Singapore
2024
September 12, 2024
Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay
September 12, 2024
Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay
S$250
Virtual (Free)
As the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals deadline looms, United Nations officials have issued a stark warning: despite notable strides in Asia, no single country is on track to meet the critical goals. At the current pace, it will take another 32 years for the region to achieve the 2030 agenda.
The next five years are pivotal. To bridge the trillion-dollar funding gap necessary for Asia to regain momentum, we must mobilise resources through clear policies, robust investment plans, and strategic partnerships.
Sustainable finance is critical in achieving these goals. With comprehensive regional taxonomies now established, what measures are needed for green finance to be scaled with speed? What role will transition finance play in the region?
Asia’s growing marketplace for carbon credits also presents an opportunity to galvanize funding, but how will governments and businesses leverage this mechanism while maintaining credibility? Amid our global biodiversity crisis, how will regulatory frameworks evolve to enable companies to integrate nature and biodiversity risks into their business decisions?
Unlocking capital for sustainability 2024 will be hosted in six countries across Asia this year — in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and China/HK with the main summit being held in Singapore to discuss the responses to these urgent questions. These multinational meetings, in its seventh edition, will convene policymakers, business leaders and civil society to explore innovative ways to accelerate progress in meeting these ambitious targets.
Kishore Mahbubani
Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (NUS)
Mahbubani
Speaking on:
Ravi Menon
Singapore's Ambassador for Climate Action & Senior Adviser (National Climate Change Secretariat)
Menon
Speaking on:
Jessica Cheam
Founder and Managing Director, Eco-Business; Independent Director, Wilmar International and ComfortDelGro Group, MSID, ICDM
Cheam
Speaking on:
8:30
Breakfast briefing in partnership with Fair Finance Asia (Invite only)
Women play a pivotal role in Asia's energy transition not only as beneficiaries, but also as active participants and leaders. While the shift towards a non fossil-based economy presents opportunities for gender equality and empowerment, large infrastructure developments results in displacement of communities and loss of livelihoods, among many other negative impacts, affects women and girls, in particular, more disproportionately.
Fair Finance Asia (FFA), a regional network of over 90 allied civil society organisations, engages in sustainable finance research and advocacy to emphasise on how the funding decisions of Asia’s financial institutions and investors impact the social and environmental well-being of local communities. At this special invite-only briefing, participants will get an exclusive opportunity to engage on topics related to strengthening gender mainstreaming in energy transition finance, drawing reference to preliminary insights from an upcoming FFA’s report on gender and the just energy transition (JET) in Asia. FFA’s breakfast briefing will highlight Asia's gendered dimensions and opportunities for a gender-transformative energy transition.
Participants are invited to comment and share their insights on how Asian financial institutions and regulators can conduct risk and impact assessments, develop safeguard policies as well as commitments on transition finance, that better align with gender-transformative energy transition pathways.
9:30
Welcome Remarks
9:45
Opening keynote by Guest-of-honour
10:15
Special keynote: Navigating the Nexus — Geopolitics and Climate Change in the 21st Century
10:45
Opening plenary: Raising the bar
Asia’s funding gap is facing a critical challenge — the region needs to invest US$1.5 trillion annually — or about 4 per cent of the region’s GDP — from now till 2030 to achieve the SDGs, according to UN ESCAP.
Policymakers, regulators, and private finance entities face the difficult task of mobilising and deploying financing into bankable sustainability-driven projects across the region. How can they enhance policy coherence and capacities to enable the mobilisation of capital, while reducing the risk exposure of these projects? With Singapore publishing one of the world’s first transition taxonomy, will this help unlock funding for the region?
Meanwhile, since the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published its much-awaited set of global standards for sustainability disclosures last year, regulators throughout Asia have swiftly adopted these guidelines in national markets.
As regulations such as regional climate reporting and international supply chain due diligence kick in, how will investors be sure that they and their business partners are not falling foul as regulators enforce these new rules? How can verified, scaled and tiered ESG data feed into real-time financing decisions? Will the increase in quantity and quality of sustainability data help policy making and accelerate climate finance? This panel will convene key regulators and industry experts to discuss the road ahead for the region.
Speakers
11:45
Plenary #2: Mobilising finance at speed and scale
Asia, a diverse region with countries at different stages of development, urgently requires large scale finance to fund its region’s sustainable and just transition. Yet bankable projects are lacking, more technical knowledge is required, along with effective mechanisms to tap on financial opportunities.
How can the region’s public and private sectors enhance cooperation and share interoperable data that will accelerate deal making? Is transition finance poised to finally take off in Asia?
With a wide range of financial instruments and emerging carbon markets now at their disposal, how can real economy players respond to evolving regulations and support the transition of the region’s hard-to-abate sectors?
Speakers
14:00
Plenary debate: This house believes regulation is needed to drive nature-positive outcomes in Asia
Over 130 Asian companies have pledged to start reporting against the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework by FY2025. But unlike climate-related risk, which is increasingly seen as a material issue, companies are only just starting to assess their nature-related impacts.
Environmental groups have also raised concerns about how effective a reporting framework penned by the same corporations behind historical environmental and human rights abuses will be to keep companies in check, pointing to the need for laws that will punish those driving nature degradation.
Is a markets-based approach sufficient to drive the changes we need to reverse nature loss? What laws are needed to hold companies to account for harming nature and to drive nature-positive outcomes in Asia? This debate convenes key decision-makers and experts across the region to explore the role of regulation for integrating nature and biodiversity risks into their business decisions.
15:00
Fireside chat: Board governance – Stewardship for a global transition
Effective board governance and stewardship play a critical role in ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of organisations. Directors are entrusted to oversee the strategic direction, risk management and ethical conduct of companies — but how can boards build competence in these areas, and how can directors drive value creation by steering their organisations to capitalise on commercial opportunities in the global economic transition?
In this dialogue in partnership with Singapore Institute of Directors, we dive into the boardroom for insights on how boards can empower their organisations.
16:00
Launch of The Liveability Challenge 2025, presented by Temasek Foundation
16:15
Closing plenary: Bridging the climate tech valley of death
Climate tech in Asia has reached a crossroads. While a range of climate technologies are emerging in the region, there is a wide gulf between research and commercialisation. Product development for these innovations have longer cycles and entrepreneurs need to navigate complex technical, commercial and regulatory environments.
Given the urgency to decarbonise the region, how can we better support climate innovations reach commercial scale? With the advancement of artificial intelligence, what are the exciting areas of growth for climate innovation? How can we nurture a thriving ecosystem that deploys patient capital and enables the widespread adoption and scaling of these solutions? This panel will bring together experts to discuss how the region can cultivate a culture of innovation in the region and bridge the valley of death.
17:00
Closing keynote
17:15
Closing remarks and summary
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