Augustine Quek

Augustine Quek is currently the Director of Sustainability in Technical Services for the Millennium and Copthorne Group (M&C). He drives sustainability efforts, standards and reporting for all properties worldwide within M&C.

Before this he was manager and lead for development and growth at the Singapore Environmental Council (SEC) working on training, standards and certifications to improve environmental and social resilience for Singapore businesses and organizations. Certifications and green labelling products and services is the core competency. His work includes conducting training on basic sustainability concepts for management, workshops and seminars. He also plans, reviews and recommends strategies and frameworks on carbon management and ESG issues for companies.

Earlier, he was a senior fellow and manager at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He coordinated operational affairs in the $20 million NRF-CREATE research effort that examines coupled environmental problems with coupled solutions through modelling and test-bedding at different scales for cities. The programme circular pathways of decarbonisation, such as producing energy and fertilizers from food waste, gasification of biomass for high-value materials and energy security.

As an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo. He has taught degree courses in environmental and chemical engineering. His research in low-carbon and circular technologies, such as pyrolysis and hydrothermal conversion various solid wastes streams into useful materials. These include converting waste rubber tyres into adsorbents; horticultural wastes to biochars, and utilizing incineration bottom ash for land reclamation. In 2010, he won the World Future Foundation best thesis award.

He currently continues to pursue low-carbon, circular concepts in sustainable development from an environmental impacts’ perspective. He believes understanding the environmental impacts of the full life cycle of all human activities is necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.