- Tell me a bit about yourself. What do you do?
I am the CEO and founder of CorpStage, an online platform promoting ESG values and sustainability. Before founding CorpStage, I worked as a consultant, helping start-ups to raise impact capital, and was a lecturer in finance and investment in universities across the globe, particularly in Asia.
- You are the CEO and founder of CorpStage. What inspired you to create this company? What piqued your interest in climate tech and green investing?
Before, when I was helping start ups, I realized my work was taking lots of time and didn’t have the impact I wanted. I wished to increase my impact and help other companies, which is what led me to create CorpStage. In Corp Stage’s early days, we focused on mapping and aligning different global ESG reporting frameworks. We recruited interns from various schools such as SAS to do the research and arrive at uniform KPIs. We used that research to develop the prototype for the CorpStage platform. After the prototype was developed, I made presentations and found investors and co-founders, who helped CorpStage get off the ground.
- What does CorpStage do?
CorpStage is a platform for everyone and is a place where individuals can join communities, share posts and topics about sustainability, and explore the marketplace where they can find jobs, events, courses, products and services related to sustainable investment and businesses. It’s a bit like Facebook or LinkedIn, but more green. Our platform helps companies to make their ESG commitments, perform stakeholder materiality, engage with stakeholders and do ESG reporting and sustainable communications. Basically, it’s a one stop place for everything a company needs for implementing sustainable strategies and gaining the confidence of investors and customers.
- In your opinion, what are some of the biggest challenges facing the green business industry today?
Data. Data is the main challenge. A lot of people don’t have the right knowledge of the industry, meaning that they may make unwise decisions. Additionally, there is no way to obtain data, which exacerbates the problem. Some companies to build their external reputation adopt greenwashing mechanisms, which is when they make an environmental claim about something the organization is doing that is intended to promote a sense of environmental impact that doesn’t exist. For example, when Apple released a climate report a few days ago, it did not fully address the pressing issues at-hand, regarding ESG values particularly impact of their products on consumers. Apple products generate a lot of e-waste with new models coming out every now and then with small feature changes.
- Companies spend a lot of money on “offsetting” their carbon footprint. What do you think of that? Do you think that’s effective?
Yes, but if companies don’t do it, they need to innovate to mitigate their carbon footprint and create eco-friendly and sustainable products. Regardless, companies still need to realize that scope 3 emissions have the most impact, such as transportation and supply chain. In fact, CorpStage measures carbon footprints of different companies, meaning that one can look at this data and analyze it to see what’s best for the company and how companies can reduce the footprint. Carbon offsets are needed. Firstly, they are good for filling the carbon gap in the short run and secondly they also help indigenous communities and farmers for example in earning their livelihood. However, there are lots of challenges and transparency is lacking in the carbon credit markets. If companies do not offset their carbon footprint they will have to innovate and invest a lot which is possible only in the long run.
6. What role do you think consumers play in promoting sustainable practices among businesses and potential investments?
Well, in general, companies influence consumer behavior. Big tech companies such as Apple promote mass consumerism. For example, they would advertise new phones very often, and try to convince us consumers to buy the newest model. Peer pressure also has a factor, since [your peers] may ask “why don’t you have the newest phone?” and ridicule you. The same thing goes for the food industry or the clothes industry. If consumers keep buying and throwing, it’s neither eco-friendly nor sustainable. However, sometimes consumers can influence company behavior. If consumers demand sustainability, it can happen! That’s why it is imperative that we should spread awareness of ESG values and sustainable business practices to everyone.