By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos
The authority of Lagos Business School (LBS) Sustainability Centre has told business executives that exciting investor and stakeholder engagement opportunities await organizations and professionals that are keen on leveraging the sustainability performance of business.
The centre made the statement on Thursday February 1, 2024 when it hosted an Executive Meeting on Corporate Sustainability.
The theme of the meeting is, “Collaborating In The Changing Reporting Landscape.”
LBS Sustainability Centre described the meeting as an engagement for business executives and sustainability practitioners to understand the demands of the changing landscape, collaborate for more robust reporting, deploy responsible business practices and avoid greenwashing.
In a statement titled, “LBS Sustainability Centre Leads Conversation for Business Executives on Changing Reporting Landscape,” the Centre wrote: “Exciting investor and stakeholder engagement opportunities await organizations and professionals keen on leveraging the sustainability performance of business.
“As calls for increased transparency in performance and impact measurement heightened, Nigeria has adopted the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, IFRS S1 and S2.”
Director, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Dr. Iheanyi Anyahara, while speaking at the meeting said: “CSR reports put together by companies were never standardised, hence the need for standardised ESG reporting.”
According to him, sustainability brings about innovation which in turn accelerates development.
Investors and stakeholders, Anyahara emphasized, “rely on accurate and transparent sustainability reporting to unlock capital, attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and implement FEC 2010 directives.”
During the meeting, Associate Director, PwC Nigeria, Marilyn Obaisa-Osula, said that the aim of sustainability is to drive value.
The PwC chief declared, “Sustainability reporting offers a genuine competitive advantage, and businesses that take the time to learn about and implement sustainability reporting now will be well placed to succeed in the long-term ahead of compliance and regulations.”
Obaisa-Osula urged participants at the meeting to “look at the opportunities that sustainability provides through local lens,” adding: “Often times when we do, they become adopted as globally accepted frameworks.”
She said that sustainability does not wipe out profit but tells the investors to look at their business growth beyond profit.
“Accountants now see sustainability and understand it because they see the opportunity in it and the funds that can be unlocked from it,” the PwC Associate Director elaborated.
