Today at Business Fights Poverty NYC Online 2020 we discussed how to build resilient livelihoods.
A fireside chat between Jane Nelson, Director of the Corporate Responsibility Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School, and John Blood, Chief of Legal and Corporate Affairs of AB InBev gave insights into the importance of integrating businesses and local communities if we truly want to rebuild better, and how consumers have been increasingly connected with companies and brands that are purpose-driven. John remarked: “AB InBev’s purpose is bringing people together for a better world. Even though people are apart because of restrictions, there has never been a more important time to bring people together.”
Our first panel discussion, hosted with Mars, examined the challenges around tackling poverty in global value chains. COVID-19 is clearly demonstrating the need to double down even further on efforts to address poverty and make value chains more resilient and sustainable. We are witnessing the first rise in global poverty in decades, with millions of people expected to be pushed back into poverty this year, and businesses have a key role to play in supporting the most vulnerable to recover and rebuild better. In the words of Lisa Manley, Vice President of Sustainability at Mars: “it is a big deal to simply recognise that poverty exists in our value chains… business has a responsibility to address poverty where it exists… It is critical that we are really committed to transforming the way we conduct business.”
The following panel, hosted with Standard Chartered, focused on nature and its value to international supply chains. Generally, nature sits outside of our economic accounting system in terms of value and impact. Even though there is early stage work being done by regulators in some countries and some progress has been made, there is a long way still to go until the value of nature is fully appreciated. The concern is that our actions for preservation and sustainability end up being too little too late. As Pierre Bou, Operational Director of Danone Ecosystem Fund, put it: “social and environmental go hand in hand; we cannot really divide that. I think we saw with the COVID-19 crisis, that the health of the planet is totally linked to the health of the people.”
If you were unable to join us for these important and insightful sessions, you can access all of the recordings and summaries with a Digital Pass . In the meantime, you can also watch all the opening sessions and musical performances so far via the links on the event page ( register here for free access).
HOW TO VIDEOS
Register for free to visit the learning section of our event page for more amazing content, including a series of “how-to” videos created by our community. Today, we launched two new how-to videos:
- Cristianne Close, Global Practice Leader, Markets, at WWF, gives advice on how companies can ensure they have a positive relationship with nature .
- Juliane Reinecke, Professor of International Management & Sustainability, King’s College London, explains how companies can enhance global justice in their global supply chains .
JOIN US TOMORROW
Join us for the last day of our Conference during which we will deep-dive into “Shaping System-Level Partnerships.” Given the scale and complexity of system-level challenges we face, such as the pandemic, inequality and climate change, how can business best partner with others to drive transformational change?
You can see the full agenda here . Tomorrow’s sessions include:
- A fireside chat on partnerships with Ester Baiget, CEO of Novozymes.
- A webinar about business-donor partnerships for system-level impact.
- A webinar on system-level partnerships for food systems, hosted with Nestlé.
- How to videos on driving transformational change through multi-sector collaborations and developing successful public-private partnerships.
Once again, there will be opportunities for informal conversation and networking with peers throughout the day.
We hope you will join us for a great day of connection, conversation and collaboration at Business Fights Poverty NYC Online 2020.
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