Latest news with #PeterBakker
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
India key to global transition efforts, says WBCSD CEO Peter Bakker
The sheer size of the Indian economy, its demographic trends and the country's ambitions around sustainability make it a critical geography for global transition efforts, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) President and CEO Peter Bakker has said. Bakker said "India is a strategic focus for WBCSD," and pointed out the Council's work in areas, particularly transport and food, where the country has both major challenges and significant potential to lead. "We're also encouraged by the direction of policy in India," he told PTI in an email interview, highlighting the government's intent in the 2025 Union Budget to scale up investments in electric vehicles, renewable energy, green infrastructure, and the circular economy. Together, these developments create real momentum for business-led solutions, the Geneva-headquartered WBCSD chief said. "Our members are driving the development of data-driven infrastructure and unlocking innovative finance mechanisms to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles," underlined Bakker during a recent visit to Singapore. "In today's world, sustainability is a strategic advantage -- and in a market as dynamic as India, those who lead on delivery will define the next era of competitive growth," he said. Further, WBCSD work in electric freight is advancing the E-FAST (Electric Freight Accelerator for Sustainable Transport) initiative, led by NITI Aayog. "Collaborating with industry stakeholders, we've aggregated demand for approximately 7,700 electric freight vehicles by 2030, he said. This collective effort includes partnerships with companies like the Aditya Birla Group, JSW, Amazon, Maersk and others, focusing on pilot deployments and scaling strategies. WBCSD is driving cross-value-chain collaboration particularly around leasing facilities to address the high upfront costs and limited credit access hindering the adoption of zero-emission trucks, especially amongst smaller fleet operators. Moreover, the council members are advancing infrastructure deployment by mapping priority locations that could catalyze investments. These actions are part of a broader effort to build an inclusive, scalable model for clean freight transition, addressing systemic financing and operational barriers through bundled solutions, Bakker said. WBCSD recently launched the Rice Action Alliance, a new business-led platform to accelerate the shift to low-emissions and climate-resilient rice production systems. As one of the world's largest rice producers and exporters, India is central to this initiative. The Alliance is built around three core action areas -- harmonizing technical guidance across low-emissions rice standards relevant to business; promoting supply chain innovation; and building impactful public-private partnerships, Bakker explained. WBCSD is mobilizing members in India to advance efforts in measuring and managing physical risk across value chains, he said. These risks arise from the physical impacts of climate change and nature loss -- such as extreme weather events, water scarcity, and biodiversity decline -- which are already being felt globally and acutely in India. He also shared the long-standing and constructive relationship with CII, particularly through their Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, which is the Council's Global Network partner in India. WBCSD has been involved in multiple capacities with CII over the last number of years, starting in 2018. Bakker informed that the CII Summit 2025 will serve as a launch platform for WBCSD's CEO Handbook on Physical Risk, underscoring India's strategic importance.
Business Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Singapore entities will be able to list product carbon data aligned with global methodology
[SINGAPORE] Businesses and organisations in Singapore can now list product carbon footprints based on global standards with the Singapore Emission Factors Registry. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday (May 6) at Ecosperity Week 2025, enabling any entities in the Republic to list high-quality product carbon footprints of their goods and services based on an updated global methodology. Version 3 of the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (Pact) Methodology and Technical Specifications was recently released by WBCSD after two years of consultations with industry players. Its adoption by the Singapore Emission Factors Registry, the country's single reference point for emission factors, will allow businesses to calculate more precise, complete and comparable product carbon footprints, said the organisations. This partnership represents a milestone in SBF's and WBCSD Pact's shared ambition to leverage supplier-specific data across value chains to accelerate global decarbonisation. Peter Bakker, president and chief executive of WBCSD, said in a press conference during the signing ceremony: 'We need better data for companies to make better decisions, which will lead to better carbon performance.' A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 12.30 pm ESG Insights An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues. Sign Up Sign Up Kok Ping Soon, CEO of SBF, noted that the Singapore Emission Factors Registry, which was announced at Ecosperity 2024, now contains more than 200 emissions factor data from A*Star, Singapore government agencies including the National Environment Agency, and partners such as the Singapore Green Building Council. The registry will then be developed to cover commonly reported areas in Scope 3 emission data, and to list product footprint data with the adoption of the updated methodology to enable any organisation – not just Singapore companies – to list the high-quality product carbon footprints. 'We believe that our partnership with WBCSD will help our businesses and their value chain partners take positive action to accelerate their decarbonisation chain,' said Kok. Gamer lifestyle brand Razer has committed to be the first business to list its products' life cycle assessment and environment product declaration reports in the Pact-aligned registry in Singapore.
