The Sustainability Expo (SX) 2024, ASEAN’s largest event focused on sustainable innovation, returns from 27th September to 6th October 2024 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok. As a premier platform for exploring global sustainability practices and solutions, SX 2024 invites individuals, businesses, and governments to collaborate and engage in creating a more sustainable future. With a theme centred on “Sufficiency for Sustainability,” inspired by Thailand's Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), the expo promises a holistic view of environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Spanning three floors, SX 2024 will feature ten unique zones, each showcasing different aspects of sustainable living and innovation. On the LG floor, four standout zones will highlight cutting-edge solutions for sustainable food, creative market spaces, educational experiences for children, and a unique initiative to promote recycling and reusing everyday items. These zones will offer visitors immersive, hands-on experiences that inspire actionable change in their daily lives. Here’s a closer look at the four highlight zones on the LG floor that will provide insights into the future of sustainability.
1) SX Food Festival Zone
The grandest sustainable food festival of the year, themed "Back to the Future," will take everyone on a journey into the future to discover healthy and environmentally friendly food. Renowned chefs from popular cooking shows like MasterChef, Top Chef, Iron Chef, and Hell’s Kitchen will showcase their skills and inspire everyone through seven zones offering extraordinary experiences:
- Atlantic - Functional Food: Experience the power of food as medicine, featuring herbs and ingredients that offer health benefits.
- Miami - Healthy: Discover a new approach to healthy eating with low-sugar, low-sodium, and low-fat foods.
- New York - Celebrity Chef & Local Ingredients: Taste special dishes from famous chefs who focus on using local ingredients.
- Tokyo - Local Ingredients & Clean Energy: Explore the integration of local ingredients with clean energy in food production.
- Amazon - Vegan & Plant-based: Be amazed by a variety of vegan and plant-based dishes.
- Sahara - Low Carbon: Learn how to reduce carbon emissions in the food production process.
- Pyramid - Recycle: Discover creative ways to recycle for a more sustainable environment.
2) SX Kids Zone
Open a world of learning outside the classroom with a space dedicated to nurturing future generations. Through exhibitions and hands-on activities under the theme "The Future Shapers," children can play, experiment, and learn to develop skills and stimulate their imaginations. Activities include:
- Kids Mini Stage: A space for children to showcase their talents.
- Chess Kids Club: A chess competition arena for young players.
- Biodiversity Exhibition: An exhibition introducing children to forests and animals, fostering awareness and love for biodiversity, and encouraging nature conservation.
On weekends, there will be a Kids Market, a youth marketplace for budding young entrepreneurs.
3) SX Marketplace Zone
This creative market offers a range of sustainably designed products in a garden-like setting within the city. It supports sustainable Thai businesses at all stages—from upstream to downstream—with over 280 stores. Explore six main zones:
- Sustainable Design Products: Products designed to inspire action based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs).
- Community Products: Items reflecting sustainability and bridging heritage wisdom with modern lifestyles.
- Innovation Products: Innovative solutions that bring society closer to sustainability.
- Farmer and Plant Market: A green space that aligns with urban lifestyles.
- Art Market: Art as a universal language for sustainability.
- Book Market: A creative book market featuring titles on sustainability.
Another new feature this year is the Repartment Store, a hub for shopping and sharing, where attendees can support sustainable products and donate good-quality second-hand items.
4) SX Repartment Store Zone
Give new life to items you no longer use at the SX Repartment Store. This space allows you to donate unused but still functional items for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle purposes. These items can be passed on to others, creating new value for people and society. Donations can be dropped off at the SX 2024 event at the SX Space on the G floor and at the SX Repartment Store on the LG floor. Moreover, there are six other drop-off locations, including ThaiBev Quarter on Rama 4 Road, The ParQ on Rama 4 Road, Sangsom Building on Vibhavadi Road, CW Tower on Ratchadaphisek Road, The Street Ratchada, and Samyan Midtown Co-op.
Give new life to your unused items at the SX Repartment Store. This dedicated space allows you to donate items that are still functional for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle purposes, helping to create new value for people and society. Donations can be made at the SX 2024 event, either at the SX Space on the G floor or the SX Repartment Store on the LG floor. Additionally, there are six other drop-off locations: ThaiBev Quarter on Rama 4 Road, The ParQ on Rama 4 Road, Sangsom Building on Vibhavadi Road, CW Tower on Ratchadaphisek Road, The Street Ratchada, and Samyan Midtown Co-op.
Tongjai Thanachanan, SX Director, stated that the Sustainability Expo (SX) has now entered its fifth year. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the expo continued in a hybrid format, adopting the B2C2B (Business-to-Consumer-to-Business) model, which places the consumer at the centre of sustainable action. This approach connects businesses with consumers, who in turn feedback into the business sector. It serves as a platform for regional cooperation on sustainability, linking all sectors and presenting knowledge, ideas, trends, innovations, and technologies that drive action and lead to change. Over the past four events, more than 800,000 participants attended, generating over 60 million baht in revenue for communities and participating vendors.
For SX 2024, Tongjai mentioned that the event will bring together more than 600 speakers and experts from around the world, along with sustainable business networks from over 270 leading companies and organisations, both domestic and international. They will share a wealth of knowledge, innovative ideas, and examples of how to adapt to the challenges of a warming planet, as well as technologies and innovations that help restore balance to the world. This year’s event will expand from 8 to 10 days, incorporating more sustainability innovations and knowledge from real-world practitioners across various dimensions. It will focus on activities that encourage people to change their behaviour, take action to benefit society, and help mitigate the global warming crisis. Additionally, this year’s event will become more international, featuring innovations from 13 foreign organisations, including the World Bank, and participants from Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
"We have expanded our network of partners from government agencies, private sectors, civil society, embassies, and international organisations to join forces because sustainability concerns everyone. The seminar sessions and sustainable business networks will focus more on business-to-business discussions and open spaces for social enterprises to meet, exchange, and learn, promoting balance in all dimensions—economic, social, and environmental—for a better balance and a better world (Good Balance, Better World). The event’s theme, 'Sufficiency for Sustainability,' emphasises the importance of sufficiency in achieving sustainability."
SX has made an impact by bringing together sustainability enthusiasts and creating a platform for learning and action. Throughout the event, waste will be sorted, surplus food will be donated to vulnerable groups in Bangkok, food waste will be composted, and PET bottles and paper will be sent for recycling. This expo supports national and international sustainability policies, with a goal of attracting 500,000 visitors this year," said Ms. Tongjai.
B2B Event: Seminars and Business Networks for Sustainability
Delve into sustainable business practices at world-class seminars on the second floor, where leading public and private sector organisations will exchange perspectives on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. Participants will discuss proactive and reactive strategies for businesses in response to climate change. Key stakeholders include the Department of Climate Change, the banking and finance sectors, the industrial sector, and climate change risk assessment experts. Notable forums include the Nikkei Forum, Chief Sustainability Officer Forum, ASEAN Circular Economy Forum, SE Forum, and a special event by Austrade, offering fresh insights to transform businesses towards sustainability.
