Event Report

The Legal 500 was delighted to host its first Southeast Asia-based Global Green Guide event in Singapore, in association with Allen & Gledhill. Hosted at the sponsoring firm’s offices, the event brought together leading practitioners and in-house counsel in Singapore, to discuss its legal community’s engagement towards the green transition and in finding new roads to sustainability.

Set up as a two-panel session afternoon, the summit focused on covering the full breadth of ESG challenges that in-house lawyers face in Singapore and Southeast Asia, but also on discussing the opportunities that have developed, along with absorbing valuable stories and lessons from our experienced panellists.

Following a welcome address by Francisco Castro, The Legal 500’s editorial lead for the summit, Allen & Gledhill’s Managing Partner, Jerry Koh, set the tone for proceedings with an honest and remarkable address to the audience, on the importance of tackling such a meaningful issue, and doing it promptly.

Soon after the opening remarks, the first panel of the afternoon initiated. Titled ‘Evolving roles of GCs with the rise of ESG’, this panel was moderated by Francisco Castro, editor at The Legal 500, and had Veronica Lai, chief corporate & sustainability officer at Starhub, Maree Myerscough, COO & general counsel at Aquila Capital and Jeffery Tan, group general counsel, chief sustainability officer and company secretary at Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited as speakers.

Inspired by their vast experience, the collective discussed how ESG has impacted the way they operate as general counsel, how they have learnt to change their strategy to guarantee compliance with its core values, and how they have adapted their approach towards their business partners, to balance green and sustainability targets with business security.

Other relevant issues, such as greenwashing and ESG litigation were discussed with the objective of advising and signalling every in-house counsel in the audience, on two matters that haven’t yet reached the shores of Singapore. However, as mentioned during the session, with the impact the current global crisis will have on the ESG agenda, in 2023, might not be long until it does.

With an active involvement by the audience, the Q&A session brought some final thoughts by the speakers, including the need to act quickly and effectively on engaging with internal partners to point business standards towards sustainability and embracing the importance for the legal community in Singapore to continue to discuss, tackle and implement ESG-related policies.

Subsequently, after breaking down what ESG has meant to general counsel until today, the following session, titled ‘ESG risks and opportunities – what companies should be aware of’, focused on discussing what the future holds for in-house counsel and what are legal department’s doing to better integrate green and sustainability standards within their companies’ policies. Moderated by Elsa Chen, partner, co-head of ESG & public policy practice at Allen & Gledhill, the panel included the participation of Lorraine Lee, general counsel at International SOS, John Gao, regional legal director for ASEAN at Reckitt and Gary Partington, managing associate general counsel at HSBC.

The session started with a brief overview of ESG development in Southeast Asia, presenting the level of activity on ESG, by country, with Singapore among the most actively engaged on these issues, in the region.

After, Lorraine Lee, general counsel at International SOS, displayed the company’s ESG journey and milestones, focusing with enthusiasm on the plans for 2023, always committed to meeting UNGC expectations.

Additionally, the panel discussed the perception of laws and regulations on environmental and social issues, across ASEAN, and stated that the great difference that is apparent between countries in the region, may result in differences in risk perception. According to their presentation, failure to comply with environmental laws and regulations and with mandatory ESG disclosure requirements are still the two ESG areas that organisations perceive to give rise to higher legal or regulatory risks.

The session concluded with a lively Q&A, which raised some interesting points. Also, panellists provided some insight on their companies’ long-term strategies and ideas on ESG and provided valuable advice, from their experience on how, ultimately, it is important to embrace ESG, as it is here to stay.

To end the evening, everyone was invited to stay on and socialise over drinks and canapés, giving attendees and speakers an opportunity to network and continue discussing ideas on ESG.

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