Webinar today on ESG disclosures in APAC and evaluation in Sri Lanka for listed firms

• Joint initiative by CFA, CSE and SEC

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), is conducting a webinar on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in the Asia Pacific and Evaluation in Sri Lanka (APAC), for listed companies today (21 February) from 3.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

This virtual conversation will be centred around the growing recognition of the impact that material ESG factors have on the long-term prospects and sustainability of a listed company based on the CFA Institute research report.

CFA Institute Director of Capital Markets Policy Sivananth Ramachandran, CFA Institute Capital Markets Policy Specialist Phoebe Chan and CSE Senior Vice President Research and Strategy Nishantha Hewavithana will be the speakers of the event while CFA Society Sri Lanka Member of ESG Committee Dasun Perera will be the moderator.

The CFA Institute has consistently researched and surveyed CFA members on ESG disclosures in APAC over the years, including the ESG Disclosures in APAC report in 2018.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for business resilience and disclosures, which are necessary for investors to assess companies’ long-term sustainability. Standards and requirements for ESG disclosures should be as high as they are for financial reporting.

According to the findings of 2019, though the volume of ESG disclosures increases, the quality has not been reported up to the standard. Solid ESG disclosure practices usually take time to develop, but fast progress is possible.

At present, investors increasingly demand comprehensive, up-to-date, and comparable ESG disclosures from companies to make better investment decisions.