15 December 2022
Singapore’s Financial Services Industry is Going to Be Hiring. Here are Some Emerging Jobs, Dollars and Sense

In this commentary, Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN and Academic Director of Master of Science in Sustainable and Green Finance (MSGF) programme shared about emerging job opportunities in sustainable and green finance field in Singapore and beyond going forward.

29 November 2022
Platform firms must not exploit protection for platform workers for more profit, The Straits Times

Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN emphasised the need for transparency in price adjustments by platform firms and shared the importance of closing the employment policy gap to protect platform workers and provide a stronger safety net for them. As platform firms mature and the number of platform workers increases, Singapore has stepped up platform workers’ protection to level the playing field – by providing health insurance and Central Provident Fund (CPF) payments for platform workers.

26 November 2022
MAS urges households to exercise prudence in spending amid rising interest rates, Channel News Asia

In the commentary, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN shared that Singapore has very stringent debt-to-income and loan-to-value requirements and explained Singaporeans’ vulnerability to income and interest rates shocks as greater number of homeowners take on higher property loans.

07 September 2022
Placing a Value to Sustainability, NUS BIZBEAT

Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN shares her view of the value of sustainable activities' current and future impact; and how we need more green talent to help firms and society make better decisions with these rapid developments in the sustainability landscape.

01 September 2022
The Importance of Green Finance., NUS BIZBEAT

Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director and Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director (all from the Dept of Finance and the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute) gives a clear message of what green finance is, why it is important, and how everyone can play a role in this development.

22 April 2022
How would a person's carbon scorecard work?, The Straits Times, 22 April 2022

Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN shared the view on the one way to assess the impact of your carbon choices is by tracking digital spending

24 March 2022
Ending cheap, convenient deliveries will help platform workers in Singapore, Channel News Asia

In the commentary, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN, and Chua Yeow Hwee shares the legitimate concerns about platform work, is there a better way to help workers without distorting the market. It highlighted the growing concerns that such work offers little protection or a way out of precarity and proposed several interventions to support platform workers.

19 March 2022
Asia needs more talent amid drive towards green economy, South China Morning Post

Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN commented on the need for Asian talents for the sustainable development in Asia. Both corporate sector and financial sector need to gear up in hiring skilled labor force for the changing regulatory landscape and the increasing demand for greener products and investment vehicles.  

17 March 2022
Race for scarce talent in green finance looming in Singapore, Channel News Asia

In a commentary, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director, Dean’s Chair and Assoc Prof Johan Sulaeman, Director, and Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director and (all from the Dept of Finance and the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute) explain why we need more talents in green finance. NUS also recently launched the MSc in Sustainable and Green Finance programme.  

28 February 2022
A carbon scorecard to help people make environmentally-friendly day-to-day choices, The Business Times

In its 2022 Budget announcement, Singapore will raise carbon price from $5 to $50-$80 per tonne of emissions by 2030. Consumers are the trigger to all supply chains and should participate fully in the transition from carbon-intensive products to a modern, sustainable economy. Professor Sumit Agarwal proposed the development of a carbon scorecard for individuals to help them understand the carbon impact of their consumption choices and motivate them towards adjusting their behaviour in response.  

25 February 2022
How to convince people to save electricity, iREUS Newsletter

Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN and his team investigated the effectiveness of Singapore's energy campaigns in catalysing desired behaviours in the local population, and demonstrated that interventions which communicated economic gains clearly were more effective than those that did not.  

08 March 2021
Climate crisis: Hong Kong, UK and Singapore dive in, but are green bonds just greenwashing?, South China Morning Post

Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN commented on the risk of greenwashing in the rising of sovereign issuers of green bonds.  

04 September 2020
Fixing our plastic bag habit, NUS BIZBEAT

Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN shared the view on single-use plastic bags that have been labelled as one of the biggest polluters, and Singapore is one of the world’s biggest offenders.

24 August 2020
A time for CSR to shine, The Business Times

Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN described a unique Private-Public-People collaborative model for CSR to accumulate social capital at firm-level, industry-level, and societal level in the midst of pandemic in Singapore.  

26 November 2019
Green Finance, MediaCorp Channel 8

Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN discussed the definition of green finance, types of green related financial products for investment, green investors, and the role to be played by Singapore in the development of green finance going forward.

23 September 2019
A burning issue: Calculating the cost of the haze, TODAY

Together with his NUS colleagues, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN studied the financial impact of haze on Singapore, based on the risk avoidance behaviours by local residents and foreign travellers. To find an effective and lasting regional solution to the haze issue, he saw monetary incentive as the most powerful means to galvanize actions in changing behaviours. Studies; like the NUS study; which quantified the real economic cost of haze serve as a useful aid for governments and policymakers to justify using public funding for preventive and protective measures against the haze.

22 September 2019
What is sustainability reporting?, The Straits Times

In the financial quotient series, Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN described the definition and three key aspects of sustainability reporting in Singapore context.  

07 July 2019
What is social return on investment?, The Straits Times

In the financial quotient series, Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN and Ruth Tan discussed in details what was social return on investment (SROI) and how it could be useful to evaluate the non-monetary impact generated by social/environment projects and activities.

14 May 2019
Air quality affects productivity: study, The New Paper

Through this research study on the productivity level of a group of taxi drivers when air quality worsened, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN cautioned on the wider detrimental effects of lower productivity not only on the personal health, but also the economy at large.

13 December 2018
Can firms do well by doing good?, The Business Times

Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN commented on the principles, benefits and practices of companies that were active in doing good. 

05 August 2018
What are green bonds?, The Straits Times

In the financial quotient series, Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN explained that a green bond was a sustainable investment vehicle that provided investors with financial returns and an opportunity to be environmentally responsible. 

14 July 2018
Bike-sharing: Balance between regulation, supporting innovation, The Straits Times

Bike sharing offers an innovative solution to the pollution and congestion problems facing urban cities around the world. Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN reasoned that where a particular innovation could generate many positive externalities, regulators should support and manage its development and progress, as well as its wider impact. He argued the careful need to consider how regulation and innovation could work together to better support Singapore’s drive to encourage and nurture innovators. 

20 May 2018
What is impact investing?, The Straits Times

In the financial quotient series, Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN explained that impact investing was an alternative but important consideration for investors who cared about environmental and social impact of their capital investment. 

20 April 2018
When construction noise impacts electricity consumption, The Business Times

In a NUS study investigating electricity consumption of households involving 5,300 HDB blocks, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN shed light that the increased consumption of electricity by households near the sites to shield from noise pollution continued to be so even after construction had ended. Given the potential astronomical consumption involved when over one million HDB flats and many construction activities were factored in, he recommended real time data feeds to households on usage and cost to induce a change of behaviour away from the persistent habit of consuming electricity for ventilation comfort.  

27 March 2018
Commentary: Beyond price hikes and conservation campaigns, saving water through smart showers, Channel News Asia

In this international research collaboration involving NUS to study how households’ shower water usage behaviour could be improved for water conservation, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN shared findings on how offering real data to households could promote awareness in water conservation, by getting them to set personal targets and giving them feedback on their usage performances as the means to persuade lower water consumption.