TBH & Adaptus form alliance for sustainability advisory

TBH and Adaptus have formed a strategic alliance to provide joint project advisory and sustainability services across Australia, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

The firms will combine project advisory with ESG, energy-transition and climate-risk services for clients in infrastructure, energy, resources and digital industries. The alliance is intended to give clients a single source of advice across the project lifecycle, from strategy to execution.

The move comes as companies developing major projects face tighter disclosure rules, increased investor scrutiny and greater pressure to show how climate and social issues are reflected in investment decisions. In Australia, mandatory climate-related financial disclosure requirements have sharpened the focus on governance, capital allocation, risk management, metrics and targets.

A key focus will be data centres, a sector that has expanded rapidly as demand for digital infrastructure has grown. Developers, investors and lenders in that market are under increasing scrutiny over electricity demand, grid access, water use, emissions, supply chains and local community impacts.

Recent guidance under the Equator Principles has also increased attention on environmental and social risks linked to data-centre projects. The guidance covers risks across the full project lifecycle, including associated power generation and transmission infrastructure, water supply and wastewater assets, and connectivity systems.

Under the alliance, the firms will advise data-centre developers, sponsors, investors and lenders on due diligence, lender reviews, grid and emissions assessments, project governance and stakeholder impacts. They also plan to support climate and ESG disclosure, strategic decision-making for complex projects, sustainable project delivery, capital-program assurance and natural-capital investment.

TBH has worked in infrastructure advisory for more than 60 years and has contributed to more than 100 hyperscale data-centre projects across Asia-Pacific since 2010. Adaptus focuses on climate and sustainability management and works with organisations in infrastructure, energy, resources, property and the built environment.

The alliance formalises work the two businesses have carried out together over the past two years. That collaboration has included support for infrastructure developers, sponsors and financiers on project-finance transactions, advisory mandates and internal capability-building.

Stuart Cassie, director at TBH, said the firms had identified a gap between commercial project delivery advice and sustainability advice as clients navigate more complex requirements.

"The pace of change in regulatory expectations, investor scrutiny and project complexity has created a genuine gap in the market. Clients need advice that connects commercial delivery and sustainability," Cassie said.

He said the alliance was intended to meet that need for organisations making investment and delivery decisions in a more demanding regulatory and financing environment.

"The alliance with Adaptus delivers exactly that, supporting greater decision-making confidence, stronger alignment with regulatory and investor expectations, and more resilient project outcomes," he said.

Mayuran Sivapalan, managing director at Adaptus, said sustainability issues are now being examined earlier in project development and investment assessment rather than at the reporting stage after decisions have been made.

"Sustainability considerations are no longer a separate reporting exercise at the end of a project," Sivapalan said.

He said boards, investors, lenders and communities now expect organisations to show how climate risk, resilience, emissions, resource constraints and social effects influence decisions on large capital commitments.

"Boards, investors, lenders and communities increasingly expect organisations to show how climate risk, resilience, emissions, resource pressures and social impacts are informing real decisions, particularly where significant capital is being committed. This alliance helps clients translate climate and sustainability ambition into credible investment decisions, practical project requirements and deliverable programs of work," he said.