Singapore Launches ESG Impact Hub for Green Fintech
- By CDOTrends editors
- December 21, 2022
Singapore unveiled its new ESG Impact Hub — a new entity that seeks to promote collaboration in ESG finance. The announcement follows the publication of a roadmap by the Singaporean government outlining plans to become a world leader in green finance and sustainable fintech.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, launched the hub to advance the ESG sector by connecting financial technology companies and institutions with investors and other stakeholders. The ESG Impact Hub is the Singaporean government’s latest move to promote green finance and an ESG ecosystem.
According to the MAS, the hub will “anchor” industry-driven sustainability initiatives that the government supports, such as the Point Carbon Zero Program with Google and the ESG Business Foundry with KPMG.
Last July, the MAS and Google Cloud jointly launched the Point Carbon Zero Program to promote the innovation, incubation, and scaling of climate fintech in Asia. It aims to increase access to climate-related data to channel capital into sustainable investments. Meanwhile, the ESG Business Foundry is a six-month accelerator that helps ESG fintech startups scale their businesses.
The ESG Impact Hub and the aforementioned industry collaborations are part of Singapore’s Project Greenprint. In December 2020, the MAS also launched Project Greenprint. This initiative seeks to promote a green finance ecosystem through innovation and technology by mobilizing capital, monitoring sustainability commitments, and measuring impact.
Green finance and sustainable fintech
With MAS’s release of several new initiatives in 2022, Singapore is making strides toward becoming a leader in sustainable finance and green fintech.
In September 2022, the MAS released the Industry Transformation Map 2025, which aims to grow the country’s already robust finance industry through 2025 by embracing green finance, incubating talent, digitalizing financial infrastructure, and streamlining corporate structures used by investment funds.
The Singaporean government will provide SGD100 million (USD3.61 million) in grant funding for climate risk and reinsurance, sustainable and transition finance solutions, green fintech capability building, and more. The plan also includes efforts to improve ESG disclosures through Project Greenprint and sustainable financing solutions. This will help fight climate change by encouraging businesses to shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources.
Singapore’s new ESG initiatives show that the country has made progress in developing a green finance industry since it first began issuing green bonds in 2017. With environmental concerns rising throughout Asia and green finance taking shape, Singapore is well-positioned to become one of the region’s premier centers.
Image credit: iStockphoto/BlackSalmon