Singapore sustainability consultancy The Transmutation Principle (TTP), known for its climate education workshops and corporate sustainability training programmes, is scaling back operations and reducing its team.
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In an email sent to partners and clients, the firm said co-founders Thibaut Meurgue-Guyard and Rochelle Cananua would continue advancing climate education work in Singapore and Manila, while the rest of the team would depart over the coming months.
As well as running climate education workshops, TTP is known for working with fellow consultancy The Matcha Initiative to bring popular sustainability event AlterCOP to Singapore, which runs parallel to the annual United Nations COP climate talks.
“It is a rough time for the sustainability industry right now,” TTP acknowledged in the email. “We urge that you continue to support ESG partners and the ecosystem, while time is still on our side.”
The consultancy added that it would prioritise helping employees transition into new roles. Its team included sustainability communications specialist Madeline Toh, climate educator Natasha Lye, and sustainability consultants Miriam Yu and Valencia Fortuna.
The announcement reflects a broader reckoning across the sustainability industry, where firms that expanded rapidly during the ESG boom are now confronting tighter corporate budgets, weaker corporate appetite for sustainability spending and slower demand for advisory services.
ESG teams at major firms including Citigroup have faced cuts over the past year, while consultancies and corporates have reported weaker sustainability spending amid economic uncertainty and political backlash against ESG. In Singapore, the delay to mandatory climate disclosure rules has also reduced immediate pressure on companies to invest in sustainability consulting support.
Founded to help organisations and individuals “navigate change with intention”, TTP built a reputation in Singapore’s sustainability scene through climate awareness events, workshops and strategic advisory work. The firm positioned itself at the intersection of sustainability consulting and behavioural change, helping companies translate climate ambitions into workplace culture and employee engagement.
Speaking to Eco-Business, Meurgue-Guyard said the company’s decision to scale back reflected commercial pressures amid a growing sense of disillusionment within the sustainability community.
He said he had observed a significant pullback in sustainability funding and corporate ambition following Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year.
“Trump’s re-election sent a terrible message to corporate leaders who were waiting for the perfect excuse to back down on sustainability,” Meurgue-Guyard said, adding that European as well as American firms had frozen or reduced sustainability spending.
He also argued that the sustainability narrative has increasingly shifted from climate mitigation — reducing emissions to prevent worsening climate change — towards adaptation and resilience planning, which he believes has diluted corporate focus on decarbonisation.
Businesses continue to prioritise short-term economic interests over long-term resilience, he added.
Meurgue-Guyard said he has also noticed growing emotional exhaustion among sustainability professionals globally after speaking to practitioners across Asia, North America, the Middle East and Europe.
“I truly feel that energy levels are decreasing globally across sustainability communities. People are starting to give up,” he said. “Awareness events and sustainability action adoption are decreasing everywhere I look, and people feel an overwhelming sense of anxiety.”
He characterised the mood among some practitioners as entering “a mourning phase”.
“We know it’s too late now, that no one cares much, no one wants to change and that it’s time to let go,” he said. “It’s a new feeling I hear about in conversations — and it’s extremely worrying.”
Meurgue-Guyard also lamented what he described as a lack of support for small sustainability businesses in Singapore, arguing that policymakers have focused disproportionately on artificial intelligence while overlooking mounting challenges facing smaller enterprises.
TTP’s announcement emerges a few weeks after United Kingdom-headquartered Adelie opened its first Asia office in Singapore.
