The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Secretariat of the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) to join forces on providing enhanced climate transition-related data.
The CDSC was launched by French President, Emmanuel Macron, and United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael R. Bloomberg, to coordinate global regulators, policymakers and organisations to inform on the data that supports net zero transition housed in a centralised source.
The collaboration between the CDSC, MAS and SGX will see MAS’ Project Greenprint’s ESGenome disclosure portal synched with the CSDC’s Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU) global source of climate transition-related data, allowing companies that use ESGenome for reporting purposes to also input their data on Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the NZDPU.
This will allow companies to track their record of climate commitments and remain informed on their own decarbonisation initiatives by comparing their progress against other organisations through the NZDPU’s global database.
Ravi Menon, MAS’ Managing Director, said this shows the support of companies for increased transparency and accountability of net zero data and commitment to the transition, while also enhancing their credibility in front of peers and investors.
“The ability of firms to access reliable data on carbon emissions and disclose relevant climate-related information is critical for transition financing and decarbonisation efforts,” he said.
“This requires synergy and inter-operability across various climate-related data platforms in the world. The collaboration between NZDPU and Project Greenprint’s ESGenome disclosure portal will help harmonise climate-related corporate disclosures from the ASEAN region with the NZDPU’s global template for key climate data.”
ESGenome will also move to facilitate access to NZDPU data for users through its own interface and allow firms to benchmark their progress against both regional and global data.
“Collaboration is critical to achieving the goal of creating a unified source of global emissions data through the NZDPU that will drive the transparency and accountability needed for the net-zero transition,” Mary Schapiro, Chair of the CDSC, said.
“We celebrate this ground-breaking commitment by the MAS and SGX Group to provide foundational climate transition-related data and hope it is the first of many partnerships that will help accelerate climate action across the globe.”
The collaboration will commence in the first quarter of 2024.
“This collaboration by CDSC, MAS and SGX Group to harmonise and scale climate disclosures globally is a significant step in facilitating allocation of public and private capital towards financing climate transition,” Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer at SGX Group, said.
“Consistent and comparable sustainability data, that is easily accessible, is what companies and investors need for benchmarking and investment decision-making. ESGenome launched with a pioneer batch of our listed companies last year and we will work closely with all the stakeholders to scale this initiative.”