First Sentier Investors engaged SINAI to transition from spreadsheet-based carbon accounting to a comprehensive, auditable GHG accounting software, enabling the firm to streamline emissions auditing, enhance scope 3 tracking, and develop decarbonization strategies.
This collaboration empowered First Sentier Investors to achieve their near-term renewable energy target of 80% renewable energy by 2025, strengthen audit readiness, and advance their efforts to drive sustainability.
As a relatively new sustainability team, First Sentier Investors set out to establish a high standard for GHG data integrity and precision from the outset. Aiming to manage and mitigate risks associated with GHG calculations across scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and wanting to develop an auditable GHG inventory, First Sentier Investors recognized the importance of establishing a robust digital solution to track, verify, and manage emissions long-term accurately.
First Sentier Investors anticipated that a significant portion of their emissions would come from scope 3. As a global investment management firm, most Scope 3 emissions are related to Financed Emissions; however, at an operational level, this includes aspects such as business travel. Combining the need to obtain detailed travel data and meet high third-party verification standards, First Sentier Investors engaged early with their travel booking providers, initiating conversations to secure detailed travel data and prepare for emissions tracking. The team quickly realized that building an auditable GHG inventory from spreadsheets alone would make it difficult to manage the broader evolving scope 3 landscape, confirm appropriate emissions factors, and confidently verify their calculations.
With the future of their sustainability leadership in mind, First Sentier Investors sought a scalable and auditable system to support data precision and efficiency for scope 1, 2, and 3 data management, pushing them to seek a more robust solution to avoid gaps or inaccuracies in emissions tracking.
With growing support from leadership, First Sentier Investors’ team began evaluating software solutions to find a long-standing decarbonization platform capable of supporting an integrated approach to scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon accounting and helping them strategize and execute their net zero goals.
SINAI emerged as the preferred solution because of its software capabilities, combining carbon accounting and decarbonization modeling with a highly skilled services team. SINAI’s expertise promised not only to address First Sentier Investors’ current needs but also to guide them through the evolving challenges of decarbonization, making the engagement a preferred choice for First Sentier Investors’ long-term goals.
First Sentier Investors adopted SINAI’s Carbon Accounting platform to digitize tracking for scope 1 and 2, along with scope 3 business travel data. SINAI’s climate consultants went beyond this solution to conduct a scope 3 materiality and relevance assessment to expand First Sentier Investors’ scope 3 coverage, adding emissions categories such as waste, water, data centers, and purchased goods and services. With the support of SINAI’s platform, First Sentier Investors built a more complete, auditable emissions inventory than they had initially anticipated, turning their preliminary focus on business travel into a scope 3 framework with greater accuracy and coverage.
“SINAI has exceeded our expectations, delivering the expertise and resources to efficiently calculate the entirety of our scope 3 inventory. With SINAI, we no longer have limitations around only tracking scopes 1 and 2 and business travel emissions which will enable us to amplify our focus on our firm’s decarbonization initiatives.” Rebecca Antonini, Head of Corporate Sustainability
With an auditable, data-rich inventory, First Sentier Investors was ready to shift their focus to active decarbonization efforts. SINAI’s Decarbonization product, which connected seamlessly to First Sentier Investors’ inventory, enabled them to model multiple emissions-reduction scenarios in line with science-based targets, identifying key areas for improvement. For scope 2 emissions, First Sentier Investors developed a renewable energy certificate (REC) strategy to reduce operational impact, achieving their near-term renewable energy target of 80% renewable energy by 2025. Now, these RECs are tracked within SINAI to streamline dual reporting. Working closely with SINAI’s climate experts enabled First Sentier Investors to establish clear and actionable targets for their transition to net zero, laying out a detailed pathway to reduce emissions in line with global best practices.
“SINAI has presented decarbonization ideas for our business that we may not have considered. Our end-to-end climate program in one platform has driven efficiencies throughout our team.” Rebecca Antonini, Head of Corporate Sustainability
Through SINAI’s integrated platform, First Sentier Investors consolidated all emissions data into a single system, eliminating the time-consuming tasks of updating emissions factors and manually tracking data across spreadsheets. With time saved, the team could focus on decarbonization initiatives, strengthening their path toward their net zero target.
Enhanced scope 3 coverage and readiness for future standards With SINAI’s climate experts, First Sentier Investors expanded their scope 3 emissions coverage beyond business travel to include emissions sources such as waste, water, data centers, and purchased goods and services, resulting in a more complete, auditable GHG inventory. SINAI’s ISO-accredited system provided First Sentier Investors with a streamlined approach to sustainability reporting.
Achieving decarbonization goals and reaching new heights In partnership with SINAI, First Sentier Investors achieved key sustainability goals, including reaching 80% of their renewable energy target for scope 2 emissions. This achievement reflects the firm’s broader commitment to sustainability and its proactive steps toward decarbonization. The clarity provided by SINAI’s decarbonization strategy has allowed First Sentier Investors to focus on high-impact actions that will make a lasting difference.