The Federation was appointed VCDO Laureate 2024 and is working towards a more equitable, green and sustainable future

For Belgian Chambers of Commerce, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs) provide a concrete critical framework to reflect and take actions that contribute to a fairer, greener and more sustainable future.

The Voka Charter Duurzaam Ondernemen (VCDO) by the Flemish Chambers guides companies and organizations in this process. To win the title SDG Pioneer, they must undertake actions that contribute to the realization of all SDGs in a period of 3 years. The action plan will then be evaluated by an external evaluation committee.

The Flemish Chambers all participate in the VCDO and each developed its own action plan. With the ODD certification programme the Walloon Chambers have also set up a coaching programme for companies that follows the same steps as the VCDO. They have also all formulated their own action plan.

In 2020, the Federation decided to take up the challenge with the ambition of achieving the SDG Pioneer certification by 2024.

The final step of our three-year trajectory has now been successfully completed on April 18, 2024 with the award of the VCDO as “VCDO Laureate 2024“. We are looking forward to receiving the certificate on June 20 during the VCDO ceremony, together with the other laureates who were accompanied by Voka – CCI Vlaams-Brabant. But the final crowning achievement will be the presentation of UNITAR’s SDG Pioneer certificate by CIFAL Flanders on October 24 during the Voka Sustainable Business Day.

End all forms of poverty everywhere.

SDG 1 – No poverty

For many years, we have given young people the opportunity to do an internship with us as part of their training. By collaborating with YouthStart Belgium, we now also want to give young people in deprivation a chance to take again control of their lives. In collaboration with YouthStart, the Federation organized a YouthCertification event where young people could pitch their business plan to a jury. It was a special day with a new group of young entrepreneurs embarking on their journey to entrepreneurship. Each of them has a great story and we are curious how it will evolve.

SDG 4 – Quality education

Globally, there is an ever-increasing interest in ESG. In collaboration with CIFAL Flanders, we organized a training programme for the Belgian Chambers of Commerce Abroad and their members in which we bridged the gap between the SDGs, ESG and sustainable business models. We welcomed an international and diverse group of participants from all corners of the globe but with a common denominator: everyone wants to know more about and contribute to a more sustainable world.

Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation

Due to our food and clothing, our water footprint is much larger than we think. With all colleagues, we calculated our water footprint and discussed what individual actions we could take to reduce it.

SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth

In order to develop our skills and increase our team efficiency, the Federation team attended a two-day Insights training on how to get a better understanding of ourselves and therefore also connect better with colleagues.

Promote sustained, inclusive & sustainable economic growth, full & productive employment & decent work for all.

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure

With DigiChambers, we have an application that allows companies to request certificates of origin easily and, if desired, directly from their ERP system. However, we are also exploring to what extent, by using artificial intelligence, we can support chamber staff in the verification process.

SDG 10 – Reduce inequality

Through the network of Belgian Chambers of Commerce Abroad, we are informed of investment projects that are looking for Belgian partners. In a pilot project with the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce based in Ivory Coast we disseminated a number of sustainable investment projects to the chambers in Belgium so that they could inform their members, and in particular the participants in the VCDO sustainability programme.
But we went even further : we organized an information session for the local Chambers in Belgium on a project on circular migration with the participation of the bilateral chamber in Ivory Coast and Enabel which intends to train 120 employees of SMEs in Ivory Coast in Belgian companies and take this experience back to their company in Ivory Coast. The goal of the information session was to raise awareness and foster cooperation.

Reduce inequality within and among countries.

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

SDG 13 – Climate Action

In collaboration with The Green Projects, we calculated the Federation’s direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. While our efforts on recycling, rational use of energy and frequent use of public transportation in professional travel and commuting are clearly paying off, there are still above-average emissions associated with company vehicles and use of office supplies. Reducing these emissions will be a major issue in the future.
By posting a short and simple sustainability tip each month in our mail signature and on the Federation website, we wanted to raise awareness among our contacts around hidden energy guzzlers

SDG 16 – Peace, security and strong public services

The new whistleblowing legislation imposes new obligations on companies but also offers them opportunities to be more quickly informed about possible abuses and violations. Together with the Brussels and Walloon Chambers, we have set up a digital platform on which companies can create a reporting channel for safe and anonymous whistleblower reports. We have already created a channel on this for the employees of the Brussels and Walloon chambers. We also issued a draft whistleblower policy that companies can adopt and adapt to their situation.
In our accreditation assessment we thoroughly probed the extent to which sustainability is integrated into the local Chambers’ strategy and operations.

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

SDG 17 – Partnerships

Thanks to our partnership with CIFAL Flanders, we provide specific training to chambers’ sustainability staff every year. In 2023, the focus was on developing a sustainability strategy and the double materiality.

Work in progress!

Sustainability is a long- term process that requires sustained effort. Rather than seeing it as a reward for hard work, we prefer to see the award as an incentive to continue along this path. We will therefore continue to work on sustainability and more specifically in our trainings but also in our digital services with a focus on digital inclusion for both Chambers and businesses.