On B Day for Climate Action, where companies gathered to implement sustainable initiatives, the Minister of the Environment, Lucía Ruíz, highlighted the strategic role that private organizations have in tackling the challenges of Climate Change as a country.
The minister opened the event, giving examples of sustainable private initiatives. «Fishing companies have changed the way they work, taking advantage of their waste and generating new inputs that are an economic opportunity for them,» she said.
She also highlighted the coordination between companies that form alliances to share resources, in what is called “business symbiosis». «A paper industry company and a beverage corporation joined forces to take advantage of the water discarded by the bottling plant and used by the other to process cardboard and paper.” she said.
Martin Jaggi, director of Swiss Cooperation (SDC), reaffirmed Switzerland’s support for B Movement at the global level and stressed that the time has come to strengthen cultural change, starting with the market, for reducing inequality and the climate crisis.
María Paz Cigarán, general manager of the environmental consultancy Libélula, made a speech stressing the gravity of climate change. She appealed to companies to take action in the context of the COP25, pointing out opportunities that lie ahead. “We have a common goal not to exceed 1.5 °C as the limit to avoid an increase in average global temperature” she said.
She also emphasized the carbon neutral commitment for 2030 and the initiative for a delegation of B companies to publicly announce the declaration of climate emergency and the decision to do so during the COP25 to be held from 2 to 13 December in Santiago de Chile.
B Companies
The B Day event brought together representatives of various companies that share the B System proposal, which points to an economy that can create comprehensive value, promoting forms of economic organization which can be measured in terms of the wellbeing of people, societies and the planet at the same time.
Since the system was created in April 2012, there are already 10 national B Systems, a community of more than 500 B Companies in the region, which promote this business vision; they introduce sustainable business options in university education, and present the discussion in public parks and at music festivals, so that thousands of people can learn about it.
Source: Ministry of the Environment
