The Little Green Dot – Assessing Singapore’s ESG Drive and its Potential for Asia-wide Impact

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In Singapore, there is a dizzying whirlwind of activity unfolding in the ESG space including, for example, the new Singapore Green Plan 2030, the Emerging Stronger Conversations program and its many working groups, the new ESG-focused Centers of Excellence (the first being the Singapore Green Finance Centre), and more. A surge in SG Government- and Temasek-linked company involvement is expected, and potentially significant new government policies that force substantive change. Whether by carrots or sticks remains to be seen.

Can Singapore take the lead in ESG transformation and trend-set regionally or even globally?

Through a panel discussion and member exchange, this Council session will examine:

• What’s behind Singapore’s surging ESG drive at the government and institutional level?
• Who are the key actors and what are their prerogatives?
• How do the various plans, programs and initiatives fit together (or not)?
• What are the main impediments to progress?
• Where are significant breakthroughs possible – social, commercial, technological, etc.
• What actions and policies are anticipated?
• Is ASEAN likely to follow suit?

Council members and expert panelists will explore and debate how companies can most effectively engage in Singapore initiatives and platforms to advance their corporate purpose agendas in Asia.

Panelists: Janet Ang, KOH Lian Pin, and Philip Lim

• Lian Pin is the Director of the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions and Professor of Conservative Science, Technology and Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is a nominated Member of Parliament, appointed on 21 January 2021.
• Janet is a Board Director of Singapore Press Holdings, Chair of the Board of SISTIC, Chairman of the NUS Institute of Systems Science, and vice-Chair of the Singapore Business Federation. She too is recently nominated Member of Parliament.
• Philip Lim is an advisor to RHT Group of Companies and Hatcher+ Venture Capital where he focuses on sustainability ecosystem development and impact investing projects. Philip is also a Council Director for The Conference Board.

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