In this episode of ESG360, we explore how companies in East Asia need to rethink their working patterns and expectations for all employees in order to unlock the diversity dividend. We discuss how Diversity, Equity and Inclusion need to be considered as connected components within a company’s overall strategy. To transform diversity into inclusion, companies should provide personal and professional development opportunities, which enables all employees to realize their potential.

In this episode of ESG360, we explore some of the key discussions at the UN’s COP27 climate conference held between November 6-18, 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, energy security concerns complicated discussions around climate change as come countries burned more fossil fuels in the short term while making plans to accelerate the rollout of renewables to reclaim their energy independence. Discussion centered around the creation of a loss and damages fund to compensate developing countries bearing the brunt of climate disasters. Reducing greenhouse gases like methane and a $20 billion deal to help Indonesia move away from coal were notable successes in contrast to thornier issues like phasing down all fossil fuels.

In this episode of ESG360, we explore how companies in East Asia are tackling the challenge of gender diversity in the workplace and embracing disabled workers. Amid a long period of economic prosperity, East Asia is facing a shortage of workers due to demographic factors, which could help its companies become more inclusive as they look to fill the gap

In this episode of ESG360, we explore how factors such as climate change, a population explosion and food security are driving AgTech solutions like insect protein and lab-grown meat. Food and agriculture represents 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions and farming is responsible for about 70% of global water use making innovation in this area critical if the world stands a chance of reaching Net Zero by 2050.

In this episode of ESG360, we explore the five factors behind electricity shortages in Japan and how they can be tackled. We also discuss part 4 of our ESG in East Asia series, which focuses on how companies in South Korea can adapt to counter demographic challenges like an aging population and low birth rate.

In this episode of ESG360, we take a look at the resilience of green energy stocks amid a broad-based stock market downturn in the first half of the year. A further interesting point is that solar stocks have performed better than wind as some of these companies are not yet profitable highlighting the challenge investors face in their efforts to advance the green transition. We also cover the development of carbon markets in Japan and part 3 of our ESG in East Asia series, which focuses on navigating social data in South Korea and reveals the industries that disclose the most data.

In this episode of ESG360, we cover Employment Standards and how the best firms try to align their employees’ values and objectives with their own. We also reveal how one South Korean company’s increase in revenue per employee came at the environmental cost of a rise in greenhouse gas emissions per employee.

In this episode of ESG360, Dr Peter Matanle, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield’s School of East Asian Studies speaks about a bold new project combining the commercial expertise of Nomura with the University of Sheffield’s prestigious School of East Asian Studies to deepen and broaden knowledge about a comparatively underdeveloped area of financial services research: ESG in East Asia: The ‘S’ Factor.

In part 1, Peter talks about the history and social principles behind the S in ESG including Asia’s long tradition of stakeholder inclusion. Japan’s model of welfare capitalism emerged in the inter-war years out of a combination of traditional values and firms needing to retain scarce high quality human capital. Early espousers of such an ethos were the 19th century capitalist Eichi Shibusawa, and Konosuke Matsushita, who founded and developed the Panasonic brand.

There is now widening acknowledgement that corporations are embedded in complex interdependent environmental, political-economic, and socio-cultural systems which they have profound effects upon, and which they gain from economically. Consequently, concern over their ‘socializing the cost and privatizing the profit’ has deepened.

In this episode of ESG360, Joe Mezrich, Nomura’s Head of Equities Quantitative Strategy, shares his insights on how to fix the underperformance of U.S. `quality’ investing.

Joe’s research found that stocks of high quality U.S. companies like those with good return on equity, have a long record of underperformance even though quality stocks have outperformed in other developed markets. But by adding good ESG features, a losing strategy can be transformed into a winning one, highlighting that quality scores often use measures of financial quality that miss important company features, like governance issues, which form a complete quality picture.

In this episode of ESG360, we bring on Alex Wotton, Co-Head of Nomura Greentech, Industrials and Infrastructure in EMEA to discuss Europe’s plan to reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels and what that means for the energy transition.

The war in Ukraine may prove to be a watershed moment in the fight against climate change if it succeeds in catalysing countries to accelerate a move to greener power motivated by energy security.  The war has underscored how geopolitics is inextricably linked to energy policy and climate outcomes.  In March, the European Commission unveiled its ‘REPowerEU’ plan, a blueprint to reduce the bloc’s energy dependencies over concerns that Moscow could turn off gas supplies in retaliation to sanctions from the EU and US, and to avoid indirectly funding the invasion by buying Russian fossil fuels.  Measures include quicker deployment of wind and solar, further developing a hydrogen market and streamlining authorisations to fast-track new power projects.