In his letter about environmental, social and governance (ESG) Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock claims that “We also see many governments failing to prepare for the future, on issues ranging from retirement and infrastructure to automation and worker retraining. As a result, society increasingly is turning to the private sector and asking that companies respond to broader societal challenges. He could just as easily be talking about Australia as the US!
We now routinely see industry making rational policy decisions which often run contrary to the Political aims of one or even all Political parties. Government runs the risk of being consigned to irrelevancy if they don’t cease their interminable bickering and points scoring. Forward looking policies are required otherwise large companies simply implement their own policies in response to this policy vacuum! Where is our long term (even 10 years will do!) innovation plan for the country? Where are our policies on AI, automation, driverless cars, blockchain etc. etc. Australia lags behind on the global innovation ladder whilst we debate being “unfair to coal”!
Mmm…. perhaps companies could be better at running the country, what do you think?
https://www.directorsandboards.com/news/blackrock-boards-consider-societal-good-not-just-profits
