The ESG Institute

The ESG Institute is a Singapore-based transition risk intelligence firm serving boards, investors and leadership teams. It was launched in February 2023 with the backing of the Singapore government and the Australian High Commission, with Senior Minister of State Dr Amy Khor and Australian Acting High Commissioner Jane Douglas serving as Guests of Honour. Five institutional partners stood behind it from day one: the Singapore Institute of Directors, AustCham Singapore, AmCham Singapore, the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, and the Asia Stewardship Center. The launch event drew representatives from organisations including Temasek, CapitaLand, Deloitte, Visa, the Embassy of the United States, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Hinrich Foundation and the St Gallen Symposium. The firm positions itself around what it calls "transition intelligence" — the idea that the risks which destroy long-term value are not the ones most organisations are currently measuring. Its core proposition is that there is a gap between disclosure and readiness: existing frameworks measured what companies disclosed, but nobody was measuring whether they were actually ready for the low-carbon transition. The ESG Institute exists to close that gap, working with countries, chambers and companies to build intelligence that turns climate commitments into bankable action — explicitly not through compliance or reporting alone, but through seeing what is coming, understanding what it means for the business model, and acting before the cost of inaction compounds. The institute frames the problem in three dimensions: hidden erosion, where value bleeds in places conventional models do not look; the human dimension, where strategy stalls because culture pushes back and the effort that cannot be automated walks out quietly; and shock fragility, where markets correct and the highest-exposure holdings trigger circuit breakers while the lowest-exposure holdings attract inflows. Its message is that these are not knowledge gaps but readiness gaps — and that they are quantifiable. The ESG Institute is closely associated with its Founder & Chair, Joanne Flinn, a Senior Accredited Director (SID) with an MSc from HEC/Oxford Saïd and BEc, LLB qualifications. Flinn brings more than 35 years of transformation leadership, including former PwC Country Head and Head of Change on the IT ExCo at DBS Bank. She is the author of GreenSight, foreworded by Oxford's Saïd Business School. Her work has enabled $610M+ in catalytic capital for a global fund and demonstrated 27.5% portfolio value improvement, with research spanning 21 stock exchanges and 1,052 listed companies. Co-Founder Jonathan Cheung is also named in the institute's origin story. The firm's flagship intelligence offering is ClearSight, which exists specifically because the gap between disclosure and readiness should not. The ESG Institute has received international awards and recognition, including Radar 2026 Startup of the Year 2025. Its stated belief is a cooler, greener, kinder future in which success does not require damage.

The ESG Institute was launched in February 2023 in Singapore with the backing of the Singapore government and the Australian High Commission. Senior Minister of State Dr Amy Khor and Australian Acting High Commissioner Jane Douglas served as Guests of Honour at the launch. Five institutional partners stood behind the institute from day one: the Singapore Institute of Directors, AustCham Singapore, AmCham Singapore, the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, and the Asia Stewardship Center. The launch event was attended by representatives from Temasek, CapitaLand, Deloitte, Visa, the Embassy of the United States, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Hinrich Foundation, the St Gallen Symposium, and the Ambassador to the Kingdom of [sic]. The institute was founded by Joanne Flinn, who serves as Founder & Chair, alongside Co-Founder Jonathan Cheung. Flinn is a Senior Accredited Director (SID) with an MSc from HEC/Oxford Saïd and BEc, LLB qualifications. She brought more than 35 years of transformation leadership to the venture, including roles as former PwC Country Head and Head of Change on the IT ExCo at DBS Bank. She is the author of GreenSight, a book foreworded by Oxford's Saïd Business School. Her prior work enabled $610M+ in catalytic capital for a global fund and demonstrated 27.5% portfolio value improvement, with research spanning 21 stock exchanges and 1,052 listed companies. The institute's founding thesis was that a gap existed between disclosure and readiness. The frameworks that existed measured what companies disclosed, but nobody was measuring whether they were actually ready for the low-carbon transition. The ESG Institute was created to close that gap, working with countries, chambers and companies to build intelligence that turns climate commitments into bankable action. Its stated purpose is to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy — not through compliance or reporting, but through seeing what is coming, understanding what it means for the business model, and acting before the cost of inaction compounds. The firm developed ClearSight as its flagship intelligence offering, designed specifically because the gap between disclosure and readiness should not exist. The ESG Institute frames transition risk across three dimensions: hidden erosion (value bleeding where conventional models do not look), the human dimension (strategy stalling because culture pushes back and non-automatable effort walks out), and shock fragility (markets correcting, with highest-exposure holdings triggering circuit breakers while lowest-exposure holdings attract inflows). Its core message is that these are readiness gaps rather than knowledge gaps, and that they are quantifiable. By 2025 the institute had received international awards and recognition, including being named Radar 2026 Startup of the Year 2025. Its stated belief remains a cooler, greener, kinder future in which success does not require damage.

• The ESG Institute launches in Singapore with backing from the Singapore government and the Australian High Commission; Dr Amy Khor and Jane Douglas serve as Guests of Honour.

• Five institutional partners back the institute from day one: Singapore Institute of Directors, AustCham Singapore, AmCham Singapore, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, and Asia Stewardship Center.

• The ESG Institute is recognised as Radar 2026 Startup of the Year 2025.

Transition risk intelligence for boards, investors and leadership teams — closing the gap between disclosure and readiness.

• ClearSight

  Flagship transition risk intelligence offering designed to close the gap between disclosure and readiness.

• Transition Risk Readiness

  Assessment of where portfolios and business models face transition risk, quantifying what it is costing.

1. 1Transition Intelligence for Leaders | The ESG Institutethe-esg-institute.com
2. 2About | The ESG Institutethe-esg-institute.com
3. 3The ESG Institute — Wikidatawikidata.org