Reflection: Sustainable Development Speeches

ADDRESS BY MR JOHNATHAN SHONIWA, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF LAFARGE CEMENT ZIMBABWE LTD & CHAIRMAN, BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ZIMBABWE (BCSDZ) AT THE GREEN INDUSTRY CONFERENCE, GUANGZHOU, CHINA OCTOBER 2013

Introduction

The Programme Director, Your Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed a great privilege for me and the delegation from Zimbabwe to have the opportunity to participate in this important Green Industry Conference, thank you.

Our delegation comprises private business people, government officials and non-governmental organisations, including UNIDO in Zimbabwe.

All of us are keen to formally launch a Green Industry Initiative in Zimbabwe, and we have just come from South Korea where we were grateful to have had the opportunity of visiting and meeting with various organisations on the progress they have made in greening their industry.

Zimbabwe operating environment

Ladies and Gentlemen, every country obviously has its own set of problems.  In Zimbabwe, previous years of extreme hyperinflation and various complex economic and operating challenges have not only affected our infrastructure, especially energy, but also industrial development.  Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector is currently at 39,6%.

While numerous leading organisations have maintained or introduced a variety of innovative, ongoing and laudable sustainable development concepts and practices, including certification to a number of ISO standards, including ISO 14001, for many industries the ability to be green is hampered by ageing equipment, old technologies and low and/or expensive capital availability for updating and replacement.

The Green Industry Agenda is therefore being pursued as a sustainable instrument to help resource efficient and clean processes in industries in Zimbabwe.  It is notable that our recently elected Government supports this as a Public Private Partnership concept.  The necessary financial engineering will obviously be vital.

Legal framework and policies

Whilst there is a legal framework and policies focusing on environmental management, these will need to be realigned with a forward looking greening agenda. There is therefore need to build capacity within the civil service in order to ensure that a holistic approach is taken on sustainability and more specifically greening industry.

Industry Performance

Given the current difficult operating environment, industry is to be commended for the progress made so far in implementing various suitability programmes. These include:

• The establishment of long term goals - which underpin the importance of boards taking responsibility by clearly spelling out clear sustainability ambitions, which act as guidelines for their organizations and help to sustainability at the core of their operations.
• CO2 emissions
• Reduction in power consumption
• Replacement of fossils fuels by renewable energies
• products containing reused and recycled materials
• Water conservation

Need for Support

Business is in urgent need of both technical and financial support to further enable them to implement and fulfill greening ambitions. This becomes even more urgent when one takes into account that the economy is 80% SMEs and informal.

Economic Context

The main economic activities in my country, Zimbabwe, are agriculture, mining and manufacturing and tourism. Greening must therefore be anchored on these with vast opportunities for industrialization, which should be based on new green technologies.

Social context

In order to arrest deforestation, rivers siltation, greening policies must address the issue of education and the alleviation of hunger and poverty amongst our rural masses.

Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe

I mentioned earlier that, in spite of the challenges referred to, organisations such as mine – Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe – have continued striving to make significant strides in Greening their operations.  I’d like just to touch on this, very briefly.

Guided by our international Lafarge Group Sustainability Ambitions, which also target 2020, we strive to make a net positive contribution to society.  The Sustainability Ambitions are split into three pillars – namely Building Communities, Building Sustainably and Building the Circular Economy.  Based on our experience, I can recommend the importance of Boards taking responsibility by spelling out clear sustainability ambitions, which act as policy guidelines for their organisations and help put sustainability at the core of their operations.

The Lafarge group targets under Building the Circular Economy for 2020 are:

CO₂ emissions - reduce by 33% the Group’s CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement to 1990 levels;

Non fossil fuels – use 50% of non-fossil fuels in the group’s cement plants (including 30% biomass)

Reused and recycled materials – have 20% of our concrete containing reused or recycled material.

In our industry we recognize that 60% of CO₂ emissions in the cement manufacturing process are from the transformation of limestone as it is converted to cement.  The other 40% of CO₂ emissions comes from the use of fossil fuels.  These factors have further driven the need for resource efficiency and at Lafarge Zimbabwe we have a programme of replacing fossil fuels with industrial waste and biomass, including alternatives such as sawdust, fly ash, coal fines, and coal schlamms.

At the same time, one of our key performance indicators is based on the number of kilowatt hours per tonne of clinker that we produce.  We have simplified the monitoring process by installing area-specific meters to measure consumption more accurately, and the indicators in managing our power focus are derived from actions related to optimizing our ball mill power, minimizing false air, managing equipment idling and monitoring power consumption.

As an innovative sideline in line with resource efficiency we are producing paints made from cement or lime which are free from toxic organic solvents.  The lime based paints consume waste materials from acetylene gas production.

And finally, we have aligned our Sustainability Ambitions with the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System for which we have been accredited and which help ensure goals and targets are met in working towards resource efficiency.

Conclusion

Greening industry must be anchored on long term ambitions and clear goals, support by clear and holistic policies. There is urgent need to address the issues of capacity building through technical support and financial support in countries such as Zimbabwe.

Thank you again.

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WELCOMING ADDRESS BY MR JOHNATHAN SHONIWA, CHAIRMAN OF THE BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ZIMBABWE (BCSDZ) AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE BCSDZ 20^TH ANNIVERSARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2013 AT WILD GEESE LODGE, HARARE

Welcome to you all!

On behalf of the BCSDZ, I thank you and your respective organisations for your greatly valued participation, support and interest in what has become the globally important subject of Sustainable Development.

I’d like to extend a particular welcome to our Guest of Honour, Mrs Eve Gadzikwa, for kindly agreeing to officially open our 2013 Annual Conference this morning.

We are also very pleased to greet our international visitors to Zimbabwe: Ms Rabab Fayad, Regional Network Director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), from Switzerland who is sitting up here; Mr Douglas Kativu, Head of the Global Reporting Initiative Focal Point based in South Africa; and Mr Hannington Mubaiwa, a Building Management & Systems Engineer who has come from California in the USA.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe it’s a tribute to all those who have been involved with the BCSDZ over the years that it has reached its 20th Anniversary this year.  It’s therefore an occasion to look back, very briefly.

The BCSDZ was originally known as the Environmental Forum of Zimbabwe and was formed by a group of far-sighted leading business persons who wished to promote awareness, gather and share knowledge and help build capacity on environmental issues in business.  That underlying objective has continued over the years though the agenda was steadily and substantially broadened in line with international thinking to encompass Sustainable Development, with the consequent logical change of name. 

While the BCSDZ has always been and still is autonomous, this change also more clearly aligned it with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, of which it has been privileged to be a long-standing Regional Network Partner.

It’s notable that there are a number of companies represented here today, including mine, that were founding members.  While most of the persons concerned have changed, the companies and their representatives still play a prominent and active role.  They have of course been joined by many others over the years.

I must mention that the guest speaker at the very first Workshop held 20 years ago was Mr Dave Rock, who is now a BCSDZ Trustee and is here with us today!

I referred just now to the BCSDZ’s broader agenda and this past year has further underlined that.  Some examples of our activities are as follows:

• Our first event was a Breakfast Meeting on the new SAZ Standard ZWS 806 on Hazardous Waste.
•  In association with SNV Zimbabwe and under the auspices of the Inclusive Business Forum of Zimbabwe, which is a collaborative venture between SNV Zimbabwe and the BCSDZ with the support of the Ford Foundation, two Workshops were held.  The first was on Sustainable and Innovative Inclusive Business Modelling led by a guest presenter from the Confederation of Indian Industries, and the second was an Inclusive Business Roundtable on practical Inclusive Business experiences in Zimbabwe which had been supported by SNV.
• The BCSDZ re-launched its Field Days at an event held at Lafarge Cement.

·        It then embarked on a significant series of three Workshops on Business Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Carbon Footprints – two in Harare and one in Bulawayo.  These were held in association with the National Climate Change Office in the Ministry of Environment, Water & Climate Change and with the support of UNDP.

·       Just a couple of weeks ago a Workshop was held on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in association with the ZETDC.

All of these events were very well attended.

The latter part of the year also saw the very pleasing resuscitation of the BCSDZ Manicaland Branch, under the Chairmanship of a BCSDZ Councillor, Mr Remington Mpande.

Ladies and Gentlemen, every country obviously has its own set of problems.  It’s well known that, in Zimbabwe, previous years of extreme hyperinflation and various complex economic and operating challenges have not only affected our infrastructure, especially perhaps energy and water, but also industrial development.  Capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector in the third quarter of 2013 was at 39 percent.

Indeed, the recently published Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (known as ZIMASSET) fully acknowledges these issues and the need for remedial measures.

While numerous leading organisations have maintained or introduced a variety of innovative, ongoing and laudable sustainable development concepts and strategies, including those such as building the circular economy, bench-marking, measurement and also including certification to a number of ISO Standards, for many industries the ability to be green and competitive is hampered by ageing equipment, old technologies and low and/or expensive capital availability for updating and replacement.

In the search for solutions to assist with these difficulties, the BCSDZ has had the benefit of working closely for some time now with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Head of Operations in Zimbabwe, Mr Tichaona Mushayandebvu, on a UNIDO Green Industry Initiative for Zimbabwe.  This is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the BCSDZ being the implementing partner, working in collaboration with UNIDO, three Government Ministries and the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.

Part of the initial phase of the project included a Study Tour to Seoul in Korea followed by attendance at a UNIDO Green Industry Conference in Guangzhou, China, which I was also invited to address.  The visit was made possible by the generous assistance of the HIVOS Foundation and 10 of us representing the collaborating partners went on this eye and mind-opening trip earlier this month.

I would like to record our thanks to the Korean and Chinese Embassies in Zimbabwe for facilitating the visits to their respective countries, and all the organisations and individuals who were so kind and helpful to us in Seoul and Guangzhou.

Also as part of the initial phase of the Green Industry Initiative, it’s being launched in Zimbabwe at this Conference tomorrow morning.  I therefore don’t wish to pre-empt tomorrow’s speakers on all the remarkable and very impressive projects, developments and technologies that we saw and learnt about on our trip. Almost all are designed to reduce the pressures on our Planet, and at the same time to help both large and small businesses meet new stringent market requirements, be profitable and generate more employment.  It’s very clear that, as someone said, being Green has rapidly transformed from cause to imperative, and that green issues have moved up the balance sheet.

The Green Industry Agenda in Zimbabwe is being pursued as a sustainable instrument to help resource efficient and clean processes in industries in Zimbabwe through the introduction of innovation, up to date technologies and equipment which will also help beneficiation where applicable, and reflect on employment and the bottom line.  The necessary financial engineering for this will obviously be vital, and that is very much part of our ongoing discussions and negotiations.

As it happens, these objectives, and the concepts of Public Private Partnerships are in line with some of the Key Success Factors and Key Result Areas of the ZIMASSET document that I referred to earlier.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as indicated in the overall theme for this Conference, there is another major Sustainable Development project which is being launched today, and that is the global ground-breaking platform for action titled Action 2020.  This platform is based on Science and has been prepared following lengthy consultations around the world by both the WBCSD and the World Resources Institute.  It has been designed to generate leading business solutions to some of the most pressing global Sustainable Development issues of our time.  It’s about crucial commitments to action and measurable targets that also generate bottom-line results.

We shall be hearing more about it from the WBCSD President’s address to us in this Opening Session, and then we are most fortunate to have Ms Rabab Fayad with us to explain and launch Action 2020 in Zimbabwe immediately after the Opening.

Breakaway Groups will then consider Action 2020’s priorities and suggested solutions in relation to Zimbabwe.  Again, it’s of interest that some of the priorities of Action 2020 link in quite closely to the four strategic clusters set out in ZIMASSET.

As part of the BCSDZ’s activities this year one of our BCSDZ Councillors, Mr Tichafa Jena, attended the international launch of Action 2020 in Istanbul just a couple of weeks ago, so Zimbabwe is among the first countries in the world to be following up on it.

In summary therefore, the BCSDZ’s 20th Anniversary year has been very busy, and there is much to do ahead! We will of course also be discussing a number of other topical and important issues over the next two days.  These include:

• Climate Change and in particular the outcomes of the very recent UNFCCC COP 19 in Poland – Mr Washington Zhakata, Zimbabwe’s National Climate Change Coordinator has only just returned.
•  Biodiversity and Ecosystems
•  Inclusive Business
• Sustainability Reporting
• Green Buildings and
•  Employee Wellness.

In closing my address, we sincerely thank all the Conference Speakers who have accepted invitations or volunteered to share their knowledge, experience and expertise with us.  We also know from previous Conferences that participants will add further value in the Questions & Discussion Sessions and in the Breakaway Groups.

We are also grateful to the Chairpersons in the Plenary Sessions, and to the Chairpersons and Rapporteurs in the Breakaway Groups for their respective appreciated and important roles.

Our sponsors are all listed in the Programme, and we are greatly obliged to them for their generous assistance.

I thank you all again very much for your participation.  I want to close with this increasingly accepted fact.  All over the world there are more and more businesses that are embedding sustainability into the core of their business strategies, operations and initiatives, or striving to do so.  They are finding that not only are they doing the right things in minimising their use of resources, but they are also driving efficiencies, cost savings and market differentiation.

Thank you.

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ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (BCSDZ) MR JOHNATHAN SHONIWA, AT THE GREEN BUSINESS INDABA, 12 APRIL 2012

Striving for sustainable development in a competitive environment

AND

Role of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDZ)

 

INTRODUCTION

I’d like to thank the principal organisers of this event, Xhibit, for the opportunity afforded me and other senior representatives of the Business Council for Sustainable Development to participate in this Green Business Indaba.

BACKGROUND

The imperatives for sustainable development have been articulated by previous speakers and these include:

1. Growth in population to an estimated 9 billion people by 2050, putting a strain on ecological resources.
2. Estimates that, by 2050, we will need 2,3 planets worth of ecological resources to meet the needs of those 9 billion people, if we continue on what has been described as the “business-as-usual” path.
3. The effects of climate change as global CO₂ emissions continue to increase.
4. Increased energy demand, in fact, a recent United Nations Environment Programme report projects that the global economy will be four times larger in 2050, using 80 per cent more energy. 
5. Demand for water could rise by 55 per cent, resulting in 40 per cent of the global population living in water stressed areas.
6. Plant and animal species could decline by a further 10 per cent.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are just a few stark examples of numerous forecasts and warnings by many deeply concerned organisations.  They underline that our Planet’s growing population, shrinking resources and potentially changing climates necessitate radical changes.

ACTION-ORIENTED

I am however happy to note that there is another side to this coin, encompassing a number of action-oriented and multi-faceted features.

Firstly, there are some remarkable success stories from around the world, and indeed Zimbabwe,  of what organisations in the public, private and civil society sectors are achieving.

Just a few examples amongst these include:

1                    the increasing move towards alternative renewable energy

2                    cleaner, resource efficient production

3                    the use of cleaner development mechanisms

4                    massive savings in the use and cost of water

5                    new crop varieties and new food production techniques

6                    major afforestation programmes

7                    significant carbon footprint reduction agendas

8                    management of waste through the four R’s of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover

These have been accompanied by notable behavioural change towards the environment and closer collaboration between Governments, business and civil society.

  

BENEFITS

These are stories of how we can use sustainability innovatively and creatively to not only achieve ecological benefits but to also attain remarkable results in the following areas:

1                    Huge savings in both the efficient use and cost of energy;

2                    Carbon credits

3                    Income generation

4                    Community participation and development

5                    Reduction and eradication of poverty

There are numerous examples all over the world showing that businesses which adopt sustainability concepts and innovative practices can flourish in a resource-constrained world, minimising their use of those resources in the process.

In this context, a report by the Environmental Leader on the third annual Global Study by MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group, covering 2 800 corporate leaders, has some noteworthy results.

 Amongst these were the following findings

1          70 per cent of those interviewed said they had placed sustainability permanently on their management agenda.

2          31 per cent said that sustainability is contributing to their profits.

3          Two thirds of the corporate leaders said sustainability is necessary for competitiveness, up from 55 per cent in the previous year’s study.

  

SOCIETAL & MARKET EXPECTATIONS

Allied to these findings, it is clear that in the process of the on-going quest for balance between economic growth and use of resources, businesses and societies in which they operate around the world are experiencing much stronger demands in both their local and external markets for greater transparency and assurance.

These expectations are impacting on the environmental and social sustainability of their operations and products and, in many instances, right through the value chain, that is from sourcing raw materials through to processing, manufacturing on through to distribution, packaging, recycling and waste management.

Organisations are operating more and more under close focus and the new expectations include an interest in business that aligns profitable business ventures with the needs of society.

These requirements emphasise that the principles of Sustainable Development, which focus on the three pillars of ecological, financial and social responsibilities have become fundamental elements of business frameworks.

They also underline that, in addition to the correctness of striving to be green, businesses have to comply in order to be competitive and also meet legislative requirements.

This is not necessarily a straightforward task, particularly for us in Zimbabwe, having gone through economic and financial crises and austerity measures, but the reality is that stakeholders and markets are unlikely to make exceptions to their stipulations.

SUSTAINABILITY AS A STRATEGY

However, it is not all doom and gloom as these expectations present numerous business opportunities in the local and global markets within which we operate and are expected to meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders including the society at large, regulatory and statutory authorities.

Indeed, considerable opportunities lie ahead for those businesses that are able to turn sustainability into a competitive strategy.  These opportunities encompass a broad range of business segments as the global challenges of growth, urbanisation, scarcity and environmental change become the key strategic drivers.

1        Creating opportunities for new markets.

2        Winning new business while retaining existing business.

3        Clear differentiation that allows for premium pricing for energy efficient products.

BCSDZ BACKGROUND

Having spoken so far in broad terms, it is of course relevant to my topic that I give a brief overview of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Zimbabwe (or BCSDZ for short) and what our principal objectives and activities are.

The BCSDZ will be marking its 19^th Anniversary this year.  It was originally started as the Environmental Forum of Zimbabwe (EFZ) by a group of leading business people who shared common concerns over environmental issues, who wished to make and encourage a commitment by business to the phased implementation of environmental management programmes, and assist in enhancing appropriate knowledge.

In subsequent years the EFZ steadily broadened its agenda in line with international thinking to encompass Sustainable Development, involving,, as I indicated earlier, the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress.

BCSDZ OBJECTIVES

The BCSDZ’s principal objective is to act as a catalyst in the gathering and sharing of knowledge and to help build capacity on Sustainable Development in business.

BCSDZ OPERATIONS

We do this through Technical Workshops, more generalised Seminars, Roundtables, Top Executives Forums, an Annual two day Conference and electronic newsletters.  The emphasis is on a combination of awareness, solutions and implementation on a wide range of Sustainable Development issues.

Some examples of our recent events towards this objective include:

·         Two Conventions on Climate Change in Harare and Bulawayo, in association with the National Climate Change Office.

·         Workshops before and after the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP 17, held in Durban in December 2011, one of which involved the visit  by the CEO of the National Business Initiative in South Africa.

·         Three Demand Side Energy Efficiency Workshops, in Harare, Bulawayo and Kwekwe, in association with ZETDC.

·         Another Energy Efficiency Workshop, in association with UNIDO.

·         A Renewable Energy and Solar Equipment Display event.

·         A Roundtable Conference on Cleaner Production in association with SIRDC and addressed by a visiting UNEP Regional Director.

·         Two Workshops on Waste, one on Hazardous Waste and the other on Waste Management and Recycling.

·         A Workshop on “Making a start on Sustainability Reporting”, which was led by a visiting Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) certified trainer.

·         Two Top Executives Forums, covering corporate Governance, Carbon Footprints and Inclusive Business.

Having personally attended many of the BCSDZ events that I’ve just listed, it’s most notable from the speakers and from participants in the discussion sessions that there is an enormous amount of knowledge, expertise and commitment on a wide range of topics related to Sustainability, and a number of highly technical projects are underway in Zimbabwe.

 I believe it is commendable that so many business people are endeavouring, sometimes under difficult operating circumstances to grow their businesses, to maintain their standards, and in the process to take their corporate economic, environmental and social responsibilities seriously.

BCSDZ MEMBERSHIP

It is also noteworthy how many businesses have managed to keep up with their ISO Standards through the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.  For example, 95 companies are on ISO 9001, 17 on the Environmental Management Standard 14001, 11 on OSHAS, and 124 have the SAZ product mark with some other businesses using the South African Bureau of Standards.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

In making these observations on laudable activities by business that doesn’t represent complacency nor can one ignore that there are examples of where there is certainly room for improvement.

CHALLENGES

The point, nevertheless needs to be made that, in some cases, improvements are hampered by factors such as intermittent power and water supplies which seriously disrupt production and emissions programmes.  Also, having survived the difficult hyperinflationary years, some businesses have not as yet been able to build up sufficient funds or afford to borrow funds for replacement of ageing machinery and equipment with updated and cleaner technologies.

COLLABORATIONS

On a wider scales, as BCSDZ, we continue to engage with arious organisations, such as the

1                      WBCSD - to which we are affiliated to

2                      Have a MOU with SNV Zimbabwe on inclusive business

3                      MOU with Environment Africa

4                      Collaborations with the Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, EMA, amongst a host of other Government departments and private organisations.

WBCSD

Allow me to expand my topic to cover global issues, as indeed, issues of Sustainability, have no boundaries.

WBCSD, to which we are affiliated to, has come up with Vision 2050 project titled “the New Agenda for Business” and this is very much going to be in the fore during the Business day of United Nations Rio +20 Conference in Brazil in June this year.

Supported by the WBCSD Secretariat, the project involved 29 global WBCSD member companies, representing 14 industries, and dialogue in 20 countries with hundreds of representatives from business, Government and civil society, with the WBCSD’s Regional Network partners and with experts.  The resultant Vision and target was of a World on-track toward sustainability by 2050, and of a World in which the global population would be living well and within the limits of the planet.

To attain the Vision a pathway was developed with nine key elements.

In very brief terms, some of the critical Pathway aspects include:

·         Addressing the development needs of billions of people, enabling education and empowerment, particularly of women, and developing radically more eco-efficient solutions, lifestyles and behaviour. 

·         Incorporating the cost of externalities starting with carbon, ecosystem services and water.

·         Doubling of agricultural output without increasing the amount of land or water used.

·         Halting deforestation and increasing yields from planted forests.

·         Halving carbon emissions worldwide (based on 2005 levels) by 2050, with greenhouse gas emissions peaking around the year 2020 through a shift to low-carbon energy systems and highly improved demand-side energy efficiency.

·         And delivering a four-to-tenfold improvement in the use of resources and materials.

CONCLUSION

I hope this presentation has to some extent

1          Highlighted the imperative case for sustainable development

2          Presented opportunities which Sustainable development brings

3          The capacity building efforts by BCSDZ towards a green business

4          And the global nature of sustainability and key topics and initiatives.

Finally, I wish the Green Business Indaba success towards that goal, and I thank you again for the opportunity to participate.