Temasek
Temasek is a global investment company with a net portfolio value of S$403 billion (US$297b) as at 31 March 2022. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 12 offices in 8 countries around the world. Temasek’s Purpose “So Every Generation Prospers” guides it to make a difference for today’s and future generations. The Temasek Charter defines its three roles as an Investor, Institution and Steward, and shapes its ethos to do well, do right and do good. Sustainability is at the core of all that Temasek does. It is committed to catalysing solutions to global challenges and activating capital – financial, human, social, and natural – to bring about a better and more inclusive world for all. For more information, please visit www.temasek.com.sg

Purpose

Temasek’s purpose, So Every Generation Prospers, is a guiding force for the organisation, as it works towards building a resilient and inclusive future for the current and future generations.

Temasek aspires to help every generation thrive by empowering the well-being of its people, portfolio companies, partners, communities, and the planet we share as a common home. Importantly, Temasek sees the responsibility to do this not just for today’s, but also for future generations.

Temasek’s Purpose Principles underpins why they do what it does, highlighting its unique strength as a firm.

  • We invest in human potential
    We actively empower diverse perspectives and skillsets, inviting the linear and lateral thinking our people and partners need to realise their fullest potential.
  • We catalyse solutions
    Problem-solving with agility and investing with integrity, we mobilise financial, human, social and natural capital to transform complex challenges into opportunities.
  • We build with courage
    With conviction and courage, we turn ambition into actions that chart the course for those who come next.
  • We grow for generations
    We steward and grow our portfolio, communities and the future, creating positive outcomes that will outlive us all.

Boon Heng Lim

Chairman, Temasek

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Alignment with Guiding Principles


At the Council for Inclusive Capitalism, we invite companies of all sizes, industries, and geographies to champion our Guiding Principles for Inclusive Action and demonstrate how they contribute to meaningful change. To ensure alignment with our principles, our members are assessed by at least one reporting body, sustainability-related certificate, benchmark, rating agency or similar organization.

We believe it is vital to state clearly to the world the set of our beliefs about Inclusive Capitalism. As such, we start with our Statement of Guiding Principles for Inclusive Capitalism. Knowing that words alone are not enough, each of us is making a series of commitments about how we will operate our institutions so that they help achieve Inclusive Capitalism. These commitments are forward-looking statements based on current goals, expectations and assumptions, which are not guarantees of future performance. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Use

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Summary

Temasek has set an internal carbon price of US$50/tCO2e in 2022, with the intention to increase it progressively to US$100/tCO2e by the end of this decade.

Activities & Initiatives

Temasek identifies and examines the climate impact of our investment from several perspectives, and have set an internal carbon price of US$50/tCO2e in 2022 to further inform investment decisions. The internal carbon price will be increased progressively each year, to US$100/tCO2e by the end of this decade.

Measures & Targets

In 2021, Temasek began implementing an internal carbon price of US$42/tCO2e, and lifted it to US$50/tCO2e in 2022.

The current internal carbon price of US$50/tCO2e supports investment decision making in line with broader climate targets; it enhances the understanding of the possible future impact of carbon pricing on the investments that we make,and creates awareness of the societal costs that emissions will impose over time.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

To enhance awareness and provide the tools for our staff to do their part to address climate change, we provide training programmes and organise sustainability-related activities that they can take part in.

Activities & Initiatives

To drive a more sustainable organisation, Temasek’s staff can take part in Project Go!, a series of ecology-focused initiatives launched internally to promote a sustainable lifestyle. Activities such as immersive learning sessions or volunteering in environmental activities are held every month to raise awareness on sustainability-related topics. Temasek also partnered the Global EverGreening Alliance, an international non-profit organisation overseeing grassroots land restoration and sustainable agriculture programmes, to conserve critical habitats by supporting tree planting efforts. Staff can take part in the programme or plant trees themselves to support reforestation efforts.  

Measures & Targets

In 2021, about two-thirds of our staff participated in Project Go!’s virtual events.

To empower our staff to champion sustainability and do their part for our planet, we launch a Plant for Tomorrow campaign, in which we have pledged as a firm to regrow over two million trees over the next five years in Kenya. In 2022, we have achieved our institutional target of planting more than 400,000 trees. We will continue to work towards planting 400,000 trees each year.

Our efforts will support tens of thousands of small-scale farmers in restoring their land, strengthening ecosystem and increasing carbon storage in the Kenyan landscape across a project area of more than 32,000 hectares.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek aims to reduce the net carbon emissions attributable to our portfolio to half of 2010 levels by 2030, and aims to achieve net zero emissions at our overall portfolio level by 2050.

Activities & Initiatives

In Temasek’s pursuit of climate action and to achieve our ambitions on a portfolio level, we have identified three pathways towards our climate targets:
  • Investing in climate-aligned opportunities, to build a sustainable and resilient portfolio;
  • Enabling carbon negative solutions, to tackle pollution head on; and
  • Encouraging decarbonisation in our portfolio companies and businesses
Temasek actively seeks out investments with track records of better carbon intensity and efficiency, and actively invest in sustainable solutions around our focus areas – food, water, waste, energy, materials, clean transportation, and the built environment. At the same time, we work with like-minded partners and industry leaders to establish joint ventures and partnerships to accelerate the scaling of decarbonisation opportunities. Temasek’s long term investment horizon also allows us to support our current portfolio companies to be more sustainable and adopt carbon abatement strategies, and engage them regularly on their climate transition plans.

Measures & Targets

To track progress, Temasek reports the Total Portfolio Emissions and the Portfolio Carbon Intensity of its equities portfolio in the Temasek Review, as part of our annual disclosures. To further align with recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, Temasek also tracks and reports our Portfolio Weighted Average Carbon Intensity in the Temasek Review.

As part of Temasek’s investment decision-making and process, we embed robust ESG considerations and assessment frameworks to ensure that companies we invest in are aligned with our sustainability objectives. We also introduced an expanded approach to include climate analysis in our ESG integration framework, to help accelerate progress towards our portfolio targets. The analysis examines climate impact from several perspectives and is mandatory for evaluating all new investments.

  • Potential investee company’s contribution to climate change through its carbon footprint;
  • Impact of climate change from physical and transition risk perspectives; and
  • Any potential new opportunities arising from technology innovations as well as evolving customer needs.

A range of absolute and relative metrics is employed in the analysis and contributes to the evaluation of climate considerations and investment decision making. These metrics include total carbon emissions and ratios such as carbon intensity and carbon efficiency which allow us to assess the impact of the new investment on portfolio targets.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek is committed to advance the wellbeing of our staff, and provide learning opportunities for our staff to continuously upskill and reskill to prepare them for the complexities of an evolving world

Activities & Initiatives

At Temasek, we see our staff as our most important asset. We constantly seek to provide our staff with ample opportunities to develop their competencies and improve their wellbeing, through a series of ongoing initiatives we have in place such as:
  • Make-A-Difference (MAD) Programme – Rewarding staff for achieving non-financial goals and encourage a culture of caring for self, family, firm and community
  • #BecauseYouMatter – Providing tools and resources to improve the financial, physical, social, and emotional wellbeing of staff. Wellbeing events such as talks and workshops are also organised for staff throughout the year
  • On-demand Learning – Partnering with business schools and practitioners to avail the latest leadership and thoughts insights to our staff. We also encourage our staff to proactively broaden skills beyond their functional areas to stay relevant and ahead
  • CEO Challenge – Promoting continuous learning and innovation among staff by encouraging them to acquire new skills annually, in areas such as coding and data science, languages, music and dance.
Temasek also recognises that the safety and health of our staff is an integral part of our business success. All our offices comply with local safety regulations as we strive to create a safe and conducive workplace environment for our staff. We also implemented a hybrid working arrangement for our staff, as we recognise both the advantages and disadvantages of a remote working environment. This will provide our staff the flexibility to work in an environment that is most effective for them.

Measures & Targets

As part of our annual disclosure exercise, Temasek publishes sustainability indicators relating to our staff, such as average training hours per employee. Read more about our indicators: https://www.temasekreview.com.sg/sustainability-at-the-core/sustainability-indicators.html

Temasek takes a proactive approach in providing support and resources for our staff to improve their overall wellbeing and facilitate their life-long learning.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek achieved and maintained carbon neutrality since 2020, and is committed to continue maintaining carbon neutrality in its operations every year.

Activities & Initiatives

Temasek will continue to work towards maintaining our carbon neutrality status year-on-year, especially with the resumption of operational activities over the next few years, including business travels which can increase our indirect emissions relating to our operations. Temasek will report on its carbon neutrality status as part of its annual disclosure exercise. The pandemic has accelerated the transformation in how we work, including the way we hold meetings and conferences. Temasek will continue to scrutinise the need for business travel closely, leveraging technology such as teleconferencing as we seek to reduce our emissions footprint. This will help us achieve an overall reduction in the carbon intensity of our operations as compared to pre-COVID levels. To address residual emissions, Temasek purchases high-quality and verifiable carbon credits through Climate Impact X, one of Temasek’s platform companies jointly established with DBS, Standard Chartered and Singapore Exchange.

Measures & Targets

Temasek will continue to track sustainability indicators relating to our operations, and report the numbers as part of our annual disclosures. Metrics reported include:

  • Scope 1, 2&3 emissions
  • Carbon offsets purchased
  • Energy consumption
  • Water consumption
  • Waste generation

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek is committed to create an inclusive and cohesive workplace that celebrates and values unique personalities, diverse perspectives, skill sets and experiences.

Activities & Initiatives

Temasek values diversity and the cross-fertilisation of experience and ideas. We launched Inclusivity@Temasek in 2022 to reinforce a culture of belonging and strengthen Temasek’s diversity practices. Through this, we hope to create a workplace where Temasek employees feel comfortable with being themselves and feel safe to voice different ideas and opinions. As part of ongoing inclusivity efforts, we also formed the Temasek Women’s Network to support female staff in their career journey through planned activities such as leadership sharing sessions and mentorship programmes. Temasek has also developed a Code of Ethics and Conduct – which includes policies around Workplace Anti-Violence, Harassment and Victimisation – to outline our staff responsibilities and conduct for creating an inclusive workplace that provides equal employment, and development and promotion opportunities.

Measures & Targets

Temasek will continue to measure and report on key metrics relating to diversity in our workplace, such as on our total employee count by gender, age group, and nationality. The updated metrics will then be reported as part of Temasek’s annual disclosure exercise. Learn more about diversity in our workplace: https://www.temasekreview.com.sg/sustainability-at-the-core/sustainability-indicators.html

Temasek also adopts a zero-tolerance approach in areas such as anti-harassment and discrimination. Mandatory training and continuous retraining will be provided for all staff in these areas, to ensure awareness and compliance.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek works together with its portfolio companies to inspire best practices and continuous improvement, while encouraging them to adopt policies and practices in sustainability-related areas.

Activities & Initiatives

While Temasek do not manage the day-to-day business decisions and activities of our portfolio companies, we encourage them to adopt policies and practices that safeguard and enhance their long term performance, including ESG-related areas that are critical to their businesses. Temasek will also work together with our portfolio companies, to understand changes in their ESG positioning, and inspire best practices and continuous improvements.
  • For example, we worked together with SP Group to retrofit an interconnected, sustainable cooling solution across seven existing buildings across a residential town (Tampines) in Singapore. The novel distributed district cooling network is able to provide cooling comfort while saving energy and lowering carbon emissions at the same time.
  • We also worked together with Singapore Airlines and the Civil Authority of Singapore in 2021 to launch a pilot programme on the use of sustainable aviation fuel, to provide a way forward for the aviation industry to contribute to a more sustainable world
We will share our expectations around setting climate targets in line with science, drawing up compelling transition plans and providing relevant disclosures in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). To address the topic of physical climate risk, we have partnered a leading re-insurance provider to provide portfolio companies with a better understanding of their exposure to physical climate risks, while enabling us to have a better grasp on these risks at the portfolio level. To build capacity for sustainability leadership and carbon management, we partnered the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership to launch a pilot programme that will build board and executive-management level capacity to drive a proactive sustainability and climate agenda. We have also continued to provide hands-on training on carbon measurement and disclosures for relevant operational teams of our portfolio companies. We also convene the Temasek Portfolio Companies Sustainability Council, where we bring together the CEOs and Sustainability Leads of our major portfolio companies twice a year to share successful sustainability strategies, and forge potential collaborations on sustainability initiatives.

Measures & Targets

As part of our annual reporting, we measure and disclose carbon emissions attributable to our portfolio, which encompasses our direct investments in listed and unlisted equities. The portfolio emissions reported include Scope 1 direct emissions and Scope 2 indirect emissions of the underlying companies based on the latest available data sets.

We use a combination of company-reported emissions data and modelling approaches to establish our portfolio emissions based on our proportionate shares (i.e. ownership interests) in the assets. We have also engaged consultants and auditors to support our approach and to provide limited assurance.

We adopt the following hierarchy in data sources as we establish our portfolio emissions. The hierarchy takes into account availability and timeliness of reported data, using company-reported data where available:

  1. Company-reported data: GHG emissions data that is reported by the company, either directly to Temasek or made available through S&P Global Sustainable1.
  2. Company-specific estimates: GHG emissions for each company modelled or estimated by Temasek or S&P Global Sustainable1 using relevant industry level carbon intensity or carbon efficiency averages as proxies (GHG emissions normalised by revenue/market caplitalisation/other relevant operational unit of measurement). In case industry averages do not provide a meaningful proxy for the company, carbon intensity or efficiency data of the company or its comparable peers may be used instead.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek’s Purpose Statement, so every generation prospers, encapsulates our reasons for being who we are and why we do what we do. Long term generational commitment is fundamental to our founding, to keep working towards a better tomorrow.

Activities & Initiatives

Temasek is anchored in its three roles, to do well as an active investor, to do right as a forward looking institution, and to do good as a trusted steward. We are committed to deliver sustainable value over the long term by building a resilient portfolio and investing in four long term structural trends – Digitisation, Future of Consumption, Sustainable Living, Longer Lifespans – using catalytic capital to transform complex challenges into opportunities. We also believe in doing right and good, for the planet that we live in and the community that we operate in. We strive for the advancement of our communities across generations and support community programmes that focus on advancing capabilities, connecting people, uplifting communities, and protecting our planet.

Measures & Targets

To chart a steady course for Temasek to 2030, we created a roadmap consisting of four pillars:

  1. Building a resilient and forward looking portfolio
  2. Keeping sustainability at our core
  3. Temasek operating system
  4. Growing our organisation, talent and capabilities

These are underpinned by our commitment to:

  • Be a purpose-driven organisation with a strong culture and clear values to navigate uncertainties ahead
  • Provide catalytic capital to generate value to solve global challenges
  • Operate as a networked organisation and harness the collective capabilities of our partners, portfolio companies and other stakeholders to find and scale solutions

Read more about Temasek’s Purpose, Charter and Values: https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/about-us/our-purpose-charter-values

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

Temasek formed a Risk & Sustainability Committee, to assist in its oversight of the firm’s sustainability strategy, governance, policies, goals and targets, disclosures, and stakeholder management.

Activities & Initiatives

The Risk & Sustainability Committee supports our Board in its oversight responsibilities by reviewing, among other things, our portfolio risk appetite and profile, material ESG matters, risk management and sustainability frameworks and policies, as well as key public statements relating to risk, sustainability and ESG. It also provides guidance on key topical sustainability-related matters, including climate change.

The Risk & Sustainability Committee also coordinates with other standing Committees of the Temasek Board, in its oversight of risk and sustainability matters, where relevant.

Measures & Targets

To achieve our Sustainability goals, the Risk & Sustainability Committee will provide guidance to our Board and investment teams, to ensure that activities conducted are in line with Temasek’s ESG framework and guidelines. The Committee is currently being chaired by Mr Peter R Voser, and supported by Ms Jenny Lee, Mr Lee Theng Kiat, and Mr Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

Read more about our Board: https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/about-us/our-leadership#board-of-directors

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