Not just to please investors, transition plans should be part of a company’s overall strategy: climate bonds panel

COMPANIES that emit high levels of carbon in the course of their operations should not produce standalone transition plans, but should instead integrate these plans into their overall strategy and business, said the chief executive of Sustainable Finance Institute Asia on Thursday (Oct 6).

Eugene Wong, speaking at a discussion panel at a conference organised by non-profit organisation Climate Bonds Initiative, said such transition plans are needed if these companies are to make a structural transformation. “It’s not a question of having these plans just to please a banker, an investor, a customer.”

He was referring to companies in “hard-to-abate” sectors such as steel, shipping and chemicals – the typically carbon-intensive sectors which, as a result, are finding it harder to obtain financing in these times because investors and lenders are themselves under pressure to meet their own environmental, social and governance (ESG) obligations.