Date: 28 September 2023
Venue: ParkRoyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore
Unlocking capital for sustainability is an annual premiere sustainable finance event organised by Eco-Business. Established since 2018 in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, Unlocking capital for sustainability has convened high-level decision makers in finance, business, government and civic society to discuss and commit to actionable initiatives that mobilise the capital markets for sustainable development.
The 2023 event is the sixth edition, hosted in Singapore with regional events in the two months leading up to the main summit, themed 'Enabling an Equitable Transition'.
Amid inflationary pressures, recession fears, rising interest rates and the ongoing war in Ukraine, the global macroeconomic outlook is marked with uncertainty and high volatility. In developing Asia, this complicates the net zero transition — estimated by the Asian Investor Group on Climate Change to require US$37 trillion in investments over the next three decades to meet the Paris Agreement targets.
Ensuring that this transition is an equitable one has become a strategic priority on the international agenda, yet how this can be achieved in practical terms remains elusive. With many developing economies emerging from the global pandemic with constrained budgets and high capital costs, public coffers are critically insufficient to fund the energy transition. Governments are also grappling with priorities of poverty alleviation, supporting jobs and livelihoods, and energy security. Mobilising blended capital on a large scale from public, private and philanthropic sources will be key to addressing the financing gap required for this equitable transition.
What are some of the key mechanisms that will unlock capital for Asia’s just transition? What frameworks are needed to make transition finance an effective tool for hard-to-abate sectors? Will we see a revival of carbon markets and how can we mobilise philanthropic capital? Unlocking capital for sustainability 2023 will convene leaders and decision-makers across the government, financial institutions and civic society to explore the latest developments and pathways forward to enable an equitable transition.
