International Cooperation for Sustainable Finance
Green Swan Conference
31 May 2023
At the Green Swan Conference, MAS’ then-Managing Director and Chair for the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), Mr Ravi Menon, spoke on promoting the financial sector as a catalyst for the transition to a net-zero world. Mr Menon elaborated on NGFS’ key focus areas - transition planning and blended finance.
Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) Asia Pacific Network Summit
5 June 2023
At the opening of the GFANZ APAC summit, MAS’ then-Managing Director and Chair of the GFANZ APAC Advisory Board, Mr Ravi Menon, spoke on accelerating the retirement of coal fired power plants. Mr Menon highlighted on the need for a coherent strategy for the managed phaseout of coal that achieves environmental sustainability, energy security, and a just transition for communities whose livelihoods depend on coal.
UNDP, GLEIF and MAS to embark on Project Savannah to digitise basic ESG Credentials for MSMEs
22 June 2023
UNDP, GLEIF and MAS signed a Statement of Intent to embark on a collaborative initiative, Project Savannah, to develop digital ESG credentials for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide. This initiative aims to help simplify the ESG reporting process for MSMEs by leveraging on digital initiatives such as MAS’ Project Greenprint, to generate ESG data credentials that can be used to gain access to capital, supply chains, and new business opportunities in the global green economy. On 15 March 2024, the UNDP, with the support of MAS, published a whitepaper which takes the first step in articulating a starting set of ESG metrics that MSMEs worldwide can consider adopting.
MAS and SGX Group to collaborate with the Climate Data Steering Committee to strengthen global access to climate transition-related data
27 June 2023
MAS, the Secretariat of the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) and SGX signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on strengthening access by stakeholders around the world to key climate transition-related data. The CDSC-MAS-SGX collaboration will allow companies that report into MAS Project Greenprint’s ESGenome disclosure portal to transmit their data on Scope 1,2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions to the CDSC’s Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU). This will allow companies to access and transmit ESG data across both initiatives, and will enable companies to benchmark their climate-related progress against global and regional data and enhance the tracking of companies’ climate commitments.
COP28
30 November - 4 December 2022
At the launch of the Singapore Pavilion at COP28 on 30 November, MAS’ then-Managing Director, Mr Ravi Menon spoke on the key themes of decarbonisation, finance, and resilience. Mr Menon also delivered a speech at the Singapore Pavilion Finance Day hosted by MAS on 3 December, where he emphasised on the need to get credibility, incentives and partnerships right. In the same speech, Mr Menon launched the (i) Singapore-Asia Taxonomy, which is the first taxonomy in the world to comprehensively define transition activities across eight focus sectors; (ii) GFANZ Report on Financing the Managed Phaseout of Coal-Fired Power Plants in Asia Pacific; (iii) TRACTION, which is a coalition of ecosystem players to help identify barriers and potential solutions to develop transition credits as a viable market solution; and (iv) Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership, or FAST-P, a blended finance platform.
On 4 December, Mr Menon delivered a speech in his capacity as Chair of the NGFS on how central banks and supervisors were stepping up to facilitate climate action. In this speech, Mr Menon launched the NGFS Technical Document on Scaling up Blended Finance for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation in Emerging Market and Developing Economies.
- Speech by MAS’ Managing Director Mr Ravi Menon, “Central Banks and Supervisors Step Up Climate Action”, delivered on 4 December 2023, at the COP28 Singapore Pavilion Finance Day
- Speech by MAS’ Managing Director Mr Ravi Menon, “Getting Transition Finance Right”, delivered on 3 December 2023, at the COP28 Singapore Pavilion Finance Day
- Speech by MAS’ Managing Director Mr Ravi Menon, “Singapore - Catalysing Climate Solutions”, delivered on 30 November 2023, at the Launch of COP28 Singapore Pavilion
- Speech by MAS’ Managing Director Mr Ravi Menon, “Climate Action Through Partnership, Innovation, and Finance”, delivered on 30 November 2023, at the Climate Leaders' Assembly
MAS, Allied Climate Partners (ACP), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Temasek establish a green investments partnership in Asia
3 December 2023
MAS, ACP, IFC, and Temasek announced a green investments partnership to bridge gaps in Asia's sustainable infrastructure financing needs through the deployment of blended finance, crowding in both concessional capital from the philanthropic and public sectors, as well as private capital towards marginally bankable sustainable projects.
Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and MAS Establish Energy Transition Acceleration Finance Partnership in Asia
5 December 2023
MAS, ADB and GEAPP announced an energy transition acceleration finance partnership to mobilise concessional capital from the philanthropic and public sectors, de-risk projects, and crowd-in private capital to finance energy transition projects in Asia. MAS, ADB and GEAPP have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate financing for transition projects including the early phaseout of coal assets to be replaced with renewable energy, and decarbonisation projects in hard-to-abate sectors.
3rd International Energy Agency (IEA) Finance Industry Advisory Board (FIAB) Meeting – Asia Pacific
15 April 2024
MAS supported the 3rd IEA FIAB meeting co-organised by the IEA, GFANZ Asia Pacific Network and Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA). At the meeting, participants exchanged views on recent and upcoming IEA analyses such as the IEA World Energy Investment Report and the IEA Southeast Asia Energy Outlook. Participants also shared their experience and views on how different sources of capital and finance tools can contribute to energy transition efforts across the region.
MAS collaborated with regulatory counterparts in global fora to deepen analysis and oversight of environmental risk
International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)
Ongoing
As Chair of the IAIS Climate Risk Steering Group (CRSG), MAS is steering and supporting the IAIS’ review of the Insurance Core Principles guidance and its development of additional supervisory material to better incorporate climate-related risks into insurers’ governance and operations. MAS supported the inclusion of climate data elements in the IAIS’ Global Monitoring Exercise to provide a global baseline of data on climate risk for the global insurance sector. MAS also contributed to capacity-building efforts on climate scenario analysis, by developing materials for a series of workshops attended by more than 200 insurance supervisors. The CRSG has also started a review of climate disclosure issues in the insurance sector.
Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF)
Ongoing
As Chair, MAS steers and supports the work of the SIF, which includes research on emerging issues and knowledge-sharing on supervisory practices. The SIF is a global network of insurance supervisors and regulators who work together to further collaborative action on sustainability issues, and to strengthen their understanding of and responses to sustainability issues facing the insurance sector.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS)
Ongoing
As member of the BCBS Task Force on Climate-related Financial Risks (TFCR), MAS supports the work of the TFCR in pursuing a holistic approach to address climate-related financial risks to the global banking system across all three pillars of regulation, supervision and disclosure. On regulation, the Committee will undertake analytical work to assess the materiality of gaps in the existing Basel framework. On supervision, the Committee will monitor the implementation of Principles for the effective management and supervision of climate-related financial risks, and also study potential complementary work related to banks' transition planning and use of climate scenario analyses. On disclosure, the Committee is developing a set of bank-specific Pillar 3 disclosure requirements.
Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)
Ongoing
As a founding member of the NGFS, MAS is actively involved in the network, which is a voluntary grouping of central banks and regulators coming together to contribute to the development of environmental and climate risk management in the financial sector, and mobilising mainstream finance to support the transition towards a sustainable economy. MAS’ then-Managing Director, Mr Ravi Menon, served as Chair of the NGFS for two years and stepped down in January 2024.