Reinforcing the climate agenda and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: By Stanley Lee Kwek Ming / theedgemarkets.com- published 06 Apr 2023 / i3 investor-Save Malaysia- published Date: April 6 2023

As we move forward in this era of sustainable development, we see a lot of changes that must be made to our business as usual mindset. These include changes to industrial processing methods, the way the supply chain and logistic networks operate, and new approaches to promote inclusivity in society. As Professor Jeffrey Sachs said in a lecture on The Age of Sustainable Development: “Sustainable development means that our societies should have a holistic mission that not only aims at economic progress, but also social fairness and environmental sustainability.”
Change is essential to power sustainable business development strategies and ideologies, adaptation, and replacement of obsolete systems. The effects of these shifts are huge, especially if we aim to make the right decisions in moving towards a sustainable future.
The major challenges are the ability to sustain existing businesses that are most at risk, adapting to climate policies, adapting to pressure from investors, financial regulators, advocates of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, and satisfying customers’ demands.
Industrial players and various actors in society are sometimes caught in a situation of anxiety, skepticism, confusion and uncertainty as we enter the era of sustainable development. Efforts must be made to empower our industry players with the required knowledge and know-how to introduce the changes to material systems and design, methodologies of industrial processing, and the necessary criteria to enable a smooth transition from existing products and services to sustainable models.
Avenues must be created for the industrial sector to facilitate the establishment of comprehensive sustainability guidelines in industrial processing.

One of the three key innovations highlighted by Sachs to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) is innovation in finance to enable effective solutions to be rolled out that are currently not being deployed due to lack of financing.

Indeed, this is necessary to drive the research sector, as lack of financing has led to setbacks for numerous effective sustainable technological and innovative advancements. As carbon management is a potential solution for the climate crisis, especially carbon removal and the reduction of emissions, priority in providing financial support for industries and establishments to research and adopt low energy processing technologies is necessary. Upgrading of existing facilities to reduce energy consumption is also highly recommended.

The recent news reports on the limited progress in efforts to control climate change underlines the call by the United Nations to do everything, everywhere, all at once to avert the climate crisis. This sounds the alarm that immediate actions must be taken to avoid catastrophes that may occur wherever we may be. Every society should be concerned, and play a responsible role, regardless of the intensity of their carbon use and contribution, be it directly or indirectly, to climate change. This is especially relevant in cultivating responsible consumption of energy and resources as we move forward in adapting to the climate crisis. Alternative technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), decarbonization, and the transition to renewable energy are in place, but tackling the climate crisis requires a lot more factors to function efficiently. This will involve cooperation between rural and urban frameworks, and geopolitical teamwork, to mention two aspects of the challenge. Besides this, ample time and investment are required to trigger such positive effects.

As sustainable performance is measured across a broad range of indicators, innovative sustainability products must first and foremost be put in place, so that they are readily accessible. This is in order to create a large-scale effect to accelerate a clear and comprehensive sustainability roadmap.
A practical solution would be to make it mandatory for product design to comply with the disassembly concept in every strategic process, where components and parts can be installed and then dismantled for the purpose of refurbishment, reuse, repurposing, and recycling at the end of the product’s life cycle. With such a concept, we can preserve our raw resources, reduce energy consumption and limit the need for landfills. Apart from the environmental perspectives, social benefits can be achieved in the process of providing high-skill work opportunities beyond existing facilities. Much more can still be achieved when societies play their part in reinforcing the climate agenda and achieving the sustainable development goals. Till then, the battle in mitigating the climate crisis continues.