Increasing need for ESG competencies in boardrooms

There is an urgent need for board members of Malaysian public-listed companies to improve environmental, social and governance (ESG) competencies as the lack of attention to ESG issues is increasingly drawing the ire of global corporations, asset managers, and financial institutions.

In the past two years, a number of listed and non-listed Malaysian companies in the glove manufacturing, plantation and electronics manufacturing service (EMS) sectors have hogged the limelight for alleged ESG issues, and this has proved to be costly to their financial performance as their products suffered bans in certain markets and clients cut ties.