SEC launches eSECnature

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is leading an initiative to achieve a more sustainable capital market and business sector in the country.

The SEC yesterday launched the Sustainable Enterprise Collaboration Network (eSECnature) in an effort to bring together corporations and the public sector for a greener, low-carbon and sustainable economy.

eSECnature aims to link corporations, government organizations, multilateral and civil society organizations to further deepen the corporate sector’s participation in sustainability initiatives.

It also seeks to accelerate the country’s attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

“Through this network, we aim to unite organizations both in the public and private sectors to collaborate in developing best practices, new ideas and successful strategies toward our vision of a sustainable capital market and business sector,” SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino said.

The members of the network will push for collaboration and participation in knowledge-sharing activities, as well as policy advocacy initiatives to help one another integrate and adopt sustainable practices in their operations.

“We believe that the adoption of sustainable practices will have a significant impact in improving the state of our capital markets and, more importantly, the economy. As we see more companies comply with ESG standards, we can look forward to the entry of more investments into the country that can further drive our economic growth,” Aquino said.

The SEC’s eSECnature campaign also focuses on digital enablement to reduce the corporate sector’s overall carbon footprint.

In a bid to make its operations more sustainable and improve the ease of doing business, the commission has endeavored to pursue sustainability through digital transformation.

Under the leadership of Aquino, the SEC is progressively championing ease of doing business through digital transformation covering the automation of its company registration, reports submission and payment processes

The corporate regulator intends to launch five new digital initiatives this week to further make stakeholders’ transactions easier in line with sustainability efforts.

The commission hopes to push the country further in the global stage as having one of the best and most advanced corporate sectors in Southeast Asia.