As the human economy continues to grow and intensify around the world, managing the environmental impact of these activities has become an urgent global priority. Kenanga Investment Bank, a homegrown brand which has evolved into Malaysia’s largest independent investment bank, joins the global movement to reduce the global carbon footprint through a multifaceted strategy that embraces rapid decarbonisation of enterprise operations while also promoting climate-positivity throughout its stakeholder base and the wider community.
“Environmental stewardship must include comprehensive responses that reflect the gravity of external climate-change risks while addressing the many impacts an organisation has on its surrounding environment,” said Datuk Chay Wai Leong, Group Managing Director, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad. A primary example of a business’ impact lies in its energy consumption, he said, and since relocating to its headquarters to Kenanga Tower in 2017, Kenanga Investment Bank and its subsidiaries have pursued a rigorous energy efficiency programme including enhancements to the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
“In 2021, we were able to reduce our purchased electricity consumption by 569,826 kWh, equating to 333.35 tCO2e emissions, a 15.19% reduction from our 2019 consumption,” Datuk Chay said. The Group also achieved similar reductions in petrol consumption (down 48.52% from 2019), water (down 31.59% over the same period) and paper products (down 38.7% from 2020). “Decarbonisation represents the goal of the Group’s operational reforms, and moving forward we will start accounting for Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions throughout our value chain,” Datuk Chay added. According to the GHG Protocol, Scope 3 includes both upstream and downstream emissions, and reporting and disclosure is a voluntary process.
“The second, and equally important environmental stewardship goal for Kenanga is advocacy,” said Datuk Chay. “This involves changing mindsets and behaviours through education—building awareness, knowledge and the necessary skills so that employees and stakeholders take meaningful actions to promote a climate-positive culture.” In this respect, the next phase of development in Kenanga’s environmental stewardship will focus on the implementation of Kenanga’s Climate Change Risk Management Framework (CCRMF), which the Group established in 2021 with the guidance of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Climate Change Principle Taxonomy as well as industry best practices.
The CCRMF is a key part of Kenanga’s broader sustainable business strategy, with several core goals intended to support the Group’s phased approach to the risks and opportunities created by global climate change. “What is climate change and how does it directly and indirectly impact us? This is the key question the Framework poses in order to start conversations within the Kenanga stakeholder base about global environmental impacts and how to address them,” said Datuk Chay.
“As awareness improves, the CCRMF aims to integrate climate change considerations into the Group’s risk management, provide better climate risk reporting and disclosure, while also serving investor demand for more detailed information on climate-risk readiness as well as the impact of climate change on Kenanga’s financing and investment activities,” he said. The Framework will also introduce a structured classification methodology to align Kenanga’s investment activities with the broader national transition to a low-carbon economy.
“These structures are necessary to anchor Kenanga’s continued evolution as a responsible and sustainable organisation,” Datuk Chay said. “But equally crucial is the support and active participation of our employees and stakeholders. Each year, the Group undertakes a number of role-based training programmes in topics related to climate risk, ESG and sustainability, and we support formal training through active campaigns such as zero-waste practices not just at work but at home, which is all the more meaningful in our Work-from-Home arrangements post-Covid-19, as well as by partnering with and supporting local zero-waste stores such as The Hive Bulk Food, Liquid Etc. and Null.”
“Above all, environmental stewardship was an evolving commitment”, Datuk Chay said. “Our measures and responses must change with time as new risks and opportunities develop as a result of humanity’s presence on this planet. It is incumbent on us today to build an economic environment that is rewarding and fundamentally sustainable for us, as well as, all who will come after us in the future.”