Survey: Majority of HK workers believe ESG to be helpful for career

While less than 50% of the working adults said they had good knowledge of ESG, nearly 80% agreed that ESG is helpful for career, a survey found.

Conducted by International Chamber of Sustainable Development (ICSD) and World Green Organisation (WGO) between 12 and 16 May, the “Survey of Opinion on ESG Education in Hong Kong 2023” covered 301 HongKongers who are currently working or looking for a job in major industries and have heard of the name "ESG". The survey aimed to understand target customers' attitude, needs and preference of ESG education.

The survey found that the respondents did not have a profound understanding of ESG in general, with less than 50% (41.2%) considering themselves to have good knowledge of ESG, 34.9% had medium level of knowledge on the subject. 23.9% of respondents considered that they had a little knowledge on ESG, or had only heard of ESG but did not have any knowledge about it.

Yet, nearly 80% (79%) of the respondents agreed that ESG is becoming increasingly crucial to Hong Kong enterprises and the business community. Nearly 80% (79.4%) of the respondents also agreed that grasping the concept of ESG would be helpful to their current work.

The survey also found that nearly 35% (34.9%) of the respondents had enrolled in official ESG courses in the market, and 85% believed that the content of the courses would be helpful for their future work. Speaking of room for improvement, “teaching mode to be more flexible” (61.8%), “teaching to be more interesting” (52.9%), “more new knowledge to be taught" (52.9%) and “professional qualifications upon course completion” (35.3%) were the areas the respondents hoped the courses would improve on.

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Among the respondents (65.1%) who had never taken any ESG-related courses, more than 50% expressed interest in enrolling in ESG courses in the future. Respondents from the retail and real estate industry had shown stronger interest, and they were more likely to think that ESG is important to their current or future work. 

Furthermore, more than 80% (83.1%) of the respondents expressed that obtaining professional certification and qualifications in ESG would be greatly helpful to their current and future work. When they were to choose to enroll in relevant ESG courses, “professional certified qualifications upon course completion” (50.5%), “relevance to work”(44.9%), and “flexible teaching mode” (34.2%) were the top three key considerations.

Angus Yip, founding chairman of ICSD, pointed out that the current courses available on the market tend to be designed from the perspective of investment analysis rather than practical application in the workplace. 

Most working people expect the courses to be work-relevant, recognisable by the market and applicable in the workplace, Mike Hui, the founding vice chairman of ICSD, said, which is why students are required to submit case studies completed by CEPAR when the courses were designed. "Tutors will provide feedback on the case study submitted by each student, and students can also choose to attend the classes in person or online in real-time," he added. 

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