Fostering Sustainability in Temasek

At Temasek, we seek to build a sustainable institution that delivers sustainable value over the long term to all stakeholders. Part of our corporate governance framework ensures that sustainability is integrated into our operations.

Our Board sets out the direction and oversees our progress on sustainability-related issues. The Board Risk & Sustainability Committee (RSC) supports the Board in its oversight of our sustainability strategy, governance, policies, goals and targets, disclosures, and stakeholder management. The committee focuses on opportunities and risks arising from sustainability trends, including climate change, and other financial, reputational, operational, and cyber risks. The RSC also provides guidance on topical sustainability-related matters.

More on our institutional committees and their sustainability-related responsibilities

As a company, we uphold our commitment to carbon neutrality, and we are carbon neutral for the fourth year running. Over the year, we saw a moderate increase in our emissions relating to our operations, mainly due to progressive resumption of business travel activities as global travel restrictions ease.

The pandemic has transformed the way we work, including the way we organise meetings and conferences. While our emissions per employee have declined significantly since pre-COVID levels, from 28.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) per employee for year ended 31 March 2020 to 12.0 tCO₂e per employee for year ended 31 March 2023, we have experienced a pent-up demand, like many other companies, for in-person interactions post-pandemic. We continue to make efforts to keep emissions levels lower than pre-COVID levels and will closely monitor the need for business travel, which include guiding our teams to leverage technology-based solutions such as teleconferencing. This will inform our efforts as we progress to further reduce emissions from our operations.

As part of these efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our operations, we have procured electricity from renewable energy sources for our Singapore office through Renewable Energy Certificates. Temasek has also made our Green Nation Pledge, an environmental sustainability initiative by Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, signalling our commitment to help make Singapore a sustainable, resource-efficient, and climate-resilient nation.

To address our residual emissions, we purchased carbon credits through Climate Impact X, and supported a range of carbon avoidance and removal projects that accrue various co-benefits to diverse geographical regions. We also supported the Delta Blue Carbon project, a mangroves and wetlands afforestation and restoration project located in the Indus River Delta area in Pakistan.

We recognise that our employees are critical to advancing a more sustainable organisation, and continuously upskill them with training modules on climate change and our Environmental, Social, and Governance approach. Our staff can also take part in Project GO!, a series of sustainability-focused activities, such as immersive learning sessions or volunteering activities, which are held every month. Some activities this year included an electronic waste collection drive, as well as a litter picking competition.

Our staff also supported the tree planting efforts of partners such as the Global Evergreening Alliance, an international non-profit organisation overseeing grassroots land restoration and sustainable agriculture programmes. More than 240 colleagues joined in-person tree planting activities across Singapore, China, Belgium, and the US. A portion of our long term incentives is aligned with our portfolio carbon emissions reduction targets.