Setting, social and governance — or ESG for brief — refers to a set of standards used to measure an organization’s efficiency in a spread of areas reminiscent of carbon emissions, contributions to society and boardroom range.

These standards are more and more utilized by traders globally — alongside conventional monetary metrics — to guage potential investments.

Europe and the U.S. have been main the adoption of ESG, however Loh informed CNBC’s Sri Jegarajah that it is solely a matter of time that extra companies in Asia soar on the bandwagon.

“I feel 2020 has been an inflection level,” the CEO mentioned on Monday.

“Whereas we could say that Asia lags behind the Western hemisphere, I’d say there’s been a higher consciousness of ESG and certainly extra firms are adopting sustainability and ESG practices,” mentioned Loh, who’s a member of CNBC’s ESG Council.

Corporations with sturdy ESG practices outperformed through the pandemic, and that led extra traders to prioritize investing in such companies.  

In Asia-Pacific, 79% of traders elevated ESG investments “considerably” or “reasonably” in response to the pandemic — barely greater than the worldwide share of 77%, in response to an MSCI survey of institutional traders.  

Loh mentioned the SGX is working to launch inventory indexes that adjust to ESG ideas, in addition to encourage the listings of inexperienced and sustainable bonds.

— CNBC’s Sumathi Bala contributed to this report.