BritCham ESG Event: Inspiring Talks for a Sustainable Future

In this episode of the BritCham Podcast, Executive Director Matt Ryland of the British Chamber of Commerce, Vietnam invites special guests from Unilever Vietnam, AIA Vietnam, and BDO Asia and Greater China to discuss Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. 

The focus is on sustainable development, particularly in relation to Vietnam's future and youth. Each guest provides insights into their experiences and vision within each pillar of ESG, how they're integrated into their respective businesses, and why it's crucial for the future of business and the planet. 

The episode also emphasises the role the younger generation will play in this area and the interconnection between sustainability and business. 

There is a strong call to action for everyone to embrace and drive sustainability initiatives for a better future.

00:20 The Importance of ESG in Business
02:54 The Impact of Climate Change
05:06 The Role of Youth in Climate Action
19:43 Unilever's Approach to Plastic Waste
30:39 The Importance of Governance in ESG
38:09 The Future of Circular Economy
38:17 The Simplicity of Governance
42:47 Real Life Examples of Good and Bad EAG Practices
55:35 Conclusion: The Importance of Good Governance for Long-Term Success

For more information about the Britcham Chamber of Commerce Vietnam please visit www.britchamvn.com

Transcript

Matr: 0:05

Hello and welcome to the BritCham Podcast. My name is Matt Ryland, Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce, Vietnam. For this episode, we will hear a recent BritCham event we co organized with DRR Community and ICAEW Vietnam. ESG, Business Stories to the Future of Vietnam. As organizers, we are passionate about these two things, the sustainable development of Vietnam and people, and particularly the younger generation, the future of Vietnam. We want to bring this topic and this audience together as in essence one cannot happen without the other. We wanted to develop the ESG conversation, breaking it down into bite sized pieces. What can be done? What has been done? What does it actually mean? Looking at the why, the how, and demonstrating what this means in day to day business. I am proud to say that we had three partners who also shared our vision and shared their market leading expertise and experiences in each of the three pillars. The E, the S, and the G. ESG will become the foundation of how businesses operate. Almost a company's moral compass, ingrained in everything they do. We had three speakers to explain what their companies are doing and why. The E was presented by Ms Nguyen Thi Bich Van, Chairwoman of Unilever Vietnam. The S, Mr Phuong Ba Khang, Chief of Marketing and Proposition at AIA Vietnam. And finally, the G. by Mr. Gan Hoxun, Executive Director, BDO, Asia and Greater China.

Speaker 1: 1:52

I love working with the youth of Vietnam. I love working with you all. Why? Because you only see possibility. You're there to get things done, and you know when it comes to ESG we need that. So I'm so happy that you spent your evening time here on this topic. and you are the game changer for EIG going forward. So let me try to tell you a story, how Unilever embrace sustainability in our DNA, and why are we doing that. So let give me about 15 minutes, about this, and there will be the Q& A. So try to keep your questions with you. Either you send it online somewhere, or we can have the conversation later. I'm here on behalf of All of my teams back in the office, who's doing all the work I'm telling you. And I'm joining here with me, that could be Nguyen and Vernon, who's been helping me to put these things together, to share that with you. Thank you so much for that. So look, each of us, one way or another, you observe it, you see it, you experience it, the deterioration of the living surrounding. Any of you have already experienced any kinds of wildfires, heat waves, floods? Have you ever experienced this? So one way or another, you feel the pressure from the environment already, no? So the environment is deeply under stress. And we don't need more evidence than what you already see and experience. But I think we need to confirm here to ourselves, is this the imperatives? Is it the urgency that human beings need to intervene to protect this planet Earth? So is this so called action for everybody? So, look, climate change poses escalating threat. The long term impacts disproportionately on affect young people. This is your father's sister, your next generation, and many of you sitting here, either you are Generation Millennials, Generation X, Z, your children, Generation Alpha. And I'm telling you this fact. This is coming from Stockholm Environment Institute. They say, let me read it out, child born in the year of 2020 is twice as likely to experience wildfires, 2. 6 times more prone to drought, 2. 8 times more exposed to river floods, and a staggering 6. 8 times more susceptible to heat waves. Then someone got born in 1960. This is our children, so I guess that is so called it. And look, this young generation, look at Vietnam for the next 10 years. This young population accounts for 22. 5 percent of population of Vietnam. In the next 10 years, they will be what? 10, 15 years. 36 percent of the worst force for Vietnam economy. So they should be the driving force for climate's resilient future. And our job to ensure we do the right thing to role model for them. Thank you. So the urgency for climate change, push all the governments around the world, Vietnam is no exception, is driving the green transitioning plans. They've been shifting from calling for action, nice gesture, to where today, it will be regulated policy. And where it's going to enforcement as some country the already imposing. So ESG is individual ways of doing business. So there is no other option basically. So, but you think deeply about it. Actually, no business can prosper in an environment where sea walls rising, heat wave floods very extreme weather condition. You can thrive in this context? No way. So therefore, I think to preserve the planet's health is very important. To preserve the cleanliness of the world, the nature of the world, is very important. And only then, people's living healthily. And only then, we can do business. So therefore, we, each of us here in this room, having a very huge role to play. And I'm sure I'm asking a question that don't need to answer because you're here. And I guess the question you're posing, how do we get started? How do we do it? So I will get there in a little bit. Let me talk a bit about Unilever. Who are we? Our belief. What is it and what are we passionate about? So let me share to you, we have a very simple start. You know, more than a hundred years backwards. And we have a long tradition of being a responsible and pioneering business. So it goes back to the days of our founders. uh, including William Levers, who launched a very, one of the first purposeful brands, called Sunlight Soap, more than a hundred years ago. And he got so much pressing to launch this, just because he wants to serve the pressing hygienic crisis for the Victorian in Britain. And you know, that is what the heart of the business could be conducting over a hundred years. I find myself very lucky. to choose a place to work and hear it and learn from those value culture and belief. But for us, this is so much more than what I've been telling you. But the way we embrace brands in Unilever, we make brands intertwined with the business, intertwined with sustainability. And we believe sustainability has to be... the business models, and only then we make it sustainable. So it has to be part of the business models. So therefore we can realize our vision to make sustainable living commonplace. So at the very, very heart of the business, this is our firm belief. Sustainable practices, not just a moral obligation. It's not just that. But we believe sustainability is a catalyst. for superior performance. It's a way to serve the consumer better than others. It's a way to bring more sustainable value for our customers. And that's the way we deliver a sustainable performance, and we're thriving. And by doing that, we have amazing talent who would love to come and work with us. So that's the business case. Now, let me talk about our Unilever compass. We have a really crazy, ambitious agenda. You can name it. But our dream was that we wanted to harness the power of our brands, the power of the talent who come to work with us. And harnessing this power together, we want to solve the issues that you as the consumers and stakeholders face the issues today. And you care so much deeply, all of you is telling us, guys, protect the health of the planet. And that is so calling for us. So we have a number of pillars in our compass. The very first one, we're talking about environment, protect the planet's health. And we have streams of ideas around pillars that, which today I will address about net zero and plastic waste challenge. And of course, we have other pillars as well. We're talking about improving the health and wellness for people. And of course, we'll be talking about how do we contribute to improving the inclusion diversity for community. But today allows me just to focus on the planet health pillars. So, in our journey, it's crucial that we have to understand that the interconnectedness of the sustainability efforts, this is, this isn't just a single company like us making the change. It's not true. But this is about the actions that us, our partners, in the value chains, are working with us. That we create the ripples effect, that create the sustainable impact, from the core, and surrounding, and widening the surrounding effect going forward. And that is what we're looking for. And that's the way we practice to say, what does it mean to make sustainability commonplace. So, um, today, I think we will explore. The relationship between sustainability and business. And let me try to uncover the two topics that I told you early on a bit deeper. And, uh, I hope it can inspire you, and I hope that you appreciate that the baby step we're taking. and still very hard lifting ahead. And we look forward, you are part of the journey of change with us, eventually. So look, let me talk about, um, the journey to achieving net zero in our operation, and the ambition to the entire value chain. So as I share with you, like all the government around the world, Vietnamese government very bravely and take a courage to want to take a strong measures to cope with environmental pollution of climate change. And you know how important it is to keep the temperature from rising 1. 5 Celsius degree. Extremely important message we need to understand because that is to avoid the world get into the worst situation, no returns. So, at COP26, our Prime Minister make the declaration, we want to be net zero by 2050. As a Vietnamese citizen, I tell you, I feel so proud. I feel so proud that the government is taking a stand. I want to be there because it's good for the people here in Vietnam. It's good for the country. So, look, personally, I'm so committed. And so do you, I think. And so you deliver Vietnam. So we are so supporting the goals. that the government is calling, and we lay down the decarbonisation in our operation. So let me share with you a bit. Today, we already achieved net zero, net zero emission in our scope one and two. And what does it mean, scope one and two? This is where we have direct operation impact. This is where we have zero excuse, because this can't be done. The scope three could be the latest stage we will do, because it involves a wider stakeholder for us to manage. But the scope one and two, we were very clear. Do it. I'm very fortunate to have the team to set up factory and run operation who already thought net zero from design. Let me share with you a bit. What we did was not very magical, was not difficult. It's just simply we replaced traditional energy with clean energy sources. So we use biomass in the factory's boilers to totally replace fossil fuels. We hate fossil fuels because we're digging and using the resource in the land. But we are so dependent to it. But where we can make the difference, stop using it, we should. So we have already switched 100 percent of energy consumption in factory to biomass use. And we have a lot of biomass too, by the way. Of course, the cost of price we need to discuss. But that is what we say that our standard of operation, no fuels in this factory. And of course, we also reduce emission from electricity consumption through Hydrax as well. It's a renewable energy certificate. And we're also building green facility like solar powers, like many idea that you know. So, and we keep innovating it throughout the way, and we brought inefficiency at the same time. Just to give you a numbers. Annually, We already save more than 10, 000 tons of CO2 by doing this baby step. And we have one of the lowest cost per ton product in the world. So this is something very proud story I'd like to share with you. It's not rocket science, but from design we can start from that ideas. And my supply chains and manufacturing team will be in every forum to share these practices because we want this idea transfers. So, um, at our distribution centers. We also started because we had a lot of forklifts moving around in the warehouse. We also switched that to forklift with electricity version already. And also we are exploring more green transportation, wider than throughout the logistic spectrum. And then, of course, that's what we achieved, but we are now stop working on the next journey. So, currently, we are working with another 200 suppliers in a value change, and we already have the MOU say we're going to innovate and find a lower carbon material options in order to bring down the CO2. further down. So this is a journey that I'm telling you that we, we, we been very passionate about, but the job is not done. Let me share with you another thing we're doing. From a brand perspective, the brand OMO, you know it, right? So for OMO, we believe that every kids need to feel free to practice and learn to get dirty so therefore experiential learning is part of his development. We encourage him to get dirty. We encourage him to be part of learning to protect and preserve the nature. So we have a program to plant one million trees. And that is a way we want to help regenerate nature. We want to help contributing into cleaning the atmosphere. But more important is to inspire consumers to take action for the nature. And today, so proud to tell you that we already got 500, 000 young people. especially children, to protect the environment and we already planted more than 700 trees across the country in 19 provinces and cities. And by doing this, my customers love to work with us, because they are part of the impact they like to do. So these are the steps, not part of the CO2 decarbonisation from the value chain we have, but we like to work beyond that. To educate the community, people, having the awareness how important the nature is, and you need to resolve. And that is a part of consumer work we also explore. Let me move to the next agenda, which is about plastic. Okay, so, um, and we wanted to reduce plastic agendas by setting up a circular economy. Three years back, it was crazy. Idea because we kick off the circular economy for plastic waste management in the middle of Covid times. But there was nothing to stop us to kick this off. So this is the very beginning of 2020. We established the public private collaboration. We call that BPC. And this PPC we partner with Rey. And the like minded businesses, our colleagues, uh, sorry, our partners, NCJ, Dow Chemicals, was the two that came with us, together with Mungrey, to set this up. And you know, and eventually, these groups, BBC now expanded to about 30 fascinate, uh, fascinate partners already. And we wanted to shape the circular economy. in Plastic Waste Management. And this is the very first kind of circular economy in Vietnam. And it was, the idea came from a very small idea because, you know what happened today? We had Vietnam, we have about 3 million tons of plastic waste every year. 3 million tons of plastic every year. And the fact is, only 33 percent got collected and recycled. Where is your money now? Where is the 67 percent of plastic waste? Where is it going to? Hardly find the answer, but I'm sure it could be in the landfill, it could be in the ocean. And by looking into this fact, it is really scary. And therefore, we said that how do we fix this? Because it's a gigantic challenge. But we believe that if this huge 67 percent of the plastic waste is wasted. And actually plastic, after disposal, it has huge value remains. So the question for us is that we need to bring these resources back to the economy. So that is the idea why we came into circular economy as a solution. So look, today we already physically collected and processed 25, 000 tons of plastic. And in this journey... We create a lot of new jobs for people, and at least for this model, we created 2, 500 informal waste collectors. In Vietnamese terms, they don't have a stable job, stable income, no insurance. So this is the livelihood impact creating to the community. For people who's helping the world around us clean, we forgot them. So that's the beauty of the circular economy. It's not just about putting the wasted plastic back to the economy. Setting up the new capability to convert plastic back into PCR and for us to put into our product to go back to serve you. and create a better job for the people who is as need. So that is the idea of the circular economy that we successfully created in the last three years. Beyond this, we're asking ourselves, what is the next challenge we face? And I can tell you this area, I need your help. Plastic waste is not easy to collect. Why? Because we don't have the habit to put plastic waste aside. We mix with everything. So therefore, we're talking about we really have to run for Waste Regulation Education Campaigns. And so far the campaign is running, we reached already what? Uh, more than 30 million people in Vietnam. About the awareness about my, responsible for my action of mixing waste at home. And therefore, this is a journey we will keep repeating. And I hope that we can reach you and help to have you to be part of the change agent for this program. And that's the way for us to get the economy to scale up. So what we've been achieving is that basically now we can, I can be confident to stand here to tell you, Unilever Vietnam, we've got plastic neutral. What does it mean? We collect more than we ship to the market. And we are already reduced virgin plastic reduction more than half. And we are creating together with the partners the post recycle resin capability in Vietnam to serve us. So that is a great story. I can talk about this plastic agenda for a day. Because it's so close to my heart, because gigantic challenge ahead, and this is a starting point we're having. So, what I'm going to talk to you next, I think is the, um, the challenge ahead. I think I don't want to be here to be arrogant to tell you the story we achieved. It's not true. We are here to tell a great story that Unilever and the partners has been working very hard in those years to achieve what we have, and it's just the beginning. And we all acknowledge that is a huge challenge waiting ahead of us. So we have to reimagine what we have to do now to scale it up and to have more partners. And that could be transferred to whoever interested into the models in order to make the change bigger. So I'd like to share with you next is about the learning through the journey that we reflect. Because I think sustainability is not, there's no destination for it. Because sustainability is a way ever. It's a process keep evolving because we don't know what we don't know. So therefore there are three keywords I'd like to share with you in this learning. Guys, keep innovating, innovating, find new solution. And guys, we need to collaborate if we want to make impact. And guys, it's hard work. Be dedicated. So these basically are the three keywords I'd like to land on with you. in this journey. Why continuous innovation is so necessary? Because as I shared with you, sustainability is not a status quo. The target keeps moving. You know why? Because the world demands us to come to more better, more perfect, more ultimate solutions to solve the bigger problems. And whatever the solution we share with you today, or the world found it, It's all for today's problems, not tomorrow's problems. So therefore, we need to face a challenge and rethink. So that's continuous innovation is the agenda we need to chase after. So you know, we are always at the forefront of innovation all the time. From developing the new sustainable products, we need to rethink how to lessen the environmental footprint all the time. And you know, in this journey is not about adapting to change, but about anticipating the challenge. And you know, you need to pivot the strategy along the way. So that is the approach mindset. When we come to this space, collaboration is key. As I said, no one can achieve sustainability alone because it's collective efforts, as I say, and it has to transcend industry entire value chain. We're talking about, and I say complexity of this challenge is huge. So we have to exchange and share knowledge, experience, best practices. So I like forums like this, and especially to this audience. And lastly about education, I said, because sustainability requires your long term commitment. But you need to get started now, but think long term. So I think at Unilever, we learned that we need to integrate sustainability into every aspect of the business. The business model I mentioned to you, and that's the mission that I expect every Unilever would do good and think about it and responsible for it. So, whether it's an individual community, or business, or government, all of us having a role to play. Not just the business alone. Be a citizen. You need to have the responsibility role to play too. And guys, we need to make conscious choice in our daily life. Are you going to stop using a single plastic tomorrow? That's a question to ask. How do you segregate waste at home tomorrow? What is my CO2 footprint? After 24 hours of my day time. So those are the conscious questions we need to ask ourselves and make the right choice. And you know, we need to hold ourselves accountable for what we're creating. So the take home message for you probably... You can forget all what I said, but look, there's no planet B. You can have planet A, planet B, planet C. I don't know if someone can invent or explore, discover another planet. But one thing for sure, we have only one planet. No planet B. So you are the decision makers. You are the driving engines. And you know, the com, the, the Battle with climate change to secure sustainability for the world is so vital for the next generation. I share to you, we need to think how our generation next could be living in a better world. And it's all upholding to the value, the culture, the act that we are acting today. So thanks so much for your engagement to my session. And I hope I bring some perspective, humbly, to share with you the start, we kick start with the journey, so much to do, and looking forward for your support and partnership. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So now we move to the third part of ESG, the G, which is as important as the others, but probably one of the most difficult. How do we do things and how do we do things properly? So I'd like to invite on stage Mr. Gan Hock Sun, who is the Executive Director of BDO Asia and

Speaker 2: 31:01

Greater China.

Speaker 1: 31:02

Thank you. Raise your hands if you are the leaders of tomorrow.

Speaker 2: 31:21

No one? Please raise

Speaker 1: 31:23

your hand if you are not the

Speaker 2: 31:25

leaders of tomorrow. So all

Speaker 1: 31:28

are leaders of tomorrow, yeah? As leaders of tomorrow, you have the responsibility to contribute to the sustainability of the only place we live in, which is the planet Earth. Agreed? Ladies and gentlemen, Xin

Speaker 2: 31:43

Zhao Ka Ban.

Speaker 1: 31:47

First of all, I would like to

Speaker 2: 31:48

thank the

Speaker 1: 31:48

organiser. British Chamber of Commerce, Matt, ICW, Chang and Vivian, and dear our community, Thuyen. And of course, the two presenters before me, Miss Wan and Mr Fong from Unilever and AIF for the wonderful insight of the environmental issue and the sustainable issue for the ESG. Now, why governance is important? Yeah. Before I carry the story, we'll share you the detail. Let me share you some story. I've been working for close to 30 years. I consider myself quite lucky over the 30 years. Uh, I came from a very small town, born in the Jeha Malaysia, a very small town from a very poor family. My goal is to travel around the world. For the last 30 years, I have been working in us. China, Malaysia, and Europe. I've been to half of the U. S. in two years. China, twenty out of the thirty provinces, thirty five provinces, half of the European Union countries. And, of course, Vietnam, sixty four provinces, I've only been to one, which is Ho Chi Minh. But I want to tell you a story I cannot forget for the last thirty years, which is, this one incident happened in... In 2001, I was working in Houston, Texas, America. 2001, what happened? 9 1 1. I'm not talking about 9 1 1. I'm talking about an incident, a thing that happened, and affect my work until today. Why? Because that incident, I got more work to do now. Why is that? In 2001, I was, uh, there was this company called Enron. Enron used to be the top 10 company of the world then. It's the darling of the capital market. They lied. All the investors lied to the company. Why? Because it grows so fast that until a lot of investors keep on making money. Sorry, I'm an accountant. I like to talk money. Talk number. And they go for 70 billion USD. 70 billion, I don't know how much. I cannot count. It went bust. Because why? They lied on their financial data. They cheat the market on their financial data, and it become, it went bust. Just like that. 70 billion, if you give 10 million a year, what you need 7000 years to give you. You understand? It's a lot of money. So what happened then? Because the

Speaker 2: 34:39

company,

Speaker 1: 34:41

poor management by the director, poor corporate governance by the director, and they lied to the capital market. Yeah? And it went from 2 to 0, just overnight. The sad thing is, not about director. It is because many people suffer from that. Who are they? One of the workers, for example, who has worked for the company for 30 years. 60 years old, he trusts the company so much, he likes the company so much, he put all his retirement fund, USD 5 million ah, 120 billion dong right, enough for retirement right, but, all gone in one day. The worker now today, 80 over years old, still got to work because of, he lost his retirement fund. So, ladies and gentlemen, why governance is important? Because, Anyone? Because those directors are like pilot or captain for the ship, pilot for the plane, those in the driver's seat. They are the ones setting the direction, setting the goal, setting the mission for the company. Agree? They have the right strategy, with the right speed, right direction to achieve the goal. They supposed to... responsible for the company they did, agreed? Now, but why a lot of people... Now I'll ask you a question. Do you like to work for good boss? Or bad boss? Who like to work for good leaders? Yeah, those who don't raise your hand, don't like to work for bad leader. Very good. You got a lot of

Speaker 2: 36:21

future.

Speaker 1: 36:23

Who, do you like to work, follow leaders who are visionary, who are ethical and demonstrate integrity? Definitely yes, right? The answer is obvious. Agree? Now, let's, I'm going to bring you here because governance is all talk about leadership. Talk about what you do. Now, this chapter is very important. Sorry, I prepared a lot of detail in this next four slides. Please copy down. End of this presentation, got quiz ah. If you cannot pass, you cannot leave the room. Got tuition for you. Now, why governance is important? Now, in the old days, you need to understand this part. In the old days, or now, a lot of investor market will ask for financial report. You need even financial report, AIA financial report, right? But now, besides financial report, the market also want to know the EAG report. Want to know your, how do you address the EAG issue. Oh, many of my businessmen, uh, clients ask me, Mr. Gan, I'm just a small company. Can I ignore the ESG report? Ignore the ESG score? I say, can! The market also will ignore you. Your investors also ignore you. Your customers also ignore you. Like Unilever will ignore all those who care, do not care about ESG, right? Yeah? So, nah. Ah, just to show you, market, how they address the EAG is like this. Are you a leader? Yeah? Eight. And then are you just average? Or are you a lagger? Lagger means those, I don't care lah, not my business. Right? Now, what will happen if you do not understand what is EAG? Today, it's a very good presentation. E and S explain very well. The circular economy is the future. of the, this 10 to 20 years, yeah? Now, so, this is actually very simple. Governance is very simple. Two things only. Ya, remember ah, later I'll test you ah, before you go out.

Speaker 3: 38:29

Number one, talk about governance structure. Agreed? Talk about governance structure. And, corporate behaviour. How, are you a good boy? Ya? Next! So, the company needs strong EAG value and practices, including good governance, transparency and accountability, and appropriate risk management, in order to attract investors, attract the customer, and also to let the, no, not only investor and customer, now the bank! Also, look at this. What is your EAG score? Not good. Okay, interest, 10%. EAG score good. Oh, interest can reduce 2%, 6 percent only. You can check with the bank. I think if you've got a banker friend here, you can ask them. Malaysia already happening already. Ya, you do know about it. So that is why our enquiry about EAG matter getting more. Now, so it's essential for long term success for sure. Ya, unless you do want to live in this world. Ya, next. So this one is a... How governance is measured by all this Morgan Stanley Capital International, by all this rating agency, how do they assess you? Like for example, they will assess the board diversity. What does it mean? Do you have enough mix or not? Is it all women only or all men? Do you have young professional? Right? Board independency. How the director getting paid? Why is it important? I'll show you later. Ownership. Who are the key shareholder? Who are the one behind the sink Control? The control the company. Okay. And accounting practice. Now for both diversity and, uh, independent, there are independence. They're looking at whether enough representative from various sector, uh, the stakeholder diversity I just mentioned, you know, from various, uh, whether they're qualified or not. Next, is your book Dynamic Enough? Law. Sorry, many listed companies in Malaysia, a lot of their director age close to my father who is 90 years old, okay? So you think they are dynamic? I don't know. You ask them about EAG? I don't know. Okay? So you should have, uh, the boss should have been young enough or able to adapt to the new environment and innovative. Appropriate risk management and then the broader network access. Now. Next is about how the director get paid. Yeah, this is very important, right? I say, how do all the directors get paid? It's because, oh, one is my, uh, favourite director, pay more. Mr Fong, also my favourite friend, pay more. No, it has to be reflect, reasonable in the context of the, also be fair and sustainable. Which is performance oriented or not? And then is it aligned with a good governance principle or not? So this is behaviour that the, uh, performance that the market will assess you, whether you have a good governance structure or not, yeah? Is, oh, I can, it's my company what, I can pay who I like, yes? But you do that, then they will assess you as a low rating. What will happen in a low rating? You got less customer. Yeah? Now, next is the... Corporate behavior, yeah? Good structure. Are you a good boy or not? Yeah? What is it about? Ethics, anti bribery, anti competitive practices, financial system. Also, are you transparent in your tax or not? Yeah? Now, all this talking about fair and transparent dealing, and how to get the, uh, stakeholder trust. Whether you comply with the law or not. And also, how can you protect your reputation? Do you able to enhance and encourage the employee morale and productivity? And, do you able to gain the confidence from the investor? So this is look very simple, but a lot, a lot of principle behind, a lot of the thing you need to, uh, director need to do. Yeah? So, now, very simple, right? This is governance. Very fast, I can go home already. Now, let me show you. Real life example. Who are good boy? Who are bad boy? I mean, not bad boy lah. Room for improvement, sorry. Mind my language. Room for improvement, yah? Now, I need to share with you this one. Anyone heard of this before? Raise your hand please so I can guess. Very good. Those who don't know, please, your government will come after you for this. Please pay attention. 17 Sustainable Development Goals. What is this? It is the... Close to 190 countries agreed that this, uh, Sustainable Development Goals is the goal they want to achieve for the next... I think 2030 got one goal, yeah? Like for example just now, the, uh, one talk about the... Reduce the... Reduce the carbon footprint, reduce the CO2 emission, yeah? Net zero, all these things about. It come from here. It cover... Also, number one goal is reduce poverty. Or no poverty. No poor people in the world. Right? I just read recently the news, a developed country in the west, a lot of homeless people in my, one of my favourite cities. My goodness, I don't know what happened. Okay? Developed country ah, I don't know what to say. Number four, quality education. Yeah? Number six, clean water, yeah, and a lot of things that, uh, now this one is about, this one you can ask one, he will know more. Number nine, yeah, agreed? Now, many of this, life on land, whatever, this all cover the environmental, social, and economy goals, yeah? So it's interconnected with EAG we're cooperatively talking about. This are many. The count, the leaders who support push for this one is a country. Yeah. But EAG will will be more the goal or the, the, the, the, the push to the corporate. Yeah. But in interconnected. Now, let ask you, Saudi Asia, ham, many country then, right? Lemme ask you, what do you think Vietnam journey is? Where are they now? Vietnam. 1 to 3 out of 10 companies, I mean, are you a good boy or not? Is Vietnam a good boy or not? 1 to 3. Who said 1 to 3? Raise your hand. Wah, no confidence in your country ah? 4 to 6. Wah, little bit. 7 to 10. Those who don't raise your hand, what happen ah? You do not know your country well. I'm proud to share with you. Vietnam rank number 2. In our 10 countries. Hey, this is not prepared by me ah. This is from United Nations ah. Okay? And what is Vietnam government doing well is, number one, you all can tell me whether it's correct or not. Reduce a lot of poverty. Not so many poor people. Agree? Number two, enhance the quality of education. You see, so many young and educated people here, professional. Agree? So that's why the, of course social, Social issues, we're not doing very well. Environment needs everyone to work together. Agree? Huh? So, So this high SDG score has helped Wanan to attract a lot of foreign direct investment. So thanks to your government, because of that, a lot of people coming in here. I also, because of that, I fly in here because of FDI coming in. A lot of investors coming in. I need to come here and serve them. Right? Then you all got better job, more job opportunity. Agree? Yeah? Now, Now we talk about corporate world, yeah? Just give some example, leaders who are, who have a very high EAG score. This, you can search from internet one, this one, no problem one. These are the company that all the investors like one. Because beside financial result, making money, they also have very high EAG score. Agree? Number one is Microsoft, who are the leader, AAA. Number two, Oracle Academy. Can we, can we, can we give a, uh, It's Unilever, yeah? Can we give a round of applause to Unilever? Also a leader. And specifically, Unilever Vietnam, been honoured as just now the circular economy. They are pioneering this circular economy. Imagine, Hey, how many plastic you use ah? Today I come in, I use three or four plastic and I throw because I drink water. It's also like a tour. But they are talking about 100 percent recyclable, you know. By 2025, you know. Wow. I don't know how to do that. It means that whatever you throw, use, you got to eat it back, you know. It's to be net zero, ma. Agree? Now, of course, the other one we are leader is AIA. Also the leader in the industrial industry. These are all the companies that investors are looking for, and they are, of course, they are here. Not just the end, they got to continually improve because every year they are being assessed, agree? I think the one will know, uh, head office will be putting down a pressure on him. Hey, can you improve your rating ah? Can you improve your rating ah? Right? Now, sorry, good and bad. No, area for improvement. This one, bad example. Volkswagen, if you drive Volkswagen, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't tell me ah. They have lie on their greenhouse emission. Data and means they're not genuine and not, not sincere. No. Integrity in their data means that your, the car that they produce say release certain amount of the carbon. CO two, right? Say hundred. They say, no, no, no, only 50 only so they can bypass, can pass us tests. I think US market, they're talking for US Market. Yeah. So this is a bad example. Don't follow. The other one is. Facebook have all my, our data, but they use it for wrong use. So social, social issue, they, they fail. Agree? So these are some example. Now, after talking so much, I just want to share with you. Mr. Kang, ask me, these are all nothing to do with me. What is my opportunity? I come here today not just to listen to you all the history I can search on internet, right? Today I'm sharing with you is that EHE, Whether you like it or not, it's here to stay. Because EIG in the mind of today, many investors today is, it's important to achieve long term value. If your company don't care about EIG, as I said, investors don't care about you. Bank don't care about you. Customer don't care about you. Agree? Second, green economy. Even though I'm just sharing about governance. topic, but I believe that it's interconnected. Why? Directors are supposed to run the company, but business fail already. What company are you going to run? Right? So green economy is the low opportunity, like just now you, you can hear from the one, he said, a low issue, yes, but then a low opportunity from the climate change and the natural resources scarcity. Yeah? And EAG is a deal breaker. I think, uh, my colleague, Warren, is just telling me, Hey, you got a fund, want to invest in the company in Vietnam. But, when you look at EAG qualifier, you get what I'm saying? People, look at it, bank also. Malaysia, I just went to Malaysia, back at the day, RHB bank. Oh, SME, EAG, green fund, green loan, interest, cheaper by 3%, 2. 8%. Because... If you do the EAG, you cannot pass the test. Then study has shown that companies with strong performance, outperform, companies with strong EAG, outperform other, their competitor, like Unilever. Now, so what are the opportunities from this environmental issue and green economy? To me, yeah, I purposely picked this slide because to further explain to you where is the opportunity and where is your risk if you do not follow. Scope 1, like what one explain, is what you burn. Today you drive car, your car burn, and got CO2 go out. That is what you burn. Agree? Can you make net zero? Yes. It's like a tree. You go and suck back the CO2. Ah, that is net zero. Can you do that? Cannot right? Talk about it, but I'll Scope 1 is what you burn. Like factory, you have factory, your factory produce CO2. Greenhouse gas, right? Your car, your company's facility, it's direct. Scope 1, direct what you burn. Scope 2, is from the energy that you use. So, if you use the renewable energy, like Unilever, just now I saw they want to use 100 percent renewable energy, means they don't go and buy, not go and buy electricity from the national electricity, ah? I don't know. You know what I'm saying? 100 percent renewable energy means, like, solar panel, solar energy that's renewable. Agree? This number, Scope 2, that's why he say that, he say that it's very easy to manage, because only about myself, and the energy I use. Scope 3, Scope 3 is a challenge, even for big company like Unilever. But it's our opportunity. Why? Scope 3 is that, any other thing, Like Unilever, they are supplier. Their supplier release a lot of greenhouse gas, also affect their scoring. So, who do you think they will choose? A supplier with a good, high EAG score, or supplier with a bad EAG score? Very obvious, right? So if your competitor better than you, what will you do? You lost job lah, you lost customer, you lost sales lah, right? And what happens if you lost all these things? Investors don't look at you, customers don't look at you, bankers don't look at you. Thank you very much. You're a boss, you're not able to pay your staff salary. Your staff, you don't get salary. What happens? Your kids at home suffer. So this is opportunity I'm talking about. So, pay attention to this scope 3. It's going to affect you. You're going to say, I'm a small company. Why do I care about ESG? But it's going to come to you very soon because the goal that the government set and it's 2030 so near. Like the Unilever set 2025 in 3 years, Eh, sorry, less than 1, less than, going to less than, after cross the Chinese Union is less than 2 years already. 2025, 100 percent recite, imagine that this goal is so close already, agreed? So a lot of opportunity. Next slide is that, this was just last week only. I went to Beijing, first time I sit in the Tesla car, I just show how big this green economy is. This was me, very happy, I sit in the car. I can drive, you know, even without license, you know why? Driverless. No, I'm just talking about this green economy, because with the green electrical car, in Beijing is like this, if you're a petrol car, you can only drive three or four days out a week. Electric car, no limit. So that's the value of it, and save a lot of energy, save a lot of petrol price, petrol cost, as well as low maintenance. This is what they say, yeah? Many others, like just now, uh, you can see a solar panel, you know, I was with the, last week I was with the, with my friend, he was talking about China's state power investment, I'm looking for All this green economy project only. He showed me a big, big battery. I said, what is this big battery for? It's for you to save energy one. I'm going to say, I'll explore with you in the next time. So, all he show is that, Tesla, 2021, 1 trillion. Market capitalization, 1 trillion is a lot, you know. I don't know how to count. Combined, it's bigger than all other 10 car companies. You see their value? BMW, you know, Daimler is a Mercedes. All these are there. Volkswagen also there. Agree? Yeah, you can sell this one online one. Now, so this is a market. I'm telling you, green economy is very huge. You only got, you got business, you can talk about governance. That's why I bring in the environmental opportunity. Agree? Okay, now quiz time. You hear my presentation? Governance is just so simple. That's why I say, governance got how many two key areas in the EIG context? Two. What are they? Let's go through together and recap, so that you can go back, go out, and you can remember at least what Gatong Sun shared with you, right? Two. One, corporate governance structure, and second is corporate behaviour. Agree? Yeah? Second, it's important for long term success. Yeah? Third, Green Economy should be here for the next 10 to 20 years, could be more than that, and then 50 years or so there. It's a darling. You don't want to talk about it, you're going out of job, okay? And then what's the three key driver for the good governance? Anyone? You pass, you, those who don't answer, please lock the door, don't go home ah, you're not allowed to go out. Corporate governance talk about what? Anyone? Start with A, start with T. So we see, number one is accountability, agree? Accountability. Talk about your responsibility, agree? Number two, transparency. Like they want to know how you pay your salary to your director, all these things, yeah? How do you deal with your ethical behaviour? Number three, compliance. Ethical behaviour, complying with the law, yeah? Just to show you why future missionaries are important. How many of you used Nokia before? So young ah, all these people here. Have you heard of Nokia? Less than 10 percent ah. Oh, one also is very young ah, never used Nokia before ah.

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Ha ha

Speaker 3: 57:17

Nokia was a darling in last 20 years. My first smartphone, ok? Where is it now? Eh, it invented the smartphone, you know? They invented the smartphone! Not iPhone, not Samsung, not other company. They invented smartphone! But because the director set a decision not to do smartphone. That's why they are out. They are become, they go, they went to museum only. There are many company, many car company, petrol car company, because they got advantage. They got big market in the petrol car. They lose out in the electrical vehicle to the Tesla only. And many other companies in China. Agreed? Now, why I share with you this slide is that This one, uh, I'll tell you a story. When I graduated from university about 30 years ago. One of my good friend, Ong, went for this training and come back and share with me this slide. And I have you, I mean, I've been guided by this and I can actually, where am I today, personally share with you. I follow a lot of this principle. Have you heard of, have you heard of Stephen Covey? Malaysian guru, Stephen Covey. Go in Google, this one will help you. Why talk about it today? In the EAG era, you know EAG important right? So be proactive lah. After go home, still do some homework lah, study what opportunity Mr. Gan talk about. What type of the circular economy Wan talk about. What type of social issue that the, you know, uh, Fong talk about. What's opportunity for you? This be proactive. If you care about your own family and your kid and your future, right? Second is that, you begin and end in mind. What, you want to be leader or follower? Number three is that, of course first thing first lah, put the priority lah. First three talk about your personal effectiveness. Then number four talk about think win win. I will start to make arrangement with the, uh, uh, Dear our community, CEO, twin, how we can collaborate together later on this EAG era to, for the win win situation. Yeah? Just now the, uh, Chiang also talk about, uh, we get to talk about EAG topic, uh, with, uh, with, with Chen also, Matt also. We talk about how to further collaborate to, so that we can have a better win win situation. Then number, number five is talk about put yourself in other people's shoes so they can understand each other better. Number six is we, by working together we have synergy. If not, then go home. You want to be friend. You go, you can synergy then you work together. Number seven is repeat the above. Yeah? Why? Because you agree that EAG is here to stay, right? Agree ah? And good governance is essential for long term success. Meet more than one year ah? And strong foundation for sustainability. Agree? So company and individual who are with strong ESE performance will win, outperform their peers, means beat your competitor. Mean, their, your competitor, sales come to you. Happy? Right? But how to do it is, depend on you. So leaders of tomorrow, your future generation, future generation depend on you. Yeah? The earth depend on you. Your family also depends on you. So, you take charge. You decide. Thank you.

Music: 1:00:34

Mr,

Matt Ryland: 1:00:37

I hope you agree there is some great work being done, but also so much more we can do, and at BritCham Vietnam we will continue to push this agenda. For more information on BritCham Vietnam, please visit BritChamVN. com. Thank you for listening and see you next time.