Sustainable practices required for businesses to remain competitive

To remain competitive in the long run, businesses will need to integrate decarbonisation and climate risks into their strategies or risk being written off as “doing too little, too late”, said Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Singapore.

“As demand for sustainable practices increases, first movers will capture upsides while laggards may be written off as doing too little, too late,” he noted, reports CNA.

Growing awareness about the climate crisis has also changed how people define value in business, and what values a company upholds, he highlighted. 

“Questions will be asked about your companies’ strategies to avoid stranded assets or legacy lines of production that may be rendered obsolete,” said Teo, who spoke at a sustainability conference. 

“Climate policies, technological advancements and stakeholder preferences will fundamentally impact what is the sustainable value of a company, and its valuation in the long term,” he added. 

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“Sustainable private financing and corporate net-zero targets have a powerful mutually reinforcing effect, by drawing capital preferentially towards sustainable projects and new opportunities in the global green economy,” he said. 

“This in turn makes it more difficult and expensive for companies to obtain financing if their projects are not green,” the minister cautioned.