Buenos Aires, 30 January 2023: CEADS, WBCSD's Global Network partner in Argentina, celebrated its 30th anniversary of integrating the business agenda with sustainable development in Argentina during a conference on 6 December 2022. On this occasion, the results of the program "Connecting companies with the SDGs” developed in partnership with EY Argentina, were also presented. The carbon impact of this anniversary conference was measured and compensated through Carbon Neutral +, a CEADS member company, using carbon credits verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) standard.
Opening the conference, Silvia Bulla, President of CEADS and Danisco Argentina and HR Director of IFF for the Latin America region, gave a welcoming speech. "Celebrating our anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the progress and the great journey we have traveled during this time. It is also an opportunity to reflect together with our member companies and the CEADS relationship ecosystem on the challenges that still lie ahead," she said.
The conference continued with a panel titled "Integrating the business agenda with sustainable development" which was moderated by María Bettina Llapur, Director of Communication and Institutional Relations of Naturgy Argentina and Sebastián Bigorito, Executive Director of CEADS. Participants included Carlos March, Director of Collective Intelligence of AVINA Foundation; Andrés Napoli, Executive Director of FARN; Silvia Nonna, Vice-Dean of the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and Hugo Wortman Jofré, President of Poder Ciudadano. The panelists exemplified different experiences and testimonies about CEADS’ role in putting sustainable development on the agenda in Argentina, building bridges, training teams and bringing global trends to the local reality.
Following this, Silvia Bulla, President of CEADS and Norberto Nacuzzi, Country Managing Partner of EY Argentina, presented and shared the results of the 7th edition of the "Connecting Companies with the SDGs" Program. This platform promotes local initiatives of CEADS member companies that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in order to consolidate and showcase efforts toward the 2030 Agenda. The platform includes 628 initiatives submitted by 106 companies, which together address 130 of the 169 goals of the 17 SDGs. In 2022, 8 companies joined the platform by submitting new initiatives.
At the end of the conference, companies that participated in initiatives in the 2022 edition were recognized for their contributions to the SDGs.
"Today, representatives of civil society, academia and the political world, with visions different from ours, often at odds in discussions on certain regulations, have recognized CEADS as a valid, legitimate and trustworthy interlocutor. At the same time, our member companies have validated how CEADS works, manages and sets goals. It is undoubtedly a memorable way to celebrate these 30 years, with the feedback of very demanding stakeholders and with high ethical standards and excellence", concluded Sebastián Bigorito, Executive Director of CEADS, at the end of the meeting.
Key figures on the CEADS "Connecting Companies with the SDGs" Program:
- The platform includes 628 initiatives from 106 companies.
- 244 of the initiatives are updates, representing companies' commitment and their progress over time.
- All of the 17 SDGs were included, as contributions concerned 130 of the 169 goals. The SDGs prioritized by the private sector were SDG 4 on "Quality education,” SDG 12 on "Responsible production and consumption," and SDG 8 on "Decent work and economic growth.” It is worth noting that SDG 13 on "Climate Action" was this year's revelation.
- In 2022, the partnership continued with the R.E.D. de Empresas por la Diversidad (Di Tella University) under SDG 5 on "Gender Equality" and SDG 10 on "Reduced Inequalities" and with Grupo de Fundaciones y Empresas (GDFE) in relation to (SDG) 4 on "Quality Education.”
- While in the first editions, only 50% of the initiatives received had some measurement, this year, 95.4% of the initiatives submitted included indicators. Of these, 29.3% had outcome indicators, while the rest used management indicators. This percentage increased by 4.3% since last year.
About CEADS:
- The Consejo Empresario Argentino para el Desarrollo Sostenible (CEADS) is WBCSD’s Global Network partner in Argentina.
- CEADS was founded in 1992 and was the first national BCSD to be created. It brought together the chairmen of 16 Argentine companies, representing the most significant industrial sectors of the country.
- Today, CEADS has more than 80 member companies drawn from an even wider range of economic sectors and activities.
- Website: http://www.ceads.org.ar/
- Social media: @CEADSArg on Twitter and CEADS on LinkedIn
