A growing number of companies are rethinking the sustainability of their business practices, remarked Patrick Chan from the Singapore Business Federation during Singapore Management University 12th International Conference of the Society for Global Business and Economic Development.
The rapid growth of climate-related businesses is one indicator of this trend. Global revenues from climate-related sectors – including areas such as low-carbon energy production, energy efficiency, water & waste control, and climate finance – could top $2 trillion by 2020 from $530 billion in 2008, according to HSBC’s Global Research report published in September 2009.
Mr Chan’s presentation also stated that 93 per cent of CEOs believed that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their business, and 91 per cent reported that their company will employ new technologies such as renewable energy to address sustainability issues over the next five years. He also stressed that a company’s sustainability not only includes the environmental dimension, but also the economic and social.
The conference panel also included representatives from two companies, DuPont Sustainable Solutions and City Developments Limited, that have been exemplary in their sustainability efforts.
Mr Chan’s call for sustainability echoes calls made by Ho Kwon Ping, executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings and keynote speaker for the event, who placed the burden on business schools to convey important ethical values.
‘More than half of all the convicted financial felons in the USA graduated from the world’s most highly rated business school,’ Mr Ho remarked.
Instead, he calls business graduates to broaden their focus from viewing business simply as profit maximisation. ‘An enterprise belongs not only to its shareholders but also to all stakeholders, from employees to customers to the larger community.’
Despite this perceived shortcoming of business schools, Mr Chan interpreted NUS effort to hold a sustainability conference as a mark of hope: ‘Increasingly, our universities are looking at the importance of sustainability. This conference will help us reach to a wider scope of audience – government agencies, business industries, and research institutions.’
