In the flutter of disclosure standards chaos and data deluge about ESG and sustainability, we often forget the first principles underpinning the climate and ESG zeitgeist is of trust and transparency. ESG is a method to think with/through risks for resilience for responsible capitalism.

The ability to think through the fundamentals is key to building a climate and people positive future.

As Carbon is the heuristic for ‘E’ in ESG, with the EU CSDD and the German Supply Chain Acts, Human Rights Risk will be the go-to measure for ‘S’ within ESG.

ESG is compliance play with the climate zeitgeist making it mainstream, as impact accounting. Triple Bottom Line is here to stay.

Any net zero dialogue is not limited to capturing your footprint, which is the baseline. How would a net zero world look like? The answer would result in variegated geographies of globalization undergirded by historical specificities of power. Technological determinism will have limited purchase.

Net Zero will entail transition finance for climate adaptation. The issue is wicked and vexed, and there are various interlocking layers to it. Think complexity and nuance and carry out scenario planning assessments by futurists to be future savvy.

The boulevard of broken dreams ,
exiled from places of belonging , fragments of memories and live Facebook feeds,
efforts fall short yet dreams linger ,
memories ember as good memories are the oxygen for life

The missing part of the value creation imperative of ESG is the focus on culture and a culture of innovation where future savvy is the ethic behind the trust and transparency through reporting is achieved. Culture is not a vision statement but lived values where people and planet is at the heart of operations.

#culture #innovation #future #people

Pasta Del Nata or Portuguese Warm Egg Tarts reminds me of Egg Tarts in local Singapore Bakeries near Clementi Town Centre. Another index of Culinary Indian Ocean Circulations.

O Pedro lives up to its hype.

In the era of ChatGPT, one of the crucial skills needed will be deep expertise in a field that does not come cheap with experience and depth in learning. For all the talk about reskilling, I wonder how much of it is applicable. Like one does not become an ESG expert overnight or by having an English major, you got to have serious training in chemical engineering or biology to understand the basics.

Competence Green Washing is itself a regulatory risk, full of ill-equipped sustainability professionals in the era of climate litigation.

In the era where one’s climate action can be taken to court in some other part of the world, reporting and disclosing ESG information is imbued with a certain legal valency. The terrain is moving to the law firms as technical professionals are being hired to advise on the science. Hybrid lawyers plus scientists is the new combination to understand emergent risks in the BHR and Climate domains.

ESG is thus an regular business risk, albeit non financial however carbon data is as mainstream as financial data. As financial information has not stopped fraud so will increasingly vibrant climate data will not cease green washing. Assurance will be a prerequisite for ESG data, as BRSR regime in India has shown.

We should not conflate disclosure for climate action, as innovation for climate action is a moon shot and a society as a whole issue. ESG at its heart is trust and transparency play in line with the zeitgeist towards responsible capitalism.

Regeneration is an approach to be future savvy, in a world with climate emergency, the future of work, pandemic preparedness, general AI and migration. It’s time to think beyond static sustainability and use the ESG data to prepare for the future.

Baseline data is fantastic, where do we do with that is the value creation imperative.