Singapore, 25 November 2025 – CIMB Singapore has partnered with 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.

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 has enabled SMEs to calculate their baseline carbon emissions, set and monitor sustainability goals independently.

As one of the CIMB SME SLL/SLF Programme participants, 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.”

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 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 ($72 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.”

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.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker