Large businesses keen to adopt sustainability initiatives

Large businesses and conglomerates in Bangladesh are keen to adopt sustainability initiatives in their factories to ensure efficient and responsible use of resources, according to experts.

"We invested heavily in our factories during the last 10 years for green initiatives," said Shams Mahmud, managing director of Shasha Denims, one of the top denim manufacturers in Bangladesh.

These include using the latest technologies and renewable energy sources to address the impacts of climate change, he said.

He was addressing a webinar titled "ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) Asia-Pacific Green Deal for Business: Accelerating corporate sustainability in Bangladesh", organised by the ESBN yesterday.

Mahmud, also a former president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Bangladesh has been making the shift to a circular economy through recycling and repurposing of waste.

Regarding renewable energy, he said generating solar power on a massive scale was a challenge as it requires a lot of land, which is limited in Bangladesh.

However, he said Bangladesh was home to 200 factories which had the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the US Green Building Council. The country also boasts 10 of the world's top green factories.

He further said it was very easy for big factories to adopt sustainability initiatives but significantly tougher for small and medium-scale enterprises.

As Bangladesh is going to make the status graduation to a developing country by 2026, it needs to ensure that there are more green factories to avail Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) benefits in the European Union, he said.

Nihad Kabir, senior partner at Syed Ishtiaq Ahmad and Associates, said public and private dialogues were very important to ensuring the setting up of green factories on a massive scale.

She placed emphasis on the adoption of sustainability initiatives by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they are the growth drivers of big industries, serving as vendors and raw materials suppliers.

Also, a former president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kabir alleged that banks and financial institutions feel comfortable financing such initiatives for big industries and conglomerates but not for SMEs.

Shamima Akhter, director (corporate affairs) at Unilever Bangladesh, said they use locally sourced raw materials, including water, and were committed to addressing the climate change.

She also said they have a programme to collect and recycle discarded plastic packaging of their products.

Moreover, they have a target to wholly prevent all types of carbon emissions from their manufacturing units by 2030, she noted.

Asif Ibrahim, member of the ESBN executive council, said the ESBN was working to enable factories to make the green transition and was committed to addressing climate change.

"We have a goal to ensure sustainable business," he said.

The event was moderated by Masrur Reaz, chairman of the Policy Exchange Bangladesh.

Benjamin Soh, vice-chair of the ESBN Innovation Task Force & managing director of STACS, Ryan Carvalho, economic affairs officer, ESCAP trade, investment and innovation division, and Rupa Chanda, director, ESCAP trade, investment and innovation division, also spoke.