BUSINESSES should embed sustainability in their corporate goals with the use of technology as there would only be increasing demand from customers and shareholders, company officials said.
Melissa V. Vergel De Dios, first vice-president, chief sustainability officer and head of investor relations at PLDT Inc., said that digital transformation and sustainability are the way forward.
“The customers, the younger ones, will look for sustainability that the company must provide or pursue otherwise they won’t buy. Digital transformation is no longer an option, the future is digital. The sooner you build, the sooner you evolve, the better it is for you,” Ms. De Dios said at the BusinessWorld Economic Forum 2023 at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Thursday.
“The customers will ask for it, the investors will ask for it, the communities where they operate will ask for it. So, it’s very, very important for the business,” she said.
Ana Margarita Hontiveros-Malvar, first vice-president and chief sustainability and regulation officer at the Aboitiz group of companies, said that although there is still a negative connotation attached to artificial intelligence (AI), it is simply a tool that makes things efficient.
“Technology in sustainability can be an enabler if we all embrace it,” she said. “Because we also want to be able to innovate better, we want to experiment with the kind of solutions that we are using for the future, we want to be able to move faster.”
Ms. Hontiveros-Malvar said that the Aboitiz group also asks their clients to make use of an AI tool “because it really helps you to move faster and to do things faster. Because at the end of the day, it creates more value for yourselves.”
Kerwin Max S. Tan, chief financial officer and chief risk officer of Robinsons Land Corp., said that being publicly listed requires the company to embed sustainability to meet shareholders’ demands.
“We have a commitment to provide sustainability activities,” he said. “So, you set a sustainability target that is achievable. Once we have that goal, the second part is to measure where you are at, how far you are from the target.”
Ma. Victoria A. Tan, Ayala Corp. head of group risk management and sustainability unit, said sustainability targets will always be part of the company’s corporate goals.
“Sustainability is actually intertwined with business continuity. So, sustainability targets will always be part of corporate goals,” she said.
“We are all getting excited about what the opportunities that this choice can offer us,” she added.
Just like the publicly listed companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also started to embed sustainability in its corporate culture.
“The SEC currently has a sustainable project, meaning, the commission is about to walk the talk as well. So, if you have programs in relation to sustainability, we also have programs in relation to sustainability,” SEC Commissioner Kelvin Lester K. Lee said.
The SEC has also issued guidelines and regulations in relation to environmental, social, and governance (ESG), Mr. Lee said.
“We have issued multiple regulations in relation to the ESG. In fact, we are actually, as of last night, we had a meeting with [a] senator about possibly coming up with a bill in relation [to] requiring sustainability reporting and ESG disclosures of publicly listed companies and public companies,” he said.
“It is something we’re looking at. And why did I mention this? Because we do want this to be embedded within different company cultures,” he added. — Justine Irish DP. Tabile
