TAAlina and Thoughts

pic: Cekur grown on my aircon condenser ledge . I was asked recently, where Malaysia ranked in its sustainability journey. According to the SDG Index, in 2021 the top 3 ranked countries are Scandinavian countries with Finland at no 1/165 with a score of 85.9/100. Malaysia ranks 65/165 countries with a score of 70.88/100. You can check out other countries' rankings at the SDG Index website.

pic: The Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur. February 2021 The UN Global Compact feels that corporate sustainability aligned to the SDGs is an imperative. It is “essential to long-term corporate success and for ensuring that markets deliver value across society.” To be sustainable, UNGC member companies must act in 5 ways – 1. principled business: aligning with 10 principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; 2. strengthening society: taking action and collaborating with others to advance global challenges; 3. leadership commitment: effecting long-term change begins with a company’s leadership; 4. reporting progress: transparency in business practice is crucial for sustainability; 5. local action: viewing sustainability through a local lens. The UNGC membership consists of over 8,000 companies and 4,000 non-business participants based in over 160 countries. The consensus is that business should engage with the SDGs because although an inv...

At first glance, this photo has nothing to do with this topic. But later, I start thinking about the UNESCO Heritage status of Fes, Morocco and how hundreds of years of life for its inhabitants has been preserved as you can see. What considerations went into the thinking behind this decision - and how was sustainability for the whole ecosystem addressed? Basically, a company exists to create value. Once it is ascertained that the company’s purpose is to create some form of societal value in addition to financial value, it has to decide who it is creating value for and what form of value does it take? This imposes the dual lenses of sustainability for the company: financial value and societal value, expressed in the following table- At the heart of sustainability is maintenance of capital so that it can continuously provide a flow of income. We are talking about 3 types of capital: natural resources, financial (shareholders fund’s or financiers) and social cap...