The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the central bank and financial regulator of Singapore, and climate research provider and environmental disclosure platform CDP announced a new collaboration to promote sustainability disclosures and improving access to ESG data, aimed at helping financial institutions and corporates to better measure and monitor their ESG performance and impact.

The new collaboration follows MAS’ recent announcement of a new initiative to partner with financial technology providers and finance industry participants on the development of ESG and sustainable-focused data platforms. The initiative is being conducted under MAS’ Project Greenprint, which the authority launched in 2020 in order to help mobilize capital for green and sustainable finance by harnessing technology and data and create a more transparent, trusted and efficient ESG ecosystem.

CDP runs a global environmental disclosure system, enabling investors and other stakeholders to measure and track organization’s performance in key environmental sustainability areas including climate change, deforestation, and water security.

Dr Darian McBain, Chief Sustainability Officer, MAS, said:

“The signing of this MOU underscores MAS and CDP’s commitment to leverage technology to help drive the sustainability agenda. Harnessing technology to facilitate trusted and efficient ESG data flows is a key component of MAS’ Green Finance Action Plan. In particular, technology solutions present remarkable potential to improve the availability, quality, and comparability of ESG data and disclosures.”

Under the new collaboration, the organizations will explore the exchange of information between CDP’s disclosure system and MAS’ Project Greenprint, and will implement capacity-building programs on climate disclosures for corporates and financial institutions.

According to MAS and CDP, the collaboration is intended to provide financial institutions with access to transparent, trusted and efficient ESG data, in order to support their sustainable finance and investment decisions.

Paul Simpson, Chief Executive Officer, CDP, said:

“As the pioneer of corporate environmental disclosure, CDP is delighted to support MAS with our wealth of data, insights and expertise. This partnership represents a major contribution by MAS in driving the growth of sustainable finance both domestically and globally.”