‘Green spending’ key to economic recovery

IN a brief research note released earlier this month, credit ratings giant Moody’s Investor Service made some interesting observations about so-called ESG — environmental, social, governance — spending across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. In carrying out their policies for economic recovery from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, many governments in the region have taken advantage of the circumstances to advance environmental resilience and sustainability. Moody’s noted that compared with other regions in the world, such as Europe, the effort in APAC is not as large overall and does have a wide disparity from country to country. However, one Moody’s official stressed, “green stimulus measures in the region have been large by historical standards.”