After three events in Asia, Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. brought its Children’s Eco Summit back to Europe. Co-hosted by Sekisui and the Global Nature Fund, the event took place from 4 to 6 September at Lake Constance, Germany. The Children’s Eco Summit, established in 2007 for the 60th anniversary of the company, offers children of the employees the opportunity to experience, learn and talk about the environment and nature.
This year, 26 children with high environmental awareness from seven European countries traveled to southern Germany to gain a deeper understanding for the significance of nature. Planting willow cuttings for beavers, building insect hotels and exploring nature off-road during a GPS tour were just three of the many environment-related workshops and activities they took part in. Surrounded by these activities, the children, officially appointed as Sekisui Eco Ambassadors, worked on a common declaration to the Sekisui Group and its top management. They committed themselves to undertaking environment-related measures in their own everyday lives. Furthermore, they made recommendations to increase the company’s sustainability engagement, such as the installation of photovoltaic systems on the roof of company buildings or the implementation of hybrid cars as company vehicles. Another suggestion was for the initiation of an international ‘Biodiversity Day’, an action day for all Sekisui companies worldwide, to be used for joint environmental activities, and focused on biodiversity discussions.
Based on the proposals of the children, Teiji Koge, President Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd., made a commitment to keep on expanding collaborations with NGOs in his speech after the presentations. In addition, he urged the newly appointed Eco Ambassadors to turn their commitment for their own everyday lives into reality, and to share this amongst each other. All other company-related suggestions will be checked for feasibility by the Group’s executives and will be integrated into the company structure where applicable.
The declarations of participants from past events had a deep impact on the company’s corporate social responsibility activities. Sekisui recently established the Environmental Week, an event involving all employees to execute a local environmental activity in August every year. Furthermore, the Group created the annual Greenest Person Award to reward high-level environmental engagement of employees.
For more information on the summit, please visit www.ecosummit2015.com
