“Recognizing the reality that trying to control climate change will require massive financial resources.

Sustainability is derived from the Latin word “sustinere,” which means to maintain, support or endure, or pretty much the ability to exist constantly.

In the context of today’s headlines regarding climate change and the consequent nightmare scenarios resulting from global warming, sustainability essentially translates to the planet earth’s ability to sustain human life as we know it today, and tomorrow. Why is this a hot-button issue for the world?

Well, most of us probably remember Al Gore’s popular documentary on climate change of a decade ago called “An Inconvenient Truth,” which graphically triggered into our consciousness the dangers of global warming.

Can you recall the images of polar bears gingerly trying to balance itself on melting icebergs or glaciers exploding into tons of water gushing into the Antarctica as temperatures rise in the North Pole? Or try visualizing the massive snowstorms in New York, the runaway wildfires in California or the devastating typhoons and flood waters of the Philippines.

Those are all the effects of global warming that naysayers like Donald Trump continue to sneer at but which we are now seeing for ourselves, first-hand.

Of course, it wasn’t just Al Gore who all of a sudden discovered the dangers and risks to humanity of climate change because these concerns have been around for a while but have largely been ignored. But certainly, being a high-profile ex-wannabe President of the US, producing and starring in an Oscar award-winning movie, and being a recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize because of his environmental advocacy, have made millions of people sit up and listen to what Al Gore had to say about climate change.

In any event, this heightened consciousness about global warming have led to the convening of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in 2015 which commits 195 UNFCC member countries to collectively attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused primarily by the activities of humans.

Ironically, it is mankind’s never-ending quest for development and comfort over the years such as the use of fossil fuels for energy, deforestation and modern transportation that have produced this hazardous greenhouse effect which is the main culprit behind global warming.

The long-term goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep the irreversible rising of global average temperature to at least below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Recognizing the reality that trying to control climate change will require massive financial resources, the agreement also calls for the mobilization by the developed countries of $100 billion in climate finance annually to assist developing countries for the various actions on climate change and mitigation.

These actions include activities like climate risk insurance, and climate risk and early warning systems. The different state authorities, however, who are committed to this effort know fully well that the private sector with its commercial motivations are really the main drivers that could make the difference for this global effort to work.

In this regard, this is where the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors in measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment comes into play.

Investments are traditionally, and cold-bloodedly, usually measured in terms of rates of return and payback periods. But the growing awareness particularly among the developed countries about ESG has compelled businesses to now look more seriously at the impact of sustainability considerations in investment proposals.

In this regard, the United Nations has promoted the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which is an international network of investors working together to instill various principles in their investment decisions.

These principles include: fostering of ESG within the investment community; consideration of ESG issues in investment decisions; incorporating ESG in ownership practices and policies; appropriate disclosures on ESG concerns from investee companies; and, requiring monitoring and regular reporting on ESG compliance activities.

The thinking is premised on convincing business on the merits of the principles not just on the basis of the esoteric and ethical considerations of ESG but also the very practical consideration of protecting the commercial assets whose values could be at risk because of climate change.

To illustrate, think of insurance companies which underwrite property, life and casualty protection or banks which finance businesses impacted by environmental concerns such as public utilities, and minerals dependent companies.

On our home front, the market regulators, notably the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) have actively promoted ESG through regulatory circulars and information campaigns. For instance, the SEC now requires listed firms to comply and annually report on their adherence to ESG, or to explain their non-adherence. Another is the recent 6th SEC-PSE Corporate Governance Forum which I attended last week, an annual forum for directors and officers of listed corporations and other corporate governance practitioners. The theme was “Sustainable Businesses: Taking the Lead in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals.”

Among the speakers, Federico Lopez, Chairman and CEO of First Gen Corporation, admirably stood out with his firm and unwavering staunch support for sustainability. With CEOs like Lopez, there is hope after all for sustainability to be a reality today, and tomorrow.