EXPERTS say environmental, sustainable and governance (ESG) practices need to be a priority as the country is working towards moving away from a fossil fuel dependent economy by 2030.
ESG refers to a set of criteria used to evaluate an organisation’s business practices and performance on various sustainability and ethical issues.
According to an agreement signed at 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, it was agreed that nations must accelerate emission reduction plans towards net zero by 2050.
The experts pushing for ESG practices yesterday stated their case for such adoption at the two-day 2024 Annual Sustainability Summit in Zimbabwe held under the theme Sustainability Beyond the Global Trilemma, which began yesterday in Harare.
The summit is being organised by the Zimbabwe Independent, one of three publications under the Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) banner, in partnership with Pivot Africa, Claxon Actuaries and Africa Institute for Carbon Trading and Sustainability.
“Transition to a green economy has potential to create substantial jobs particularly in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture . . .,” said Constance Pepukai, UNDP-UN Team Leader Nature, Climate & Energy.
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“We need training and capacity-building to equip the workforce for emerging new jobs. Investments in education and vocational training are therefore essential to prepare the workforce for new roles.”
Reflecting on the lessons learnt during the COP28, Pepukai added that there was a need to promote green jobs and create a proper policy framework that would help to diversify the country’s employment sector.
This, she said, could be done by cutting on the traditional ways to promote ESGs as the country was journeying towards Vision 2030 on reducing fossil fuel by 43%.
“Promoting green jobs can help diversify Zimbabwe thus reducing reliance on traditional sectors and increasing resilience against economic shocks and climate change impacts. The fourth lesson, [is to] focus on effective policy frameworks. These are crucial,” Pepukai said.
She said UNDP is available to give supporting guidelines on ESGs on the country’s agricultural sector through global guidelines as world nations head towards COP29.
“We have a number of projects, some of them ensuring that agricultural productivity remains robust in the face of climate change. As the UNDP, we are also supporting the creation of green jobs in Zimbabwe. Pre-school training, vocational school training is a key component,” Pepukai said.
“The road to COP29 is one that is with determination and intent. It is a journey towards a sustainable future that strives for people and the planet, ensuring that these two are in balance and are in check.
“Let us commit to action that goes beyond the rhetoric action that transforms our business practices, action that transforms our communities and ultimately, action that transforms our world.”
AMH chief executive officer Kenias Mafukidze said there was a need to redefine the nation’s strategies, to foster partnerships across sectors and more importantly, inspire the new generation of leaders to commit to sustainable practices.
“Let us remember that the journey towards sustainability is not a solitary one. It requires all of us, government, business, communities and individuals, to work together, to learn, listen to each other, but more importantly, to act. This must not go down as one other talk show in the book of statistics,” he said.
Pivot Africa’s Cynthia Tapera urged the world to avoid the practices that were damaging to the climate and adhere to the ESGs guidelines.
“The climate crisis, the rapid decline of biodiversity and nature, and the energy crisis, which is the triple crisis or the trilemma, have a significant impact on our world today and these are not only just for the future, but existential. And we need to see actions committing and reaching the rhetoric,” she said.
“So, moving on to climate change, the future costs associated with extreme climate change is fast becoming a topic that policy and sectors can no longer ignore. So, if you look at it, there is just going to be a lot of reconfigurations around it. This is the largest transition that we have undergone on a planetary scale.”