CBRE expands its sustainability team with acquisition of Singapore-based Paia Consulting | News

Employees of a consulting company will be absorbed into CBRE’s existing regional Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) advisory and sustainability services team, which has been led by David Fogarty since 1996. joined the New York Stock Exchange-listed company in 2022..

“There is a growing awareness and interest in sustainability among businesses, and increasingly stringent regulations will provide incentives for them to develop sustainability strategies and demonstrate progress in their implementation,” said Anshuman Magazine, President, Advisory, CBRE India, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa.

The integration of Paia Consulting’s expertise will position CBRE “as a leader in ESG advisory in Singapore and across the Asia Pacific region,” he said Moray Armstrong, Managing Director, CBRE, Singapore.

”Our professionals will work with clients on reporting, training, compliance, benchmarking, development and execution of ESG plans. CBRE will positively impact the built environment,” Armstrong added.

CBRE did not provide a financial valuation of the transaction.

Since its establishment in 2022 by an environmental consultant Carrie Johnson of Paia Consulting has provided sustainability strategy and reporting services to over 100 Singapore-listed companies.

Paia Consulting was recently appointed as one of six sustainability service providers under lender UOB’s Sustainability-Linked Finance programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Johnson will remain a principal consultant for CBRE, while Paia Consulting Managing Director Carrado Forcellati, who joined the firm in 2021, has been named director of client sustainability strategy and solutions.

Armstrong told Eco-Business that the combined team, known as Paia FROM CBRE, “will be one of the larger business lines within CBRE following the integration.” However, hethis is It is unclear what the specific reporting lines will look like under this new agreement.

The world’s largest commercial real estate firm counts Danish shipping company Maersk and British drugmaker GSK among its clients. It has $142.5 billion in assets under management.

In June 2022, CBRE acquired French ESG consultancy Green Soluce SAC to strengthen its sustainability advisory expertise in Europe, just ahead of the adoption by the European Union (EU) of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, a wide-ranging legislation that will impose disclosure requirements on non-EU companies operating in the region.

CBRE did not mention whether there are plans to further expand its sustainability consulting business, though Armstrong said it is “one of the fastest growing and most challenging areas our clients are looking for.”

The burgeoning sustainability consulting market is now estimated to be worth $14 billion. The industry’s 17 biggest players, including the big four accounting firms Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC, have made at least 76 acquisitions in the past two years, according to London-based research firm Verdantix.