Esther An is a sustainability practitioner for 3 decades, and has been instrumental in building up the Sustainability leadership for CDL, which has been ranked Top amongst real estate companies on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, released at World Economic Forum at Davos.
Esther published the first sustainability report in Singapore in 2008 and issued the first green bond by a Singapore company in 2017. Conferred the 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact, and named amongst 25 Trailblazing Women against Climate Change by Reuters in 2023 as well as the inaugural TIME100 Climate Leaders in Business 2023 list, Esther sits on the boards or advisory platforms of international organizations including:
- World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board Chairperson
- UN PRI Real Estate Advisory Committee
- UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network Executive Council
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, TNFD Taskforce Member
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Supervisory Board
- IFRS Corporate Reporting Best Practice Group APAC – Chair
- Urban Land Institute (ULI) Randall Lewis Center Advisory Board for Sustainability in Real Estate and ULI Asia Pacific Net Zero Council
- Asia Pacific Real Estate Assets Association (APREA) Board of Directors and Chair of ESG Committee
- GRESB Foundation Board
- MITSolve Climate Advisory
- World Economic Forum Nature-Positive Cities Global Commission (2022 – 2024)
In 2017, she founded Women4Green and Youth4Climate networks to empower women and youths to champion climate action and sustainable development.