The International CSR & Sustainability (ICS) Summit 2022 convened over 300 C-suite level executives, business leaders, and CSR practitioners from 19 countries. Organized by regional NGO Enterprise Asia, the ICS Summit gathers top CSR leaders and practitioners to strengthen ties, share experiences and insights, as well as identify regional challenges and opportunities to shape Asia toward a more responsible, sustainable, and progressive socioeconomic market.
Themed “The ZERO Shift,” this year’s virtual summit provided a regional platform for leading thought leaders and CSR practitioners to explore the application of the NetZero approach to the entirety of the sustainability equation to achieve zero emissions, zero waste, and zero inequality.
The Chairman of Enterprise Asia, Tan Sri Dr. Fong Chan Onn, expressed at the summit’s opening that “We must work collectively to adhere to E.S.G. — environmental, social, and governance — to build a sustainable world along with rapid economic advancement; and consistent and transparent E.S.G. reporting will help contribute to zero emissions, zero waste, and zero inequality.”
The speakers were Kim-See Lim, regional director of East Asia & the Pacific of International Finance Corporation (IFC); Dr. Naoki Adachi, executive director of Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity, and CEO & founder of Response Ability Inc.; Dr. Niven Huang, ASPAC ESG leader of KPMG Taiwan; Olivier Trecco, head of ASEAN, Japan, Australia of ESG Solutions Sustainable1; Monica Bae, regional lead – Capital Markets APAC of CDP; Daniele Mae C Coronacion, Climate Change and Sustainability Services manager of Ernst & Young Global Delivery Services; Dr. Allinnettes Adigue, head of the ASEAN Regional Hub of Global Reporting Initiative; Kevin Milla, Consultant, carbon specialist of Paia Consulting; Alexandra Tracy, founder and president of Hoi Ping Ventures; Ali Mohamed Ali, founder of OxEarth and CEO of Destination EMEA of Independent Consultant, United Nations Global Compact; Duncan Lee, ddirector of Investment Environmental, Social & Governance, Group Investment of AIA Group; Lt. General Sudhir Sharma, advisor to Enterprise Asia; Ben Kellard, director of Business Strategy of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership; Ivy Kuo, partner and PwC Asia Pacific ESG leader of PwC China ESG Services; Anirban Ghosh, chief sustainability officer, Mahindra Group; Dr. Mushtaq Memon, regional coordinator, United Nations Environment Programme.
Among the topics discussed in the virtual summit was ‘ESG: Trends, Expectations, and What’s Next for 2022’ in which speakers Dr. Niven Huang, Olivier Trecco, Monica Bae, and Dr. Allinnettes Adigue called for all businesses to embrace the transition, and to live and breathe ESG while, at the same time, ESG reporting must be sincere and credible, and the boards must truly buy into sustainability and be aware of greenwashing.
Besides this, the virtual summit also covered the topic ‘Multi Stakeholder Impact: Enabling Zero Emission, Zero Wastes, Zero Inequality Through Multi-Alliances and Partnerships’ in which speakers Lt. General Sudhir Sharma, Ben Kellard, Ivy Kuo, Anirban Ghosh, and Dr. Mushtaq Memon revealed that the world is too far behind in climate targets in the race to zero, and we must speed up in decarbonization if we are to continue to shift to zero.
The ICS 2022 is supported by CSRone, the Global Reporting Initiative, India CSR Network, Malaysian Business Council of Cambodia (MBCC), Malaysia Green Technology and Climate Change Corp. (MGTC), National Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (NIEI), Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE), with Bangkok Post, BusinessWorld, Commercial Times, Hong Kong Economic Times, Kumparan, and SME Magazine as media partners, and Evogenetic Studio as the Official Production Partner.
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