The Sustainable Finance Institute Asia (SFIA) has announced the appointment of Asia’s leading environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and technology solutions company, STACS ESGpedia, as the official ESG platform partner for the Single AccessPoint for ESG Data (SAFE) Initiative.
The SAFE Initiative is a regional approach to tackling the issue of ESG data, bringing together key stakeholders, including governments, regulators, standard setters, financial institutions, corporates, and SMEs, towards championing data and disclosures for ASEAN and beyond.
The appointment of STACS ESGpedia as the official ESG platform partner for the SAFE Initiative is a key step in providing the necessary tools to support corporates, SMEs, and financial institutions in their corporate sustainability and ESG reporting journey. Understanding the key challenges faced by providers and users of data alike, the partnership between STACS ESGpedia and the SAFE Initiative provides a quasi-public utility approach that focuses on enabling access for all stakeholders.
The partnership and go-to-market are complementary to SAFE’s recently signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) on the Sustainability Innovation Lab (SIL).
The cross-border partnership was unveiled after the 40th ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum (ABMF) Meeting in Kumamoto, Japan, where SFIA signed a MoA with GRI to formalise the SAFE-SIL collaboration. This official announcement follows the successful completion of the SAFE pilot with ESGpedia in various ASEAN markets including the Philippines with Philippine Financial Market Infrastructure PDS Group, Vietnam with Bamboo Capital Group, and Indonesia with Funding Societies | Modalku earlier in 2023.
Through the partnership, SFIA will collaborate with STACS ESGpedia for the utilisation of ESGpedia, initially in Asia-Pacific markets, to facilitate the region’s ESG journey with a set of regular corporate disclosures.
Eugene Wong, chief executive officer of Sustainable Finance Institute Asia, said, “We are pleased to announce our partnership with STACS ESGpedia, providing the key enabling technology for the SAFE Initiative as its reporting Platform. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our journey towards a unified and accessible ESG data disclosure platform for the ASEAN region.”
The launch of the STACS ESGpedia platform within the SAFE Initiative as its selected Technology Platform, and joint go-to-market collaborations between SAFE and SIL is opportune amid the Asia Pacific region’s acceleration towards a green economy, particularly with upcoming mandatory climate disclosures and new policies to enable sustainable practices and reporting, including requirements of Scope 3 GHG emissions reporting.
Benjamin Soh, founder and managing director at STACS ESGpedia, said, “With the increasing requirement for ESG reporting impacting companies worldwide, there is a need for solutions in Asia to empower companies in the region, to ensure the supply chains of Asia remain resilient, sustainable and hence competitive in the face of global ESG regulations.”
He added, “We are honoured for ESGpedia to be the official ESG platform powering the SAFE Platform and to provide our full end-to-end suite of solutions to support companies of any size, from day one to full ESG readiness.”
“Working with SAFE Initiative, we look forward to further expanding our growing partner ecosystem of government agencies, international organisations, and financial services providers, to provide holistic solutions for the real-world industries in Asia as we jointly advance the region’s sustainability transition,” concluded Benjamin.
ESGpedia, a GRI-licensed platform, provides a digital platform that simplifies various ESG standards and frameworks, providing a guided sustainability journey. It includes digital tools to automatically calculate GHG emissions under the standard GHG Protocol and following the ISO14064 standard, localised to emissions factors of countries within the Asia Pacific region, allowing companies to gain insights into their carbon footprint.
The platform also provides functionality to produce ESG Reports according to both international and local regulatory standards and offers data analytics and visualisation services for both the reporting corporate, as well as their supply chain or financial services portfolios.
Eugene also commented that by leveraging ESGpedia’s capabilities, SFIA believes the SAFE Platform will provide much-needed support to businesses of all sizes, especially SMEs, to disclose credible ESG data that are crucial for accessing sustainable finance and competing in global supply chains.
He concluded, “Working with STACS ESGpedia and SIL, the SAFE Initiative promotes interoperability across standards and jurisdictions, and develops sustainability disclosure capacity for the region. Together, we are committed to driving transparency, accountability, and informed decision-making in the sustainable finance ecosystem across ASEAN and the global markets.” 
