The challenge of sustaining sustainability

While the rise of environmental, social and governance ESG financing has been compelling as a megatrend, quantifying and incorporating it into portfolios has been a challenge.

In the absence of universally accepted standards, is it, skeptics ask, just a way for companies to tap cheaper financing That question has grown louder with the increasing number of deals, and particularly so in Asia, which is relatively in the early stages of the ESG cycle as compared to Europe and the US.

For Kamran Khan, Deutsche Bank’s head of ESG in the Asia-Pacific, the query is only all too familiar, and he emphasises that ESG is Asia’s opportunity...