The apartment is ready. The move is booked. The assignee lands in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. What nobody flagged in the briefing pack is that the city is managing water restrictions linked to a data centre boom that has strained local infrastructure. Your corporate client's sustainability team finds out before you do… This is not a faraway scenario and could happen.

ESG is no longer a reporting exercise filed away by a sustainability team. For global mobility professionals operating across Asia Pacific, it is becoming embedded in operational planning, client conversations, supplier relationships, and the daily decisions that affect how people move, where they live, and how services are delivered. The landscape in 2026 is more complex, more fragmented, and more consequential than ever before. Here are some key trends for 2026 which impact the global mobility industry in Asia.

 

ESG is fragmenting, and that changes who owns it

For years, ESG issues were managed under one strategic umbrella. That model is breaking down. As Kaushik Sridhar wrote in Eco-Business in May 2026, what we are seeing now is not integration but fragmentation. The E is being driven by climate disclosure laws and carbon markets. The S is being reshaped by supply chain due diligence and labour regulation. The G is moving into legal, audit, and compliance functions. Each pillar is evolving at a different pace, under different pressures, with different organisational owners.

For mobility teams, this matters practically. Environmental performance is increasingly a finance conversation. Social accountability sits in procurement and operations. Governance is a legal question. If your ESG strategy still lives in one person’s remit, the cracks will show in client RFPs, in supplier assessments, and in regulatory submissions.

 

The regulatory clock is ticking, and it varies by market

Across Asia Pacific, the regulatory picture is moving fast but unevenly, and mobility professionals need to track it market by market.

In Singapore, all SGX-listed companies are required to report Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from FY2025. Scope 3 becomes mandatory for Straits Times Index companies from FY2026. The Monetary Authority of Singapore issued new Environmental Risk Management transition planning guidelines as recently as March 2026, requiring financial institutions to embed climate risk into governance and business strategy, not just disclosure. Limited assurance on ESG disclosures becomes mandatory from FY2029.

In Malaysia, ISSB-aligned reporting including Scope 3 emissions is mandatory by 2027, with penalties for non-compliance. The Philippines begins mandatory sustainability reporting in 2026 under a phased approach. Singapore delayed ISSB-aligned reporting for smaller listed firms by up to 5 years. The result, as KPMG Singapore notes, is a fragmented compliance environment requiring organisations to navigate multiple, sometimes conflicting expectations across the same operating region.

For an RMC or DSP managing relocations across Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila and other locations simultaneously, this is not an abstract policy question. It determines what data your corporate clients will ask you to provide, and when.

 

Data centres are changing destination cities

The AI boom is reshaping the physical environment of Asia’s key mobility destinations such as Indonesia and Malaysia in ways that directly affect service delivery. Hyperscaler investment is projected to reach USD552 billion globally in 2026, with Southeast Asia attracting approximately USD2.3 billion in cloud services and data centre development. According to OCBC Group Research, the data centre industry’s power consumption is projected to nearly double between 2024 and 2030, with water use for cooling systems expected to follow a similar trend.

• Image credit: OCBC

   

  This is already creating operational consequences on the ground. Malaysia introduced strict water use regulations in 2025 after data centre demand contributed to water shortages. Singapore’s earlier data centre moratorium reflected concerns about power and water demand outstripping sustainable supply. For destination service providers and corporate housing operators, understanding local water stress and infrastructure constraints in specific cities is becoming essential knowledge, not a background consideration.

  Countries are also expanding the use of high-quality carbon credits through international partnerships and common standards, creating more opportunities for businesses to offset emissions as carbon pricing grows.

  Supply chains are under geopolitical and climate pressure

  The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) came into full effect on 1 January 2026, potentially adding at least USD15 billion to Europe’s annual import bill and incentivising supply chains to prioritise lower-carbon suppliers. For relocation companies coordinating shipments, moving firms sourcing materials, and transportation providers managing fleets, this is a direct cost consideration.

  Climate hazards compound the pressure. Global economic losses from natural disasters reached USD320 billion in 2024. Supply chains dependent on a single geography face compounding risks from both policy and physical climate exposure. Mobility providers sourcing equipment, vehicles, or services across Asia need to assess concentration risk as part of standard operational planning.

  On aviation, a key part of the relocation process, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blending mandates are now live across key APAC markets. Singapore has a 1% SAF blending target for 2026, with South Korea and Indonesia following from 2027. With global energy transition investment reaching a record USD2.3 trillion in 2025, the cost and availability of SAF will increasingly factor into the carbon footprint of international assignment travel.

  Workforce pressures are intensifying

  In 2026, more than 10.5% of the world’s population is aged 65 or older, up from less than 8.5% a decade ago. Labour shortages are intensifying across Asia Pacific, making it harder to recruit qualified professionals in mobility-adjacent roles and harder for clients to find senior talent worth relocating. The geopolitical environment is unlikely to support more accommodating immigration policies as a short-term fix. For corporate clients, effective talent mobility strategy is becoming more critical, not less, precisely because the supply of mobile talent is tightening.

  What this means for global mobility

• Map exposure by market. Identify which regulatory timelines apply in the cities where you operate and build a simple tracking system for ESG disclosure requirements across your key jurisdictions. Do not wait for clients to ask.
• Assess your supply chain now. Review sourcing for geographic concentration risk, carbon exposure, and the ESG credentials of your key partners. What your clients will need to report on Scope 3 flows directly downstream to you.
• Understand your destination cities differently. Water stress, power constraints, and data centre growth are now material to accommodation sourcing and service delivery planning in cities like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Manila.
• Position yourself as a knowledgeable partner. Multinational clients navigating this complexity need mobility advisers who understand the regional ESG landscape, not just the logistics of a move.
• Connect regionally and globally. Use ATMA’s network to share experiences across different Asian markets and learn from peers managing similar challenges.

The ATMA ESG Committee will continue to track these developments and translate them into practical guidance for our community.

 

References

Eco-Business. (2025). Five trends that will shape sustainability in Asia Pacific in 2026. Retrieved from https://www.eco-business.com/news/five-trends-that-will-shape-sustainability-in-asia-pacific-in-2026/

Eco-Business (2026) ‘ESG is fragmenting – how should businesses respond?’, Eco-Business, 25 May. Available at: https://www.eco-business.com/opinion/esg-is-fragmenting-how-should-businesses-respond/

KPMG Singapore (2026) ‘What firms in Singapore need to know for ESG in 2026’, KPMG Insights. Available at: https://kpmg.com/sg/en/insights/esg/what-firms-in-singapore-need-to-know-for-esg-in-2026.html

OCBC Group Research (2026) ‘Three key sustainability trends for 2026’, OCBC Insights, February. Available at: https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/articles/three-key-sustainability-trends-for-2026

S&P Global. (2026). S&P Global's Top 10 Sustainability Trends to Watch in 2026. Retrieved from https://www.spglobal.com/sustainable1/en/insights/2026-sustainability-trends