Latest news with #GenZero
The Star
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Private green investments in South-East Asia-6 jump 43% to US$8bil in 2024, led by Malaysia and Singapore
KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE (Bernama-Xinhua): South-East Asia-6 (SEA-6) -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam -- saw a notable 43 per cent spike in private green investments to US$8 billion in 2024 compared to the previous year, with Malaysia and Singapore contributing over 60 per cent of deals. According to the latest South-East Asia's Green Economy report by Bain & Company, GenZero, Google, Standard Chartered and Temasek, power continues to hold two-thirds share of green investments in the region with an increase in deal sizes. Within the sector, solar witnessed the biggest jump (100 per cent) in investments, while waste management deals increased 60 per cent year-on-year, driven by water treatment and recycling projects. It is noted that corporations continue to lead green investments strongly in SEA, as with India and South Korea. Climate funds' and infrastructure funds' interest in the region also grew significantly by four times and 14 times, respectively. Notably, foreign investments from outside Asia Pacific (APAC) to SEA-6's green economy more than tripled over the last year, while foreign investments from APAC doubled. The report also showed that coupled with wider collaboration across APAC, the green economy could drive significant regional economic impact - with SEA-6 economies potentially reaping up to US$120 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) growth, 900,000 new jobs, and closing up to 50 per cent of the emissions gap by 2030. - Bernama-Xinhua
Straits Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Mitsubishi joins Singapore firms in climate plan to close Philippine coal plant early
The aim is to retire a 246 MW coal plant in Batangas province by 2030 and replace it with renewable energy and battery storage. PHOTO: ACEN SINGAPORE - Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation on May 7 joined Singapore's Keppel and investment platform GenZero in a climate initiative that aims to retire a Philippine coal plant early using funds from a new type of carbon credit backed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The initiative, if successful, could be a model used to shut down dozens of other coal plants early around the globe, especially in Asia which is heavily reliant on the polluting fuel. The aim is to retire a 246 megawatt (MW) coal plant in Batangas province, South Luzon, by 2030 – ahead of its scheduled closure in 2040 – and replace it with renewable energy and battery storage. Shutting it down a decade early could save 19 million tonnes of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – and cut local air pollution. The catch is that closing the plant early is costly. Replacing it with green power generation and new power lines, as well as compensation for the lost 10 years of electricity income, would cost over US$1 billion (S$1.29 billion), said Mr Eric Francia, president and chief executive of the plant's owner Acen , which is the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group. 'We're still finalising the numbers, we're talking about US$1.5 billion-plus overall cost,' he told The Straits Times at the May 5 to 8 GenZero Climate Summit 2025 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre. Fully replacing the coal plant with the same level of on-demand power would require 1,000MW of solar, 250MW of wind and 1,000MW of battery energy storage, according to The Rockefeller Foundation, which is also involved in the project. To help share the cost, Acen in 2024 teamed up with the Temasek-owned GenZero and Keppel as equity partners. On May 7, Mitsubishi and its power generation subsidiary Diamond Generating Asia joined as the new collaborators – the hope is that with Mitsubishi joining, the credits might eventually be able to be used in Japan's emissions trading scheme. The partners want to pioneer the use of transition credits to help fund the shutdown of the Acen plant. Transition credits aim to monetise the emissions savings from the early closure of coal plants. Revenue would come from the sale of high-integrity carbon credits to companies or governments, with each credit representing a tonne of emissions avoided by shutting a power plant early. The credits act as a de-risking tool for green financing. Without the credit revenues, the economics for the early closure of the plant would be hard to justify, Mr Francia said. Coal plants have a lifespan of 40 to 50 years, and investors recoup their money via long-term power-purchase contracts with utilities. Carbon finance can help bridge the gap in revenue caused by a plant's early retirement by funding the revenue loss and the costs of swopping coal power for renewable energy. In South-east Asia, coal power plants are the main source of electricity and a major source of air pollution and carbon emissions driving climate change. Many of the plants are young, with an average age of 15 years, meaning keeping them running to the end of their useful life would be highly polluting. The Singapore government regards transition credits as a key way to help accelerate the green transition in the region. The credits are nascent but have strong support from MAS, other financial institutions and large corporates. In December 2023, MAS launched the Transition Credits Coalition (Traction), which is backed by nearly 30 members. The coalition is studying ways to use and scale up deployment of the credits. And since 2023, MAS, Acen and The Rockefeller Foundation have been developing a methodology for coal transition carbon credits under the foundation's Coal to Clean Credit Initiative (CCCI), which aims to shut down dozens of coal plants early across the globe. On May 6, Verra, a non-profit certification body that issues v erified c arbon u nits for carbon reduction projects, officially approved the CCCI's methodology, the first of its kind. Mr Francia said it was likely the Acen project will use the CCCI transition credits methodology but that final approval was still needed among all the partners. He said he hoped the Singapore government might be among the buyers of the credits and linked the future price of the credits to the Republic's estimated carbon tax price of $50 to $80 per tonne of emissions in the coming years. 'We're anchoring this to the Singapore carbon tax, hopefully we would be closer to the lower end of the $50 to $80 range,' he said. The Rockefeller Foundation says the goal of the CCCI and its newly approved methodology is to retire 60 coal plants globally, many of them in Asia, by 2030. Newly released figures from the foundation shows that shutting down that many could unlock US$110 billion in public and private investment in green energy, while preventing 9,900 early deaths and generating 29,000 new jobs. The Powering Past Coal Alliance, which works to hasten the transition to clean energy, said it welcomed the Philippines coal plant initiative. The alliance is a coalition of over 180 governments, businesses and organisations, including Singapore . 'This project showcases the potential of carbon credits to fund early plant closures and help achieve a timely, secure and just transition out of coal,' said Dr Julia Skorupska, head of the alliance's secretariat. 'Accelerating the transition from coal to clean is one of the most important steps we can take to address climate risks and secure the long-term prosperity in South-east Asia,' she told ST. Large US corporations are also showing keen interest in transition credits, said Dr Nat Keohane, president of Washington-based think-tank the Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). He announced the launch of the Kinetic Coalition at the summit on May 6. He told ST that the coalition, which is hosted by C2ES acting as its secretariat, included 20 large potential buyers of the credits including PepsiCo, Amazon, Mastercard and McDonald's. The coalition aims to accelerate corporate investment in clean energy in emerging economies. 'Those 20 buyers are all saying, ' We want to be part of this journey.' The driver for them is always, how do we get clean energy and clean energy systems in our value chains,' he said. David Fogarty is deputy foreign editor at The Straits Times and senior climate writer. He also covers the environment, in areas ranging from biodiversity to plastic pollution. Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
Business Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Geopolitics, tariffs competing with climate action: Ravi Menon
[SINGAPORE] Against the backdrop of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the ability of governments and companies to undertake climate action has been hampered because they now have to contend with other priorities, said Ravi Menon, Singapore's ambassador for climate action. The ongoing escalating tariffs between the United States and its trading partners – chiefly China – would result in stagflationary pressures, which refers to a situation where an economy experiences high inflation and slow economic growth. This means that governments would be increasingly strapped as they have to divert fiscal resources to support the economy, said Menon on Tuesday (May 6), who was speaking at a panel during a sustainability conference organised by GenZero, a Temasek-backed decarbonisation investment platform. The current Russia-Ukraine war, as well as US potentially pulling its security blanket from the European Union, would mean governments stepping up their defence expenditures. Cost-of-living considerations are also featuring strongly in elections across Europe and Asia, with business uncertainties weighing down sentiments. 'It's not that people don't care about the climate. It just has to compete with other very pressing priorities,' said Menon. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 12.30 pm ESG Insights An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues. Sign Up Sign Up However, governments and businesses will eventually have to respond to a disorderly transition to a low-carbon world, he added. This refers to how delayed climate action in a bid to address the effects of climate change is disruptive for businesses and communities. 'It's better to be ahead of the game, better to start adjusting slowly but surely, step by step, so that when it comes, you are ready for a low-carbon world,' he noted. 'And I think more and more countries will start doing that. You need to fight the short-term battles – trade restrictions, economic slowdown, other pressing priorities. But there's no alternative. You got to keep investing in the future.' He also said that financial institutions and companies are not changing their long-term targets or their commitment to sustainability. But they are continuing their work with much less fanfare, by starting to zero in on the nuts and bolts of climate action.
Business Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Tencent, Temasek-backed GenZero tie up to cut one million tonnes or more of greenhouse gases via carbon credits deal
[SINGAPORE] Tech giant Tencent will have the opportunity to offtake at least one million carbon credits from GenZero's investment portfolio over 15 years under a partnership with the Temasek-backed investment platform. This will represent an estimated abatement of at least one million tonnes of greenhouse gases, said both companies in a joint statement on Tuesday (May 6). The partnership was structured to mobilise capital towards high-integrity climate solutions, enhance market transparency and strengthen trust in global carbon credit systems, it added. Tencent and GenZero said they will prioritise projects in areas where finance is most needed, while also ensuring that the projects deliver co-benefits such as improved livelihood for the local communities near where the projects are implemented. The carbon credits generated will be from projects that have been verified by international carbon standards developed by Verra or Gold Standard or the carbon crediting mechanism set out in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement – a global treaty seeking to keep global warming under 1.5 deg C by 2050. This is to ensure that the carbon credits purchased ensure real, measurable, and verifiable emissions reductions and removals. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 12.30 pm ESG Insights An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues. Sign Up Sign Up Both companies said that a core focus of this partnership is to enhance transparency and rebuild trust in international carbon markets. Criticisms over the integrity of carbon credits over the last few years have been plaguing the growth of the market. Tencent and GenZero will try to de-risk carbon projects by conducting pre-feasibility studies, and strengthen market integrity by deploying monitoring, reporting and verification technologies.. Both parties will also continue to explore opportunities to invest in and scale climate solutions by leveraging their respective networks to identify promising investment prospects that could benefit from co-investment, read the release. Frederick Teo, GenZero's chief executive officer, said that its partnership with Tencent will encompass all three of its core investment areas, which are nature-based solutions, technology-based solutions and carbon ecosystem enablers. Xu Hao, vice-president of Tencent's sustainable social value organisation, said: 'Leveraging our digital capabilities and GenZero's expertise, we aim to enhance carbon market transparency, promote innovative climate technologies, and deploy blended finance models to accelerate global transition to net zero.'
CNBC
06-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Sustainable aviation fuel an important part of decarbonization: GenZero CEO
Frederick Teo, CEO of Temasek-backed GenZero, explains how the Green Fuel Forward initiative launched with the World Economic Forum supports the aviation industry's decarbonization efforts.
