As the chief sustainability officer of Singapore-based property firm City Developments Limited (CDL), Esther An has long gained a reputation for carrying her commitments beyond her corporate roles—promoting sustainability across sectors, speaking at events around the world and bringing people together to build partnerships.

Some of the key environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives An has spearheaded include publishing the first sustainability report in Singapore in 2008, issuing the first green bond by a Singaporean company in 2017, and building an integrated sustainability reporting framework since 2015. In 2022, An was appointed to chair the Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee, set up by Acra and SGX RegCo to create a sustainability roadmap for Singapore companies.

Thanks to her efforts, CDL is ranked as the top real estate company on the 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, and is also the only A-List company for climate strategy and water security in SEA noted by the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Recognising that youth engagement and female empowerment is crucial for climate action, An founded the Women4Green network in 2017 and the Youth4Climate initiative in 2018. Women4Green is a collaborative platform that aims to empower female executives to adopt and champion sustainable living at work, home and play.

She is also the chair of World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Corporate Advisory Board, a select group of companies that are global leaders on sustainability, and which serve to guide the non-profit organisation on its strategy and activities.

More recently, CDL held its 6th Youth4Climate (Y4C) Festival this year in support of Go Green SG Week organised by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, to rally youths to accelerate climate action.