KUALA LUMPUR: Sustainability sits high on the agenda for Malaysian businesses, reveals HSBC’s global survey “Navigator: Now, next and how for business”.
This latest report surveys more than 9,100 companies across 35 global markets in the world – including 202 firms from Malaysia.
The three main outcomes of implementing sustainability initiatives for Malaysian businesses will be improvement of operational efficiency, transparency and traceability as well as growth in sales.
Notably, Malaysia as a market, shows a higher preference than any other market for transparency and traceability as motivators for implementing sustainability initiatives.
Malaysian businesses are feeling the pressure from competitors, government and investors to become more sustainable. Of these, the pressure from government and competitors is considerably stronger in Malaysia (competitors 42%, government 42%) than it is globally (competitors 36%, governments 32%) and there is more pressure from customers globally (34%) than there is in Malaysia (29%).
Commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emerges as a key theme from the survey. Almost three-quarters (74%) of businesses in Malaysia think they have a role to play in delivering the United Nations’ SDGs. This is considerably above the global (63%) and APAC average (67%). Industry, innovation and infrastructure, good health and wellbeing and quality education are seen as the most relevant goals to their businesses by Malaysian businesses who feel they have a role to play in delivering UN’s SDGs.
Commenting on the findings of the survey, HSBC Malaysia head of commercial banking Andrew Sill (pix) said businesses are realising the value of implementing initiatives to enhance sustainability.
“Transitioning to become more sustainable is not only beneficial for the environment and for society, but for the bottom line too. Sustainable Finance is a strategically important proposition for us at HSBC where we commit to lead and assist our clients in the transition to a low carbon and sustainable economy.”
Nearly half (47%) of businesses expect to invest more in technology, innovation and infrastructure to improve sustainable production over the next five years, while 41% plan to spend more on technology to boost supply chain traceability. The main challenges that businesses face when prioritising sustainability are sourcing extra funding, reported by almost half (45%) of companies, and overcoming restrictions and inflexibility (35%).
