Building Green: An IFC & APREA Roundtable Discussion

Sigrid is the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA). Based in Singapore, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, initiatives and operations of the association across Asia Pacific. Under her leadership, APREA repositioned to an industry trade group focusing on real estate and infrastructure.

Sigrid joined APREA’s executive team in January 2019.

Prior to APREA, she served as Managing Director of Asia Pacific Research and Advisory Services of Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) from 2010 through 2018, where she was responsible for research, thought leadership, strategy formulation and client management.  Before relocating to Singapore, she was based in Washington, D.C. and led C&W’s U.S. research group in the Mid-Atlantic region, overseeing all aspects of market research activities in the Washington, DC; Virginia; Suburban Maryland, Baltimore; and Philadelphia areas. Prior to joining C&W, Sigrid served as a Senior Economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In that position, she developed NAR’s office, warehouse, retail, multi-family housing, and international research programs.

A recognized expert in global economic, public policy and real estate issues, Sigrid is a frequent speaker at industry events.  Her commentary on commercial and residential real estate markets is also regularly featured in a wide array of global publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, New York Times and Reuters. Additionally, she has made several television appearances on financial networks and radio such as CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, National Public Radio and Channel News Asia.

Sigrid holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a Master’s degree in Economics from Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of several civic groups including the Rotary Club of Raffles City in Singapore, where she has served in various leadership positions, and serves in the Executive Committee of the Crohn’s & Colitis Society of Singapore.

A champion of sustainable built environments, Prashant Kapoor, is a passionate advocate for sustainable solutions that align the interests of businesses, financial institutions, governments and civil society.

As an Industry Specialist, he guides the IFC’s global investments in the built environment with a particular focus on financing low carbon developments and sustainable cities.

He is the entrepreneur who created EDGE (“Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies”) to mainstream resource-efficient buildings in emerging markets. EDGE is free software, a green building standard, and an international green building certification system. More than 60 million m2 of floor space has been EDGE certified globally. Under his leadership, IFC has created a green building investment portfolio of commercial and residential buildings that totals more than US$12 billion, both directly and through financial intermediaries.

Prashant is currently leading the APEX Green Cities Program that supports cities to transition to low- carbon and resource-efficient growth pathways. As a part of the Program, he has developed the APEX online app that allows cities to map out different action plans and evaluate their impact and financing options that the City can adopt to achieve its climate action goals.

Denis Medvedev is a Senior Economic Advisor in IFC Global Industry Vice-Presidency. In his previous assignments at the World Bank Group, he was Director of IFC Economic Policy Research department, Manager of World Bank global unit on firms, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and before this was responsible for policy dialogue, lending operations, and analytical work in South Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Africa, and developing forward-looking scenarios for the global economy. His own research has recently focused on firm growth and productivity, while his earlier work explored international trade, income distribution dynamics, and the Sustainable Development Goals. He is an author of more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters, and World Bank reports. He holds a Ph.D. from the American University.

An active advocate for green building and sustainability for over two decades, Esther has been instrumental in establishing CDL’s leadership in sustainability. It is ranked top real estate company on the 2021 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. It became the first real estate conglomerate in Southeast Asia to sign the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings in February 2021. Key ESG initiatives she 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.

A forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Esther was conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact. She is a signatory for the UNGC Caring for Climate network and an executive council member of the UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network. She sits on the boards or advisory platforms of several organisations, including World Green Building Council, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), GRESB Asian Real Estate Benchmark Committee and UNEP FI Real Estate Work Group. She’s a vice-chair of World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Borad; chairperson of the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association’s Sustainability and ESG Committee; co-chair of the Urban Land Institute Singapore’s Sustainability Product Council and is the vice-chairperson of the Singapore Institute of Directors’ ESG Committee.

Recognising that youth engagement and female empowerment is crucial for sustainable development, she founded the Women4Green network in 2017 and the Youth4Climate initiative in 2018.

More recently at COP26, Esther was the only speaker from the Asian real estate sector at the Built Environment Leaders Panel. She also initiated a partnership with Singapore Youth for Climate Action and launched the Keep Calm and Love Our Planet campaign with a view to promote positive thinking and collaborative climate action amongst youths in the global race to net zero.