VISION 2050 — a dream for the Philippines to be one of the world’s industrialized economies — is quite an ambitious vision but definitely an aspiration that we, the government and private sector, should strive for and collectively work for in order to realize it for us and our children’s future.

Since the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, more have been demanded to address a wider range of issues — including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change and inequality — from a global level down to the grassroots. This is when the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) started in 2016, wherein its framework is more ambitious to ensure that we are on a path of sustainable development with regard to the people, prosperity, planet, peace and partnership aspects.

The Philippines is one of 191 countries dedicated to achieving the SDGs and has integrated them into its national and regional development budgets, plans and strategies. The country aims to provide a better life for all Filipinos by 2040, guided by its strategic vision of AmBisyon Natin 2040 and the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2028, which covers almost all the issues addressed in the SDGs.

To achieve these goals, the Philippines recognizes the need for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and continues to improve how it engages nongovernment stakeholders. This is when the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) established the Stakeholders’ Chamber on SDG (SC-SDG) to promote understanding, develop ownership, and enable well-aligned partnerships among government, private sector and civil society actors for the achievement of the SDGs.

EMS Group (EMSG) has been a 100 percent Filipino-owned company since 2004 and is the leading total solutions provider of innovative and cost-effective services in the electronics, automotive, aerospace, industrial and medical industries. Our commitment to the achievement of the SDGs started in 2016, when we aligned our corporate core values with its vision. The SDGs have been EMSG’s guiding principle to achieve customer satisfaction by taking accountability and ownership, providing excellence and innovation, and ensuring that our path is toward sustainability. EMSG is also committed to creating opportunities for Filipino talent and uplifting them in the global market by providing continuous technical and soft skills training through its own learning system, Ecademy.

While we are focused on creating a prosperous life for the Filipino people, we also acknowledge our responsibility to the environment, which provides us with the resources we need to thrive. One of our #Call2ActionAs1EMS is “Each one, Plant one,” where we are committed to planting one native tree seedling per employee by 2027. And with the Extended Producers Responsibility Act (EPRA) of 2022,