DBS announced yesterday (January 24) the appointment of Helge Muenkel (pictured) as new chief sustainability officer, with immediate effect.
Joining the bank following a decade at ING where he most recently led Asia Pacific, Sustainable Finance and Global Capital Markets, Muenkel is based in Singapore and will spearhead DBS’ ESG impact across the region, a spokesperson for the bank told FinanceAsia.
The bank will continue to explore new hires with the right skill sets to strengthen its sustainability efforts, the contact added.
Muenkel brings to his new role more than two decades of experience in sustainability and banking, and a postgraduate degree in Sustainabilility from Cambridge University.
An active sustainability advocate across the financial sector, Muenkel has led a working group on Sustainability-related Disclosures to support the creation of a sustainable finance ecosystem across ASEAN member states, and he regularly engages with other industry groups on the subject, including the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA).
In his new position, Muenkel succeeds Mikkel Larsen, who moved in November to the post of CEO at Climate Impact X (CIX), a joint venture between DBS, SGX, Standard Chartered Bank and Temasek.
The CIX platform aims to deliver natural climate solutions (NCS) at scale and in October last year, the firm piloted a pathfinding auction for a portfolio of 170,000 natural-based carbon credits, comprising eight forest conservation and restoration projects across Africa, Asia, Central and South America. Following participation by 19 buyers across multiple industries including; Boston Consulting Group, ENGIE, SK Energie and Trafigura, the firm plans to host regular auctions this year.
Speaking to FA about ESG-related progress in the Asian region, Muenkel shared his thoughts.
“Sustainability encompasses a wide range of areas, many of which are interconnected. One of the most pressing challenges humans currently face is climate change. To address this, the global goal is to limit temperature rises to around 1.5 degrees celsius as compared to pre industrial levels, which will require fundamental changes to how we run our economies and how we go about our daily lives.”
Muenkel explained that participation by the Asian region will be critical to accomplish this global goal, given its material share in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, he warned that while many major Asian economies have pledged to work towards ‘net zero commitments’, the region remains heterogenous, which renders this transition complex, and requires participation from all sectors of society.
“Different people will be affected by the transition differently, and we need to take everyone along on this journey. One of many challenges relates to workers in the coal industry which employs a significant amount of the work force in a number of Asian countries. Focusing on a just transition will allow us to not only create a healthy planet, but to also address key social matters,” he said.
However, he commended recent and promising developments and collaborations within Asia, such as the recent announcement of an ASEAN Taxonomy, describing it as a “powerful tool to unlock the urgently needed capital to finance the transition to more sustainable societies.”
Piyush Gupta, CEO of the bank, commented in the announcement, “Muenkel is well-placed to build on commitments we have made and steer DBS’ efforts to unlock greater ESG impact across the region.”
The bank has committed to finance SGD 50 billion ($37.21 billion) in renewable, clean-energy and green projects by 2024 and it is working to transition operational and attributable GHG emissions from its lending and investment portfolios to align with pathways to net zero by 2050 or sooner.
To create positive social impact, in 2021, the DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme awarded SGD 3 million to 19 social enterprises (SEs) to grow their business and expand their reach.
Ongoing projects within this initiative include: Singapore-based TreeDots, Asia's first wholesale distributor of surplus and imperfect food supplies in Southeast Asia; PHOOL (India) which seeks to create a circular economy through collection of floral waste polluting the Ganges River for processing into bio-degradable packaging and bio-leathers (‘Fleather’); and Reach52 (Singapore), a tech social enterprise that aims to connect 52% of the world with no or poor access to skilled health workers, education, diagnostics, medicines, vaccinations, and health insurance to essential health services.
