PUBLISHED: 15 Jun 2024 at 04: 00
A desire for a better future is essential to achieve sustainability and the environmental, social, and governance ( ESG) principles alone may not be enough, Rajeev Peshawaria, CEO of Stewardship Asia Centre, said at a conference in Bangkok this week.
The ESG model has been around since the 1990s but it is proving powerful, he said.
He continued, noting that rules generally only impose the bare minimum of responsible behavior and that businesses today frequently engage in greenwashing to prevent problems.
” Laws does minimise damage, but they do not maximise great”.
He noted that the majority of modern corporations are profiting from problems rather than developing lucrative solutions to challenges.
Alternatively of ESG, we should move to ESL, he said, where” L” stands for” servant leadership”– a real desire to create a better future for partners, community and coming years.
” The answer lies in’ doing also by doing nice ‘”, he said.
Businesses must make money and expand, but they must do so by addressing the issues that are currently threatening society: climate change, inequality, and cybercrimes. Only then will the prospect of our children become secure”, he said.
The Mae Fah Luang Foundation’s Doi Tung Development Project is a good illustration of businesses that place values and the atmosphere second, he said.
The project was started in order to shift the opium-producing state’s business from one of sustainable agriculture. And its successful organization was built on a value-driven idea like this.
This method has contributed to their lengthy- word success, he said.
The world needs true dedication and innovation, not just those driven by external incentives, according to Mr. Peshawaria, to address the existential challenges facing today.