Implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in the construction sector is critical because the construction industry is the catalyst of any nation’s physical and economic development.
Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Zaid Zakaria said the construction industry has a multiplier effect of 2.03 due to its connections to more than 120 different industries, of which 90% of the firms comprise small and medium enterprises.
“The construction sector serves almost all other industries, as all economic value creation occurs within or by means of the built environment,” he said in his keynote address at the International Construction Transformation Conference (ICTC) here on Tuesday.
Mohd Zaid said that according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the construction sector accounts for about 6% of the global gross domestic product, and it is also the largest global consumer of raw materials and constructed objects, accounting for about 25% to 40% of the world’s total carbon emissions.