From Alethea Yeo Aletheayeo@sim.edu.sg
Cc Jowene Chan Yiwen jowenechan@sim.edu.sg

Canvas: https://onlinelearn.sim.edu.sg/

WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LFZQ62fN9Zc3hAvqaVhZkf?mode=gi_t

Classmates

We are a group of mid-career learners attending the Sustainability course conduced by SIM.

In the course, we have learnt the fundamentals of Sustainability Reporting. This is something that is currently required of companies listed on SGX, which will soon require such reports to be externally assured (like financial auditing). In time to come, these requirements will extend to smaller companies and organisations such as yours.

We would like to work with you, without charge pro bono, to help you embark on your sustainability journey. Besides preparing for upcoming regulatory compliance, it will help companies and organisations deal with long term concerns.

Quick summary:

• Currently, listed companies already required by SGX to publish their SRs
• ⁠ACRA will in coming years require such reports by listcos and large companies to be assured
• that's all the regulations announced and published thus far
• because there are already many SR examples published, companies cannot plead ignorance if/ when Acra makes it mandatory
• and as the number of certified sustainability assurers grow, so will pressure to improve SR quality
• finally, sustainability is not only about regulatory compliance: it's also about risk mgt, competitiveness and talent acquisition/ retention.

as you have noted, SRs is only mandatory for listed and large companies. there is currently no hint of making them mandatory anytime in the foreeable horizon. we are only speculating that they will eventually come, but we have no idea when.

as i read more about sustainability, including the many many PDFs that Henry Pang gave us in the Google Drive, i am seeing a much bigger picture of Sustainability

sure, for the larger companies, SRs compliance is definitely a concern and perhaps also uppermost in their minds. but i am also beginning to understand why more enlightened senior mgt might be receptive to the whole Sustainability idea, not just because the law/rules require them to

pre-Sustainability era, all companies were focused on the single fiscal bottom line. that was all that was considered important and thus tracked, measured and reported. besides all the idealistic and forward-looking notions introduced by Sustainability, we now need lots more data and numbers covering a huge huge range of activities. the thing is: if properly collected and processed, these data gives top mgt a much more granular and detailed view of the company, thus taking out lots of guesswork in the mgt of the company. that imho is a god-send to managers

these benefits are now accruing to larger companies that not only can afford to expend the resources need to produce details SRs, they are also required by law to do so. and the same benefits can also be enjoyed by the smaller companies if they also expend some resources to do simpler SRs.

with the larger companies leading the way and publishing their SRs annually, smaller companies don’t need to re-invent the wheel as they can use the published SRs as templates to pick and choose what they want/need. i’d argue that much of Sustainability is not only commonsense but actually benefits the companies practising it. think for example waste mgt. we know that many companies have staff that have very wasteful habits, e.g. leave lights/aircon/etc on even when not needed, print on paper unnecessarily, etc. these are all tracked under Sustainability and top mgt can use these numbers to propel them companies to save money through better waste mgt.

Trainer: Henry Kang Swee Zhang

henry-chelsea@hotmail.com
henrykang888@gmail.com

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1lMPsxWq9j0DyRzsZ1jDhnAK_DI72HxHs

[26/5/26, 7:36:49 PM] suhaw: The 2 differences is like AJ Shahrill’s “wink” two saturdays ago [26/5/26, 7:41:46 PM] suhaw: as Raj noted, 4 types of waste is another wink

Trainer: Lynn Foo

• Cycling
• Drying hands
• Mobile phone usage
• Drink Latte

3 most impt stakeholders

• Employees
• Customers
• Regulator

Certifications

• .True Waste: Environment
• Singapore Green Label: Products
• RBA: Social: It ensures electronics, retail, and ICT supply chains maintain safe working conditions, fair labor practices, environmental responsibility, and ethical operations.
• B Corp: Businesses: B is either for Businesses or Branding

A suggested format for a sustainability report should include the following:

• a) Chairman or CEO statement
• b) Organisational profile
• c) Scope and profile of report
• d) Adherence and commitment to external initiatives
• e) Governance
• f) Stakeholder engagement
• g) Economic performance
• h) Environmental performance
• i) Social performance: labour practices
• j) Social performance: community work
• k) Social performance: product responsibility

verification is the foundational process of checking data, calculations, and methodologies against specific criteria. Assurance is the formal outcome of that process

Trainer: AJ Shahrill

Takeaways:

• Difficult to establish 2Es: Education and Experience
• While larger companies already have Sustainability infrastructure in place, some SMEs and religious and non-profit organisations may still use some help.
• If anybody has any contacts, we might offer some pro bono help, with trainer AJ Shahrill's guidance if he is available and has the time to spare. Jillian has offered the crabs and requisite seafood.

Trainer: Felix Tan Jia Kien

Business Model Canvas (BMC started back in 2010:

https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/661319

Business Model Generation A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

3 stages of a viable idea:

• Problem-Solution Fit: ideation - find solution to identified problem
• Product-Market Fit: bring product to test on market
• Scale for Growth:

What is a viable idea?

• Idea: Desireable
• Feasible: Real
• Viable: Value

What is ESG? Environment, Social, and Governance

https://www.deloitte.com/ce/en/services/consulting/perspectives/esg-explained-1-what-is-esg.html

What I have learnt that is useful?

• BMC provides a comprehensive framework
• Much interdependencies
• Labels shines attention on each issue that needs to be addressed