ESG

Paul Moody, managing director, global partnerships & client solutions, at the global professional body, told FA that demand in the SAR for green finance is a gateway into mainland China, and shared his thoughts on COP28.

The regional leader in green bonds will keep looking at labelling and internationally aligned standards, such as the common ground taxonomy with the EU, experts discussed at ICMA's inaugural summit. Meanwhile transition finance taxonomies are being rolled out in Chinese provinces.

ESR Group has around $156bn in total assets under management across Asia Pacific, focused on the new economy sectors of logistics, data centres and alternatives.

After the world’s first multi-currency digital bond offering was oversubscribed, a government spokesperson told FA that tokenised bonds are moving from ‘proof of concept’ into ‘production’.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore wants the credits to help with the retirement of coal plants, which account for 60% of energy supply in the region, and replace them with cleaner sources.

As ESG commitments continue to gain momentum for Asia’s institutional investors, impact investing has emerged as an important strategy in addition to ESG integration, but caution is advised.

At Hong Kong FinTech Week, panelists shared their views on the capacity for fintech developments to improve regulatory and ethical standards, including ESG, across Asia’s financial markets.

Malaysia’s Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) met last month to outline five initiatives to expedite the market’s transition to net zero. FA spoke to experts to assess the regulatory environment that Malaysia is working to cultivate, in support of climate-conscious investment.