20 July 2023

Associate Professor Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN, was invited to the Forum to moderate the session on “Green Financing and Investment towards Net Zero”. The panelists covered many discussion points ranging from the definitions, regulations, and opportunities of green financing/investment in the region.

Specifically, Adrian Ow, Managing Director, Head of ESG Solutions, Sector Solutions, from UOB Group shared that UOB focused on four areas of green financing such as green loans, sustainability linked loans, sustainable trade finance, and transition finance. He also shared that banks still need to put risk management as the priority in green financing.

Andy Yap, the partner from ERM, the sustainability consulting company, shared his insights about what are the important reporting frameworks, voluntary or compulsory across different Asian countries. Such a macro trend will affect all companies sooner or later, so he suggested for all to get started with the journey of measuring and reporting as early as possible to stay ahead of the curve. Making the reporting does not have to be a compliance or a mere cost item, but the process can help companies to strategize and create new revenue items under the new sustainable business models. When asked how he thought of carbon arbitrage by companies cross the border, he was pessimistic about such behavior because the macro trend of reporting is very strong.

Leung Pui Yan, Partner, Vertex Venture SE Asia & India shared her insights as the venture capitalist that their stakeholders always look for innovative and promising businesses to invest in. Given such a strong trend in sustainability, Vertex also created an internal assessment framework to add in the consideration of social and environmental impact in their investment decisions. She also shared some successful enterprises that Vertex has invested in with positive impact.

Wang Hao as the co-founder of MetaBank shared his personal journey from traditional finance to FinTech. He saw the great potential in the Blockchain technology to be used to benefit the community and social development because of the accessibility and reliability. He also shared about the examples that some of these apps can allow tourists to donate and contribute financially to the tourist sites in the regional developing countries, which in turn spur the local economic activities and employment opportunities. Interestingly, he also shared his recent involvement of catastrophe bonds issuance in Singapore.

The session ended with the key takeaways that there are plenty of opportunities out there for the businesses to tap into, and strategic planning and innovative business ideas are the keys for the business leaders to lead the sustainability journey while still being able to thrive in the financial returns. Prof Zhang ended the session by highlighting that the degree programme and professional training opportunities in sustainable and green finance are available at NUS and SGFIN.