ASEAN countries have consistently achieved high economic growth rates, which are attributed to careful macroeconomic strategies, relatively open trade and investment policies, and access to export markets in developed nations.
A key driver of the ASEAN economies is the manufacturing supply chains. From 2015 through 2019, manufacturing exports from ASEAN’s ten member states averaged five per cent annual growth—outpacing the global average of three per cent.
As governments across the world implement ESG and reporting regulations, businesses and manufacturers in ASEAN are faced with increased urgency and pressure to adopt sustainable practices to maintain competitiveness in the global supply chains. More than that, there are significant opportunities to extend its capabilities in manufacturing and establish competitiveness in green manufacturing.
The rise of ESG regulations and sustainable procurement in ASEAN and beyond
Globally, regulatory frameworks have evolved rapidly, led by the European Union with parallel initiatives in Asia.
Under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), exports to Europe will be subjected to carbon tax on their emissions starting in 2026, posing major trickle-down effects for ASEAN businesses by affecting export competitiveness.
The release of the International Financial Reporting Standards’ (IFRS) inaugural ISSB standards in June 2023 has also placed renewed attention on the ASEAN ESG regulatory landscape. Many ASEAN governments have started taking a phased adoption approach in incorporating new global sustainability reporting standards, with Scope three emissions reporting due to become mandatory under regulatory standards from 2025 onwards. Reporting is also no longer confined to just publicly listed companies but also non-listed and smaller companies.
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Digital tools needed to accelerate corporate sustainability
Today, sustainability reporting, especially for businesses with extensive supply chain activities, involves the demanding and manual process of collecting data from various sources such as SMEs, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders within the supply chain.
In the ASEAN context, where SMEs dominate the market and supply chains, accounting for 98 per cent of existing businesses, this challenge is particularly pronounced. SMEs face difficulties in commencing their corporate sustainability and sustainability reporting journey efficiently, mainly attributed to the absence of streamlined digital processes, sufficient resources, and requisite expertise.
As such, a gap has emerged in ASEAN between the growing data needs for comprehensive ESG reporting and the actual availability of such data in SMEs and entities in their supply chain, presenting a challenge around compliance.
Embracing supply chain transparency for green manufacturing
While local reporting is not yet mandated across most ASEAN countries as of 2024, foreign corporates and MNCs, which ASEAN manufacturers serve, are increasingly adopting sustainable procurement, causing major trickle-down effects on ASEAN businesses.
There is a need for ASEAN businesses to prove their green-ness in order to set themselves up for greater business and investments opportunities.
This is where ESG tech and digital solutions come in to play a key role in empowering ASEAN businesses and manufacturers towards corporate sustainability and ESG compliance.
Digital solutions like ESGpedia play a pivotal role in helping to facilitate easier and more robust self-serve reporting for ASEAN companies, with subsequent third-party assurance and certification. They help support efforts to navigate the evolving ESG regulatory landscape by digitalising country-specific and international reporting frameworks (e.g. ISSB, TCFD, GRI, etc.) for a streamlined and guided way for businesses, especially those with limited resources and expertise, to easily access and input. This is particularly beneficial in times when regulations are becoming increasingly complex and soon to be mandatory.
Third-party assurance and certification can also be digitally facilitated by technology. This is important as they offer credibility and recognition to companies so that they can effectively prove their sustainability commitment to global MNCs and stakeholders, mitigating the risk of greenwashing. For instance, an ISO14064 aligned report produced under the renowned ISO standard serves to recognise company’s commitment towards establishing, validating, and reporting its GHG emissions in accordance with international standards.
Establishing Scope three GHG metrics with full value chain calculations is a fundamental step for the ASEAN manufacturing sector to embark on sustainability. However, Scope three GHG calculation is typically a time-consuming and complex process, requiring great ESG expertise and manual data collection from each supplier.
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To lower the barriers to this seemingly massive ESG challenge, businesses and manufacturers in ASEAN can leverage technology solutions to digitally streamline the end-to-end process, from data collection to mapping both the value chain and product lifecycle, accurately calculating the company’s Scope three emissions in accordance with industry methodologies, and to take actions to actively engage suppliers in order to drive compliance with regulations across the entire supply chain.
Government support to facilitate doing well while doing good
It is no doubt that sustainability equates to profitability in the long run. It is time for ASEAN countries to extend their focus and capabilities from manufacturing to green manufacturing to maintain competitiveness in the global market.
ASEAN countries can benefit by engaging in cross-border collaboration to build their green economy and workforce. For instance, the Singapore government’s Budget 2024 covered a tiered support approach for businesses on their digitalisation roadmap, particularly focusing on financial support for training and digital adoption as well as digital technologies such as AI. This is something that the other ASEAN governments can consider emulating in order to advance ESG initiatives across the region.
Governments across ASEAN can also consider introducing a standardised set of guidelines in relation to ESG disclosures to help companies future-proof against upcoming mandatory sustainability reporting to be implemented in 2025. Relevant examples already implemented in the region include the Simplified ESG Disclosure Guide (SEDG) Adopter Programme in Malaysia, as well as the Sustainability Report (SuRe) Form in the Philippines.
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