SINGAPORE, 25 November 2025 –
CIMB Singapore partners ESGpedia for its SME Sustainability-Linked Loan/Financing Programme (“SME SLL/SLF Programme”). Launched in August 2024, the partnership has since enabled more than a hundred companies in setting credible greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and unlocking preferential interest rates through Sustainability-Linked Financing.
Traditionally, Sustainability-Linked Loans (SLLs) are tailored for large corporates with bespoke metrics and expensive verification processes. SMEs also often have the perception that sustainability is a costly endeavour that does not add immediate value to their business.
The CIMB SME SLL/SLF Programme addresses these challenges by offering a simplified and cost-effective solution that aligns with the globally recognised Loan Market Association’s Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles, while offering a self-directed and fully digital experience through the ESGpedia platform for GHG calculation, so SMEs stay in control while keeping costs and resources manageable.
The programme stands out in the market by providing tiered Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with tiered interest rate discounts, with greater rebates from Year 2 onwards, linked to the client’s achievement of their Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs), to incentivise better performance.
Mr Adam Lim, Head of Commercial Banking Product and Strategy at CIMB Singapore, commented on the partnership with ESGpedia: “To make sustainability-linked financing truly scalable, we needed a trusted partner who could simplify the process and lower the cost of carbon accounting and verification. The SME SLL/SLF Programme, in partnership with ESGpedia, offers precisely that, an efficient, credible, and cost-effective process. It automates much of the data and reporting process, so SMEs can focus on improving their business performance while confidently tracking their environmental progress, to achieve long-term efficiency, customer trust, and even cost savings.”
The ESGpedia platform’s intuitive design enabled SMEs to calculate their baseline carbon emissions, set and monitor sustainability goals independently.
As one of the CIMB SME SLL/SLF Programme participants, Mr Ong Chun Khiang, Director at Bespoke Cleanpro Pte Ltd, shared: “We were very pleased when CIMB offered us to participate in their SME SLL/SLF Programme. We created our company profile on the ESGpedia platform which is intuitive and easy to navigate. We were then able to easily calculate our baseline carbon emissions using the platform’s structured reporting workflow and attain insights into our progress towards achieving our emission reduction goals.”
Ms Sarah Ng, Director at SN Real Estate Pte Ltd, said: “Through the CIMB SME SLL/SLF Programme, we adopted ESGpedia to effectively establish our GHG emissions metrics and kickstart our sustainability reporting journey, helping us to seamlessly attain preferential rates for sustainability-linked financing and build competitiveness ahead of regulatory timelines.”
The ESGpedia platform played a pivotal role in allowing CIMB to launch the SME SLL/SLF Programme without building its own digital infrastructure, accelerating the bank’s go-to-market and effectively improving accessibility to sustainability-linked financing for its customers.
Leveraging ESGpedia, CIMB unlocked capabilities to actively engage its SME client ecosystem, from data collection, to monitoring of SPTs. CIMB was able to fully customise its assessment content towards its sustainability requirements and incentivise its ecosystem by offering preferential financing rates.
“Ultimately, the ESGpedia platform has helped CIMB channel more financing towards impactful outcomes in a simple, transparent, and scalable manner,” Adam said. “As of today, it has enabled more than 100 SMEs to measure and reduce emissions responsibly while enjoying a rebate on their interest/profit rates payable on their loan/financing.”
CIMB’s SME SLL/SLF programme contributes to CIMB Group’s sustainable finance target of RM300 billion by 2030, which reinforces its commitment to helping clients navigate risks and build resilience in a lower-carbon, more inclusive economy. “ESGpedia has been a responsive, innovative partner who shares our ethos of customer support and continuous improvement,” Adam shared. “This partnership has clearly demonstrated how technology and finance can work hand-in-hand to drive real progress.”
In line with the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2025 theme of “Technology blueprint for the next decade of finance”, CIMB views technology as a force multiplier both in customer experience and sustainability, and plans to continue leveraging technology and ESG fintech to advance on the bank’s sustainability strategies.
“The next decade of finance will be defined by technology that empowers – not replaces – human decisions,” Adam explained. “For us, that means using tech to make banking simpler, providing better value and faster access to financial solutions. By integrating digital solutions like ESGpedia into our financing frameworks, we can accelerate data-driven financing solutions and sustainability adoption across our SME client base, helping SMEs grow, innovate, and thrive in an ever-changing environment.”
ESGpedia was named Winner in the Sustainable Innovator category at the SFF FinTech Excellence Awards 2025, for the platform’s breakthroughs in accelerating climate action and sustainable finance across Asia.
Mr Benjamin Soh, Founder and Managing Director at ESGpedia, said: “The integration to the financial sector through the ESGpedia Sustainable Finance module in the past year has accelerated adoption and impact through the creation of shared value for both financial institutions and their customers. We are delighted to be supporting banks like CIMB to make sustainability-linked financing more accessible and scalable for businesses and to shape the climate agenda through financial flows.”
As the global economy transitions towards a low-carbon future, sustainable finance has become a cornerstone for both businesses and financial institutions – driving green project adoption, mitigating climate-related risks, and strengthening customer trust.
CIMB firmly believes that banks are uniquely positioned to accelerate sustainability adoption by integration ESG considerations into everyday banking products and financing decisions. “As financial intermediaries, CIMB seeks to support not just individual companies but entire value chains to making sustainable choices more accessible and financially rewarding,” Adam noted.
By offering practical digital solutions, ecosystem support, and linking sustainability outcomes with financial incentives, banks can bridge short-term business needs with long-term environmental impact.
Going forward, CIMB sees finance rooted in technological advances, and will continue to scale these digital tools regionally, to make sustainable financing even more seamless and accessible, for companies to adopt sustainability, decarbonise effectively, and excel in today’s landscape.
For further information, please contact:ESGpedia (www.esgpedia.io)
Grace Lim, Vice President – Marketing & Communications
Email: [email protected]
CIMB Singapore (www.cimb.com.sg)
Charlene Quah, Brand, Sponsorship & Corporate Communications Lead
Email: [email protected]
About ESGpedia
ESGpedia (ESGpedia Pte Ltd) is Asia’s leading ESG data and technology company, headquartered in Singapore. The ESGpedia platform powers the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) Asia-Pacific Green Deal digital platform and is the Winner in the Sustainable Innovator category at the SFF FinTech Excellence Awards 2025. With more than 5 million sustainability data points, ESGpedia serves as the Nexus of ESG, digitally empowering corporates, SMEs, and the financial sector to ensure compliance towards ESG regulations and attain their ESG goals. ESGpedia is GRI-licensed and ISO 14064-validated. For more information, please visit www.esgpedia.io.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esgpedia/
About CIMB
CIMB is one of ASEAN’s leading banking groups and Malaysia’s second largest financial services provider, by assets. Listed on Bursa Malaysia via CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, it had a market capitalisation of approximately RM75.2 billion as at 31 March 2025. It offers consumer banking, commercial banking, wholesale banking, transaction banking, Islamic banking and asset management products and services. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the Group is present across ASEAN in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines. Singapore is one of its key markets with approximately 1,000 employees serving clients across consumer, commercial, wholesale and transaction banking products and services.
Beyond ASEAN, the Group has market presence in China, Hong Kong and UK. CIMB has one of the most extensive retail branch networks in ASEAN with 592 branches and over 33,000 employees as at 31 March 2025. CIMB’s investment banking arm is one of the largest Asia Pacific-based investment banks, which together with its award-winning treasury & markets and corporate banking units comprise the Group’s leading wholesale banking franchise. CIMB is also the 92.5% shareholder of Bank CIMB Niaga in Indonesia, and 94.8% shareholder of CIMB Thai in Thailand.
Sustainability is a core pillar of CIMB’s Forward30 strategy and 2030 roadmap. The Group is guided by its Green, Social, Sustainable Impact Products and Services (“GSSIPS”) framework, an internal taxonomy designed to deliver impactful sustainable finance. Since launching its sustainable finance framework in 2021, CIMB has progressively raised its ambitions, increasing its initial RM30 billion target to RM100 billion for 2021–2024. The Group now targets RM300 billion in sustainable finance by 2030, reinforcing its commitment to enabling a lower-carbon and more inclusive economy across the region.
