IBA Karachi organizes 'School of Business Studies International Conference, 2023 Sustainability: Global & Local Challenges'

"Pakistan despite contributing less than 1% greenhouse gas emissions is one of the top 10 countries to be affected by global climate change. Social dimensions of climate change devastate marginalized population the most despite them contributing the least towards it."
Dr. Mian Farooq Haq, Director Infrastructure, Housing & SME Finance Department, State Bank of Pakistan

May 26-27, 2023: School of Business Studies (SBS), Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, organized an International Conference 2023 on 'Sustainability: Global & Local Challenges' at Main Campus, IBA. Esteemed local and international academicians, researchers, practitioners, students and speakers participated in the conference.

Executive Director, IBA Karachi, Dr. S Akbar Zaidi, welcomed the scholars and researchers to the conference and anticipated a comprehensive conference where research papers will be presented and intellectual discourses will ensue on different aspects of business, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Shedding light on the path to sustainability, Dean SBS and Conference Chair, Dr. Abdullah Zafar Sheikh, gave the inaugural speech and welcomed the attendees. Dr. Sheikh stated, "The conference's primary emphasis lies in building a sustainable future through academia's pursuit of knowledge, innovation, and responsible stewardship by fostering effective teaching methods and generating impactful intellectual contributions. On this platform, the faculty and students of SBS will collaborate and engage with the industry and corporate leaders to create distinctive alliances aimed at solving global and local challenges."

Associate Professor SBS and Conference Convener, Dr. Irum Saba gave introductory remarks and said, "It gives me great pleasure to announce the 2nd IBA School of Business Studies International Conference, 2023. With the escalating significance of sustainability in the wake of pressing global issues including, climate change, resource scarcity, and social disparities, academia plays a crucial role in exploring and tackling these complex concerns." She added that sustainability entails adopting a comprehensive perspective on development, and acknowledging the interdependencies among economic, financial, social, and environmental systems. Furthermore, in the realm of academia, it necessitates a scholarly approach to studying, analysing and proposing solutions that foster long-term prosperity and fortitude while considering the multifaceted dimensions of sustainability. Dr. Saba shared that 115 research paper submissions were received from world over out of which 40 were selected to be presented at the conference.

Director Infrastructure, Housing & SME Finance Department, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Chief Guest, Dr. Mian Farooq Haq commended IBA for arranging the conference on today's pressing challenges of sustainability and climate change. He said that sustainability effects environmental issues, social equity and economic development. He added that climate change is taking place across the globe and drastically affecting many countries including Pakistan in form of record-breaking floods and increasing temperatures. In the past 2 decades Pakistan has faced 173 climatic incidents leading to huge economic losses and damages.

He stated that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda provides guidance towards achieving sustainability goals as the UN has declared this decade as that of action. Focusing on poverty, gender equality and climate change, SBP is laying down practices to contribute towards mitigating the challenges of sustainability by providing guidelines to national banks.

He urged the academia to contribute to sustainability challenges in form of research, policy recommendations and fostering collaborations among businesses, governments and communities. He emphasized that SBP is committed to contributing to the agenda of sustainability and its challenges can only be addressed through collective actions.

Several panel discussions, keynote addresses and parallel technical sessions took place on both days of the conference addressing different facets of sustainability, climate change and environmental issues.