CDL Offsets Emissions with High-quality Carbon Credits Purchased from Climate Impact X Pilot Auction

  • Only Singapore real estate company amongst 19 pioneering companies which participated in Climate Impact X’s Pilot Auction
  • Purchased at US$8 per tonne, the carbon credits will offset greenhouse gas emissions from CDL’s operations through a global curated portfolio of high-quality Natural Climate Solutions

Singapore, 1 November 2021 – City Developments Limited (CDL) has successfully secured high-quality carbon credits for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from its operations, through the pilot auction of Climate Impact X (CIX). CIX is a global carbon credit exchange and marketplace jointly established by DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered and Temasek. The carbon credits are from a curated portfolio of eight global Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) projects, and will be retired over the next three years to offset an estimated 6 to 7% of emissions from its operations per year[1] to complement CDL’s net zero targets by 2030.

The inaugural carbon auction which took place in October was oversubscribed, demonstrating strong business interest in managing corporate carbon emissions. CDL was the only Singapore real estate company invited amongst 19 pioneering companies. Through participating in this auction, CDL supports CIX’s vision of providing solutions for corporates to be accountable for their carbon emissions and scaling the voluntary carbon market of high-performance projects globally.

In addition, NCS’ projects help to protect and restore natural ecosystems and offer a wide range of benefits such as generating income for local communities, supporting biodiversity, and support SDG outcomes, which are in line with CDL’s sustainability vision and values.

Ms Esther An, CDL Chief Sustainability Officer, said, “With a long-standing commitment to a low carbon economy, green buildings and decarbonisation have been CDL’s top business priorities. We have voluntarily neutralised the annual carbon emissions for our corporate office operations since 2009 and became the first property conglomerate in Southeast Asia to sign the WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment this February. CDL is proud to be amongst the pioneering adopters of the inaugural CIX Pilot Auction. Its unique selection of high-quality NCS offset projects will help us further expand our carbon reduction efforts in the race to zero.”

As the first real estate developer in Singapore and the first real estate conglomerate in Southeast Asia to sign the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment in February this year, CDL has pledged to achieve net zero operational carbon by 2030. This commitment covers all its new and existing wholly-owned assets and developments under its direct operational and management control.

In its decarbonisation journey, CDL has also set other prudent pathways to raise energy efficiency, one of which includes participating in the emerging Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) marketplace since 2017. In 2018, the company was the first Singapore developer to purchase RECs using SP Group’s blockchain-enabled platform. By procuring locally-sourced RECs, CDL attributed 100% of the electricity consumed by its headquarters’ operations and part of its commercial buildings’ operations in 2020 to renewable sources. This offset 1,184 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2020, equivalent to the emissions from powering around 611 typical 4-room HDB flats for one year.

Since 2009, CDL has carbon neutralised its corporate headquarters operations, and one of its commercial properties, Tampines Concourse, through purchasing carbon credits. Recognised as the first Carbon Neutral development in Asia Pacific, Tampines Concourse was designed and constructed with environmental sustainability in mind. This includes the use of “green concrete”, as well as an innovative, indoor non-compressor fresh air-cooling system for smart temperature and humidity control. Together, these features result in energy savings of over 620,000 kWh per year, lowering the building’s carbon footprint. CDL reduced carbon emissions to net zero by offsetting some 6,750 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. (tCO2-e) for 2009, and has been measuring and offsetting the building’s carbon emissions on an annual basis since then.

Last month, CDL was recognised as Global Sector Leader and Overall Regional Sector Leader in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) 2021 Diversified – Office/Retail category. This marks the second consecutive year the company was listed as Global Sector Leader and the fifth consecutive year it was named Overall Regional Sector Leader. The company also maintained its GRESB 5 Star rating, which recognises entities placed in the top 20% of the benchmark.

[1] This is based off CDL’s total carbon emissions (Tonnes CO2e) from CDL’s Operations in Singapore in 2019, which includes Scope 1, Scope 2, & Scope 3 emissions. We have used 2019 data as CDL’s operations were impacted by Covid-19 in 2020.

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Issued by City Developments Limited (Co. Regn. No. 196300316Z)

For media enquiries, please contact CDL Sustainability:

Stephanie Chua
Manager
T:  + 6877 8400
E:  [email protected]

Zachary Soh
Senior Executive
T:  + 6877 8357
E:   [email protected]