The Responsible Business Forum (RBF) 2018 which was organised by Global Initiatives and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was held in Singapore from 10-12 October. This year, the forum went beyond discussion and asked stakeholders to put more efforts in developing solutions and commitments, so as to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.
With the participation of more than 800 concerned parties, including policy makers, business leaders and members from various NGOs, innovative ideas were raised and discussed under a new approach of laboratory format which focuses on five main areas which are ‘Climate action’, ‘Urbanisation’, ‘Circular economy’, ‘Labor & human rights’ and ‘Food & nutrition security’.
Under the new approach of RBF 2018, participants were divided into different work streams, and it was expected that partners in the same stream should work collaboratively to integrate viewpoints from different sectors and industries, such as business, youth, gender, technology, finance and policy. The new approach allows participants to be involved in the process of developing solutions for achieving the SDGs, while still focusing on the practicability and feasibility of the solutions.
According to Tony Gourlay, Chief Executive Officer of Global Initiatives, it is hoped that participants of RBF 2018 would be able to reflect and ideate their efforts in attaining SDGs after taking part in the new ‘lab format’ approach, hence putting their collaborated work into practice to achieve measureable and ambitious outcomes even after the forum.
Meanwhile, Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP, and Haoliang Xu, Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific at UNDP, both urge the private sector to actively participate in attaining the SDGs and to make a difference to the world’s sustainability development. It is pointed out that the private sector plays a vital role in SDG achievement as business leaders would be able to bring huge impacts to its stakeholders and the natural environment by slightly adjusting their business approach, and also through cooperation between various parties and stakeholders.
The RBF has been serving as a platform for gathering leaders and experts around the world to share and evaluate their efforts in the aspect of sustainability, and to work jointly to establish a well-rounded framework for action and improvement with regards to the 17 SDGs.
