Confronting a World in Transition

Dr. Ben Caldecott specialises in environment, energy, and sustainability issues and works at the intersection between finance, public policy, and academe, having held senior roles in each domain. Ben is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. 

At the University of Oxford, he is the inaugural Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance, the first ever endowed professorship of sustainable finance, and a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford. Ben is also the founding Director and Principal Investigator of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment (CGFI), established by UK Research and Innovation in 2021 as the national centre to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally. He is a Visiting Professor at the Wealth Management Institute in Singapore.

For over two decades, Tony has advised government, financial sector and philanthropic leaders on a range of strategic challenges at the intersection of business, finance and public policy. These include centre of government reform, national economic development strategy and the architecting of green finance investment opportunities.

He began his career in the Australian diplomatic service before moving into the private sector, first in investment banking where he focused on infrastructure project financing and then in strategy consulting as a Partner at Monitor Deloitte and as an adviser with the World Bank Group.

A pioneer in CSR and sustainability in Singapore for over two decades, Esther has been instrumental in establishing City Developments Limited’s sustainability leadership, stakeholder engagement, reporting and green financing initiatives. A forerunner in embracing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Esther was recognised as the 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact (UNGC).

She sits on board several organisations including Global Compact Network Singapore Management Committee, World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board, UNEP Finance Initiative Real Estate Group and GRI Corporate Leadership Group for Integrated Reporting. As the founder of the Women4Green Network, Esther is committed to engaging and empowering women to drive sustainable practices at home, at work and at play.

She spearheaded the establishment of the zero energy Singapore Sustainability Academy which has become a hub for networking and capacity building for climate action, sustainability developments and partnership across the stakeholder ecosystem both locally and globally.

Mr. Eric Lim is Managing Director and the Chief Sustainability Officer at United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB). His role is to drive UOB’s sustainability strategy and objectives of helping businesses and individuals transition to a sustainable future and fostering social and environmental well-being among colleagues and communities.

Eric was also the Head of Group Finance from 2013 to 2022, where he was responsible for the Bank’s core finance functions spanning financial strategy, capital management, regulatory and financial reporting, tax management, business finance and performance management.

Eric holds positions in key UOB management committees, including Chairperson of the Group Sustainability Committee. He is also a member of the Management Committee and the Asset and Liability Committee, and holds directorships in UOB affiliated companies.

Prior to joining UOB, Eric was Managing Director and Head of Wholesale Banking Finance, Singapore and Southeast Asia for Standard Chartered Bank, responsible for driving the strategic partnership between the wholesale business and finance teams. During this time, Eric led the finance functions covering commercial banking, financial markets and investment banking.

Eric began his career with GE Capital where he took on various executive positions in the areas of financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, audit and controllership. He lived and worked in more than 20 countries, with particular focus in the USA and Japan during that time.

Nadja Picard is a German CPA and tax advisor and is PwC’s Global Head of Reporting. In that capacity, she drives the firm’s future and current offerings and though leadership to enhance corporate reporting of PwC’s clients beyond financial reporting.

She is also a partner in PwC’s International IPO Centre. Her extensive experience in advising companies seeking access to capital markets in Germany, Europe, the US or Asia through public offerings or private placements started with a 3 year stay in San Jose, CA US, where she helped US companies entering the capital markets. Nadja started her career with auditing German and US listed companies for many years.

Mr. Takafumi Nakashima has worked for over 20 years at Japanese and foreign consulting firms, where he has been involved in consulting work on management reform, business model innovation, digital transformation, etc. Utilising his expertise in materials and energy, he is engaged in consultations to promote the transformation of companies and industries, focusing on climate change and circularity.

Ms. Yukari is an ESG, Sustainability, and CSR professional with 10+ years of solid experience in the large Japanese firms. She has been working in the Sustainability Department in Nomura Holdings, the largest securities company in Japan since 2007. Based in its global headquarter, she has driven global sustainability initiatives including group-wide environmental activities as well as the disclosure of Nomura's CSR initiatives and information regarding the environment, society, and governance. She led the global cross-functional team to analyse the company's risks and opportunities regarding climate change and successfully issued the first TCFD report, having strong knowledge of sustainability frameworks such as GRI, CDP, SASB, and TCFD.

Mr. Justin Wood was the Head of the Asia Pacific and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum where he was responsible for key initiatives around trade and economic integration, education and skills, tropical forests and plastic management, infrastructure financing, and supporting governments. Prior, he was at The Economist Group and ran an economic advisory and research service for the Asia region. Justin has lived and worked in the Asia Pacific region for 24 years. As Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the Alliance, Justin builds and maintains the Alliance’s network of relationships with potential partners and supports the CEO with member, strategic ally and supporter recruitment.

Mr. Masaaki Amma worked for a government financial institution for 35 years. After retiring as a director in 2017, he worked as an advisor for a private securities company, and has been involved in financial services for about 40 years.

In March 2021, he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers Arata LLC (at the time). At the Sustainability Center of Excellence, he was involved in formulating sustainability visions and strategies for Japanese companies, promoting sustainability business transformation, building sustainability risk management systems, and supporting social issue-solving businesses and sustainable investment and financing in developing countries. In July 2022, he transferred to PwC Sustainability LLC, where he will continue to be involved in sustainability-related support work.

Based out of PwC Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Perpetua ‘Pep’ George is Director, Asia Pacific Sustainability, Biodiversity for PwC, where she is a subject matter expert covering biodiversity, nature based solutions and related disclosure. She brings with her more than 20 years experience in sustainability strategy development and implementation in private sector and civil society.

Her role is part of PwC's approach to turn theory into meaningful action, as the firm expands specialist capabilities in sustainability and a number of key areas in alignment with PwC's global strategy. Pep is building core competency and capability around the nature and biodiversity agenda, including integration into PwC's range of sustainability solutions and services.

Prior to joining PwC, she was Wilmar International’s General Manager for Group Sustainability, overseeing one of the world’s largest agribusiness and palm oil companies in their sustainability strategy implementation throughout their global business.

Eu-Lin leads the Sustainability and Climate Change practice across PwC Singapore and drives the PwC Asia Pac Centre for Sustainability Excellence in Singapore. She helps clients strategise, implement, report and obtain assurance across a range of Environmental, Social and Governance issues. This includes but is not limited to in the areas of carbon measurement, decarbonisation and net zero pathways, climate risk assessments, impact assessments, green and sustainable finance, sustainability strategy and sustainability reporting. She has worked in London and Singapore and served clients across financial services and real economy. 

Eu-Lin is also the Chair of Sustainability and Climate Change Committee of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants. She also serves on committees under the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment and serves on the MAS Corporate Governance Advisory Committee and the ACRA-SGX Regco Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee. Eu-Lin graduated with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School