Introducing the Task Force
The national ESG taskforce was co-founded by PICG (Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance) and PSX (Pakistan Stock Exchange) in 2021 to set up the right foundation for ESG mainstreaming in Pakistan. The taskforce envisions a future with environmentally friendly frameworks, social practices and values, and good corporate governance in all areas of business nationwide.
The PSX-PICG taskforce aims to develop strong advocacy of ESG as a long-term institutional investment with high returns, and to launch a realistic framework backed by regulations and tools to encourage companies and financial institutions to voluntarily adopt ESG standards and guidelines. The taskforce, with support from KPMG, has authored Pakistan’s first voluntary ESG guidelines for companies to mainstream the ESG guidelines adoption through awareness, capacity development and facilitation for the ESG guidelines implementation.
Founding Members
Co-Founders
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar
PICG & PSX
Farrukh H. Khan
Pakistan Stock Exchange – PSX
Memosh Khawaja
Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance – PICG
Core Group
Task Force Members
Task Force Activities
ESG Roundtable: Banking Sector
ESG Roundtable: Textile Sector
Women’s Day at PSX
What Is ESG?
Environmental
“Climate urgency is a race we are losing, but a race we can win.”
With the climate becoming increasingly unpredictable, the corporate world needs to act immediately. The environmental section is the most urgent category of ESG. Environmental disclosures for corporates include greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emissions, energy use, water usage, pollution, management of toxic waste, conservation of natural resources, protection of wildlife and more.
Social
Companies are responsible for empowering and taking care of every individual connected to their organization. Social criteria show a company’s relationship with its stakeholders, as well as the treatment of the society in which it operates. There are a very wide range of social disclosures, some of which include the existence and implementation of policies such as a whistleblowing policy, a sexual harassment policy, code of business and ethics, code of conduct as well as disclosure of employee health insurance, workplace injuries, CSR (corporate social responsibility) and disclosure of pension, leaves, and gender ratio.
Governance
Corporate Governance is the cornerstone of any good business. Good governance helps companies build trust with investors and the community. Governance disclosures by a company show its level of transparency and accountability. Governance criteria include disclosure of accounting standards on a local and international standard, the board’s terms of references, financial information of the parent or holding company, pattern of shareholding, governance committees and their members, and much more.