ESG message slowly getting through in Asia

A culture focused on environment, social and governance (ESG) factors has been slow to emerge among Asian companies — perhaps with the exception of Japan. While investors in Europe or the US increasingly see the need to consider corporate behaviour as part of the requirements of fiduciary duty, in Asia this is often seen as something of a costly luxury. But governments in the region are increasingly moving to impose ESG-based strictures on companies through regulations such as ste…