The BMCC was proud to virtually debut our inaugural Green Conference last Tuesday 17 November, with the theme “Sustainable Finance: A Blueprint for Green Recovery”. The conference drew nearly 300 participants from diverse sectors of the industry who convened to hear insights and discussions on sustainable financing, green investment and recovery from experts and key industry players.
The Conference commenced with remarks from Jennifer Lopez (BMCC Executive Director) and Abrar Anwar (BMCC Chairman and Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Malaysia), which highlighted the importance of collaboration between the private and public sectors in creating a more sustainable future and green recovery post-Covid. The following address by H.E Charles Hay MVO (British High Commissioner to Malaysia) echoed this message, and further urged industry to adopt a sense of urgency towards climate change.
Subsequent to this was the first panel session, discussing “Green Investments for Environment and Business Benefits” with speakers from Shell Global, Smith & Nephew Malaysia and PNB Merdeka Ventures. Among the key takeaways from this panel were the importance of a corporate culture, incentives and willingness to promote sustainability. The panel also highlighted how “collaboration is key” and “no act is too small” when it comes to tackling climate change as an industry.
The second panel discussed the theme of the Conference, and featured speakers from Standard Chartered, Ernst & Young, WWF Malaysia and Climate Governance Malaysia. This panel reiterated the importance of collaboration and urgency, presented green finance as an opportunity to “press the reset button” to decarbonise the economy and urged the industry to “catalyse, standardise and democratise” sustainable finance.
The Conference concluded with a special session with the Minister of Finance Malaysia and the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, who stood in for the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who was unable to make it. They prompted a call to action for companies to “rethink and realign their businesses” in line with sustainability targets in order to ensure survival in the long term.
The BMCC would like to thank our partners Standard Chartered Malaysia, British High Commission and our esteemed speakers for their support for this virtual conference. We look forward continuing this dialogue with our members and stakeholders.
Watch the full conference recording here:
