The department of commerce, University of North Bengal hosted a two-day international conference from today.

The theme of the conference was “Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Issues, Imperatives and Contemporary Business Perspectives”.

“The conference was organized with the aim to enhance awareness of the importance of environment, social and governance issues and its impact on the environment, society, and the economy. It would aim to provide an opportunity for participants to imbibe the nuances, latest trends and best of ESG, finance, marketing and human resource management from researchers, academicians, industry leaders and policy makers,” said Prof. Samirendra Nath Dhar, conference director, department of commerce, University of North Bengal.

The conference was attended by Prof. Rama Prasad Banerjee, director and chairperson, EIILM, Prof. Bhabatosh Banerjee, president, IAARF, Prof. Harunur Rasid, President, Bangladesh Accounting Association, represented by P Agarwal, Prof. Sayaduzzaman, department of accounting and information systems, Rajshahi University and secretary, Bangladesh Accounting Association, Prof. Dhrubaranjan Dandapat, secretary, Indian Accounting Association Research Foundation.

On the other hand, Dr Tia Kansara, CEO , Replenish Earth, UK, Dr Alexandra Middleton, Oulu University, Finland, Prof. Saamdu Chettri former director, Centre for Gross National Happiness in virtual mode and other dignitaries from Bangladesh, Bhutan, and several states of India.

The conference covered a wide range of topics related to ESG, including government policies and regulations, corporate practices and reporting, investment strategies, financial and marketing strategies and developments in HRM.

A total number of sixty-four research papers were accepted for presentation in the conference.

It was conceived that with the growing transformations in business policies and processes, rational investors and stakeholders not only hunt for wealth maximization, but also endeavour to be responsible for sustainability of the environment and society. Investors are increasingly applying these non-financial factors as part of their analysis process to identify material risks and growth opportunities. The environmental, social, and governance metrics are not commonly part of mandatory financial reporting, though companies are increasingly making disclosures in their annual report or in a standalone sustainability report.