BrazilPwC launches Asia Pacific sustainability centre in Singapore
A new sustainability centre serving clients in the Asia Pacific has been launched by PwC in Singapore, with support for emissions reductions and ESG up-skilling among its offerings.
The Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainability Excellence (CSE) will serve to support regional organisations with their decarbonisation efforts as well as in other ESG areas such as climate risk, sustainable finance, and sustainability reporting.
“As a network, PwC’s strength lies in drawing on diverse and multidisciplinary talent from our community of solvers to provide human-led tech enabled insights and innovations to collectively problem solve,” said PwC Singapore’s executive chairman Marcus Lam. “I hope that the launch of this centre will enable many new innovations and help Singapore achieve new heights in sustainability excellence on the world stage.”
Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the Centre for Sustainability Excellence is part of PwC’s S$50 million five-year investment under the firm’s ‘New Equation’ strategy, which in turn forms part of the global organisation’s $12 billion pivot towards ESG services and other future-focused priorities. In addition to sustainability, the new centre will focus on ESG capacity-building along with supporting Singapore as a carbon services and trading hub.
“The establishment of this Centre for Sustainability Excellence is part of Singapore’s growth as a vibrant hub for sustainability and carbon services,” said EDB managing director Jacqueline Poh. “With strengths in many disciplines, PwC is in a great position to provide multidisciplinary solutions to companies.”
“The Centre for Sustainability Excellence’s suite of offerings will provide companies with the support they need as they transition to a low-carbon future.”
Another feature of the investment and new centre is in ESG up-skilling, both internally and then through workshops delivered to outside organisations. PwC says that all of its 3,500 staff will receive training on the subject, aimed at embedding “ESG consciousness in the firm’s DNA”. The programme has been developed by PwC’s sustainability practice, with customised training to roll out as its different service lines evolve.
“One of the objectives of the centre will be to help build capacity in the ecosystem by enabling organisations to up-skill their people in ESG and empower them with the necessary knowledge,” said PwC Singapore’s ESG and centre leader, Fang Eu-Lin. “We will lead by upskilling all of our people, giving them a strong foundation to understand and confront issues as climate and sustainability issues and regulations intensify.”
To coincide with the launch of the new centre, PwC has also established the Singapore Low Carbon Network (SLCN), a platform for both public and private sector organisations which are seeking to decarbonise through which to share insights and best practises, with Swiss Re, OCBC Bank, Lazada, ST Engineering and ComfortDelGro among the SLCN’s varied inaugural members. The community expects to meet four times a year.
