This half day workshop is designed for SMEs to elevate their awareness of ESG principles and sustainability practices, with a specific focus on materiality assessment.  It emphasizes the importance of understanding and integrating these fundamentals into their business models.  Materiality assessment forms the bedrock of any effective ESG strategy, guiding organizations to identify, prioritize, and act upon the most relevant sustainability issues affecting their operations and stakeholders.

Key Learning Outcomes:
– Global and Local Business Risks
– ESG and SMEs in Malaysia
– Malaysian SMEs Case Studies
– SME Sustainability Framework
– Materiality Indicators and Conducting a Materiality Assessment
– ESG Maturity Assessment

This workshop will cover the fundamentals of circular economy, including what it is and why it matters in Malaysia.  It will explore circularity from different perspectives (e.g. government, manufacturers, non – profit) and provide insight on how circularity can be advanced along the value chain.

Key Themes:
– Circular Economy Definition
– Benefits of Circular Economy
– Key Trends and Opportunities
– Role of Key Stakeholders

The success of sustainability integration into any business strategy is reliant on the support and execution from the entire company.  However, an issue widely faced today is the concentration of sustainability knowledge and expertise among a dedicated sustainability team.  Capacity building efforts have successfully brought greater awareness across a company, but each department needs to understand their role and possible contribution.

Join this workshop to find out how you can begin to harness your entire organization in the drive towards sustainable growth.

The global environmental, social, and economic landscape is rapidly evolving; more than ever, strong links in businesses along the entire value chain are inevitably required to operate responsibly and stay competitive.  Go in – depth on the steps required in decision making to uphold a sustainable supply chain and create value from joint sustainability initiatives between suppliers and customers.

Key Themes:
– Drivers, good practices, and challenges
– Current and future expectations on a sustainable supply chain: managing risks and creating opportunities
– Local to Global
– Relevant Malaysian Regulations and connected external policies

This session will include:
– Practical steps and solutions to improve the sustainability performance of your supply chain and how to capture value together
– Engagement with your suppliers to enhance transparency and quality of data: Digital Solutions, Soft Measures, and Joint Initiatives
– Case studies from the Asia – Pacific region

This workshop is designed to help SMEs understand the importance of sustainability reporting and how to develop their own sustainability agenda.

This session will include:
– The business for embracing sustainability by SMEs
– GRI Reporting Standards
– Guidance on Sustainability Reporting
– Case Studies and Practical Examples

In recent years, numerous companies and financial institutions have made public commitments to achieving net zero emissions.  As these commitments are being put into place, there is increasing recognition of the crucial role that transition plans play in delivering these targets.  Join this insightful workshop on climate transition plans where we will delve into three key questions that shape the path to achieving a net zero future:

– What role does a transition plan play in the net zero journey:
– What makes a transition plan credible?
– Are APAC companies ready for climate transition?

Key Themes:
– The potential of energy storage to improve efficiency of renewable energy sources
– The role of gas and CCS technology in Malaysia’s decarbonization plan and perspectives from investors on expectations for the natural gas plan, and how investors can support decarbonization through the increased flow of private capital to support credible plans.
– Links to utility transition pathways and investor perspectives on how companies are progressing.

Key Themes:
– Investor perspectives on the importance of nature – related risk assessments and integration of nature into the investment process
– The current level of awareness and policy progress on TNFD – aligned disclosure
– The integration of TNFD – aligned disclosures within sustainability reporting guidelines (special section and case study on TNFD reporting)
– How investors can support the implementation of TNFD – aligned disclosure.

The Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3 Malaysia) SME Focus Group aims to enhance awareness and facilitate certification and disclosure by SMEs in an effort to ease the process and reduce the overall transition cost for SMEs

• ESG Jumpstart Portal: One – Stop ESG Portals for SMES
  About the JC3 and ESG Jumpstart Portal for SMEs
  – Resources for SMEs:
  * References (e.g. National policies, guidelines, overview of requirements from BNM and financial institutions, etc.)
  * Training programs and materials (e.g. UNGC Academy for SMEs)
  * Toolkits
  * Events
  * How SMEs can leverage the ESG Jumpstart Portal
• ESG 101: What Banks Will Require from SME Customers
  – Overview of what financial institutions will be seeking from SMEs from an ESG perspective (simplified overview of CCPT & SEDG requirements)
  – Actions SMEs can take to prepare
• Sustainable Financing Offerings for SMEs
  – Overview of BMW LCTF, HTG for SMEs
  – Offerings / incentive by other entities (e.g. GTFS, MGTC, MIDA, etc.)

Blue Finance, an emerging area of climate finance, has been able to mobilize private capital to support financial institutions and other issuers globally whilst helping to fund the transition toward a more efficient, resilient, and sustainable use of water resources.

This roundtable aims to bring awareness to the current issues in blue economy and what kind of opportunities blue finance can offer to financial institutions as well as to share IFC’s global experience in blue finance with other financial institutions.  This will be an interactive session among participants where IFC aims to bring industry experts and a previous blue bond issuer to share their experience with financial institutions in Malaysia.