how to Apply

Building on its success since 2016 as a benchmark of excellence in corporate sustainability,  the Singapore Apex Corporate Sustainability Awards returns for 2023 with a new by-invitation-only category. The awards process is audited by knowledge partners and finalised by an independent panel of experts in environmental, social and governance issues.  

Awards Categories

The Singapore Apex Corporate Sustainability Awards has THREE categories:

Sustainable Business

Recognises businesses that excel in implementing sustainable practices within their core operations.
Application Period: from 20 April to 30 June 2023.

Sustainable Solutions

Recognises businesses that excel in developing a product or service with outstanding technological attributes that address the sustainable needs of other businesses, the environment and society.
Application Period: from 20 April to 30 June 2023.

LowCarbonSG

LowCarbonSG is a capability-building programme to enable local businesses in Singapore to start monitoring and where possible, reduce their carbon emissions.
Application: By-Invitation-Only

Each category has two sub-categories within it: SMEs and Non-SMEs.

For clarity on the difference between SMEs and Non-SMEs, please refer to the table

For each of these sub-categories, a maximum of 3 winners can be selected. If applications don’t meet the requirements, the organisers reserve the right to declare no winners for a sub-category. Of the 3 winners in each sub-category, 1 winner may be awarded an additional title of being the Apex Winner for that year. The Apex Winner title is only accorded to a company when there is a unanimous agreement amongst the judges based on the quality of applications for the year.

A briefing session will be held for each award category.

SMEs

Non - SMEs

standalone Entities

Subsidiary of an Entity, or holders subidiaries

standalone Entities

Subsidiary of an Entity, or holders subidiaries

Company's annual sales turnover not more than 100 million
OR
Company's employment size not more than 200 workers

Group's annual sales turnover not more than 100 million
OR
Group's employment size not more than 200 workers

Company's annual sales turnover more than 100 million
OR
Company's employment size more than 200 workers

Group's annual sales turnover more than 100 million

Briefing Session Details

Sustainable Business

Date: Monday, 22 May 2023

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Format: Virtual Webinar

Sustainable Solutions

Date: Friday, 19 May 2023

Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Format: Virtual Webinar

Low Carbon SG

Recognises businesses that have achieved at least 5% improvement in Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions over the past 24 months through a commendable level of effort and/or investment.

Judges 2023

Malavika Jain Bambawale

Managing Director – Asia Pacific
ENGIE Impact

Charles Lee

Program Convenor/Associate Professor
Newcastle Australia

Ravi Krishnaswamy

Senior Vice President – Asia Pacific Energy, Sustainability & Industrial Practice 
Frost & Sullivan

Application Process

20 April to 30 June 2023

Applications are now open for these categories : Sustainable Business & Sustainable Solutions

Submit the completed forms to UN GCNS by 09 June 2023 as per instructions in the application form.

June 2023

UN Global Compact Network Singapore and the respective Knowledge Partners will evaluate all submitted applications.

A maximum of 5 applicants will be shortlisted in each sub-category (SMEs/Non-SMEs) of the award categories (Sustainable Business / Sustainable Solutions) during this phase.

Applicants will be assessed based on the assessment criteria for their respective categories:

Sustainable Business:

  • Materiality
  • Sustainability vision and statement
  • Governance, Human Rights, Environment, Labour, Anti-Corruption
  • Areas of improvement

Sustainable Solutions:

  • Materiality
  • Sustainability vision and statement
  • Governance, Human Rights, Environment, Labour, Anti-Corruption
  • Areas of improvement
  • Attributes, innovation and impact of the sustainable solution

July - August 2023

Site visits to the shortlisted applicants offices will be conducted by representatives from GCNS and the Knowledge Partners to verify data and/or view systems/operations on site.

Shortlisted applicants will be informed of the site visits in advance.

September 2023

Upon the satisfactory conclusion of the site visits, applicants will be informed if they have progressed to the final judging phase.

Finalists are required to make presentations to an independent panel of judges. The presentation must be given by a member of staff from the finalist company. Presentations must be made within the stipulated time limit. This will be followed by a Q&A by the judging panel.


For each of these sub-categories, a maximum of 3 winners can be selected. Of these 3 winners, 1 winner may be awarded an additional title of being the Apex Winner for that year.


The Apex Winner title is only accorded to a company when there is unanimous agreement among the judges based on the quality of applications for the year.

 03 November 2023

Winners will be recognised at the Singapore Apex Corporate Sustainability Awards Ceremony.

Malavika Jain Bambawale

Managing Director – Asia Pacific, Engie Impact

She is a well-regarded sustainability professional with over 20 years of experience including projects in clean energy, smart cities, climate change, and sustainable agriculture. She has worked with the private sector, governments, and the development sector, lived and worked both in the West (UK, Europe, and US) and in Asia (Southeast Asia, India). Prior to joining ENGIE Impact, Malavika worked as a Partner with Dalberg Advisors – a niche strategy consulting firm advising multilateral development organisations, governments and foundations.

Malavika also led Accenture’s Sustainability Practice in ASEAN with a team that delivered projects for clients within various sectors including energy & utilities, ports, real estate, and mining.She was also an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co. based in London, where she worked on carbon abatement strategy for European utilities and government. She was also an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co. based in London, where she worked on carbon abatement strategy for European utilities and government. Malavika was also a team member of the firms Climate Change Special Initiative. In this role she was involved in developing the first global greenhouse gas abatement cost curve (The McKinsey Marginal Abatement Cost Curve) which gained global recognition paving the way for today’s thinking on climate change mitigation.

Charles Lee

Program Convenor/Associate Professor, Newcastle Australia

Associate Professor Charles Lee has more than 25 years’ experience in environmental research, teaching and consulting in North America and Asia-Pacific countries.

His experience encompasses consulting at one of the top environmental consulting firms in the USA, R&D at the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR, Singapore), and academic teaching and research at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is the director of the Centre for Sustainable Development (CfSD), Program Convenor for the Bachelor of Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (BEnvOHS) program, and UNITAR Cifal Fellow. His research areas include environmental sustainability, environmental waste management, environmental health, and biotechnology solutions to industrial waste treatment.

Ravi Krishnaswamy

Senior Vice President – Asia Pacific
Energy, Sustainability & Industrial Practice, Frost & Sullivan

Ravi Krishnaswamy is the Senior Vice President and Practice Leader for Energy, Industrial & Sustainability sectors and is based in Singapore. Ravi passionately supports his clients maximize their growth potential leveraging the mega trends of sustainability and digitalization

The clients Ravi has advised in past two decades include power utilities, technology companies, infrastructure developers, government agencies & industry regulators, global engineering conglomerates, equipment OEMs, financial services & investment companies and R&D entities.  Ravi’s industry experience spans areas as diverse as Power Utilities, Energy Transition, buildings & construction, facilities management, Smart Urban Infrastructure, Climate Change, Sustainability & Circular Economy, Industrial Automation and smart manufacturing & Industry 4.0.

Ravi has been a guest speaker, key note presenter and session chair for several Energy, Utilities, Environment and Buildings related industry conferences, both within and outside Asia. He is also regularly quoted and interviewed in various business publications and electronic media including CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia.

Ravi graduated in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) in India. Ravi has obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Strategic Management from Chartered Management Institute in the UK.