Schroders Singapore, on Oct 16, announced its intent to enhance and accelerate its sustainability goals across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
Part of this plan involves establishing a regional centre of excellence for sustainability (CoES) in Singapore, which will house a team of senior specialists in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing.
The centre will also house an ESG education hub that provides specialist training to upskill Schroders’ Asia staff with ESG capabilities.
In addition, the centre will be open to industry partners and will host training programmes for local and regional clients.
Across APAC, institutional asset owners and intermediary distribution partners alike are accelerating their pace of ESG adoption.
Schroders says it anticipates growing demand for sustainability-focused strategies catalysed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As such, we see exciting opportunities to collaborate with clients and partners looking to advance their sustainability priorities. As an integral part of our strategic initiative, we are therefore anchoring a Centre of Excellence for Sustainability in Singapore,” it says in a statement.
The dedicated resources will “play a pivotal role” in driving Asia-focused ESG research insights, innovation and impact across the region, it adds.
The CoES will also house an ESG education hub that delivers specialist training to upskill the ESG capabilities of Schroders’ staff in Asia.
Separately, Schroders Singapore is a founding partner of the Singapore Green Finance Centre, along with eight other banks including the Bank of China, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered Bank.
The Singapore Green Finance Centre, which was launched on Oct 13, is supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and launched jointly by Imperial College Business School and the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at the Singapore Management University.
The centre is Singapore’s first research institute dedicated to green finance research and talent development.
“The Centre will conduct rigorous research tailored to the Asian context, synergising SMU’s strength in financial economics and Imperial’s forte in climate finance,” says MAS’s managing director Ravi Menon in his speech given at the Financial Times Investing for Good Asia Digital Conference on Oct 13, 2020.
On Asia’s transition to a greener future, Menon added that the continent’s journey towards a low-carbon future will differ from Europe’s as it is in a different stage of development.
“Millions of people still do not have access to electricity, modern sanitation, and drinking water. Demand for affordable energy will continue to grow strongly, especially with rapid urbanisation and modernisation,” he added.
As most countries in Asia are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels for their energy needs, Menon notes that it is “not realistic” to suddenly replace fossil fuels with renewables.
“Asia cannot move quickly to a European standard of green without curtailing its economic and social development,” he says.
“There has been a sea-change of public perspective and social consciousness around sustainability. Structural shifts in the drivers of corporate performance impacting investment returns and an exponential increase in ESG regulations are fuelling an accelerated interest in sustainability issues in Asia and globally,” says Susan Soh, co-head of Asia Pacific and Singapore CEO at Schroders.
“Investors today choose to vote with their own pockets, and we have seen heightened inflows of funds towards ESG causes and investments globally. We expect the momentum to spill over to Asia, as capital reallocation will create interesting investment opportunities for our institutional and intermediary clients. As we speak, we already see clients in Asia looking to enhance their ESG alignment and deliver positive impact whilst generating returns,” Soh adds.
