“The younger generation have a lot of hope for the future. Our role is to empower them and make sure they’re on the right path”

When I think about what the New Asia means to me, I think about the power of creativity, culture, innovation and sustainability. Adding to this, the word ‘community’ is going to be interesting in the future, because until now, we talked about Asia as individual countries. We talked about Thailand or Singapore or Indonesia, but now we are beginning to think of Asia as one community where everyone, young innovators and the older generation alike, comes together to exchange ideas and create new initiatives together. That collective force should be a part of the New Asia, too.

Look at how we talk about sustainability. It’s a very broad concept. Some people are not facing reality, or some people, I think, just don’t understand. But the younger generation, who have been taught about climate change since elementary school, are very aware and they are much more knowledgeable. And now they need empowerment.

When I was younger, I didn’t see bushfires like what’s happening in Australia. I didn’t see temperatures so hot in Hong Kong that they set a record high this winter. It’s just so strange to see this disparity. But they’re seeing all this when they are young, so they feel more urgency to discover why this is happening and they’re hoping to provide a solution. But there’s still some gap of understanding between generations, so first we need to create a bridge between them.

People used to talk about social responsibility as a separate thing from what was happening in the rest of a company—being responsible by giving some profits to charity—but today you need to figure out a 360-degree approach that considers how the needs of your own little ecosystems converge with the broader ones of society as a whole. You need to build businesses that are not just about innovation, but that are socially innovative, and to think about sustainability not as a PR thing, but as serving humanity for the next many, many decades. At New World Group and K11, for example, our Sustainability Vision 2030 concept is based on a platform of shared social value. We pledge to reduce our carbon and energy intensity by 50 per cent, build sustainable buildings, adopt more renewable energy, waste less and help our tenants go green.

This year, we are implementing new policies that focus on Creating Shared Value (CSV), which shows that we have an obligation to take care of other stakeholders in our community, especially people in need, to the mutual benefit of corporations and society. Profit-making will no