IHH hospitals big on going green
04 Nov 2022
IHH Healthcare Bhd plans to focus on transitioning its hospitals to green hospitals, with the aim of reducing its carbon footprint and gaining investor confidence.
At its “HealthcareInsider” webinar series yesterday, IHH Healthcare group managing director and chief executive officer Kelvin Loh noted that the healthcare industry contributed about 5% of the world’s carbon emissions.
“We’ll tackle this head on and convert our hospitals progressively towards being green,” Loh said at the webinar titled “Sustainability: Building Trust and Enhancing Stakeholder Value”.
The event was moderated by IHH Healthcare group chief financial officer Joerg Ayrle.
Meanwhile, another speaker, Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s head of the investment stewardship division Muazzam Mohamad, said companies needed to put in more effort and resources into their environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.
“In the long run, that’s exactly what is needed to be resilient, to adapt to the effects of climate change. This is because I think companies need to think about whether their business models are still relevant in a low-carbon world.
“Mathematically, it does seem like it requires some form of investment by the companies themselves. But we think that in the long run, it’s not just about value preservation. If they do it right, it’s for value creation as well,” he said.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd senior vice-president and head of corporate governance and sustainability regulations Ken Yeoh believes adopting ESG practices would drive value creation of a company.
Yeoh believes that Bursa Malaysia’s original sustainability reporting framework triggered and acted as a catalyst for public-listed companies (PLCs) to embark on a sustainability journey.
“More efficient use of resources, better business processes and stronger stakeholder relationships will enhance the resilience of the business.”
Yeoh said most of the more advanced practitioners and companies were already reporting way beyond what the local bourse required.
“Then, there are others, who actually in our extensive stakeholder engagement, are saying that it is desirable to report and given enough time, they would report in the future,” he said, proving that PLCs had the intention to produce sustainability statements.
However, he said the smaller PLCs required a bit more time and support.
Separately, in a quick survey among over 100 audience members of the webinar, it was found that almost half of them thought the government or regulators had the biggest impact in driving sustainability forward.
Another 27% believe that corporates had the biggest impact in driving sustainability, while another 20% and 5% believe investors and non-governmental organisations, respectively, were the major influencers.
Source: The Star
