Foreword
By Singapore Sustainable Finance Association.
Singapore’s pursuit of net-zero emissions by 2050 is contingent on multiple factors, from the maturity of decarbonisation technologies to effective international cooperation1. Included within this ambition is the decarbonising of the real estate sector, which is substantial in both size and emissions.
The Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA) facilitates collaboration between financial and non-financial sectors to support the low carbon transition and sustainable economic growth of Singapore, to build a vibrant, trusted and inclusive sustainable finance ecosystem in Singapore. The SSFA has therefore spent the last 12 months exploring measures to accelerate progress in this area as part of the work undertaken by the Real Estate sub-group of SSFA’s Transition Finance Workstream.
For decarbonisation to be successful, cross-sectoral and intra-sectoral collaboration is critical. This is as true for real estate as it is for transportation and industry. Our work is founded on the importance of collaboration, as reflected in our approach to working with the real estate sector.
This effort was initiated by the convening of key players in Singapore’s real estate ecosystem. Real estate companies, regulators, service providers, policymakers and financial institutions shared their challenges and discussed how collective action would help.
This report therefore synthesises the insights gleamed from the key ecosystem players in these areas and offers practical recommendations aimed at increasing the pace of decarbonisation in the real estate sector. Given the targeted scope of this work – and therefore, this report – certain issues of relevance to decarbonising the built environment (for example, embodied carbon) are not explored at this stage.
As the real estate ecosystem takes the next step of acting on these proposed solutions, participants should persist in this spirit of collaboration. The holistic, whole-of-ecosystem collaboration applied in preparing this report helps enhance our understanding of the obstacles to decarbonising the built environment – and how to address them effectively.
Everyone is accountable, and nobody can tackle decarbonisation alone.
1National Climate Change Secretariat. (2022) Overview of Singapore Climate Targets. Retrieved October 2024 from https://www.nccs.gov.sg/singapores-climate-action/singapores-climate-targets/overview/
Acknowledgements
This report was developed by the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA) Real Estate sub-group. The SSFA collaborates across the financial sector and real economy to support the growth of Singapore as a trusted, vibrant, and inclusive sustainable finance centre.
SSFA has six thematic focus areas, reflecting core priorities of the broader sustainable finance ecosystem, involving key stakeholders such as financial institutions, real economy corporates, service providers, government bodies, academia, NGOs and others, essential for advancing the industry.
This report was developed under the Transition Finance workstream2, within which housed the Real Estate sub-group. The workstream aimed to develop a conducive ecosystem to mobilise and scale transition finance towards Asia’s net zero objective, and to position Singapore as the regional hub for transition finance. At the time of development, the Transition Finance Workstream was co-led by Helge Muenkel, Chief Sustainability Officer, DBS; Kelvin Tan, Head of Sustainability and Government Affairs, ASEAN, HSBC; and Mervyn Tang, Head of Sustainability APAC, Schroders. The Real Estate sub-group was led by Benjamin Towell, Executive Director, Global Wholesale Banking Sustainable Office, OCBC, with PwC as the knowledge partner. The work had been coordinated by the SSFA Secretariat. This report was developed with inputs from workstream members and has been reviewed by the Workstream Co-leads, the Sub-group lead and the SSFA Executive Committee (EXCO).
This document does not necessarily represent the views of the Workstream Co-leads, Sub-group lead, any individual member of the Workstream, or the SSFA EXCO.
2 As of 2026, SSFA’s workstreams have transitioned to a project-based model.
Members of the Workstream include representatives from:
| Organisation | Name | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| DBS | Helge Muenkel | Chief Sustainability Officer, and SSFA Transition Finance Workstream Co-lead |
| See Sang Lye | Executive Director Sustainable Finance | |
| Ashish Sharma | Executive Director, Group Sustainability | |
| Samuel Koh | Vice President, Group Sustainability | |
| HSBC | Kelvin Tan | Head of Sustainability and Government Affairs, ASEAN, and Transition Workstream Co-lead |
| Frances Chen | Head of Sustainability, ASEAN | |
| Goh Ping Yao | Associate Director, Sustainability, ASEAN | |
| Richard Lim | Associate Director, Sustainability, ASEAN | |
| Schroders | Mervyn Tang | Head of Sustainability, APAC, and SSFA Transition Finance Workstream Co-lead |
| Yuan Jiang | Sustainable Investment Director | |
| OCBC (Real Estate Sub-group Lead) | Benjamin Henry Towell | Executive Director, Global Wholesale Banking Sustainable Office |
| PwC (Knowledge partner) | Fang Eu-Lin | Partner, Sustainability and Climate Change Practice Leader |
| Lee Bing Yi | Partner, Financial Services Assurance, Sustainability and Climate Change | |
| Simon Burns | Senior Manager, Sustainability and Climate Change | |
| Benedict Koh | Associate, Sustainability and Climate Change | |
| ANZ | Mara Chiorean Pek | Executive Director, Sustainable Finance |
| Shaina Tan | Senior Manager, Sustainable Finance | |
| CapitaLand Investment | Foo Peng Er | Vice President, Group Sustainability |
| CDL | Esther An | Chief Sustainability Officer |
| Teng Kai Wen | Manager, Sustainability | |
| Stephanie Chua | Manager, Sustainability | |
| CIMB | Luanne Sieh | Group Chief Sustainability Officer |
| Wu Meng Ting | Sustainability Specialist, Singapore | |
| Fitria Sunaryo | Islamic Banking and Sustainability Specialist, Singapore | |
| Keppel Fund Management & Investment | Lilian Goh | Managing Director, Investor Relations and Sustainability |
| Tan Szue Hann | Director, ESG Strategy, Fund Management, and Head of Sustainability, Real Estate | |
| Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation | Mehrunisa Zafar | Director, Sustainability Solutions Group APAC |
| Wong Partnership | Trevor Chuan | Partner, Sustainability & Responsible Business Practice |
SSFA would like to thank all those who have contributed to the development of this publication. We are deeply grateful for their support.
