Topics The 35th Public Relations Seminar was held SDGs and Climate Crisis for Companies
The Public Relations Committee of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Japan (PMAJ) held its 35th Public Relations Seminar on October 23, 2019 at Nomura Conference Plaza Nihonbashi (Chuo-ku, Tokyo). The theme of this year's seminar was "SDGs and Climate Crisis for Companies," with a lecture by Yuko Kuniya, Director of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation and Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In recent years, there is a growing need for companies to strengthen their efforts to solve social issues related to climate change and the environment. In this lecture, Ms. Kuniya explained the global trend of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and perspectives on how to incorporate them into corporate activities. Public relations professionals at member companies share a common understanding of the issue of how to communicate their ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) and SDGs initiatives to society and link them to the enhancement of corporate value. This seminar provided a good opportunity for the 90-plus participants to deepen their understanding of the SDGs and to consider how to conduct effective public relations activities in the future. The following is a transcript of Mr. Kuniya's lecture.
Scenes from the lecture
1. the essence of the SDGs and the historical background
When I was in charge of NHK's "Close-Up Today" program, the program would present a single solution to an issue, but after a few years, more serious problems would arise. Why couldn't we see the issues from an integrated social, economic, and environmental perspective and disseminate information? The solutions were monolithic." This reflection left a deep impression on my mind. In 2015, I went to the United Nations to interview them about the SDGs and was exposed to the strong idea that SDG initiatives should be carried out with an awareness that the three aspects of society, the economy, and the environment are interconnected. This led me to continue my coverage and dissemination of information on the SDGs.
With the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, we are now in an era in which companies are being asked to take a hard look at the impact of their activities on the environment and their attitude toward social issues. We live in an era in which the global environment is becoming less sustainable, and companies are being asked how they can create new business models in the face of these constraints.
Director, Japan Renewable Energy
FAO Goodwill Ambassador
Ms. Hiroko Kuniya
2. relationship between the SDGs and the Paris Agreement
In the world, a "decarbonization" trend is being established as a major revolutionary movement for environmental issues. This trend was accelerated by the 1.5°C Special Report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October 2018. Under the Paris Agreement, the agreement was to limit the increase in temperature from pre-industrial times to within 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century and to strive to get as close to 1.5 degrees as possible, but the IPCC reports that global temperatures have already risen 1.1 degrees and could reach 1.5 degrees by 2030. The report said that in order to avoid the severe effects of global warming, CO2 emissions must be reduced to minus 45% by 2030 and virtually zero emissions by 2050 to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
From an environmental, economic, and business perspective, the conventional viewpoint has been "how to harmonize or balance" or "environmental response is a cost," but we are no longer at that stage. We need to shift our mindset to one in which the global environment is the foundation of the economy and business, based on the recognition that the global system that has sustained human life is reaching its limits in various aspects. It is against this backdrop that the SDGs and the Paris Agreement were born. The SDGs and the Paris Agreement, which aim to create a decarbonized era for a sustainable society, are inextricably linked and will define the future of the world, society, business, and civic life.
For example, the number of hungry people is currently on the rise, and this is due to worsening water shortages caused by global warming and natural disasters that have had a significant impact on agricultural production and fisheries. In order to reduce hunger, we must not only assist in food and agricultural production as we have done in the past, but we must also work to mitigate the effects of global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Regarding the issue of food waste, the FAO estimates that approximately one-third of food is wasted during the entire production, distribution, sales, and consumption process, and that the resulting CO2 emissions from wasted food are 8% of total human emissions. Therefore, the SDG goal of halving food waste is also linked to CO2 reduction. This demonstrates the inextricable link between the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.
3. background of the SDGs
The SDGs have a wide range of goals and targets. The targets that the United Nations had previously set forth were mainly for developing countries, but the SDGs are different. Developed countries themselves must be aware that the various challenges of the SDGs are connected at the root, and must take the initiative in solving them "as if it were their own business.
For example, there is the problem of water shortage. Although it is hard to realize in Japan, water shortages will become a serious problem worldwide in the future. On the other hand, Japan's food self-sufficiency ratio is low, and we import a large amount of food using the world's water resources, soil, and labor. If the environment for water resources deteriorates in the future, the effects will be felt in Japan as well, such as a decrease in imports and an increase in grain prices, and this is by no means a matter for others.
The SDGs have many goals and targets because people have become more aware of the limits of the global environment, and the growing inequality that has accompanied the expansion of the global economy has increased the sense of instability in the world as a whole, and there is growing momentum to create something that integrates economic, social, and environmental issues. To understand the SDGs, we need to share a sense of urgency about the global environment and the principle of not leaving behind those who are being left behind by growing inequality.
4. tipping point of global environmental change
The global environment is reaching its limits, and we are seeing the effects of global warming everywhere these days in Japan and around the world: extreme heat, typhoons, storm surges, rising sea levels, and so on. However, despite the effects of climate change and the warnings we are receiving from the earth, for the past four years since the SDGs were launched, total global CO2 emissions have not decreased, but rather have reached an all-time high and continue to increase. This is clearly shown in various data.
It is said that at some point when the temperature rises from 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, the climate will become extremely unstable and the ice and ice sheets in Greenland, the Arctic, and Antarctica will reach a critical tipping point, where they will melt irreversibly. If global warming accelerates by exceeding this tipping point, the tropical rainforest system will collapse and become a savanna. Thus, there is concern that one tipping point will create the next tipping point, creating a vicious cycle. Already the melting of Arctic ice is progressing much faster than expected. In light of these facts, what we must defend to the death is to limit the temperature increase to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In the last 70 years or so, human beings have had the power to change the shape of the earth by continuing to emit CO2 through mass production and mass consumption. The earth can no longer withstand the methods that have supported economic growth to date. Under these circumstances, companies are required to change their perception that the environment is not a "cost" but a "foundation" for business.
5. how pharmaceutical companies and the industry should deal with the SDGs
The SDGs "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" expresses strong expectations for companies to proactively work toward solving social issues by demonstrating their creativity and innovation capabilities. It is clear that temperatures will rise in the future, and we hope that companies will find business opportunities to solve social issues through innovation by backcasting on this issue from the perspective of how the earth will look 10 to 20 years from now.
The 17 goals and 169 targets of the SDGs include business opportunities, and each company is working on them. On the other hand, there are also some examples of companies taking the "best of both worlds," which is not a good thing. For example, a company may be promoting itself as contributing to the SDGs in a business field in which it excels, while at the same time engaging in a business that increases CO2 emissions. Such actions are no longer acceptable in this day and age when disclosure of corporate activities is required. In other words, the SDGs contain many business opportunities, but at the same time, they are also a "negative list" of what not to do.
From now on, companies will be asked to address their activities and actions from the perspective of the SDGs: CO2 reduction, conversion to renewable energy, water usage, raw material procurement, supply chain, human rights, employment, long working hours, diversity, and many other issues, Public relations professionals at these companies face daunting challenges. We hope that companies will utilize the SDGs, even as a negative list, to disseminate information about their initiatives.
Unfortunately, Japan is currently viewed as an "environmentally backward" country. A major reason for this is our dependence on coal-fired power generation, which emits large amounts of CO2, and we still have plans to build more than 20 thermal power plants. When new power plants are built, they will continue to be used for 40 years, which is far off the path of achieving the SDGs, and it must be said that the energy transition is not going well. For a company doing business globally, this kind of focus on Japan as a whole is not positive for branding.
Climate change and the effects of high temperatures on the body are manifested in various ways, and the SDGs themes of "increasing renewable energy" and "concrete measures to address climate change" are closely linked to health, and the pharmaceutical industry should be actively involved in the "decarbonization" of its operations.
6. ethical corporate activities and the SDGs
As the limits of the Earth, which has supported human survival and our society and economy, come into view, the question is what kind of society we should aim for in the future. The business model of "mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal," which degrades the earth and destroys its resilience, will have to be changed. How quickly we can shift to a resource-recycling business and a circular economy is required.
In this trend, the ethical aspects of corporate behavior are beginning to take on new meaning. For example, the concept of human rights and business has changed with the spread of the SDGs. For example, the term "Climate Justice" has been used to describe the situation in which developing countries, which have not been economically active and have not emitted CO2, are the most affected by global warming. The question is, what do developed countries think about the situation in which people in developing countries are suffering from drought and heavy rainfall caused by CO2 emissions that they themselves have emitted in order to lead affluent lives?
Increasingly, the relationship between the environment, human rights, and business is becoming more and more important. What does a company's commitment to the SDGs and being ETHICAL bring to its own company? Management should have a perspective on how corporate actions fulfill their responsibility to people and society.
Finally, a message to PR people
In June 2019, foreign institutional investors spoke out. They demanded 707 of the world's leading companies (29 Japanese companies) to disclose information through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) because their environmental impact reporting was insufficient. The pressure to disclose information will continue to increase, and checks will become more stringent. Under such circumstances, companies need to have a strategy on how to develop their information disclosure.
On the other hand, a look at the situation of pharmaceutical companies shows that they tend to lag far behind in terms of "diversity" among the SDGs. For example, the ratio of female managers is low. Although this may not be immediately resolved due to the history of the past, institutional investors are now increasingly asking companies to focus on diversity perspectives. I would like to urge you to practice your initiatives as a company that takes a positive view of diversity and, by extension, the SDGs, and to disseminate information about your efforts.
( Shinichi Sakai, Director, Public Relations Department)