The Business Year hosts ESG: Shaping the Future of Colombia’s Business Landscape

The Business Year, a global media group that has been providing investors, businesses, and governments with first-hand insights into the world’s most dynamic markets for over a decade, recently held ESG: Shaping the Future of Colombia’s Business Landscape, an event that delved into the various aspects of ESG driving Colombia’s economy forward in distinct ways.

Following the election of a new government in 2022 that has placed sustainability at the heart of its manifesto, both the public and private sectors in Colombia have renewed their efforts to drive sustainable practices. For several years now, the environment, society, and governance (ESG) toolkit has helped enterprises across the economy integrate sustainability into their core activities. ESG has played a leading role in guiding businesses’ engagement with sustainability and making it more accessible, going beyond a mere buzzword.

The event featured two engaging panels, each focusing on different aspects of Colombia’s sustainable development and was created in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and CREE. It was supported by TGI Grupo Energia Bogotá, The Muzo Companies, Pinturas Tito Pabón, VertiSub, Scania, and Greenyellow.

The first panel, titled Diversifying Colombia’s Energy Portfolio, explored the current state of the country’s energy transition and how it compares to the rest of Latin America. Key topics included the challenges faced by Colombia in transitioning toward more sustainable energy sources, the economic and environmental benefits of cleaner energy matrices, investment opportunities and business development in the context of the energy transition, strategies employed by the public and private sectors to foster investment and development in alternative energy, specific initiatives and projects carried out by organizations to promote the energy transition, and important next steps to further advance the country’s energy transition. The conversation included Juan Camilo Vallejo Lorza, Executive Director of Fondo de Energías No Convencionales y Gestión Eficiente (FENOGE), Diana Jiménez, Chief Regulatory, Institutional Relations & Environment Officer at ENEL, and Monica Contreras, President of TGI.

The second panel, Social Responsibility & Governance: Key Drivers, focused on two dimensions of the ESG framework: social responsibility and governance. Panelists explored the steps that the public and private sectors can take to promote stronger commitments to society, as well as examples of internal policies that can be put into practice to make sure all stakeholders are aligned with ESG principles. The discussion included Charles Burgess, President of The MUZO Company Colombia, Lida Pabón, CEO of Pinturas Tito Pabón, and Maria Isabella Muñoz Méndez, Executive Director of Invest in Bogotá.

The event aimed to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders to shape Colombia’s business landscape toward a more sustainable future.

“Today’s discussions serve as a turning point in our journey towards a sustainable future,” said Federica Fermo, The Business Year’s Regional Director for Latin America. “Sustainability is no longer just an option, but a necessity in the modern world. Our ability to address environmental, social, and economic issues is linked to our capacity to make informed and responsible decisions in the business sphere,” she continued.

The Business Year has been providing comprehensive coverage of Colombia’s economy for over 10 years. The insights and interviews from the event will be featured in The Business Year: Colombia 2023, which will be available on major business information platforms such as Bloomberg Terminal, Refinitiv Eikon, Dow Jones Factiva, and FactSet, as well as on PressReader and Google Books and at thebusinessyear.com.