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Rising inflation, zero-covid policies in mainland China and ongoing supply chain bottlenecks are just a few of the headwinds that continue to cloud the operating environment for occupiers of commercial real estate in Asia Pacific.

As slowing GDP growth prompts many companies to tighten their belts, CBRE’s recent surveys of office, retail and logistics tenants, along with wide-ranging discussions with corporate clients, have uncovered several common themes in how occupiers are adapting and responding to these challenges.

The seven key trends we expect to influence occupier portfolio strategy and leasing demand over the remainder of the year and into 2023 are as follows:

• A mild global recession
• Continued cautious expansion
• Ongoing flight to quality
• Rising fit-out costs
• A shortage of talent
• Building resilience
• Investing in technology

This report was originally published in https://www.cbre.com/insights/briefs/asia-pacific-occupier-trends---concerns-priorities-and-strategies-ahead

This report sets out MAS' strategy on climate resilience and environmental sustainability to strengthen the resilience of Singapore's financial sector to environmental risks, develop a vibrant green finance ecosystem, build a climate-resilient reserves portfolio, and incorporate sustainable practices.

This report was originally published in https://www.mas.gov.sg/publications/sustainability-report/2022/sustainability-report-2021-2022

In Colliers Hotel Insights | Q2 2022, we look at:

• RevPAR and ADR performance across Asia Pacific in Q2
• The recovery of Singapore's hotel market, including an outlook of supply
• The case for investing in hotel assets and recommended strategies for investors

Two quarters into 2022 and what travel in a post-COVID-19 world will be is starting to take shape. Travel restrictions continue to be reduced en-masse across the world, with airline traffic up to 69% of pre-COVID (2019) levels at the end of March 2022. According to the latest forecast by IATA, air traffic is expected to exceed pre-COVID levels by 2024. Driving demand for those seats will be domestic and increasing number of tourists, with the UNWTO forecast that by tourism arrivals would have exceeded 2019 levels by the end of 2023 in certain regions.

Once heralded as the harbinger of doom for business and group travel – it seems the desire to meet in-person has once again triumphed, as leisure (mostly visit, friends and relatives), meetings, and events travel lead the recovery.

However, once again head winds threaten. Whether it’s the ever-present threat of a resurgence of a deadly variant, high inflation, labour bottlenecks and increased cost of living has meant reduced disposable income. Question is, will the desire to travel outweigh the need to save, thereby dampening the recovery, at least in the short-term.

In terms of hotel performance, room occupancies across Asia increased to 48.5%, with ADR improving to US$83.69, a recovery in RevPAR of 12.3%. However, there remains a great divide between the more open Southern countries versus the closed Northern region, with China especially remaining closed for the foreseeable future.

This report was originally published in https://www.colliers.com/en-hk/research/2022-q2-hospitality-insights-colliers

Landmark research from Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School has, for the first time, shed light on how companies in the ASEAN region are addressing their obligations for climate-related reporting.

Analysis of the top 100 largest listed companies in six Southeast Asian nations – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – finds 70% (420 companies) published climate-related disclosures in 2020/2021. Climate Reporting in ASEAN: State of Corporate Practices analyzes those 420 businesses, focusing on their approach to reporting, materiality, risks and opportunities, governance, strategy, targets, and performance.

Key findings of the research include:

• Most of the companies (84%) report their material topics on climate change, yet only one quarter (26%) describe long-term factors related to their climate risk strategy;
• 62% of companies disclose their greenhouse gas emissions (ranging from 5% in Vietnam to 80% in the Philippines);
• A majority of businesses (56%) identify climate-related opportunities, compared with less than half (47%) sharing plans on risk mitigation;
• Three-in-four companies (74%) disclose metrics on climate-related performance, however, 46% do not share how targets are discussed;
• Two-third (68%) assign climate responsibilities to a sub-committee, while 8% link management remuneration to climate

In terms of climate reporting:

• A significant majority of sampled companies (85%) use the GRI Standards, ranging from Singapore (99%) to Vietnam (65%);
• In the six markets, reporting using other frameworks is low: 19% use TCFD, 16% apply IIRC, and 14% use SASB;
• At 76%, reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals is widespread by the companies in all six countries, with those from Thailand (95%) and Indonesia (93%) leading the way.

This report was originally published in https://globalreporting.org/news/news-center/asean-companies-get-serious-about-climate-change/