The Net Zero Journey: What Board Members Need to Know - Part 2

In this 2nd part of our series on The Net Zero Journey, and what board members need to know:

• Tunku Alina Alias kicked off the session with a reminder of Malaysia's NDC commitments to the Paris Agreement, and challenged board directors to consider what they are doing within their business to play their part in ensuring Malaysia achieves its NDCs

• Manuel Zarauza Brandulas, Group Managing Director of Malaysian Pacific Industries, shared his journey in integrating sustainability into their operations, and linking this to the P&L

• Amandeep Bedi Singh, Director of Sustainability Solutions at ENGIE Impact, provided high-level guidance on the approach to setting emission targets, examples of sustainability opportunities within the operations, before offsetting the residual surplus.

• Adrienna Zsakay, CEO & founder of Circular Economy Asia, talked about remanufacturing as a new business opportunity whilst embracing the circular economy.

The recording of this event is now available on our YouTube channel.

Dato' Seri Johan Raslan, who moderated the session, has summarised the key takeaways below:

Our three experts made many great points:

• Tone from the top is important. That includes political will and guidance.

• ESG is being pushed by governments and regulators

• The problem is what to do, and how to do it at the company level?

• Execution is up to businesses – we can’t rely on government to do the heavy lifting for us

• For some companies, the driver to Sustainability is their own market forces e.g. lenders and investors. But the passions of leaders also come into play

• Management struggles getting the balance right: the board is key; and you need to link your ESG efforts with the ‘P&L account’ benefits they bring

• Remanufacturing can make money (e.g. Caterpillar, Tata Motors)

• We need to ramp up the capacity through training. But it is not clear where the necessary numbers of Sustainability professionals are going to come from

• Set targets – ambitious ones

• Don’t wait for your stakeholders to push you into action on sustainability – companies need to proactive

• Understand the political environment and what government/your key ministries and regulators are saying on Sustainability and Climate Change

• The circular economy and Sustainability can be a business opportunity

• But it probably is not going to be free of charge.

So what should Directors ask in our board meetings?

1. Education – Get the Board and management trained about Sustainability and climate change. Do we know the risks that the company faces in the short-, medium- and long-terms?

2. Promote internal dialogue – issues around Sustainability, climate change, Net Zero targets need to be minuted and on the regular agenda of the Board

3. Establish strategies for mitigation and adaptation

4. Action plans from reducing emissions – Are these ambitious enough? Can we do this on our own or do we need to buy talent or collaborate with others (suppliers, industry groups, competitors, customers)?

There were some great questions raised by the audience, and you can view the panellist responses here.

If you missed Part 1 of this series, do read the recap in our prior blog, where you will also find a link to the webinar recording.