Can you talk about you or your company’s efforts relating to renewability, sustainability or other environmentally- friendly activities?

One of my ESG advocacies as an intellectual property (IP) law practitioner is advocating for IP enforcement against environmentally harmful counterfeit products. The syndicates behind the production and trade of these counterfeits have less regard for our environment. Counterfeit products are usually made of hazardous and toxic substances that are prejudicial to the health of the consumers and to our environment.

Hence, the essence of IP enforcement operations is no longer limited to brand protection alone. IP enforcement is also an important tool for minimising, if not totally eliminating, the commercial proliferation of counterfeit articles that have negative impacts to our mother nature. Notably, IP enforcement has two-fold ESG purposes: (a) the seizure of counterfeit articles and (b) their proper destruction and responsible disposal.

Meanwhile, Golden ABC and its fashion brands Penshoppe, OXGN, Regatta, Memo, ForMe and Bocu have successfully institutionalized a two-tier ESG approach, i.e., innovation and advocacy. The company is an innovative leader in the national retail industry when it comes to the ethical sourcing of raw materials and the environmentally friendly production of its products. Remarkably, the brands have furthered the company’s innovative ESG strategies through their respective advocacies and campaigns, which primarily focused on the 3Rs of environmental policy (reducing waste, reusing resources and recycling products).

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

We, the in-house lawyers, are definitely well-placed to drive changes in our respective organisations. We play very important roles in aligning the business and legal interests of our companies. To cope with the demands of time, the necessities of promoting diversity, inclusivity and sustainability, and the rapid technological advancements, our traditional roles have evolved and expanded to new areas, which include compliance and government relations, corporate risks management, cyber security, data privacy, brand management, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and ESG, among others.

It can be difficult to truly measure a company’s track record and accomplishments in terms of their environmentally friendly behaviour. What do you think has, until now, been mostly missed when discussing how green a company is?

The nexus between sustainable innovation and environmental advocacy is usually left out (or disregarded) when discussing how green a company is. It is not enough to internally innovate corporate policies and procedures to make a company green. Companies must also publicly advocate for ESG to raise environmental awareness among its clients, consumers or target markets.