Companies may already have their hands full accounting for greenhouse emissions in climate-related disclosures, but a handful of Singapore firms have pledged to go a step further and disclose their material nature-related issues to investors and other stakeholders.
Only eight Singapore-headquartered firms have committed to adopt the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) recommendations, published in September 2023, joining over 500 firms worldwide.
Frasers Property (FPL), Seatrium and Phillip Capital Management have joined early adopters City Developments (CDL), Olam Agri, Olam Food Ingredients, United Overseas Bank and consultancy firm Oceonomy in pledging to report their nature-related issues by FY2025.
CDL was the first company in Singapore to publish TNFD-aligned disclosures in its sustainability report, released in March 2024. Now, Mainboard-listed multinational real estate investor, developer and manager FPL is gearing up to do the same come December.
FPL has a Sept 30 financial year-end. It began publishing a section on climate and nature disclosures in its FY2024 sustainability report, released December 2024.
“We’ve already started making some of those disclosures, and we’ll look to evolve them,” says Paolo Bevilacqua, group head of sustainability at FPL.
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“It’s all about taking a step forward. Nature is something that is unlike carbon, where there are really specific metrics you can work towards. Nature is still evolving in that regard, so we’re always looking to just build on our learning, what we did in the previous year, and aligning it with our strategy and objectives as much as we can,” says Bevilacqua to The Edge Singapore.
Bevilacqua said in October 2024 that FPL had identified biodiversity as a “material focus area” since the launch of its ESG framework in 2018. In June, FPL launched its inaugural climate and nature transition plan, setting out the group’s ambitions, actions and accountability as it transitions towards a “climate-resilient, net-zero carbon and nature-affirming future”.
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What does this look like in practice? “Prioritising nature” is one of FPL’s six group ESG goals, established in 2023.
FPL’s group ESG goals as of FY2024
With this, FPL has pledged to develop a framework to assess and prioritise biodiversity risks and opportunities by FY2025, and it will share progress on this in its sustainability report arriving in December.
FPL’s progress on its group ESG goals as of 1HFY2025
“We’ve done the nature scan and the roadmap and the framework is now currently in development, so we’re confident that we’ll deliver on that,” says Bevilacqua.
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FPL has also pledged to engage 75% of its suppliers-by-spend on its Responsible Sourcing Policy by FY2025. This sets out its expectations of contractors and suppliers across four areas of sustainable procurement: environmental management; human rights and labour management; health, safety and well-being; and business ethics and integrity.
As at end-FY2024, FPL had engaged 47% of its suppliers-by-spend, and Bevilacqua says the group has made “really good progress since then”, engaging some 700 suppliers.
“We’re signalling, as a multinational, large corporate, to say these are areas that are important to us when it comes to responsible sourcing… Most suppliers have been pretty good and willing to come to the table,” he adds.
In Europe, for example, FPL’s industrial business now sets carbon targets as part of the tender process for construction and new buildings, says Bevilacqua. “It encourages the builder [and] the construction contractor, to actually say: ‘If I can do that in a way that’s more competitive than my competitors, that gives me an edge.’ Doing it in that way, where it encourages innovation, is really critical.”
To FPL, suppliers that are able to deliver on aspects of its Responsible Sourcing Policy demonstrate that they are “well-governed” and “have a good understanding of emerging issues”, Bevilacqua adds. “[They] are more likely to be resilient into the future, which is what we want.”
FPL is the sponsor of Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust and Frasers Hospitality Trust in Singapore; while Frasers Property (Thailand) Public Company is the sponsor of Frasers Property Thailand Industrial Freehold and Leasehold REIT and Golden Ventures REIT. Does FPL plan to encourage these REITs and trust to adopt the TNFD recommendations?
Bevilacqua says: “Wherever possible, we align with our REITs, but we also acknowledge that they’ve got their own governance structures, boards and so on.”
He adds: “We have a lot of alignment on our key goals when we look at ESG, but specifically on TNFD, we looked at it at the group level at this stage, also because nature, unlike carbon, plays out differently; it requires not just local geographic response, but each asset class is different, so it may not be as high a priority for one REIT when compared to another REIT.”
Life below water
Meanwhile, Straits Times Index constituent Seatrium published its first TNFD-aligned sustainability report in March after becoming a TNFD adopter in May 2024.
Seatrium has a Dec 31 financial year-end. Like FPL, Seatrium published a preliminary set of nature-related disclosures a year prior, in its FY2023 sustainability report.
A Seatrium spokesperson says its TNFD-aligned disclosures are a “formal articulation” of the group’s practices and principles, including mitigation of marine invasive species, pollution prevention, ocean stewardship and environmental responsibility.
The offshore, marine and energy engineering solutions provider has identified the ocean as an important resource to its operations. This aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water — to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Ocean stewardship has “long been a priority”, says Seatrium, and some measures implemented include regular monitoring and leak detection across water supply systems and “strict” procedures for chemical and waste handling, spill prevention and incident reporting.
Since 2020, 11 of Seatrium’s 13 operational yards in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, the US and Brazil have been certified to ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems.
“For Seatrium, this certification is more than a credential — it reflects our systematic approach to identifying, managing and minimising the environmental impact of our activities across our global yards,” says a spokesperson.
Achieving ISO 14001 requires steps like identifying emissions, waste, energy use and resource consumption, says Seatrium.
In FY2024, the group withdrew a total of 2.5 million cubic metres of water, 14.2% lower y-o-y. Similarly, Seatrium’s water consumption intensity improved y-o-y from 0.022 to 0.015 cubic metres per man-hour.
Seatrium’s water withdrawal by source, per million cubic metres
However, Seatrium has not set targets for reducing water use or water intensity. “While we have not yet established formal water reduction targets, we actively track and report our water usage and remain committed to improving efficiency across our operations,” says a Seatrium spokesperson.
“Various measures have been put in place to reduce consumption where feasible, and we have seen a y-o-y decline in water intensity. As part of our broader environmental strategy, we are exploring the establishment of nature-relevant targets, including those related to water use,” they add.
Aside from water use, Seatrium’s FY2024 sustainability report identifies species extinction as a potential risk of its impact on the ocean. “As we are at the early stage of [our] TNFD journey, we are strengthening our assessment of nature-related risks and considering targeted initiatives to further safeguard marine life,” says a spokesperson. “More details will be shared in future disclosures as our plan matures.”
