Environmental, Social and Governance Seminar

A seminar on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) was held at the Crowne Plaza Muscat on Thursday under the auspices of Dr Nasser al Maawali, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Economy.

Following opening remarks by Davis Kallukaran, Managing Partner of Crowe Oman, discussions on the seminar theme were initiated by Karl Jackson, Audit and Assurance Partner at Crowe.

Speaking during the technical sesion, Luis Piacenza, Head of ESG Practice at Crowe Global and Partner - Crowe Spain, said: “Nowadays, everyone wants to talk about ESG, and executives compel their teams to start the path to ESGisation. The primary imperative is to mitigate the significant risks related to climate change, erosion of social cohesion, by having good corporate governance.

He further added: “We also need to define what ESG means to the financial sector. In a nutshell, the financial industry needs to ensure that the capital is available for financing the transition and adaptation to the new global imperatives. For corporates, sustainability is the formula to hear the markets, not only the clients but also stakeholders.”

Varghese Kallukaran, Senior Manager Advisory at Crowe UAE, stated: “There is a ripple effect that is created from the prevalence and institutionalisation of sustainability reporting among large corporations. They increasingly require ESG data and disclosures from the thousands of smaller, often privately held companies in their supply chains. Gaining your stakeholders confidence by demonstrating your organisations approach to addressing sustainability related challenges and opportunities sends the right message.”