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3GF 2016: Roles of Business Community in the Limelight

The Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) in 2016 with the theme of “A Call to Action” was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The forum discussed green growth priorities where roles of the business community were emphasised. Just returning from 3GF 2016, Mr Nguyen Quang Vinh, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), has granted an interview to Vietnam Business Forum on this event. Huong Giang reports.
Mr Vinh said that 3GF, initiated by the Danish Government, has six member countries, namely Chile, Denmark, Ethiopia, South Korea, Kenya, Mexico, China and Vietnam. In 2016, Vietnam attended with the full membership status, headed by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha accompanied by representatives from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Construction and other agencies. The representatives from VCCI joined as an advisor to the forum and a representative for the business community at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Denmark.
 
3GF 2016 underlined public - private partnership, which was seen to play a central role in ensuring sustainable development and green growth. This showed that the world is facing a lot of challenges in implementing 17 sustainable development goals (SGDs) to 2030 launched by the United Nations. What are your opinions about this?
That's right. The Royal Danish Family and the Danish Government highly appreciated and strongly supported 17 SDGs. 2015 was seen the year of historic agreements and the period from now to 2030 will be the years of implementation. This year, 3GF had a session on importance of multi-stakeholder relationships, public - private relations and SDG 17, utilised it as a tool to carry out all the fields sustainable development. How to expand successful models is very important.
 
There are many questions about what the Governments need to do to support every citizen and enterprise to ensure the achievement of 17 sustainable development goals, covering poverty reduction, security food, biodiversity, clean production, circulatory economy, sustainable production and consumption, environmental protection and others.
 
This year, 3GF also highlighted the role of smart city, a step towards a green economy. According to estimates, in 2020, 70 per cent of the world population will live in cities. So, how to make cities places worth of living and active factors resilient to climate change and energy conservation is what scholars and businesses concerned and discussed. Particularly, business roles are put at the forefront because they are not only citizens living there but also cooperate with authorities to design sustainable and environment-friendly cities. Besides, 3GF discussed food security and food waste because about 30 per cent of global food output is wasted from field to fork, causing the loss of hundreds of billions of US dollars each year.

 
As reprehensive to VCCI and the business community, you joined a breakout panel themed "Race to the Top" at 3GF. Why did VCCI take part in this theme?
"Race to the Top" is a cooperation project by some nongovernmental organisations seeking to establish a multi-stakeholder relationship. This is also in line with one of important themes of 3GF 2016. The project addressed social responsibility and sustainable development, particularly labour relations, working conditions, labour environment and standards in the leather-footwear and garment-textile industries.
 
Besides, I talked with representatives of the Danish Government on Blue Number project that VCCI has implemented in the agricultural sector, on sustainability reporting project of Vietnamese enterprises and on circulatory economy. In addition, we were concerned about how to raise funds for green growth - a so-called bottleneck that Vietnamese enterprises have sought to widen with green growth strategies. The key to this issue is the formation and operation of green climate funds and green growth funds in Vietnam.
 
Despite being the newest 3GF member, the Vietnamese delegation has very specific suggestions and contributions to the forum. What are they?
In 2016, Vietnam attended the forum as an official member. The delegation was led by Minister Tran Hong Ha and all members actively and effectively participated in various sessions in the two-day forum. In general, this forum's contents are practical to Vietnam.
 
We think that, to effectively carry out green growth strategies in Vietnam, ministries and branches such as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Industry and Trade need to make more detailed, specific plans to match with the forum's contents. It is important that how to make the attendance to this forum an effective mechanism for Vietnam. It must talk more with other 3GF members to share experiences and mobilise funds and technical supports for green growth. The engagement of the business community must be increased because the business is an important partner in realising 17 SDGs which was adopted by the United Nations in September 2015.

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