Deputy Minister of Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Lim Ban Hong has highlighted the importance of local industry players adopting sustainable practises, such as the environment, society, and governance (ESG) principles during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Lim said that implementing ESG principles could have a significant impact on the country’s economic recovery following the outbreak and could give way to various opportunities for environmentally friendly products to succeed in local and global markets have arisen.
“Industry players are encouraged to adopt sustainable business models in order to ensure the future viability of local industries and one of which include using alternative sources to produce their product,” Lim said.
Lim urged more small and medium businesses to participate in government programmes, particularly those run by MITI and 13 other agencies, in order to improve their readiness to compete globally and succeed outside of their home markets.
In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, Malaysia is seeing an acceleration of economic transformation among the local business community, particularly in terms of moving toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In an interview with BusinessToday on ESGs, PC Gan, Country Manager of Homage Malaysia said ESG values tend to only be practiced by companies that need to meet minimum regulation requirements.
In order to raise awareness, Gan said going on-ground to really understand the situation, speaking to people and seeing the difference is vital for company decision-makers to get a first-hand understanding of the positive impact of ESG implementation.
