KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd has teamed up with UMW Holdings Bhd's unit UMW Corporation Sdn Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd to deploy a centralised sustainability platform to help banks develop green financing products and services.

This will incentivise and encourage decarbonisation of the corporate sector and their supply chain, which will not only assist big corporations, but also SMEs and MSMEs.

"What we look to do is take the supply chain from UMW and understand their glide path to net zero, and have them also talk to Maybank, that supply chain, to have that ability to access green cheaper funding.

"We now provide the incentive, and there's another incentive for SMEs and MSMEs; as they access cheaper financing, they can also access wider markets," said Bursa chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift.

Umar said after the supply chain disruption experienced during the pandemic, trading companies and MNCs were all looking at how to make their supply chains more robust and future-proof.

This represents an opportunity for Malaysian corporates to insert themselves into international supply chains.

He said analysis had shown growing demand for net-zero offerings, which could generate over US$12 trillion (RM53.6 trillion) of annual sales by 2030 across 11 high-potential value pools, including transport, power and hydrogen.

"We are also seeing a great openness among the private and public sector to collaborate in new ways across the value chain to solve sustainability challenges.

"As such, we have made Sustainability one of the main pillars of UMW's strategic framework, CREST@UMW.

"The measures we are taking to achieve 100 per cent carbon neutrality by 2050 not only addresses the risks of climate change; it prioritises the positive opportunities that decarbonisation and environmental stewardship can bring," said UMW Holdings president and group chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Mohd Kenali.

He said companies can improve trust in the quality of emissions data.

This will hasten the removal of one of the biggest impediments to green finance and attract the investments needed to move down the cost-curve for new climate technologies.

The platform, which will give access to supply chain and carbon data, will help Maybank achieve its goal to mobilise RM80 billion in sustainable finance by 2025 and to drive long-term value creation for the businesses and communities it serves.

"As corporates are duly expediting adoption of sustainability as a core component of their business strategies, we believe that this platform would facilitate them in disclosing standardised common environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in ways that conform to established global standards," Maybank chief executive officer Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said.

"We also see the elements of global acceptance and interoperability for this platform to be very encouraging, and this will help the entire value chain understand environmental considerations and impact of their operations, as businesses gear themselves up for a more robust corporate sustainability due diligence," said 

Working in collaboration with the London Stock Exchange Group, Bursa  has developed and tested the platform, which will serve as a repository for listed companies' ESG disclosures.

UMW and Maybank are pioneers of the Early Adopter Programme (EAP), an initiative to accelerate Corporate Malaysia's transition towards a green economy.

Running from April to October 2023, participants of the EAP will validate the value extraction of this platform.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/2023/03/891650/bursa-partners-umw-maybank-boost-green-economy