Promising environmental, social, governance investment in ASEAN - AJC Study

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment has gained momentum globally and the force is moving towards Asia, especially in the ASEAN Member States.

According to a study by the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC), although ESG investment has been implicitly and unsystematically undertaken among ASEAN firms, it is nevertheless, promising.

AJC has issued a study entitled, “ESG Investment: Towards Sustainable Development in ASEAN and Japan”.

The study is aimed at urging investors to invest responsibly by understanding ESG investment and contribute to the betterment of, and sustainable investment environment and society in Japan and the ASEAN Member States.

Based on the study, ASEAN-5 (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines) shows a promising trend of ESG investment, whereas more efforts are necessary for the rest of the member states.

All companies, regardless of their size and whether they are listed in the stock market, should integrate ESG investment in their core business strategies and consider ESG investment as an essential part of the growth strategies.

The investment also helps firms lower costs and boost revenue and profit.

ESG firms’ profitability is, on average, higher than that of non-ESG firms. The ratio of net profits to total revenue is 11.4 per cent for ESG firms as opposed to 9.6 per cent for non-ESG firms.

More details on the study at https://www.asean.or.jp/en/

-- BERNAMA