By PwC and Gprnt following a roundtable discussion which took place during the Japan FinTech Festival 2024
3 June 2024 - Progress is being made on sustainability in the round. This can be seen with the growing number of national commitments to reducing carbon emissions globally. Roughly 145 countries representing over 90% of global emissions have announced or are considering net-zero targets as of late 2023. In the private sector,
businesses are mobilising. By November 2023, half of the world’s largest companies had committed to net zero.
Despite these achievements, 2023 remained the hottest on record with global temperatures continuing to rise. Countries and corporates must accelerate the pace at which they are decarbonising and embrace sustainability more broadly. A failure to do puts global sustainability goals in severe jeopardy.
This situation also puts the sustainability credentials of the Asia-Pacific region in sharp focus as its economic significance grows. For example, as the chart below shows, ASEAN exports to the EU’s single market have been growing steadily over the last decade and beyond.
A failure to embrace sustainability in this part of the world risks undermining the pursuit of a cleaner, greener, and more equitable future here, and elsewhere. No one country or company can decarbonise or be truly sustainable in isolation.
The EU has clearly recognised this. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, European Union Deforestation Regulation, and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, once fully implemented, will all place an increased onus on exporters to the EU to demonstrate the sustainability credentials of their goods. A failure to do so may see them shut out of the EU market.
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