SL positioned to dominate Asia’s US$ 5 trn green market: Dilmah

By Nuzla Rizkiya

Sri Lanka has a significantly high potential and a comparatively higher advantage to tap into the emerging US$5 trillion green business market in Asia, according to Dilmah Tea Chairman Dilhan Fernando.

With the increasingly high value placed on sustainability by consumers worldwide and western corporations unable to cope with the requirements, Sri Lanka has a unique advantage to access the massive amounts of ESG funds available globally.

“I call Asia’s US$5 trillion green space opportunity a priority for Sri Lanka. It is because green growth compliance, adaptation, and mitigation are critical factors in business outside the country. There is an abundance of money in the form of ESG funding, some US$ 3-4 trillion in size, and we have a legally mandated opportunity to receive them,” Fernando said.

He shared his views while addressing a panel discussion on navigating ESG dynamics at the CMA Conference held this week. 

Fernando highlighted that younger generations, such as Generations X and Alpha, who constitute more than 50 percent of the global consumer market, are more conscious about what they consume than ever before. 

In this context, Sri Lanka, being an island with invaluable assets of biodiversity, cultural heritage, and easily traceable industries, has the capacity to align with what consumers globally look for. 

Fernando cited the country’s agricultural exports, renewable energy generation capacity, niche manufacturing, and intelligent tourism as lucrative avenues that could use green-technology-based investments to gain a competitive market advantage in accessing the trillion dollar worth green market space. 

“Entering this opportunity has risks, but in Sri Lanka, you can do it in a malleable and practical way. We need to spend to be able to align our natural assets. We need to sell at a premium to harness that green growth opportunity. For that, we need to invest in green agricultural technologies,” Fernando said. 

He went on to assert that green growth and nature-positive pathways are the only sustainable methods, the country can alleviate the costs and facilitate profitable industries for the future.