07-05-2025
Singapore's blended finance initiative to set up dedicated office to support Asia's decarbonisation
[SINGAPORE] The Republic's blended finance initiative aimed at supporting Asia's decarbonisation will be setting up an office with a dedicated management team to oversee the deployment of capital mobilised under this fund, said Chia Der Jiun, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
This includes the US$500 million concessional capital the Singapore government had previously committed, as well as other sources of financing from both public and private partners of the initiative.
'The office will continue to work closely with asset managers, banks, and commercial and concessional investors, to promote innovative blended finance solutions for sustainable infrastructure in the region,' said Chia, who was speaking on Wednesday (May 7) at sustainability conference Ecosperity organised by Temasek.
Known as Financing Asia's Transition Partnerships, the blended finance initiative – launched at the 2023 United Nations' climate change conference in Dubai – has a target of mobilising US$5 billion by bringing together both public and private-sector partners to de-risk and fund transition and marginally bankable green projects in Asia.
Blended finance programmes feature a mix of grants and concessional loans designed to lower the cost of capital, thereby attracting more commercial capital.
The platform had set up three funds to support three focus areas of green and transition financing since it was launched.
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The first one is a green investment partnership between MAS, Singapore investment company Temasek, the Allied Climate Partners and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation. Managed by debt financing platform Pentagreen Capital, this fund looks at investing in mature green technologies such as renewable energy.
Chia said on Wednesday that this fund will be ready to begin deploying capital in the coming months.
The second fund is a partnership between the Asian Development Bank and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet to finance Asia's energy transition.
The third fund focuses on providing debt financing to companies looking to decarbonise their businesses, including projects in hard-to-abate sectors, technology solutions for the low-carbon transformation and industrial opportunities.
