Joelle Chen, the Asia sustainability head of property firm Lendlease, has joined LaSalle Investment Management in an equivalent role.
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The Singaporean calls time on three and a half years with Lendlease, where she was initially Singapore sustainability director and promoted to head of sustainability in January last year.
Chen moves to LaSalle as head of sustainability, Asia Pacific, a role which covers the firm’s key regional territories, which include China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Singapore, where she will be based. LaSalle is an investment management firm solely focused on real estate.
She will be responsible for defining LaSalle’s regional sustainability strategy, objectives and philosophy, co-chair the company’s APAC sustainability committee and run its sustainability taskforce.
Chen’s role at Lendlease will not be replaced for now, with the company’s Melbourne-based group sustainability head Cate Harris absorbing the Asia head of sustainability position. Harris will work with support from local sustainability teams in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
Among LaSalle’s sustainability commitments is to halve Scope 1 and Scope 2 landlord-controlled operational carbon emissions and Scope 3 emissions by 2030, and achieve net zero by 2050. Approximately 40 per cent of LaSalle’s assets under management are currently in line to achieve net zero, a proportion the company expects to grow as it nudges clients to make their own commitments.
Prior to Lendlease, Chen was Singapore programme director for Beca, an engineering and architecture consultancy. An architect by background, Chen started her career with RDC Architects. She has also worked for Singapore’s Economic Development Board, latterly as head of smart sustainable cities. She was also regional head of World Green Building Council, a non-profit that works to decarbonise the built environment.
