Minister of Planning and Development Pennelope Beckles has said the government is far from excused when it comes to adopting environmental, social and governance investing (ESG) policies.
ESG investing is used to assess investments based on corporate policies encouraging responsible citizenship by corporate entities.
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce’s (Amcham) ESG conference, on Tuesday, Beckles said ESG has very direct implications for governments and TT is far from exempt from its impact, especially with the unusual weather recently.
The purpose of the conference was to educate and bring awareness to importance of investing in ESGs. Amcham president Toni Sirju-Ramnarine said companies investing in ESG will see social changes which will help manage their relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where they operate.
Sirju-Ramnarine said, “ESG goals have been brought to the forefront with the majority of today's workforce – millennials and Gen Z. They have more social consciousness, citing they value companies that actively endorse DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies, climate-change initiatives, transparency and have sustainable business practices that positively impact social change.”
Beckles said she was pleased to announce that government had already started to incorporate that sort of thinking as she referred to theme five of the National Development Strategy Vision 2023, Placing the Environment at the Centre of Social and Economic Development.
She said, “Losses suffered by individuals and the damage to national infrastructure highlight the need to incorporate three main variables into national development strategies, namely exposure to climate risk, long-term social effects and governance issues.”
[caption id="attachment_1014251" align="alignnone" width="848"] Amcham president Toni Sirju-Ramnarine. -[/caption]
Beckles said since this is a recurring problem, funds allocated to development projects such as schools’ infrastructure and programmes are redirected to rebuilding efforts.
She added that TT has committed in its nationally-determined contribution policy to a reduction in overall cumulative emissions from the three main emitting sectors – power-generation, industry and transport – by 15 per cent, or 103 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, by 2030.
Beckles said even though the private sector has taken initiatives to increase the standards for ESG reporting, virtue signalling and greenwashing have become practices that undermine confidence and investment potential. Greenwashing happens when a company makes a claim about having environmentally-friendly products –which doesn’t exist– to promote a sense of environmental responsibility.
Beckles added that the ministry is also planning to have a functional measurement, reporting and verification system for greenhouse-gas emissions, managed by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).
“I hope to take a note to Cabinet soon to formalise this system into the legislative framework to ma
