Advancing SDGs and PPPs: A Dialogue with UN in China | Singapore Chamber of Commerce in China

April 14, 2023

Sustainable Business practices are on every leader’s agenda. On March 15th 2023, SingCham Shanghai, in partnership with Indian Association Business Council (IABC), kickstarted a dialogue with the UN in China and International Cross Chamber Business Leaders.

The evening brought together government and private sector stakeholders to share information and best practices related to Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and explore opportunities for innovative, catalytic collaboration to accelerate progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The insightful evening helped foster resource sharing and partnerships to help organization leadership integrate Sustainable Business and UN SDGs into policies and practice.

Ms. Nishtha Mehta, General Secretary of Business, IABC, first welcomed everyone and shared about the programme flow for the evening. Mr. Rahul Bagde, President of Indian Association, introduced IABC and the guest speakers Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee (UN Resident Coordinator in China) & Mr. Weimin Zhang (Board Member and Assistant President of National Exhibition convention center (Shanghai) co. Ltd.).

Mr. Chatterjee’s Kenya Public-Private-Partnership success story is a great example of what is possible as countries accelerate progress toward achieving the UN SDGs. “Flip the orthodoxy”, a simple transformational message from Ms. Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, has the required gravitas for corporates to steer their sustainability journey.

Mr. Weimin Zhang shared how CIIE as an organization is promoting sustainability and encouraging organizations participating in CIIE to integrate the SDGs.

An insightful panel followed, featuring Susan Zhu from Bosch and the EU Chamber, David Vanni from Novartis and SwissCham, Ravikiran Chaudhari from UPL, and Eric Rupert from altPlus Technologies. The panel addressed the topic “Factors enabling organizations to navigate PPP to land SDG driven projects” and presented a very practical discussion based on case studies.

Mr. Thomas Luedi from Bain & Company shared his perspectives on how to help China’s leadership to de-risk it’s decarbonization ambition through local government engagement.

With his talk on “Road to Zero for a Sustainable Future”, Mr. Vishal Sharma shared insights from DB Schenker Greater China initiatives, highlighting how effective engagement of the public sector can help in garnering advocacy for implementation.

Mr. Richard Chen from Master Kong caught the audience with his vivid live demo of their products, and shared how they are working toward the SDGs by reducing their carbon footprint and using renewable plastics to serve consumers better.

Start-ups are also looking into sustainable business and innovation. Mr. Tong Wei from XAG offered various compelling solutions discussing how digital farming technology is reshaping the future of food towards zero hunger.

Two brilliant women representing the UN in China closed the event. Ms. Shen Yu from UNIDO ITPO Beijing shared more about the organization’s role in supporting PPPs and highlighted opportunities to partner with and tap into UNIDO's resources.

Ms. Brianne Stuart from the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, who also a co-MC for the evening, concluded the event with remarks on how the UN Global Compact (UNGC) in China is providing resources, tools, mentoring and expert guidance for companies and other UNGC members on responsible, sustainable business practices, as well as working to foster catalytic public-private partnerships that support the SDGs and help meet pressing global needs.

We would like to express sincere gratitude to the following organisations for making this event possible: UN in China, UNGC, UNIDO ITPO Beijing, CanCham, Singcham, AusCham, European Union Chambers, SwissCham, BritCham, Irish Chambers.

This initiative received amazing support from our sponsors:

Main event sponsor – Olam Agri;

Other sponsors – Master Kong, TEC – The Expatriate Center, Heurueh, UNPICBP and Pengmen Group Co., Limited.