Building Resilience Through ESG at A Time of Global Disorder

At The Edge ESG Forum 2025 this morning, I emphasised that ESG isn’t just about the environment. We must also place equal emphasis on the social and governance pillars.

If there’s a single word to sum up what ESG is all about, the word is “resilience”.

I welcome Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Labour Day message calling for greater focus on workers, and Khazanah’s new living wage policy, currently set at RM3,100, as steps in the right direction.

Many Asian nations grew rich by exporting to the United States, but as the US is increasingly uncomfortable to be the consumer of the first and last resort, we need a major rethinking on trade.

It is time for the rest of the world to “create consumers”. We need to build new consumer markets in ASEAN, India, Africa, and other developing regions by helping to create middle classes in these societies.

This can be achieved by treating and paying our workers better, creating a middle-class society that has discretionary purchasing power.

On governance, strong institutions and consistent policies are essential for lasting progress.

All in all, the ultimate goal of ESG is to build resilience. In this time of disorder, this resilience is important so that we can shape, to a certain extent, the global order.

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