SINGAPORE, 15 APRIL 2024 – Marking the 10th anniversary, the Ecosperity Week 2024 themed “Renewing Our Vibrant Spring”, opened earlier this morning to a keynote speech by Ms Grace Fu, Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment & Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations. Her keynote speech centered around enabling policies across carbon, energy and economy. She also announced the launch of a Singapore Emissions Factors Registry by a SBF-led consortium, to help businesses report carbon emissions more accurately.

This year’s event will put a spotlight on nature-based solutions to address the urgent and interconnected imperatives of climate change and nature loss, in addition to the global decarbonisation agenda and corresponding policy and finance enablers needed for a green and just transition. Ecosperity Week is being held from 15 to 17 April 2024 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore, will deliver the keynote address at the conference’s Welcome Dinner in the evening on the same day. Ms Razan Al Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, will kick off the second day’s discussions around the scientific and business case for nature positivity on 16 April.

Ecosperity Week 2024 will also feature many other prominent global public, private and non-governmental speakers, including The Hon. Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, The Philippines; Mr Dominic Barton, Chairman, Rio Tinto and Chairman, LeapFrog

Investments; Mr Tim Gould, Chief Energy Economist, International Energy Agency; Ms Emily McKenzie, Technical Director of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD); Ms Jennifer Morris, CEO of The Nature Conservancy; and Prof Zou Ji, CEO & President, Energy Foundation China.

“Nature-based climate solutions have the potential to provide up to a third of the emission reductions we need to keep global warming below 1.5°C. But nature itself is also declining at unprecedented rates, wreaking havoc on ecosystems worldwide. Asia is among the most at-risk regions, with 63 per cent of its GDP at risk from nature loss, but also where the opportunity is. Hence, we need a holistic, integrated approach to achieve our collective climate and nature goals,” said Ms Kyung-Ah Park, Head of ESG Investment Management & Managing Director, Sustainability, Temasek. “With this year’s theme of ‘Renewing Our Vibrant Spring’, we aim to rally stakeholders for action, and catalyse the systems-level change we need to realise a thriving, sustainable world for current and future generations.”

Bain & Company, GenZero, Standard Chartered Bank, and Temasek will also launch the fifth edition of the annual Southeast Asia Green Economy Report on 15 April. Titled “Moving the Needle”, the 2024 report will highlight high-impact investment areas and key accelerators, such as policy and sustainable finance mechanisms, tailored to the region.

Crowding in capital for sustainable growth

“Given the significant shortfall in investment to meet climate mitigation and adaptation needs in emerging and developing Asia, we need to urgently scale financing through concerted and collaborative action from public, private and philanthropic actors. This will require innovative financing and risk mitigation approaches, such as in blended finance and carbon markets,” said Ms Gillian Tan, Assistant Managing Director (Development and International) and Chief Sustainability Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore.

“The Financing Asia’s Transition (FAST) Conference seeks to forge partnerships between the financial sector and non-financial sector corporates, and foster action-oriented discussions on solutions to support Asia’s net zero transition.”

Jointly organised by BlackRock, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Temasek, the second iteration of the FAST Conference will gather key decision-makers across financial institutions and the real economy to catalyse sustainable finance, with a focus on spotlighting transition financing initiatives and solutions for the region. Held on 17 April as part of Ecosperity Week, the FAST Conference will kick off with an opening address by Mr Chia Der Jiun, Managing Director of the MAS.

Other prominent speakers and panellists on this day include Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Executive Director & CEO, Temasek; Mr Philipp Hildebrand, Vice Chairman, BlackRock; Mr Rick Ramli, Acting President & Group Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer, Private and Strategic Investments, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB); Ms Marisa Drew, Chief Sustainability Officer of Standard Chartered Bank; Mr Jay Koh, Co-Founder & Managing Director, The Lightsmith Group and Founder & Chairman, Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment Working Group and Ms Sharan Burrow, Former General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Global Board of Director, World Resources Institute. Discussions will be focused on the enablers to close the climate finance gap while ensuring a just transition – particularly in Asia – including transition finance approaches and mechanisms, and the business case for adaptation financing.

Collaboration across sectors to drive action and impact

Ecosperity Week welcomes new partners with its 10th edition, including the Philanthropy Asia Summit (PAS) held from 15 to 18 April. The Summit convenes and connects global and regional leaders across sectors, and aims to catalyse philanthropic-public-private partnerships to achieve impact in the interconnected areas of climate and nature, health and education. Organised by the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, an initiative by Temasek Trust to foster collaborative philanthropy in Asia, the PAS will feature speakers including Mr Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum; The Rt Hon Tony Blair, Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Dr Regina E. Dugan, President and CEO, Wellcome Leap; and Ms Solina Chau, Co-Founder, Horizons Ventures and Director, Li Ka Shing Foundation.

“To scale impact, we must forge robust public-private-philanthropic partnerships. Philanthropic funds, being risk-tolerant, can initiate pilots, gather critical data, and pave the way for sustainable outcomes when combined with additional capital and structural support from the public and private sectors. By hosting the Philanthropy Asia Summit alongside Ecosperity Week, leaders and stakeholders can explore how capital may be used in various ways to tackle complex challenges. This convergence of ideas and resources holds immense potential to spark impactful multi-sector collaborations,” said Ms Lim Seok Hui, CEO, Philanthropy Asia Alliance.

As a convening platform, Ecosperity Week 2024 will play host to some 20 partner events, showcasing the diversity in perspectives, solutions and action crucial to address pressing environmental and societal challenges. From carbon markets to Southeast Asia’s bioeconomy, to accelerating the launch of innovative solutions and workforce upskilling, discussions will centre around catalysing greater capital flows and unlocking capabilities to support a green and just transition.

The 10th edition of Ecosperity Week will also see the launch of the Ecosperity Action Hub. As a satellite stage, the Action Hub will feature a series of succinct, impact-oriented sessions showcasing the latest sustainability-led initiatives and solutions with tangible outcomes (full list can be found in Appendix B). Highlights include:

15 April – MOU signing by Breakthrough Energy, Temasek, and Enterprise Singapore: The three organisations will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to embark on the establishment of a fellowship programme aimed at nurturing talent in climate technology within Southeast Asia. By supporting promising researchers and scientists, the programme seeks to catalyse the development and commercialisation of climate tech innovations in the region.

16 April – New report on “The Role of Carbon Credits in Scaling Up Innovative Clean Energy Technologies Report” by GenZero and the International Energy Agency, highlighting the potential of high-quality carbon credits in accelerating the transition to clean energy solutions, such as sustainable aviation fuel, low-emission hydrogen and direct air capture and storage.

17 April – Mobilising Just Transition Finance in Asia by the Just Transition Finance Lab, a new centre for experimentation and excellence at the London School of Economics. This session will explore how the Lab could work with institutions in Asia to deliver financial system transformation at the national and sub-national level.