Press Release
February 7, 2020

Pia: active participation of private sector key to achieving SDGs

"Creating a sustainable future for all is an integrated responsibility. We all need to do things together to achieve our goals."

Thus said Senator Pia S. Cayetano as she called for stronger public-private partnerships in fulfilling the country's commitment to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"The whole point of the SDGs is to look at it from an integrated point of view. Public-private partnership is so important. It's important that as we lead, we also follow. As we inspire people, we also aspire to be better," the senator said in a speech before top executives of the Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) during their SustainAGIlity Conference on Thursday (February 6).

Cayetano stressed that private companies and corporations also carry the role of educating the public on the 17 Global Goals that the country seeks to achieve by 2030.

"A lot of people still don't know what SDGs are. So the big challenge we have, and I'm sure all of you are onboard, is to share with everyone what these goals are. Right now, we lack information campaigns on the SDGs, so maybe you can help us share the news," she said.

The chair of the Senate Committee on SDGs, Innovation, and Futures Thinking, Cayetano recently filed a resolution declaring 2020s as the "SDGs Decade of Action."

This initiative seeks to encourage participation of experts from both government and the private sector to work towards achieving the SDGs.

"We need people who can take a step back and ensure that we are thinking of the future. Because otherwise, we get stuck in the now. We need to think of this on a national level [and determine] our baselines," the senator said.

"It's really necessary for people to be able to think creatively. Without sustainable plans, well-intended policies may not necessarily give us the outcomes we expect," she added.

Furthermore, the senator also urged companies to look at the SDGs as a set of intertwined goals, instead of treating each goal separately.

"It is erroneous to think that we have the option to choose just one goal that we want to deal with. It's not meant to work that way. These goals are all integrated and indivisible," she emphasized.

"These goals balance the dimensions of sustainable development of the economy, society, and environment. So for any activity, it's not just about identifying one goal. It's about tying them all together," she added.

In particular, Cayetano said private companies can be drivers of SDGs by helping make the country's cities and communities more sustainable, and by promoting the practice of sustainable consumption and production.

"A lot of these companies are involved in building cities, communities, and places where people live. In a way, they are also planning the lives of these people, as they play a part in deciding how these people manage their families and improve their quality of life. So they need to consider that as they plan for sustainability," Cayetano said.

"There is also a need for innovation on how they produce their services for everyday life. They need to reinvent our manner of consumption by making sustainable alternatives more available to consumers," the senator concluded.

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