Bangkok's Sustainability Expo will continue until 2030, serving as a platform to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and create new sustainability models, delegates and speakers agreed on Sunday, as this year's edition drew to a close.
The 10-day event, the brainchild of Thai Beverage Plc and partners, has been held for five consecutive years at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) to raise public awareness of living sustainably.
Thai Beverage CEO and President Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi emphasised during his speech in the "SX Launching Forward: SX2025" session that sustainability is everyone's responsibility. He said the way the current generation uses resources—which is evident in the business sector, where resource usage has become excessive and has transformed society into a consumerist society—will impact future generations.
Therefore, he insisted that for the current generation to preserve resources for future generations, the business community must consider how it can work with society to co-create. One possible way to achieve this is by embracing the sufficiency economy philosophy.
In addition, he emphasised that the younger generation has a significant role to play in promoting sustainability. Those who attended SX2024 will hopefully have been inspired by the ideas presented in the "Better Me," "Better Living," "Better Community," and "Better World" showcases at the expo. These contained a message for the young, he said; that for the next generation, living sustainably begins with oneself and positively impacts the local community and the wider world.
"Everyone has a stake in sustainability, and it all starts with our tiny action," he added.
He said next year's event will be held from Sept 26 to Oct 5 at QSNCC.
The United Nations has announced a 2020-2030 Decade of Action urging all stakeholders to achieve their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. He said that the expo would also run until at least 2030 and continue playing a vital role in promoting awareness and sustainable living.
"We want everyone to be sustainability shaper," he added.
Tongjai Thanachanan, Chief of Sustainability and Strategy of Thai Beverage, said that this year's expo had 740,423 visitors both offline and online, exceeding the goal of 500,000 visitors.
This year's revenue for the Market Place section was 17.09 million baht, while the Food Festival's was 23.7 million baht.
Additionally, due to the ongoing flood in the northern region, the expo staged a two-day fundraising concert and raised 4.8 million baht to help the victims.
"Over the past five years, there have been 1,182,954 accumulated visitors, who have helped the expo to raise a total of 106 million baht for the communities who participated," she added.
