(Channel NewsAsia) Professor Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN, discussed how SGFIN’s research, education and industry outreach are geared towards addressing the sustainable and green finance challenges in Asia and how Singapore is taking the leadership role in this field.
At the opening of SGFIN, NUS President Tan Eng Chye highlighted SGFIN’s focus on education and data-driven approach to research that will drive the development of innovative and progressive financial solutions for sustainable development in Asia and the world.
Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN, highlighted two educational programmes that help to equip participants with the key sustainable investment concepts and relevant financial instruments for strategic planning and investments. The programmes are Lifelong Learning Module on “Social and Sustainable Investing” and the Msc Programme in Sustainable and Green Finance (MSGF).
Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN, shared key takeaways from her case study by focusing on how investors can make better investment decisions by incorporating impact preferences, social return and risk into conventional portfolio theory in four Asian developing countries.
Professor Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN, reinforces the need for Singaporeans to inculcate sustainable habits in their daily practices besides the 5-cent charge for plastic bags.
Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN reinforced the need for consumers to change their plastic bag habit besides the 5-cent charge for plastic bags. Besides waste reduction, factors contributing to the total carbon cost incurred in the life cycle of packaging materials were also discussed. The implementation of a carbon score card will potentially encourage consumers to adopt greener habits in more aspect of their lives. Merchants should continue to implement rewards for customers who choose to go green and live beyond the unsustainable convenience of plastic bags.
In this commentary, Assoc Prof Zhang Weina, Deputy Director of SGFIN and Academic Director of Master of Science in Sustainable and Green Finance (MSGF) programme shared about emerging job opportunities in sustainable and green finance field in Singapore and beyond going forward.
Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN emphasised the need for transparency in price adjustments by platform firms and shared the importance of closing the employment policy gap to protect platform workers and provide a stronger safety net for them. As platform firms mature and the number of platform workers increases, Singapore has stepped up platform workers’ protection to level the playing field – by providing health insurance and Central Provident Fund (CPF) payments for platform workers.
In the commentary, Prof Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN shared that Singapore has very stringent debt-to-income and loan-to-value requirements and explained Singaporeans’ vulnerability to income and interest rates shocks as greater number of homeowners take on higher property loans.