ESG

The Asia Pacific data centre market is one of the fastest developing regions and is on track to become the world’s largest over the next decade. Explosive growth in data centre demand across the region, however, has deepened the sector’s environmental impact.

Leaders in the data centre industry have responded by becoming powerful voices for sustainable change and as per a recent webinar on Data Centres in Australia Driving the Sustainability Agenda, they are interested more in collaborating than competing and agree that newer standards and gauges can unlock the next green wave of impact and value.

Data centres have traditionally relied on Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) as the sustainability metric of choice. While substantial improvements in PUE standards have been made over the years, measuring PUE alone fails to capture the full environmental impact of data centres.

In this report, we explore how PUE, in combination with Water Usage Efficiency (WUE) and Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE) can form a more holistic measure of sustainability performance.

This report was originally published in https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/insights/a-new-trinity-for-measuring-data-centre-sustainability

Download the Report Read More

AEW published a research report on climate risk. The report, authored by Hans Vrensen, Head of Research & Strategy, explores how physical climate change, in particular river floods and rising sea levels, will impact European real estate returns, and the importance of a proactive investment approach.

Download the Report Read More

This report sets out MAS' strategy on climate resilience and environmental sustainability to strengthen the resilience of Singapore's financial sector to environmental risks, develop a vibrant green finance ecosystem, build a climate-resilient reserves portfolio, and incorporate sustainable practices.

This report was originally published in https://www.mas.gov.sg/publications/sustainability-report/2022/sustainability-report-2021-2022

Download the Report Read More

Landmark research from Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School has, for the first time, shed light on how companies in the ASEAN region are addressing their obligations for climate-related reporting.

Analysis of the top 100 largest listed companies in six Southeast Asian nations – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – finds 70% (420 companies) published climate-related disclosures in 2020/2021. Climate Reporting in ASEAN: State of Corporate Practices analyzes those 420 businesses, focusing on their approach to reporting, materiality, risks and opportunities, governance, strategy, targets, and performance.

Key findings of the research include:

• Most of the companies (84%) report their material topics on climate change, yet only one quarter (26%) describe long-term factors related to their climate risk strategy;
• 62% of companies disclose their greenhouse gas emissions (ranging from 5% in Vietnam to 80% in the Philippines);
• A majority of businesses (56%) identify climate-related opportunities, compared with less than half (47%) sharing plans on risk mitigation;
• Three-in-four companies (74%) disclose metrics on climate-related performance, however, 46% do not share how targets are discussed;
• Two-third (68%) assign climate responsibilities to a sub-committee, while 8% link management remuneration to climate

In terms of climate reporting:

• A significant majority of sampled companies (85%) use the GRI Standards, ranging from Singapore (99%) to Vietnam (65%);
• In the six markets, reporting using other frameworks is low: 19% use TCFD, 16% apply IIRC, and 14% use SASB;
• At 76%, reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals is widespread by the companies in all six countries, with those from Thailand (95%) and Indonesia (93%) leading the way.

This report was originally published in https://globalreporting.org/news/news-center/asean-companies-get-serious-about-climate-change/

Download the Report Read More