The Net Zero Journey: What Board Members Need to Know- Part 1

Synopsis

This webinar series intends to provide directors with an understanding of the increasing expectations pertaining to identification & management of risk to companies arising from climate change and disclosures in public documents in reference to these risks.

In this Part 1 of the webinar series, Dr Kalanithi will recapitulate  the aspirations of UNFCCC’s Race to Zero campaign in order to address climate change risks followed by a panel discussion where the panellists will each share their perspective on one enabler to achieving carbon neutrality.

During the hour, our moderator will discuss with the panellists how  policy can shape and incentivise corporate response to the call for achieving net zero (or even zero) carbon emissions, both within Malaysia and internationally, how a company can begin this journey by first setting its own science-based targets and how adopting a circular economy thinking can provide new opportunities and business models. Audience will take-away some ideas  on how their companies can innovate for solutions to a shared global problem.

Agenda

12.30pm  Welcome Remarks by Dr Kalanithi Nesaretnam

12.40pm  Panel Discussion

Moderator: Tunku Alina Alias

Alizan Mahadi- Policy impact on Corporate climate change responses

Faroze Nadar - How Corporations can set climate-related Science-Based Targets

Wee Ching Yun – The Circular Economy and the New Plastics Economy

1.30pm  Audience Q&A session

1.55pm  Closing Remarks

2.00pm  End

Contributors

Alizan Mahadi is the Senior Director (Research) at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia. Previously, he served as the Special Officer to the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister and Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Alizan is currently completing his PhD at the School of Media and Governance at Keio University, Japan on understanding the influence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address interlinkages across SDGs. His research area includes governance of and for sustainable development and global environmental governance and was previously the lead author for the National Readiness study to implement the SDGs for the Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia. His other areas of research include institutions for sustainable development and sustainable consumption and production. He is currently a team member of Future Earth’s Knowledge Action Network on SDGs (SDGs KAN). Alizan also has extensive experience in network building, including being a founding member of the Malaysian CSO SDG Alliance and the founding principal officer of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Malaysia Chapter. Alizan has a MSc in Sustainable Development from University of Uppsala, Sweden and had 5 years of experience as a sustainability consultant in the United Kingdom prior to that.

Faroze Nadar is the Executive Director of UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei, a local network of the United Nations GlobalCompact,. He is an experienced corporate sustainability practitioner having led projects that have been featured at the national level and Fortune 500 companies’ sustainability documents. Faroze provides advisory and insights for the various private sector, government, and UN agencies on SDGs and corporate sustainability matters. He is developing various strategic programmes and digital tools to accelerate private sector SDG performance. Faroze is also a business sector representative to Malaysia’s National SDG Steering Committee and has presented at various national and global sustainability forums.

Wee Ching Yun is the Treasurer of the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) and the Chairman of MPMA’s Sustainability Sub-Committee which was established to drive the plastics industry towards adopting the circular economy. She is also the Managing Director of Chong Wah Plastics Sdn Bhd. She holds a Bachelor of Economics from York University, Canada. Ching Yun is a strong advocate on plastics and its sustainability and has spoken on numerous prestigious platforms. With more than 30 years of working experience in the flexible packaging industry, she has supported her company and customers through various packaging evolutions. MPMA’s Sustainability Sub-Committee advocates the New Plastics Economy initiative, bringing key stakeholders of the plastics industry together to rethink and redesign the future of plastics. Current foci of the Sub-Committee include close engagement with the Malaysian Government on international and local plastics-related policies and active pursuit of collaboration opportunities to create awareness on plastics sustainability.

Background

Having a net zero target means to reduce company greenhouse gases emissions to a level that will help limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial times. To this end the UNCFCCC in 2020 launched the Race to Zero campaign, whereby organisations are urged to pledge that they would reach (net) zero GHGs emissions as soon as possible and by midcentury at the latest, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. Organisations are encouraged to set an interim target reflecting maximum effort toward or beyond a fair share of the 50% global reduction in CO2 by 2030. Having pledged thus, organisations would then set out their roadmap and disclose their actions publicly.

What does this mean for companies, and what are the challenges? For starters, measuring carbon within the organisation’s activities, especially Scope 3 which includes the value chain, accounting for it, connecting the data to value and disclosing /communicating meaningfully to stakeholders.

It is important to prioritise the different activities across scopes, but the first step is the commitment that must be made. These commitments would be easier with the right supporting policies in place. Thereafter, setting an appropriate target that is science-based will inform the way forward. Finally, recognising enablers for undertaking these initiatives will focus the organization be it throughprocess improvements, waste reduction and elimination, carbon offset, carbon capture or sequestration.