The 2nd annual Sustainability Week Asia hosted by the Economist Impact Events took place in Singapore from February 7th to 9th, where industry leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and researchers from across Asia-Pacific including the UNEP, WMO, WWF and Carbon Trust to discuss how they can effectively measure, analyze, transform and scale their sustainability initiatives.
Founder and chief executive Steven Ko of O’right, the only small and medium-sized enterprise in Taiwan to be invited, shared his climate mitigation and adaptation strategies
Climate Risk Disclosure Critical for Businesses
Over 90 industry leading sustainability speakers convened for 3 days of actionable insights. Founder and chief executive Steven Ko of O’right, the only small and medium-sized enterprise in Taiwan to be invited, shared his insights on climate risks, adaptation and climate change mitigation during the exclusive in-person session on the role of companies in an evolving climate-risk landscape. Other speakers include Jacqueline Lam, the regional lead for the Global Sustainability Policy and Partnerships at Boeing Southeast Asia, and Jonathan Jong, group chief sustainability officer of ComfortDelGro.
Robust climate risk disclosures are becoming critical for businesses in light of increasing market demand for them. How can such disclosures protect a firm’s reputation and value? How can companies identify, measure, manage and report on ESG issues and climate-related risks? What technologies enable companies to produce transparent reporting and demonstrate non-financial outcomes, and how can they best be used? Moderator Gillian Parker, senior manager (APAC) of Policy & Insights at the Economist Impact, jumped right into the topic during the exclusive in-person session on the role of companies in an evolving climate-risk landscape.
Boeing is committed to delivering commercial airplanes capable of flying on 100% sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) by 2030 and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Boeing believes sustainable forest and agricultural residues can displace the need for typical jet fuel by up to 75% in the US and reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 80%. It is also aiming to expand its carbon reduction goals beyond Scope 1 and 2 emissions and outline a pathway to net zero that covers Scope 3 (indirect) emissions.
ComfortDelGro’s carbon emission targets include a 54.6% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its operations, and a 61.2% reduction in Scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel and energy-related activities by 2032.
O'right may not be on the same level as the other companies in attendance when it comes to size, scale and capital, but our big ambitions have driven us to achieving net zero emissions and earning the status as the world’s first zero carbon beauty company. At the very beginning of the green journey, O’right had already set green standards and stood by them ever since. That includes eliminating petrochemicals from its products, building a green supply chain dedicated to post-consumer recycled (PCR) packaging and putting an internal price on carbon. O’right also incorporates TCFD reporting, implements SROI and CROI methodology and received validated net zero targets from the SBTi. The world's leading testing, inspection and certification company SGS conducted an independent carbon neutrality validation of O’right’s Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions and awarded the company the declaration of achievement of carbon neutrality. By December 2022, O’right achieved the RE100 commitment before the planned deadline by going 100% renewable.
IPCC: Carbon Price on Track to Hit US$300 by 2030
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that carbon prices will reach US$300 in 2030. The world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company ExxonMobil reported 112 million metric tons of emissions from its operations in 2020. Just imagine if each metric ton costs US$300, then they would be 33 billion in debt, making ExxonMobil a highly indebted company.
“Carbon could become a valuable resource in the future. It could be a liability, or it could be an asset,” Ko said.
A pioneer in carbon credits and the first small and medium-sized enterprise in Taiwan to trade carbon credits, O’right is no stranger to carbon trading markets, and has 5 years’ worth of carbon storage. O’right is also the first Taiwanese company to list carbon credits in its financial statement as audited and verified by KPMG Taiwan.
O’right is the first Taiwanese company to list carbon credits in its financial statement as audited and verified by KPMG Taiwan (left: KPMG Managing Director Niven Huang ;right: O’right CEO Steven Ko)
GEP: The Green GDP
“The two top priorities that governments have now is very simple. The first one is to ensure they invest resources in creating the economies of tomorrow, that they invest resources in driving innovation,”said Jorge Laguna-Celis, the Director responsible for the UN Environment’s One Planet Network.
Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) is the gross value of final ecosystem products and services provided by ecosystems for human welfare and economic and social sustainable development. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), on the other hand, is blind to the degradation of the natural environment. GEP can make up for the cost of environmental degradation and ecological deterioration.
Say the majority of a country’s GDP comes from gas vehicles in the oil and gas industry, the economic impact of green energy and electric vehicles (EV) will definitely surpass the total value of the former.
Take Tesla and Toyota for example. After operating at a loss for years, Tesla only managed to turn its first full-year profit in 2020 and its share price, as well as its dominance of EVs, exploded. Toyota, on the other hand, remained stubborn on the belief that EVs are not the only solution and continued to focus on a lineup of gasoline-powered cars and hybrids. Its stubborn resistance has made its EV transition a lot slower than expected…
The climate crisis is affecting policy-making and supply chains worldwide. The path to net zero has become even more critical than ever. Decarbonization is no longer simply a responsibility, but vital to the competitive strength and survival of businesses in the future.
The 2nd annual Sustainability Week Asia hosted by the Economist Impact Events took place in Singapore from February 7th to 9th
