KUALA LUMPUR: Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah has called on corporations to facilitate open access to their sustainability-related data to meet the demand of the younger generation on sustainability issues.
He said since there was a growing public awareness and concern around sustainability issues, the youth, especially generation-Z (gen-Z), put great emphasis on finding out if the values of big corporations were aligned with them.
"Many in the younger generation, especially gen-Z, genuinely care about whether the values of the corporations they work for and buy from align with their own. They want to know whether sustainability commitments and claims are sincere, or if they are just 'green-washing'.
"In order to meet this unyielding demand from them for genuine actions, one thing corporations must do is to facilitate open access to their own sustainability-related data," he said in his address during the Global Compact Asean Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Conference.
At the same time, Sultan Nazrin also suggested for the transparent provision of credible and comprehensive sustainability data to become an essential aspect of ESG commitments.
He said it should be undertaken voluntarily by companies, going beyond the mandatory sustainability reporting schemes that most corporations were already subject to.
"To that end, I would encourage corporations to establish and maintain something like a 'Corporate Sustainability Open Data' online platform, or CSOD for short. CSODs must be accessible to the public, and consist of relevant data on all sustainability-related issues (such as) information on the company's future sustainability goals, so the public can keep track of their implementation and progress.
"One good example of a CSOD already in operation is the ESGenome – a digital disclosure portal launched by the Singapore Exchange. This portal facilitates the reporting of ESG data in a structured and efficient manner."
Sultan Nazrin added that the CSODs would serve to assist in changing social norms, adding that data on these platforms could be harnessed to bring about behavioural change, including addressing lingering scepticism.
"This unfortunately persists, both around sustainable development in general, but especially about the climate crisis in particular.
"False narratives can be explained away in a far more timely, accurate, and convincing manner, when sufficient relevant and effective data is being employed to this end, using a range of means and media to convey it.
"With this data, the actual situation, in all its messy, complex, but necessary detail, can be more fully grasped by many more people. Only then can it be effectively tackled."
Sultan Nazrin said companies and government departments across Asean must be able to demonstrate to their populations that all policies being developed to address the climate crisis are justified by the data.
He said they must also be able to show that they are following through on these policies and meeting targets that have been set.
Sultan Nazrin said the data-centred and data-generated insights could provide the people with a better understanding of the current reality in the first half of the 2020s, as well as how the climate crisis is likely to unfold moving forward.
"Despite the many ways in which we are so far failing, and failing badly, to make the urgent and sweeping changes that are necessary to address the climate crisis, I, for one, remain hopeful.
"At the recent COP27 (2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference), again despite significant shortcomings, important progress was also made in the agreement to establish a new fund for loss and damage.
"This reflects an acceptance on the part of rich countries -- responsible for the greatest emissions historically -- of their moral duty to support those bearing the brunt of the impacts.
"As we know, these are generally developing countries with the lowest emissions, both historically and to date, and which are the least able to withstand these devastating impacts."