Last year, CGSI set targets for eight sustainability focus (8SF) areas, to be achieved over a five-year period. They include climate change and decarbonisation, biodiversity and nature-based investments, research for low-carbon, socio-economic growth and sustainable finance.
Rounding out CGSI’s 8SF are: inclusive growth, sustainability disclosures, cybersecurity and digitalisation and social responsibility.
“Acknowledging our role in climate action, we embarked on a detailed exercise to establish baselines for Scopes 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and kickstarted the complex planning process for Scope 3 GHG emissions,” says Carol Fong, group CEO of CGSI. “The upcoming years will focus on target setting for GHG emissions, managing climate risks, implementing governance mechanisms and developing a climate strategy to manage the company’s emissions.”
CGSI has chosen to disclose their GHG emissions by market, across Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea.
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CGSI has identified its Scope 1 emissions to “wholly arise from mobile combustion sources” in the use of company-owned vehicles. Scope 2 emissions, arising from purchased energy, were higher in certain markets.
“Indonesia and Korea have data servers located within their offices, which contribute to their total Scope 2 GHG emissions as compared to other offices which have their data needs met by third-party data centres,” says CGSI.
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Finally, CGSI has committed to measure more categories under the Scope 3 GHG emissions, starting with disclosing emissions from business travel in the subsequent report.
New institute
To further augment its sustainability efforts, CGSI also announced the launch of the Asean Institute of Carbon Neutrality (AICN). According to the group, AICN aims to enable climate mitigation and adaptation action through developing thought leadership for capital markets.
Kevin Lee, group head of sustainability, CGSI, says AICN leverages on the group’s “award-winning research team” to advance sustainable finance knowledge in Southeast Asia through “various platforms”. “By partnering with local partners in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, we plan to strengthen knowledge and networks to mobilise capital towards climate action.”
In December 2023, CGSI signed a memorandum of understanding with National University of Singapore (NUS), making NUS the first partner of AICN. AICN and NUS’s Sustainable and Green Finance Institute are collaborating on three research projects on topics such as renewable energy and the just transition in Southeast Asia, with research findings targeted to be made available in 4Q2024.
AICN will also host a series of webinars on sustainable financing to strengthen environmental, social and governance knowledge. The first webinar, titled “Understanding just transition & climate finance in the Asean context”, will be held in July, in collaboration with NUS.
Tables: CGSI
