ESG leadership from Hong Kong Exchange

There is a growing awareness of the need for Board directors and senior executives to make sure that their understanding of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is comprehensive and current.

While 37 per cent of Hong Kong business leaders report that limited ESG knowledge and expertise is the greatest barrier to addressing ESG issues within their companies, improving this can be a particular challenge for time-pressed executives. This is where innovations like the new online training from the Hong Kong Exchange hit the mark. With six bite-size modules, each between 4 to 10 minutes long, designed specifically to look at ESG governance and reporting from the Board’s perspective.

“It’s clear that a strong Boardroom needs to understand ESG issues in order to succeed in their role and fulfil their responsibilities,” commented Pat Dwyer, Founder & Director of The Purpose Business, “And that’s no surprise since ESG impacts a whole spectrum of business priorities from identifying risk to designing new opportunities, and from regulatory compliance to talent attraction. Initiatives like the Hong Kong Exchange e-training mean that senior executives can have greater ownership of ESG, and compel their businesses to manage the impacts so everyone can work together, to build better, more responsible, businesses.“

The new online training from Hong Kong Exchange supports the focus of the current consultation designed to support and improve issuers’ governance and disclosure of ESG activities and metrics. Find out more about and respond to the HKEX ESG consultation (deadline for responses, 19 July 2019).