As many readers of this journal will know, at the end of last month we launched our Sustainability Governance Academy at the HKEX Connect Hall, following our Climate-related Disclosure Update seminar. I mentioned the launch of the Academy in my message last month, but I would like to return to this here because I believe it represents a window on our individual and collective futures.

At the individual level, both the seminar and the Academy are indicative of how macro changes have been impacting our professional roles. One salient aspect of that has been the broadening of the types of issues that governance professionals need to address. The popularity of our ESG Reporting Certification Course, for example, is a clear indication of how far sustainability issues have climbed the governance professionals’ agenda. Launched in February last year, the course has now completed its fourth cohort and has over 1,400 graduates. An updated version of the course incorporating the new ESG Code will be launched later this year. Moreover, in addition to overseeing organisations’ sustainability disclosures, governance professionals also contribute to digital transformation strategies and risk management frameworks.

At the collective level for the profession, the seminar and the Academy are indicative of how our Institute here in Hong Kong is responding to the changes discussed above. First and foremost, we have focused on developing our role as the go-to professional body for anyone wanting to build capability and expertise in areas relevant to the wider governance arena. We do this of course via our professional qualification examinations, our professional development services and our thought leadership initiatives, but our ESG Reporting Certification Course and our Sustainability Governance Academy represent a new approach to this mission. By launching complementary certifications and networking groups, we can diversify our services and expand our professional community to those working outside company compliance – the traditional focus of our membership base.

You will find further discussion of this in our In Profile column next month. I was in the interview chair and the discussion focused on the strategic priorities discussed at the Institute’s annual strategy review session held earlier this year.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to both our climate disclosure seminar and the launch of the Academy. That includes of course the speakers at both of these pivotal events, but it also includes our spectacular Secretariat team, headed by our Chief Executive Ellie Pang FCG HKFCG(PE). Our CE and the Secretariat team have played a key role in both devising and implementing the strategic direction discussed above.

Before I go, I would like to say a few words about the theme of this month’s journal. CGj is of course an integral part of building the market capability I mention above, and this month’s edition grapples with a sustainability theme that has received far less attention than environmental concerns. This month’s cover stories show how societal challenges (the ‘S’ in ESG) are intertwined with the more widely recognised environmental ones, and how they deserve more consideration if organisations want to achieve long-term value creation.