Singapore Commits US$500 Million In Matching Concessional Funding To Support Decarbonisation In Asia

At the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, announced that the Singapore Government has committed up to US$500 million in concessional funding to support the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last year.

2. FAST-P is a blended finance initiative which brings together international public, private and philanthropic partners to support Asia’s decarbonisation and climate resilience. The Singapore Government will pledge up to US$500 million as concessional capital, to match dollar-for-dollar, concessional capital from other partners, including other governments, multilateral development finance institutions and philanthropies. This combined pool of concessional capital will be used to crowd in commercial capital and other sources of finance to support Asia’s green transition, and raise up to US$5 billion to support Asia’s green and transition financing needs. FAST-P was announced by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean at COP28 in December 2023.[1]

3. Since its launch, FAST-P has expanded its network of partners, to prepare for capital raising and deployment in 2025. Allied Climate Partners (ACP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Temasek are FAST-P’s initial partners. AIA Group Limited (AIA), British International Investment (BII), European Commission and Team Europe partners Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) and the German Development Finance Institution (DEG), HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) are in discussions for a potential collaboration with FAST-P.

4. FAST-P has also established a new Industrial Transformation infrastructure debt programme, in addition to the Energy Transition Acceleration Finance partnership and Green Investments partnership that were announced at COP28, and engaged managers to implement these three pillars.

5. At COP29, the governments of Germany, Japan, and New Zealand welcomed the progress so far, including the establishment of the Energy Transition Acceleration Finance (ETAF) partnership with Singapore and GEAPP. This partnership will invest in energy transition projects, including early retirement of coal assets, renewable energy, and grid modernization and development. MAS is in discussion with Clifford Capital[2], which has extensive experience with infrastructure financing in Asia, to manage ETAF.

6. The Green Investments partnership is supported by ACP, IFC, MAS and Temasek. Pentagreen Capital[3] will manage and deploy capital to marginally bankable green and sustainable infrastructure in Asia, such as renewable energy and storage, electric vehicle, transport, as well as the water and waste management sectors. HSBC and Temasek, as the founding shareholders of Pentagreen, will commit capital to support the initiative. European Commission and Team Europe partners FMO and DEG are in discussions to join this partnership.

7. AIA, BlackRock, IFC, MAS, MUFG and NEXI have signed a Statement of Intent to collaborate on the newly identified Industrial Transformation infrastructure debt programme, which will explore opportunities to provide debt financing to private-sector borrowers seeking to decarbonise their businesses, including projects in hard-to-abate sectors, technology solutions for the low-carbon transformation, and industrial opportunities.

8. MAS is encouraged by the strong support from the multilateral development banks, sovereigns and development financial institutions, and philanthropies, who have partnered us on this FAST-P initiative. MAS is glad to collaborate with like-minded and international partners to forge a collective public-private partnership that seeks to mobilise capital for Asia’s transition.

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 [1] Speech by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean – Building Partnerships for Financing Asia’s Transition (https://www.nccs.gov.sg/media/speeches/speech-by-senior-minister-teo-chee-hean-at-cop28-singapore-pavilion-3dec2023/  ), and Speech by Ravi Menon, then-Managing Director for Monetary Authority of Singapore – Getting Transition Finance Right (https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/speeches/2023/getting-transition-finance-right ), at COP28 Singapore Pavilion Green and Transition Finance Day, 3 December 2023.

[2] Clifford Capital is an infrastructure finance platform with ADB, DBS, Manulife, Prudential, SMBC, Standard Chartered, DBS and Temasek as shareholders.

[3] Pentagreen Capital is the sustainable infrastructure debt financing entity established by HSBC and Temasek.