An active advocate for green building and sustainability for over two decades, Esther has been instrumental in establishing CDL’s leadership in sustainability. It is ranked top real estate company on the 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and is also the only CDP A-List company for climate strategy and water security in SE Asia. Key ESG initiatives she has spearheaded include publishing the first sustainability report using GRI standards in Singapore in 2008; issuing the first green bond by a Singaporean company in 2017 and pioneering an SDG Innovation Loan in Singapore in 2019. She continued to innovate and CDL became the first company in Singapore to publish the TNFD report this year. As a forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Esther was conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact. In 2023, she was named by Reuters as one of 25 Women Trailblazers and Time100 Business Leader - Catalyst. Committed to building a large ecosystem to drive change, Esther chairs the World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board, Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA), Singapore Institute of Directors and Global Compact Network Singapore. She was the first Chairperson of the ULI Singapore Sustainability Product Council and APREA Sustainability Committee to accelerate sustainability practices in the regional real estate sector. The founder of Women4Green and Youth4Climate initiatives, Esther believes in engaging and empowering women and youths as force for change towards a sustainable future for all.
