DigitalCFO Newsroom | 18 May 2022
Hashstacs Pte Ltd (‘STACS’) has developed and launched its ESGpedia registry platform. ESGpedia aims to improve sustainability data quality to support more effective sustainable finance. Launched with a live showcase at the Project Greenprint Industry Showcase Event (May 18) organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (‘MAS’), Singapore FinTech Association (‘SFA’), and STACS, ESGpedia aggregates, records, and maintains the provenance of holistic and forward-looking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) certifications and data of companies across various sectors and global verified sources on a single registry, utilising blockchain technology to ensure security and ease of access by different users.
ESGpedia will power the Greenprint ESG Registry, one of the four digital utility platforms housed under Project Greenprint, which MAS is developing in partnership with the industry.
Benjamin Soh, Managing Director at STACS, said: “There’s a profound disconnect between the ESG data financial institutions and companies need, and what is available to them. First of its type, ESGpedia aggregates all ESG efforts, bridging the gap in ESG data and finance where there is no other such platform today. We are excited to be working on use cases with leading global partners in different industries and sectors, whether as data providers or users, to strengthen trust in ESG data, to truly enable effective sustainable finance on an international scale.”
Dr Darian McBain, Chief Sustainability Officer at MAS, said, “The launch of the blockchain-based ESGpedia platform establishes a robust base for powering the Greenprint ESG Registry, combining STACS’ work on aggregating high quality ESG data from multiple certification bodies and verified sources, with the ability for financial institutions, corporates, and regulators to access this trusted data via a single source in accordance with their needs. In time, data housed in the Greenprint ESG Registry will form a central pillar that underpins the financial sector’s effective mobilisation of capital towards sustainable projects, as well as the accurate tracking and quantification of emission reductions, abatement levels, and other sustainability KPIs linked with these projects.”
ESGpedia serves financial institutions like banks, asset managers, investors, insurers, and exchanges, as well as non-financial institutions like corporates, service providers, and verifiers. Since November 2021, partners of STACS ESGpedia include:
Financial Institutions (alphabetical order):
- Citi
- Climate Impact X
- CSOP Asset Management Pte Ltd
- DBS Bank
- Fidelity International
- OCBC Bank
- Singlife with Aviva
- Standard Chartered
- UBS
- UOB
Corporates and non-Financial Institutions (alphabetical order):
- CDP (global environmental disclosure platform)
- CO2 Connect (CO2X) Pte Ltd (transport and logistics platform)
- Containers Printers (manufacturing sector platform)
- Envision Digital (AIoT software platform for decarbonization)
- Evercomm Singapore (industrial, commercial, and hospitality sector platform)
- GreenON (agriculture sector sustainability tracking platform)
- HeveaConnect (natural rubber trading platform)
- PwC Singapore
- SGTraDex (digital supply chain trade platform)
- Surbana Jurong (building and construction sector platform)
- Sustainable Grid (renewable energy certificates platform)
- TÜV SÜD PSB
- U-Reg (ESG reporting platform)
Eric Lim, Chief Sustainability Officer at UOB, said, “At UOB, we believe that what gets measured, gets done. The use of technology in initiatives such as Project Greenprint’s ESGpedia will go a long way in making sure that quality and verified ESG data is available and comparable. With companies communicating more clearly their environmental, social and economic impact, banks, including UOB, will be able to have more meaningful conversations with them and through financing, support them in global, regional and sectoral transitions.”
While ESG data disclosures are the current norm, ESGpedia aims to take data-driven financial decisions to the next level by also providing holistic and forward-looking ongoing data on projects as well as ESG certifications on a common, standardised registry, allowing for a perpetual monitoring of corporates’ sustainability progress. ESGpedia integrates with data providers including data disclosure platforms, sectoral platforms and certification bodies.
The ESGpedia registry is now launched with ready modules and APIs for integration, at a free tier, to encourage industry adoption. As of today, the registry hosts 168,100 certificates, covering 60,552 companies and 110,500 assets.
With industry certifications being expensive and slow to attain due to highly manual processes and fragmented information, the registry also aims to level the playing field for corporates, especially SMEs without a dedicated ESG team, by making it easier for them to do ESG reporting and access sustainable financial services.
