We’re by the pool in the Malaysian sunshine. But we’re not here to sunbathe – we’re talking all things sustainability in a country with challenges both familiar and foreign to Western Europe.
Jan’s ‘academic granddaughter’ Dr Ann Marie Sidhu is a chartered accountant who works with business and government in Malaysia on the challenges of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
We discuss what Government and industry in Malaysia need to do to achieve the SDGs – especially energy transition in an economy where the petrochemical industry is dominant – how an emerging economy deals with regulations around sustainability, the potential for green financing, and how the underprivileged in society – the Bottom 40 – might be affected by changes.
Ann Marie reveals the attitudes of the companies she works with towards sustainability, how SMEs are acting, and what help small firms need in seeing value in enacting sustainability.
And as the word ‘sustainability’ is plastered on posters and banners across capital city Kuala Lumpur (KL), we talk about the need for sustainability education in Malaysian schools and universities, and the biodiversity considerations for a country that is still developing and reliant upon palm oil as a major export.
Plus, the effects of climate change on the monsoon season and flooding in major cities such as KL; how Malaysian companies react to EU and other overseas regulation; the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM!) and its effects; and Malaysia’s leading role in Islamic finance, and how this complements the SDG principles.
Transforming Tomorrow
Sustainability is a key consideration for any contemporary business, from biodiversity to modern slavery, seabeds to factory floors. On Transforming Tomorrow, we’ll guide you through the complex, ever-changing and often exciting (yes, really!!) world of sustainability in business. Alongside members of the Pentland Centre, academic experts, and business leaders, we cover the theory and practice of mainstreaming social and environmental sustainability into purposeful business strategy and performance.
Whether you are leading change in your business, or just want to know more about how asteroid mining may influence the future of sustainability, Transforming Tomorrow is the show for you.
Taking you through it all are your hosts, Jan and Paul, who bring insight, perspective, and not a little amount of disagreement, to all the subjects.
Join us every Monday to uncover new insights and become a little more inspired that you can make a difference in sustainability.
You can find transcripts for most episodes at: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/resources-for-education-and-practice/transforming-tomorrow-podcast/transcripts/
Send your questions on any of the issues we discuss in Transforming Tomorrow to [email protected] or fill in our feedback form here: https://forms.office.com/e/7Bw4rDiRDt
Find out more about the Pentland Centre and its work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/
https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_Transforming-Tomorrow/
Meet the Hosts
Professor Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University. Jan is an expert on accounting, benchmarking (to her co-host’s annoyance), and how business and sustainability intersect.
Jan loves nature and wants to protect it – and hopes she can change the world (ideally for the better). She is also motivated to address inequality wherever it is found and especially to eliminate forced, bonded or child labour. Transforming Tomorrow is one small step on that quest.
Paul Turner is a former sports journalist who now works promoting the research activities in Lancaster University Management School – a poacher turned gamekeeper as his former colleagues would have it.
Paul has always been interested in nature and the natural environment – it comes from growing up in Cumbria – and has been a vocal proponent of the work of the Pentland Centre since joining Lancaster University. He does not like rankings and benchmarking, and is not afraid to say so.