Climate change issues remain the priority

Malaysian Reserve, 15 May 2019

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Extract:

Malaysia is expected to spearhead an initiative that tackles climate change and its impact through the Malaysian Chapter of the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) that was launched yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.

The initiative, hosted by the World Economic Forum, also places Malaysia on the map as the first Asian country with such a project.

The CGI was initiated by a group of non-EDs who sit on boards of various public-listed companies and aims to inform, engage with and encourage businesses to address the longer-term risks of climate change, which include financial risks.

The Malaysian Chapter’s main driver and initiator, Datin Seri Sunita Rajakumar, said it is important for non-EDs’ to be equipped with sufficient knowledge and information that will allow for a meaningful contribution towards the dialogue on the financial risks of climate change.

“Corporate boards are a critical constituency in managing these risk, and strategically identifying opportunities. Decisions made in the boardroom have an outsized impact on our collective ability,” she said.

She added that business leaders are only now beginning to appreciate the full extent of the damage caused by this problem.

“We must act immediately to stem this, and reset our economic system to avoid the devastating effects as responsible actors in society,” Sunita said.

For this purpose, a set of CGI principles were developed to assist directors in deepening their awareness of the implications of climate change for businesses.

Sunita said businesses can no longer pretend to solve this issue on its own, but neither can the government.

“The scale of this challenge is such that we must all come together in a way that it takes us all out of our comfort zone,” she said.