KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is developing the Centralised Sustainability Intelligence (CSI) Platform, to be used by both public listed companies (PLCs) and nonlisted small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to assess their carbon emissions impact, disclose standardised environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in compliance with both local requirements and global standards, to subsequently facilitate access to sustainable financing.
The collaboration between Bursa Malaysia’s CSI Platform and JC3’s Greening Value Chain (GVC) Programme was announced yesterday at the JC3 Journey to Zero Conference 2023, together with Bursa Malaysia Berhad CEO Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, with JC3 co-chairs, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) deputy governor Datuk Jessica Chew and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) managing director Datuk Kamarudin Hashim.
The common, overarching goal of the CSI Platform and the GVC programme is to facilitate an effective and just transition for Malaysian companies, regardless of size - providing greater access to green capital, improved valuation, and a competitive advantage in global supply chains.
The CSI Platform complements JC3’s GVC programme to facilitate Malaysian companies, particularly SMEs, to green their operations. Under this collaboration, users of the CSI Platform can benefit from the GVC programme if eligible, whereas SMEs considering to participate in the GVC programme can leverage the CSI Platform as the reporting tool.
“We are delighted to expand the utility of the CSI Platform, and facilitate more SMEs to tap into JC3’s transition finance facilities, such as the GVC programme. We believe by synergising our efforts, together we can unlock opportunities and drive business value across the entire ecosystem spanning regulators, policymakers, PLCs, SMEs and financial institutions,” said Muhamad Umar.
Malaysian SMEs will have access to the following GVC programme features:
* capacity building to measure, track and report greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions; and
* financing facilities at better rates via the Low Carbon Transition Facility.
Meanwhile, users of the CSI Platform can benefit via:
• Streamlined Reporting: Saving time and resources for companies, as inputs only need to be done once to report against global standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the upcoming International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The output or reports generated can then be used to address the requirements of stakeholders, which include investors,
customers, and financial institutions.
• Accelerated Decarbonisation: Ease of monitoring companies’ carbon emissions across their value chain and empowering companies to develop effective decarbonisation strategies using data collated from the platform.
• Enhanced Access to Funds: Provide valuable insights on sustainability performance that
will enable companies to increase access to funding for green initiatives.
The CSI Platform has also been earmarked as an implementation tool of the New Industrial Master Plan that was announced by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, which will first focus on sectors that will be most impacted by the Cross Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Designed for interoperability, the CSI Platform can likely open up new trade and business opportunities for companies using the platform. In line with this, Bursa Malaysia had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia Stock Exchange and Stock Exchange of Thailand, to shape common standards for determining ESG performance and carbon intensity as an ASEAN en bloc value proposition, thus facilitating trade and new business opportunities.
