Delhi & Mumbai and Tata Consultancy Services winning the Championship followed by 2nd Renew Power and 3rd MSCI.
- Web Launch of SustainEverse – by GCNI & SocioLadder, which is a first-of-its-kind sustainability platform to measure and report the impact made by the country towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.
- Target Equality India Launch – UNGC announced Target Equality at the Trailblazing Women Reception on 25 September 2019 at UN Headquarters and GCNI is one of the participating networks.
- Launch of “Teen Cool Teens- Plus” – A New Age Life Skills Programme for Adolescents by Dentusu- Indeed & Diageo
- Launch of Citizen Foundation-GCNI SDGs 2020 Calendar
- First Time Exhibition at SDGs Summit showcasing best practices on SDGs
3rd SDG Summit – Plenary Sessions
PLENARY SESSION 1:
Understanding the changing landscape of CSR
Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee Secretary General, Indian Steel Association and the panel consisted of Dr. Anand Agarwal, CEO, Sterlite Technologies Ltd., George Hamilton, President, Institute for Sustainable Communities, Subroto Geed, EVP & COO, West, Diageo India, Prabhat Pani, Head of Social Sector Interventions and Projects, SPJIMR and Senior Advisor, (Partnerships & Technology) TATA Trusts, Meenakshi Batra, CEO, CAF India.
PLENARY SESSION 2:
Mapping the colors of SDGs
Anirban Ghosh, CSO, Mahindra Group along with panelists Alka Talwar, Chief CSR & Sustainability Officer, Tata Chemicals Limited, Arvind Bodhankar, Jt. Executive President & Chief Sustainability Officer. UltraTech Cement,., Shalini Singh, Chief-Corporate Comm.& Sustainability, The Tata Power Company Ltd., R K Choubey, Chief General Manager (S D), GAIL (India) Ltd.
Bridging the financial gap for SDGs
Karanraj Chaudri, advisor – UNDP SDG Innovative Finance, India/ South-Asia with panelists Ramraj Pai, CEO, Impact Investor Council, Govind Sankaranarayanan, Vice-Chairman, ECube Investment Advisors Pvt.Ltd*, Gabriel Eric Naranjo, Field Investment Officer, USAID/ India.
Speaker Bytes:
“We have been focusing a lot on technology to leverage sustainability with development. We use IOT to collect data from environmental factors and are working towards becoming carbon neutral and water neutral in the next three years.”
- Dr. Anand Agarwal, CEO, Sterlite Technologies Ltd.
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