Bursa Malaysia to develop Centralised Sustainability Intelligence platform

By Sustainability Matters October 25, 2023

Collaboration with JC3’s Greening Value Chain programme to facilitate financing, capacity building for SMEs
Platform will help companies streamline their carbon reporting requirements, accelerate decarbonisation strategies

Left to Right: Jessica Chew, deputy governor of BNM and co-chair of JC3; Muhamad Umar Swift, CEO, Bursa Malaysia Berhad; and Kamarudin Hashim, managing director of SC and co-chair of JC3, at the collaboration announcement regarding Bursa Malaysia’s Centralised Sustainability Intelligence Platform and JC3’s Greening Value Chain Programme.

Bursa Malaysia is developing a Centralised Sustainability Intelligence (CSI) Platform, to be used by both public listed companies (PLCs) and non-listed small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The platform will allow these companies to assess their carbon emissions impact and disclose standardised ESG data in compliance with local requirements and global standards.

The CSI Platform will also complement the Greening Value Chain (GVC) programme being led by the Joint Committee for Climate Change (JC3) to facilitate Malaysian companies, particularly SMEs, to green their operations. Under this collaboration, users of the CSI Platform can benefit from the GVC programme if eligible, whereas SMEs considering to participate in the GVC programme can leverage the CSI Platform’s reporting tool.

“We are delighted to expand the utility of the CSI Platform and facilitate more SMEs to tap into JC3's transition finance facilities, such as the GVC programme. We believe by synergising our efforts, together we can unlock opportunities and drive business value across the entire ecosystem spanning regulators, policymakers, PLCs, SMEs and financial institutions,” said Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia.

Under the GVC programme, Malaysian SMEs will have access to financing facilities via the Low Carbon Transition Facility which offers better rates, and capacity building to measure, track and report on greenhouse gass (GHG) emissions.

The CSI platform, on the other hand, will offer three key benefits, namely, streamlined reporting, accelerated decarbonisation, and enhanced access to funds. The streamlined reporting feature will hel companies save time and resources as inputs only need to be done once to report against global standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the upcoming International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The output or reports generated can then be used to address the requirements of stakeholders, which include investors, customers, and financial institutions.

Companies will also be able to monitor their carbon emissions across their value chain, allowing them to develop effective decarbonisation strategies using data collated from the platform.

Finally, the platform aims to provide valuable insights on sustainability performance that will enable companies to increase access to funding for green initiatives.

The CSI Platform has also been earmarked as an implementation tool of the New Industrial Master Plan that was announced by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, which will first focus on sectors that will be most impacted by the Cross Border Adjustment Mechanism.