Page 70 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

Development Goals (SDGs). As for investors, companies are not
neglecting the need to report on ESG in annual reports, but the
reality is that most still focus mostly on shareholder return on
investment rather than the targets that ESG investments are
meant to solve.
Another problem Mikkel emphasizes is where
corporations invest their ESG budgets. Rather than allocating
investment where it will have the most impact, called “impact
investing”, most investment goes to developed countries
rather than the ASEAN countries or Africa. Furthermore, most
of the ESG finance is coming from public funds and pension
funds as opposed to private investors.
How can investment be more ethical? Mikkel suggests
several directions. For example, DBS bank has focused on
“transition finance” to shift “brown” industries that generate a
lot more carbon to a “decarbonized’’ economy, such as shifting
from coal and petroleum to renewable energy. In Singapore
DBS set up a platform with Singapore Exchange, Standard
Chartered and Temasek called Climate Impact X (CIX) for the
exchange and auction of carbon credits.
Concerning ethical investors themselves, Mikkel
recommends that we all consider where our investment can
make a real difference and a real impact.

Arya Dwi Paramita: State-Owned companies
have an ethical mission
Arya Dwi Paramita has worked at the Indonesian State-Owned
Company Pertamina since 2013. In 2019 he became Vice
President of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as well as
Pertamina’s Small and Medium Enterprise Partnership Program
(SMEPP).
When it comes to corporate ethics in ASEAN, Arya Dwi
Paramita notes that one type of company should be highlighted
in this discussion: state-owned or state-linked corporations.
Pertamina is Indonesia’s largest company and has
historically been a national oil and gas conglomerate because
of Indonesia’s extensive reserves in hydrocarbons. Now,
Pertamina is looking to increase the percentage of new and
renewable sources of energy in line with global sustainability
Figure 6: Arya Dwi Paramita targets.
Vice President of Corporate
Social Responsibility at Arya describes the importance of sustainable
Pertamina
development in “meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the future”. He also explains that for Pertamina,

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