CDP (formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project), a global non-profit organization that runs an environmental disclosure system for companies, has officially launched their office in Singapore.
The company will use Singapore as a key strategic hub in the Asia-Pacific region to drive disclosures of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and provide carbon reduction and management services.
Photo credit: CDP
Founded in 2000, CDP is a disclosure system for companies, cities, states, and regions to manage their environmental impacts and for investors or purchasers to access ESG information for use in financial decisions.
The opening of the Singapore office took place alongside the inaugural CDP Asia Pacific 2022 Annual Launch Event. The keynote speaker at the event was Singapore’s Minister of State, Low Yen Ling.
“CDP’s setting up of an office in Singapore shows that there is a heightened focus on sustainability reporting and target-setting globally and in Asia. It also complements our efforts to develop Singapore as a leading carbon services hub in the region and further our transition towards a greener economy,” said Ling.
Currently, the amount of ESG disclosures in Singapore is one of the lowest in the world, with only 21 companies responding so far, John Leung, director of Southeast Asia and Oceania at CDP, told Tech in Asia. In Southeast Asia, the organization has only received about 500 company disclosures, which already includes supply chain members that companies have asked to participate. CDP is targeting to receive about 1,000 disclosures for this year.
The organization will be hiring in Singapore and looks to increase its headcount to double digits by next year. Some of its Hong Kong employees may also shift to Singapore. However, Leung added that hiring would also depend on certain funding that CDP receives as it is a non-governmental organization.
The company gets philanthropic and grant funding, and it also generates its own revenue through its disclosure services.
In addition, CDP has partnered with Tech in Asia to encourage more tech startups and VCs in the region to take a first step toward their environmental disclosures.
CDP and Tech in Asia have created a free questionnaire survey for startups to participate in. Once a startup completes the survey, they will be added to a landing page on the Tech in Asia website to celebrate their first step to participating in the net-zero economy.
Tech in Asia will also participate in the ESG disclosure process, and it will craft content on how VCs and tech startups in the region are going carbon neutral.
Leung noted that most of the ESG disclosures that CDP receives come from corporates rather than startups. However, there has been a lot of encouragement from the investor community to get their portfolio companies to participate in ESG disclosures.
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