Here’s why economic growth must be consistent with sustainable investing

Here’s why economic growth must be consistent with sustainable investing

Over the last decade, governments and businesses worldwide have started a shift towards more sustainable investing and have enacted multiple measures to promote the environmental, social, and governance ecosystem. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift as it laid bare social and environmental shortcomings in the global economy, how businesses operate and how they speak to their customers. Now, with businesses incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics into their operations, the question must be asked: is it still acceptable to aim for ever greater economic growth at all costs? The good news is that ESG principles provide businesses with growth opportunities – and they provide a roadmap to sustainability. Indeed, they open the door to sustained growth if implemented altruistically. To leverage the broad benefits that ESG policies present to businesses, governments and companies in the GCC should incorporate sustainability into the overall economic agenda; it must become a defining part of the GDP fabric – a central guiding force for good. This means looking at what multiple stakeholders are seeking in their daily lives: what do citizens need in a world increasingly concerned by climate change, sustainable use of materials and the treatment of human beings?