Sustainability lessons from the Covid-19 outbreak
The fundamentals of ESG have come into sharp focus in an almost surreal display of what can be achieved if countries truly collaborate on sustainability.
AS THE world struggles with the current coronavirus pandemic, those who have experienced past crises dispense sagely wisdom "not to waste a good crisis".
Ironically, through this period of the Covid-19 challenge, when the world is shutting down travel, halting business activities and closing borders in the fight against this deadly virus, the sustainability fundamentals of ESG (environment, social and governance) have come into sharp focus, in an almost surreal display of what can be achieved if countries truly collaborated on sustainability.
The closure of factories in China and the imposed quarantine orders for workers to stay home after the discovery of the coronavirus late last year has produced the unintended consequence of cleaner air in China. The country's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the average number of "good-quality-air days" in China's industrial Hubei province in February rose 21.5 per cent over that in the corresponding period last year.
