Ahead of Thursday’s first Malta Sustainability Forum, APS Bank CEO Marcel Cassar tells Times of Malta  why it is more important than ever to spearhead change and embrace a sustainable agenda. 

What is sustainability and why do you find it important to dedicate a whole event to it?

Sustainability is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. There are three main aspects to this: social, environmental and economic. Put differently, it’s about people, planet and profits. Business is key to social and economic development but it’s important that these do not come at the price of environmental degradation and general well-being. As a bank we are at the heart of business decisions that are key to sustainable development so the Forum is concerned with the question: what way of life are we leaving for future generations? 

You say ‘way of life’. So it’s not just about climate and the environment?

We know that to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and achieve the UN Sustainable Developments Goals, trillions of euros will need to be mobilised globally. Europe alone has identified an annual financial gap of more than €180 billion to finance the policies and investments necessary to keep the global temperatures in line with the objectives of the Agreement. It is obvious that governments and private enterprise must play a key role in closing such a massive gap and these global challenges are only too well known. But, equally, there are challenges at other levels, even locally, that affect us at closer range. Traffic, pollution, demographics, waste and urbanisation are all putting a load on sustainability. They are impacting our way of life and, to a large extent, they are more within our direct control than climate change. 

APS is rooted in the community. Why is that and what does it mean to the organisation today?

We are the oldest bank in Malta, with an uninterrupted history throughout which the values of our founders remained core to our model. We speak of care and concern for our customers, our community: from new graduates to senior citizens, from young couples to established businesses – they are all our community. To care and be concerned is our ethos but these must also be contemporary and not just abstract concepts. Which means that caring for our community also means caring to ensure that the economic development we are financing is sustainable.

We are the oldest bank in Malta, with an uninterrupted history throughout which the values of our founders remained core to our model

Moreover, we feel we have a role to play in supporting corporates and SMEs on their own sustainability journey. This means that we need to be concerned about sustainable development not just through CSR projects and general education but especially through our lending policies and risk appetite. 

Can you indicate how policymakers and companies – banks in particular – can push sustainability in the right direction?

Sustainability should increasingly be seen as a tool of economic policy, supported by reasonable incentives ranging from short to long term. Given that banks finance around two-thirds of the European economy (and in Malta, much more) they play a crucial role in the transition to a more sustainable future acting as investors, capital providers and financial intermediaries.

That model is likely to be with us for some time to come; recommending alternative or ethical investment products to our customers, incentivising financing of ‘green’ and new technologies to our borrowers are obvious examples. But we can also be role players and there are various ways in which we can endorse sustainability as employers.

For example, promoting initiatives that encourage recycling, mobility and controlling of waste and consumption in general are sure ways how we can push the agenda forward. 

What particular leadership qualities are needed by innovators in the field of sustainability that differ from those of ‘traditional’ business leaders?

I think the leadership qualities should not be too different, in the sense that you need to have vision, direction and an ability to think and plan strategically for sustainability just as for the rest of the business agenda. But given that sustainability thinking is still not mainstream, there is probably need for more conviction, knowledge and training to deliver it successfully. And of course board and senior management buy-in.

One also needs to take a longer-term view and perhaps rethink the idea of what represents shareholder value, since the rewards may not necessarily be so instant or obvious in the traditional sense.

This means that even measuring, and reporting, the return on sustainable investment will need rethinking. I would say that the leader of the future must also be a person who is genuinely concerned about our legacy for future generations. 

Speaking of legacy, what do you hope to be that of the forum?

In another interview recently I referred to the bus stop just outside the University campus main entrance which features a sign with the famous quote by explorer Robert Swan: “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” So sustainability is for all of us. The way we adapt to the standards of a globalised world, the challenges we face in the immediate future and new trends in services, products and technologies all form an important part of sustainable development.

Together with our supporting partners we have invested a lot in this forum by lining up prominent speakers, a powerful agenda and an innovative way in which we plan to deliver a ‘wake-up’ message. We hope that the fruit of all this will be the legacy of the Forum, and we invite the general public – both businesses and individuals – to sign up and attend.

The Malta Sustainability Forum is organised by APS Bank in partnership with Cool, GasanMamo, GO and PwC. It will be held on November 14 at the Westin Dragonara Resort, St Julian’s. The general public is invited to attend, and tickets are available from https://maltasustainabilityforum.com/. The forum will run from 11am to 4.30pm, with a networking lunch at 1pm. A special edition of the APS Talks series will take place in the evening. Further details and programme are available on the website.

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