Increasing Expectations on Reporting and Disclosure

Synopsis

Where are we now, five years after all Member States of the United Nations declared their commitment to Sustainable Development Goals and with the Paris Agreement back on track with the US in the fray?

An unexpected outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic is broad awareness and informed debate on what actually constitutes sustainability, resilience and robustness in our economies and societies. We have had the time to notice how extreme weather events compound suffering, how forced labour supplies us our cotton and rubber gloves, that our personal movement is compromised by contact tracing, and that governments and Big Tech collude in our best interests.

Naturally, the investment community is mobilising on levels never seen before. In an urgent need to assess which businesses are going to transition to a warmer world, they are demanding increased disclosure and reporting requirements which are aligned with Agenda 2030 and Paris.

Asia Research and Engagement will share from their recent report with CLSA titled “Stepping Green Stones”, which reviews the extent to which leading Malaysian corporates are aligning strategy to the realities of the changing climate. This will address what are the climate risks and opportunities faced by Malaysian industry and how well leaders are positioned to manage growing risks and capitalise on opportunities. The answers to these questions reveal the extent to which Malaysian companies will stay competitive against international peers, sustain their growth, and build trust with investors. The industry response is also critical for Malaysia to meet its own international commitments on climate change. There is no single answer that fits across all sectors and companies.

Attend this webinar to understand better how companies can manage strategic risks and take advantage of opportunities presented by climate change and how to report on these steps to investors and analysts that are  assessing which businesses are likely to smoothly transition and ‘build back better’ to a greener economy.

“The pandemic has strengthened the conviction in the financial community that it must address systemic risks. Climate change has now moved to the top of that list. In Malaysia, the key institutions, companies, and regulators are only now starting to address the implications of the transition to a low carbon economy and the physical changes. One challenge is that boards are still relatively uninformed about climate change and how related risks will affect their businesses. We recommend boards set up committees to create accountability and raise conviction about the steps needed.” Ben McCarron

"We no longer view climate change as something that happens to someone else. Covid has instilled the mindset of per-person measurement. Whether victimized or vaccinated, we recognise that our economy comprises people who each and all produce, provide and purchase. Resilience and risk are precisely about people in specific places, with exposure to challenges and benefits of opportunities. Reporting and disclosure using any metric that is not people-centric is defunct.” - Puvan Selvanathan

Agenda

4:00pm Welcome by Datin Seri Sunita Rajakumar, Founder of Climate Governance Malaysia

(15 min) Keynote by Benjamin McCarron, Managing Director of Asia Research and Engagement “How Malaysian corporates are aligning strategy to the realities of the changing climate”

(15 min) Keynote by Puvan Selvanathan, Founder of Bluenumber “What actually constitutes sustainability, resilience and robustness in our economies and societies”

4:35pm (40 min) Panel discussion:

Ahmad Ridzuan bin Wan Idrus (Head, Investment Operations Department, Employees Provident Fund)

Benjamin McCarron (Managing Director of Asia Research and Engagement)

Puvan Selvanathan (Founder of Bluenumber)

Gabriel Wilson-Otto (Head of Stewardship, Asia Pacific for BNP Paribas Asset Management)

moderated by Datin Seri Sunita Rajakumar, Founder of Climate Governance Malaysia

About the Contributors

Benjamin McCarron, Managing Director of Asia Research and Engagement, is a leading expert in responsible finance. A former fund manager, he has over 16 years’ experience in mainstream finance and sustainability. He founded ARE in 2013 to address the gap in high quality, independent research on responsible finance in Asia. He is also a specialist consultant for the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA).

Puvan J. Selvanathan is Founder of Bluenumber. He is an expert in Business and Human Rights, Sustainability Risk Management and Digital Equity. He was formerly a UN Special Mandate Holder on Business and Human Rights at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and Head of Food & Agriculture at the UN Global Compact in New York. Puvan is an Architect by profession, with an MBA and a doctorate in Corporate Sustainability. Before joining the UN, Puvan was Chief Sustainability Officer at a Malaysian diversified conglomerate and helped set global standards to certify sustainable palm oil. He established the Bluenumber Foundation in 2015, a non-profit organization in New York, to promote a rights-based approach to digital identity, data and property rights, especially in global networks and supply chains.

Ahmad Ridzuan bin Wan Idrus joined the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)as the Head of Investment Operations Department in 2019. Prior to joining EPF, Ridzuan spent about 19 years in management consulting firms and involved in multi industries clients from plantations, high tech to asset management and financial industries focusing in strategy, performance improvement and programme management office. Ridzuan currently leading the Investment Transformation, Investment Services, Shariah Services and Sustainable Investment Centre at EPF.

Gabriel Wilson-Otto is the Global Head of Sustainability Research and leads BNP Paribas Asset Management’s (BNPP AM) ESG Analyst team.  His research responsibilities include overseeing the development and evolution of BNPP AM’s proprietary ESG scoring framework and contributing to developing and delivering BNPP AM’s sustainability research agenda. Gabriel joined BNPP AM in 2019 as Head of Stewardship, Asia Pacific.  In that role, he represented and led BNPP AM’s stewardship activities in Asia Pacific, including undertaking direct and collaborative corporate engagements, and engaging with policymakers on key issues relating to sustainable finance and investment.  Prior to BNPP AM, Gabriel was at Goldman Sachs for 12 years, most recently as Head of GS SUSTAIN Asia.  In this role, he was responsible for leading a team to conduct thematic research and identify long-term investment opportunities in high quality companies.