Tuesday 25 April 2023

ESG in Malaysia is thriving, but for how long?

BY all accounts, on the ESG front, it has been a month for Malaysia, with Spain's Solarpack READ : Raising RM285 million in Green Bonds to build a plant in Kedah, while Bursa Malaysia and the London Stock Exchange created sustainability reporting platform.

THIS platform is a key enabler to Malaysia’s pivot to green, as it will provide the country's small to medium enterprises, a space to  disclose environmental, social or governance (ESG) data in line with established global standards.


NOT, to be out done, Maybank announced this month, READ :  mobilised RM34.37 billion in sustainable finance cumulatively in period of two years.  

MAYBANK added itz initial RM50 billion target in sustainable finance to be mobilised by 2025 to help one million households, has now been raised to RM80 billion, to help as many as two billion Asean households.

SO far so good. So who can screw up our ESG ambitions ?  Well look no further than the Government of Malaysia and the next couple of weeks, should provide us some clue.

THERE is no alphabet C in ESG, but, C as in corruption equals to bad Governance. READ : Corruption in Malaysia is in its worst position in a decade.

ANWAR Ibrahim must read the riot act to the current human resources minister, as well as reguest MACC to probe in the corrupt practise in the ministry started with the current minister or is it a legacy issue. READ : PM Anwar says premature to ask HR minister Sivakumar to take leave from work as MACC probe ongoing.


THE World Economic Forum in Davos, this year noted that READ : Without Artifical Intelligence,we won’t meet ESG goals.  

Basically, the ESG framework is heavy into block chains, artifical intelligence,  cloud technology and on various type of innovative new clean technology, which will require in certain cases steep investments that may soon reap some major economic fruits.  READ : Malaysia’s digital economy to grow RM156b by 2025.

WITH digitalisation, coupled with the ESG framework and guidelines in place or in the process of being put in place, the challenge will be to build a work force are life long learners, who are able to absorb abd adobt how new technologies evolve. 

 ONE thing though that bothers me is, at some point Artificial Intelligence, will be part and parcel on how we interact with the government and how the government interacts with us. 

HAS the Government prepared the Civil Service for this future reality,  that many of the government jobs of today will be redundant.