The Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM) hosted yesterday a seminar on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) trends and green finance opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to the website of the Vancouver-based Corporate Finance Institute, an online training and education platform for finance and investment professionals, ESG is a framework that helps stakeholders understand how an organisation is managing risks and opportunities related to environmental, social, and governance criteria, aka ESG factors.
While the term ESG is often used in the context of investing, stakeholders include not just the investment community but also customers, suppliers and employees, all of whom are increasingly interested in how sustainable an organisation’s operations are, the website points out.
Key highlights
CPTTM Director General Victoria Alexa Kuan Chan said in the seminar’s opening speech that the centre will be providing local SMEs with the latest information on international ESG standards, encouraging them to improve their management capabilities and market competitiveness through technical support, training and accreditation subsidies.
Kuan underlined that in recent years ESG has been given high priority worldwide, and many regulators regard it as an important corporate governance and risk management tool, requiring companies to provide data on ESG performance and risks.
Kuan also pointed out the strong link between green finance and ESG, with investors also recognising the importance of long-term value and risk to companies and using ESG to assess the value of their investments.
Société Générale de Surveillance S.A. (SGS) Hong Kong Limited Sustainability Project Manager Zonta Yung Mei-ha gave a presentation at the seminar on how to identify climate risks and promote green finance, such as examples on providing green financing solutions to the market.
Yung also said that in order to meet the requirement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, green financing has become a major market trend, and the Chinese mainland, especially the Greater Bay Area (GBA), is focusing on promoting it.
Yung said that while Hong Kong is still in its infancy of promoting green financing for SMEs, banks in Hong Kong are already working with different sectors to provide training on green financing. Yung said that for Macau ESG is also an emerging issue, and she suggested that the government, financial institutions and ESG advisory bodies should also start with training and education, so that it could be gradually implemented in Macau.
Société Générale de Surveillance S.A. (SGS) Hong Kong Limited Sustainability Project Manager Zonta Yung Mei-ha speaks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s seminar hosted by the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM).
– Photo courtesy of TDM
