AmCham holds panel discussion entitled ‘Environmental Social Governance – an emerging reality’
AmCham partnered with PwC Serbia to organise an online panel discussion on the significance of Environmental Social Governance (ESG) The panellists agreed that businesses faced a great deal of responsibility for promoting ESG values, but that the government and society could do much more in this regard.
The discussion was opened by AmCham’s Deputy Executive Director, Amalija Pavić, who highlighted the importance of ESG as a set of criteria to assess the performance of a company in three areas, the environment, social responsibility, and governance.
Dragan Lupšić, Director, Legal Services at PwC Serbia, who moderated the discussion, said that caring for both natural and human resources was crucial, and that every government unit and social group had to play a more active part in implementing ESG.
Biljana Bogovac, Assurance Partner at PwC Serbia emphasised that the company’s entire strategy was based on ESG due to social responsibility considerations, and that this meant PwC was seeking to become carbon neutral by 2030. She added that the central – social – element of the strategy must never be overlooked, with PwC also never losing sight of the number of women managers and ensuring their staff were properly trained.
Bojan Lečić, Head of the Multinational Clients Department at Banca Intesa noted how banks influenced economic development in a variety of ways, and that Banca Intesa was promoting ESG objectives by motivating businesses to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Nina Elezović, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director at Coca-Cola HBC Serbia and Montenegro, said the company’s pioneering role in this field gave it the responsibility to educate both the market at large and its individual business partners. The first step in this process would be to raise awareness and foster dialogue with all stakeholders, from members of the public to regulators, with the active participation of academia.
