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A proactive path to clean air
The return of the haze has triggered campaigns to raise consumer awareness over the links between pollution and the products we buy
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he return of the haze has triggered campaigns to raise consumer awareness over the links between pollution and the products we buy. It is time to engage in a more pre-emptive approach to tackle a recurring and damaging problem.
The pursuit of profit is a compelling motive for businesses. Companies chase economic returns to satisfy their investors and, when all goods can be priced properly and companies can rely on the market to transact their products, the system works fine.
The basic dilemma is that entities that economists call 'public goods' cannot be priced. Clean air is a classic example of a public good ' everybody wants it but nobody wants to pay for it. In fact, everyone wants to free-ride on others for clean air.
But the economic impact of the haze shows that it clearly exacts a heavy toll. Indonesia recently estimated the cost on its economy to date of the current crisis at more than US$33 billion, while the impact on the rest of the region can only be guessed at.
This year's lingering haze has shown the limits of regional political and diplomatic efforts to control the problem. Moves to deploy firefighting crews and aircraft ' while making for good media coverage and visuals of being seen to 'do something' ' have little effect on the real root causes behind the haze.
Can't we do something more effective than literally firefighting?
To understand and tackle the problem it is perhaps natural to focus on the companies starting the fires in the first place. However viewing these firms in isolation ignores the bigger picture.
In reality they are just one node in a spider web of supply chains connecting plantation managers, companies that purchase and process raw materials, financiers and other service providers, retailers, and ending ' in some form or another ' at the consumer.
Taking a holistic, total system view can produce multi-pronged measures that will 'encircle' and pressure the culprit companies to change their ways. The current move by the Singapore Environment Council, a non-government organization, to block haze-generating offenders from certification under the Singapore Green Label is a good start.
Major supermarkets in Singapore are using this as a basis to withdraw products sourced from implicated companies. Likewise, banks have been urged by industry associations to refrain from lending to them.
However, such moves still remain reactionary ' it would be better to focus on more proactive steps to tackle the haze before the fires even start.
One way is to encourage the spread of sustainability reporting ' a practice that is beginning to take root here in Singapore. The Singapore Exchange (SGX), for example, is requiring listed companies to report on sustainability on a 'comply or explain' basis from financial year 2017.
This method of disclosure lies between voluntary reporting and mandatory reporting and recognizes the diversity of companies and industry sectors. It also allows a degree of flexibility to deviate from the guidelines if there are business or other reasons to do so.
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The main challenge lies in influencing the companies of ASEAN countries to build a firm basis for sustainability reporting.
In a study of sustainability reporting conducted in part by NUS Business School last year, it was found that only 29.8% of SGX mainboard-listed companies did some form of sustainability reporting.
The exchange's new requirements should help to raise that figure by building a foundation for companies ' listed or otherwise ' to take heed of good practices. Encouraging a strong culture of sustainability communications should also motivate more companies to be part of the initiative.
At the macro level meanwhile, regulators and the community at large will find the aggregate information useful, enabling policy-makers to identify gaps and take steps to plug them.
The main challenge, however, lies in influencing the companies of ASEAN countries to build a firm basis for sustainability reporting. The haze, after all, is a transnational problem with transnational causes ' solving it requires transnational action.
Specifically, ASEAN should serve as a launch pad, establishing a set of harmonized reporting guidelines for companies across the region to follow on a 'comply or explain' basis.
An ongoing joint-initiative between the ASEAN CSR Network and NUS Business School to develop a national benchmark for sustainability reporting could help to encourage this. The program is due to launch in Singapore in mid-2016 and then roll out to other regional economies soon after.
Another good example to emulate is the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard launched three years ago to harmonize governance practices across key ASEAN economies.
Sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, the scorecard is in line with the overall desire to develop a single asset class and facilitate economic integration across ASEAN.
Having an effective discipline of reporting amongst companies will paint a clear picture of the state of sustainability in the region.
But sustainability reporting should not be pitched as a public relations exercise ' substance not style is what counts.
In today's social media-driven world, stakeholders are informed and sophisticated enough to tell the difference between window-dressing and concrete action. They are also attuned to aspects of reporting that are actually material to the company concerned and not distracted by incidental activities with little effect on core businesses and operations.
Rising consumer awareness and empowerment means that it is increasingly in the self-interest of companies themselves to propagate and practice sustainability. But reporting has to be self-driven ' only with a strong bedrock of sustainability disclosure and compliance can stakeholders and companies act in concert to mitigate and eradicate environmentally destructive practices like the haze.
This concerted action to tackle the root causes of the burning needs to be taken so that we will not be as helpless as now, when 'PSI' might as well stand for 'Please Stay Indoors'.
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Professor Lawrence Loh is director of the Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organizations at National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, which is celebrating its 50th year. He is also deputy head and associate professor of strategy and policy.
