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19 March, 2016, Hong Kong
On 19th March, 2016, Dr. Margarita Pavlova, the director of UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre (Hong Kong), attended the “In Dialogue with the SDGs” conference organized by an independent organization, APAC Ideas for Action, at the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong. The conference offered a collaborative space for interactions between delegates, social initiatives and enterprises on themes that centered on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), featuring keynote speakers of senior executives from international and large corporates such as HSBC, IFC, World Bank Group, MTR Corporation and local innovators from Hong Kong Social Enterprise Incubation Center, Solageo and Lensational.
Keynote speeches and discussions that day included topics on strategic innovation for sustainability, global health and youth leadership, financial technology in financing SDGs, involvement of private sector and youth mobilization in realization of SDGs. The conference convened around 200 delegates and students.
A keynote address by Sergio Pimenta, Director and Global Head of Industry manufacturing, Agribusiness and Service at International Finance Corporation, reiterated the increase of climate-related financing by World Bank to 28% in 2020, to help countries tackle the impacts of climate change. Mr. Victor Kwong, Head of Corporate Health, Safety & Environment of the Hong Kong & China Gas Company Limited shared with the delegates and students some innovative sustainable practices the company has been using. One example is recycling of waste water and recovering sludge energy. Other clean and innovative initiatives that produce new energy include the making of natural gasoline from coal, which is free from Sulphur oxide and nitride oxide emission, also the production of Liquefied natural gas from coke gas.
A panel discussion on achieving the SDGs touched upon the business potential for climate change and new energy development in Hong Kong and China. One example coming from the panel illustrated how Hong Kong Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland have shifted to the use of Towngas to curb carbon emission. Systemic thinking and resilience building among communities are keys in achieving the SGDs. In another panel discussion on social entrepreneurship, the panelists addressed the importance of open-mindedness and creativity to bring about social innovation. They see social enterprises having the power to realize shared values in local communities while achieving business success. Ms. Yvonne Li from Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (SIE) Fund Task Force mentioned how SIE fund have been helping the locals and individuals to start up their own social enterprises in Hong Kong in the past years. Mr. Raymond Yim, founder of Hong Kong Social Enterprise Incubation Centre Li mited, then questioned the nature of entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and called upon social enterprises to operate in a self-sustainable manner instead of relying on government funding.
This event provided an opportunity to develop new links for the UNEVOC Centre.
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