Anthony Fernandez, president and COO, introduces the council to the First Balfour leaders during their 7th Digital Leaders ConferenceFirst Balfour, through president and chief operating officer Anthony Fernandez, has joined the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, a select pool of leaders who have committed to create a more inclusive, sustainable and trusted form of capitalism.

First Balfour is among the first business groups from the Philippines to be represented in the council.

A nonsectarian global collaboration of business, investment and private and public sector leaders in 297 organizations across 163 countries and territories, the council represents more than $10.5 trillion in assets under management and over $2.1 trillion of market capitalization.

Council CEO Meredith Sumpter, in her remarks in MBC’s Global Freedom and Democracy series in November 2021, said: “Our members make public commitments to inclusive capitalism that are in line with the World Economic Forum’s pillars for sustainable value creation and specifically mapped to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”

First Balfour’s commitment includes establishing an emissions baseline and crafting strategies for reducing its carbon footprint starting 2023.

Working with industry associations and like-minded organizations forms part of First Balfour’s strategies to integrate decarbonization and regeneration into its business operations. This and other strategies as well as First Balfour’s Priority Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs are being cascaded across the whole organization in the aim to embed its mission to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future.

In addressing the 2016 Fortune-Time Global Forum, Pope Francis encouraged his audience to “seek ever more creative ways to transform our institutions and economic structures so that they may be able to respond to the needs of our day and be in service of the human person, especially those marginalized and discarded.” Lynn Forester de Rothschild, along with founding steering committee leaders, launched the council in December 2020 in response to the pope’s challenge to apply principles of morality to business and investment practices. (Story/Photos by: Dolly Pasia-Ramos)