People, Planet, Profit

With so much emphasis on the E and S in ESG, is governance taking a backseat in corporate Malaysia? The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has continued to be progressive with its issuance of the fifth iteration of the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance. But, can more be done to ensure better governance in Malaysia? We discuss this with Michele Kythe Lim, President & CEO of Institute of C...

Feeling the pinch of rising inflation? Want to make some extra cash and yet play your role for the environment? FatHopes Energy is a home grown Malaysian company that enables customers to recycle their used cooking oil. It has also grown by leaps and bounds and is now developing sustainable fats, oils and grease solutions for advanced biofuel production. We discuss its future prospects with Vinesh...

Malaysia will be launching the long-awaited Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) Exchange on December 9. The country is still at an early stage of its sustainable journey to achieve net zero carbon by 2050, at the earliest. Will the introduction of the VCM help drive the nation's environmental change and sustainable goals? We speak to Arina Kok, Partner, Ernst and Young Malaysia Climate Change and Sustai...

Cop 27 brought together heads of states and governments from 190 countries. The United Nations said recently that there is “no credible pathway” in place to cap global heating at 1.5 degrees Celsius. But the key positive at COP27 was the hot issue of 'loss and damage' payments and it received conditional approval. We speak to Dr. Ali Izadi, Head of Asia-Pacific, Bloomberg New Energy Finance on whe...

Have you ever thought of buying an electrical vehicle (EV) but its cost and infrastructure are too prohibitive? Recently, Proton has set out to be a more ESG Compliant company with an EV transformation roadmap. Thus, will Proton be able to spearhead the EV transformation in Malaysia especially in the mass market? We speak to Roslan bin Abdullah, Deputy CEO of Proton for answers. Image credit: Shut...

We have heard too often the need to preserve our earth for the future generation. Every child has a right to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment. But are there laws and policies in place to ensure that the welfare of children are taken care of? We discuss this with Nasha Lee, Climate & Environment Specialist at Unicef Malaysia. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/liste...

The building sector accounts for more than 40% of energy consumption, generates 40% of all waste and consumes some 16% of water for construction activities. With the sustainability agenda gaining traction amongst real estate investors, will green buildings soon be a more common feature in Malaysia? Or is the cost just too exorbitant? We discuss this with Amy Wong, Executive Director Research and C...

Interested in a career in ESG? With such rapid adoption of ESG by companies worldwide, the demand for ESG professionals is certainly on the rise. How do you be more ESG-equipped and is there a certificate which you can take? In today’s episode of People Planet Profit, Chong Tjen San discusses this with Bobby Lee, Board of Director - Candidate Engagement from CFAMalaysia. Image credit: Shutterstock...

ESG funds have not been spared from the market rout and in fact have generally performed worse. This is due to ESG funds having a higher weightage towards the growth-oriented technology sector - and avoiding the energy sector, the best performing sector for this year. How have investors been embracing ESG Funds in light of all this? We speak to Jason Wong Jia Jun, Research Manager, FSMOne for some...

In this week’s episode of People Planet Profit, we discuss if smart cities can help with flood mitigation or is the cost too exorbitant? This is especially relevant now with the monsoon season is befalling upon us. For more insight, we speak to Kerryn Coker, Co-Chair of Arup’s Australasia region. They are a design, engineering and architecture firm specialising in sustainable development using the...

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the global effects of climate change; especially when it has arrived at our doorstep. The flooding in Malaysia has caused lives and irreparable damage. While the government has an important role to play on this matter, Malaysians as global citizens really need to start being more proactive. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

We speak to Andrew Chan, South East Asia Sustainability and Climate Change Leader of PwC on how Malaysian companies are transitioning in their ESG journey and what have been the challenges for them. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.