CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS IN ASIA

Concurrent Session: | 5 OCTOBER

Youth, Business, and Climate Action: Bridging the Gap

DATE AND TIME

5 October 14:00 - 15:30 hrs (ICT)

Conference Room 3, UN Conference Centre Bangkok, Thailand

Overview:

The triple planetary crisis—biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution—has significant consequences for both present and future generations. The impacts will be far reaching. With over 49% of the global population under 30, decisions related to the production and consumption of products and services will have a considerable bearing on the planet that young people inherit.

At the same time, green jobs will likely address the challenge of soaring unemployment among young people while contributing to climate change mitigation. Purchasing decisions and youth advocacy can drive demand for sustainable products and practices, putting pressure on businesses to adopt more responsible approaches. Similarly, young business leaders and entrepreneurs can bring tangible solutions to impact real change by developing new technologies, business models and initiatives that promote sustainability and responsible consumption.

Objective:

This session will focus on the role youth can play in advocating sustainable production and responsible consumption and in creating green jobs, while assessing the role businesses, the UN and other stakeholders can play in ensuring youth have a voice and meaningfully engage in business and climate action agenda. Lastly, the session will identify tools, resources and entry points for youth to innovate and lead the climate change, nature conservation and responsible business agenda.

Methodology:

The session format will be a multi-stakeholder panel discussion with opportunities for participants to engage and ask questions.

Outcomes:

Increased understanding, linkages and appreciation of each other’s’ role in promoting sustainable production and responsible consumption.
Identified entry points, actions and platforms for youth to meaningfully engage with businesses to promote climate action.
Establish a community of practitioners involving youth and businesses to connect and exchange periodically.

Moderator and Panelists

Shamima Akhter

Director - Corporate Affairs, Partnerships and Communications, Unilever Bangladesh

As the Director of Corporate Affairs, Partnerships and Communications for the Unilever Business in Bangladesh, Shamima looks after Company’s corporate affairs, partnerships for sustainability initiatives and company communications and is an esteemed Management Committee Member. Shamima is an expert in mass communication, project development and implementation, climate action, policy advocacy and strategic collaboration. She leads the Compass agenda of Unilever Bangladesh and the plastic sustainability for the company, along with guiding the Unilever brand’s social mission in Bangladesh. She is an active member of the FICCI Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Sub-committee, FBCCI’s Environment Sub-committee and Technical Advisory Committee on Plastic Waste Management under the Department of Environment (DoE). Her objective is to drive growth for the business through corporate affairs, stakeholder management and sustainability, which are necessary for today’s business environment.

Tran Minh Quang

Member of CYMG to UNEP, Environmental Activist, Youth Advisor of UNYAP

Over five years of experience working in the private sector and NGOs, IGOs as a youth advisor for CYMG, WWF, UNFPA Vietnam. Founder and operator of some recognized social projects and initiatives in Vietnam and ASEAN. Represents Vietnamese Youth at numerous international and regional conferences, forums. His area of expertise is sustainable development (Goals 4–5–13); as he continues to serve youth empowerment opportunities through Pay it Forward, he believes he's a member of a valuable and expanding community.

Babita Baruah

Regional Client Lead, WPP (Ford International Markets Group)

Babita joined advertising in HTA, Kolkata, now Wunderman Thompson, in December, 1996, as Management Trainee. This is where she experienced the power of building a brand, the potential communication has, as a key driver. Some of her early brands include Modi Telstra, one of the first cellphone operators to enter India, the iconic Bata shoes and ITC, whose office building is still Kolkata’s landmark. In 2000, Babita moved to the Mumbai office, working there until 2010, when she took over the Nokia business in the Gurgaon office. The ten years in Mumbai is where she grew as a professional, ending up as a South Asia lead for some of Wunderman Thompson’s regional and global businesses like Unilever and J&J. Gurgaon started off a new journey in a city that is emerging as a heart of big brands and big investments. After Nokia, Babita moved on to Nestle and then was charged with the formation of an independent unit for Pepsico. PO1, in Wunderman Thompson, was set up in 2014, and is today on the verge of becoming one of WPP India’s potential single relationship accounts. In 2017, Babita moved to GTB, WPP’s integrated unit for Ford, as Managing Partner and Country Head. This was a deep experience in human centric insights and powerful, end to end consumer journey interventions with creative and media led solutions. Babita was awarded the role of Executive Director, VMLYR Thailand as regional lead on one of our global businesses, in 2021. Babita relocated to Thailand in 2022. In this role, she leads ANZ, ASEAN, South Africa, Middle East and India for the global business.

Belinda Hlatshwayo (Moderator)

M&E Officer - Business and Human Rights in Asia, UNDP

Belinda Hlatshwayo is a Monitoring & Evaluation Officer with the United Nations Development Programme. She currently works on Business and Human Rights in Asia, where she works with diverse stakeholders on a range of subjects including business, human rights, and the environment.

Prior to this, Belinda served as Women, Peace and Security Coordinator (UNDP), Researcher for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Tools Project, and as a Researcher for the Judicial Services Commission of Zimbabwe (JSC).

Shubhabrata Roy

Chair and Founder at Behavioural Insights, Architecture and Strategy Pvt Ltd

Shubhabrata Roy (Shubho) is the Chair and Chief Catalyst at BIAS, a leading behaviour change management company based out of India. BIAS is a strong advocator for academia, industry and policy collaborations sharing a common goal of using behavioural sciences for behaviour change. His engagement spans across consumer behaviour, innovation systems, and science, technology and innovation policy. His academic adventures include three Master level degrees (Management, Design Thinking, and Public Policy). He is a research scholar at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is neither a writer nor a speaker though he often ends up contributing to conferences and articles for leading business newspapers and journals such as Economic Times, Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization (JEBO), ABS International Journal of Management, etc.

Concurrent Session: | 5 OCTOBER

Youth, Business, and Climate Action: Bridging the Gap

DATE AND TIME

Overview:

Moderator and Panelists

Contact us

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Concurrent Session: | 5 OCTOBER

Youth, Business, and Climate Action: Bridging the Gap

DATE AND TIME

Overview:

​

Moderator and Panelists

Contact us

Menu