Singapore, 26 March 2024 - City Developments Limited (CDL) has released its Integrated Sustainability Report (ISR) 2024, marking its 17th sustainability report since 2008. Themed “Zero in on Nature”, the digital report focuses on CDL’s progress towards achieving its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals and targets under the CDL Future Value 2030 Sustainability Blueprint. The report aligns with global and local climate and nature goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the blueprint is integral to CDL’s business strategies and operations, helping CDL mitigate ESG risks and capture growth opportunities.

Complementing its pledge towards its first stage of Operational Net Zero by 2030, the Company achieved a 14% reduction in total operational carbon emissions across the Company’s business operations in Singapore for the year under review (January to December 2023) compared to 2022. The Company has met its interim 2023 target and is committed to meeting its Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)-validated target of a 63% reduction by 2030. As part of its renewed SBTi-validated greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets set in 2021 to align with a 1.5°C warmer scenario, CDL stepped up on integrating and tracking its carbon reduction performance for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Mr Sherman Kwek, CDL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our sustainability-centric business model is anchored on the four key pillars of Integration, Innovation, Investment, and Impact, which will enable us to achieve various deliverables such as decarbonisation and disclosure. This approach has enabled CDL to strengthen our triple bottom line to create long-term value while working towards our net zero ambitions and building nature-positive cities and solutions. CDL is committed to respecting nature, preserving biodiversity, advancing climate action and enhancing green building performance.”

Commitment to nature and biodiversity preservation through TNFD framework

The Company has built up a unique blended sustainability reporting framework comprising the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards at its core since 2008, adding CDP since 2010, the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) since 2013, Integrated Reporting Framework since 2015, SDG Reporting since 2016, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework since 2017, SBTi since 2018, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) Framework since 2020. This year, CDL adopted the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework.

CDL is one of the pioneering Singapore companies amongst 320 companies worldwide to voluntarily report according to the TNFD Recommendations. CDL aims to assess, disclose and manage nature-related risks and opportunities and provide consistent and comparable reporting to its stakeholders. Adopting the TNFD Recommendations represents a natural progression and expansion of the Company’s sustainability framework since embracing the TCFD Recommendations in 2017. To manage its biodiversity footprint, the Company is using a cloud-based AI platform that supports the measurement and management of biodiversity impact by relying on data-backed information.

Transition towards full compliance with ISSB’s S1 and S2 requirements

In June 2023, ISSB launched the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and S2 globally. In February 2024, Singapore announced mandatory Climate-Related Disclosures (CRDs) in a phased approach, in line with the recommendations from the Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee (SRAC). Starting from FY 2025, listed issuers such as CDL will be required to report ISSB-aligned CRDs. To prepare for the transition to the new standards, CDL worked with an external consultant to perform a comprehensive gap analysis evaluating its sustainability disclosures in ISR 2023, focusing on TCFD and SASB disclosures against the ISSB Standards’ CRDs. The gap analysis revealed that CDL’s disclosures are largely well-aligned with the ISSB Standards. CDL’s ISR 2024 has been expanded, where applicable, with a view to transiting towards full compliance with ISSB Standards by FY 2025.