Multilateralism and robust data vital to mobilising capital for Asia Pacific’s sustainable finance gap

Singapore, 21 October: Countries across Asia Pacific will need to strengthen cross-border cooperation and integrate climate risks into investment decisions to attract public-private capital and close the region’s trillion-dollar sustainable financing gap, said regional and global leaders at the flagship Unlocking capital for sustainability summit in Singapore. 

Asia Pacific will need an estimated US$1.5 trillion in green and sustainable investments annually to meet its climate targets, yet many developing economies are falling behind due to high perceived risks, inconsistent taxonomies, and fragmented datasets. 

Dr. Amy Khor, former Senior Minister of State for Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Ministry of Transport, and the distinguished guest for the summit, described the challenge as “multi-faceted,” noting that the highest capital costs often afflict those that need financing most.  

“Bridging this gap requires mobilising all sources of capital — public, private and blended — supported by clear standards,” said Dr. Khor. “De-risking through public and philanthropic funds is essential. Building confidence, credibility and cooperation across borders will be key to unlocking scale.” 

Singapore is leading efforts to harmonise sustainable finance frameworks, introducing the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy to define credible transition activities, aligning with the ASEAN Taxonomy Board on regional definitions and harnessing digitalisation for more transparent data collection. 

Strengthening climate resilience through data  

Speakers underscored the need to systematically integrate climate adaptation capacity into investment analysis. 

Parag Khanna, founder and CEO of AlphaGeo, called for countries to assess climate vulnerability through data-driven tools. In his keynote, he unveiled a new ‘Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index’, co-developed with Henley & Partners — the first market framework to quantify countries’ exposure to geopolitical, economic, and climate risks alongside their adaptive capacity. 

“This tool is a step toward helping countries become more resilient — and ultimately more investable,” Khanna said. “Adaptability confers both credibility and capital.” 

Growing momentum for sustainable finance 

Eric Usher, Head of the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), who delivered the closing keynote observed that mainstream financial institutions increasingly recognise climate risk as material to business performance. 

“The business case for sustainable finance is clear,” Usher said. “Integrating sustainability does not mean sacrificing profit; it means de-risking portfolios and creating new growth markets.” 

Jessica Cheam, founder and CEO of Eco-Business, urged Asia Pacific leaders to double down on multilateralism amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty. 

“Asia Pacific remains a bright spot in the global economy,” Cheam said. “Green bonds and sustainability-linked instruments are surging — a result of courageous policy, innovative finance and good governance. Across the region, transition finance and climate adaptation are gaining real traction.” 

Sustainable debt issuance in Asia Pacific showed strong growth compared to the US and Europe, reaching US$274 billion in the first seven months of 2025 – excluding asset-backed securities.  

Financing the future of a region in transition 

Organised by Eco-Business in partnership with UNEP FI, the 2025 summit themed “Financing the future: Actions for a region in transition” convened more than 100 decision-makers from government, finance, industry and academia. 

It also featured a call for submissions to The Liveability Challenge, a global competition for deep-tech, climate innovations presented by Temasek Foundation that is in its ninth edition with a record amount of funding of S$4M available for start-ups.

Strategic partners included AIA Group, BDO Unibank, RGE, and United Overseas Bank (UOB), with City Developments Limited (CDL), Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), OCBC Bank, Pollination, and Swiss Re as supporting partners. 

Quotes from business leaders:

Eric Lim, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, UOB: “Now more than ever, we embrace our role not just as financiers, but as partners enabling sustainable growth across a region in transition. By empowering companies to navigate this evolving landscape with clarity and purpose, it supports them to adopt more resilient business models, invest in greener operations and drive long-term positive change. Our partnership exemplifies our shared conviction to turn ambition into action, ensuring that the region’s growth story continues to be one of cooperation, collaboration, and sustainable development.” 

Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited (CDL): “Financing the future demands that sustainable finance becomes the backbone of how we build and invest. At CDL, we see the natural environment as a vital stakeholder in our business, and we have a clear strategic commitment to nature-positive developments, woven into every phase of our real estate lifecycle. With nature-based solutions and robust ESG metrics, we aim to mobilise capital that supports resilient growth, mitigates systemic risks, and protects ecosystems for generations.” 

Atty. Federico P. Tancongco, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, BDO Unibank, Inc.: “Financing the region’s future demands bold action and collaboration. At BDO, we’ve proven that sustainable finance is viable and scalable through financial instruments. Between 2022 and 2025, our four ASEAN Sustainability Bonds raised ₱287 billion ($4.95 billion USD)—each oversubscribed by 10 to 23 times—funding projects in biodiversity conservation, sustainable fisheries, ocean health, renewable energy, employment generation, and food security. This reflects our shared commitment to help accelerate Southeast Asia’s transition and make sustainability a shared pathway to long-term prosperity.” 

Craig Tribolet, Director of Sustainability and External Affairs, APRIL Group: “Biodiversity protection is not just an environmental issue – it’s a global economic imperative. Understanding specific nature-related risks, as well as having the opportunities to partner with communities to deliver lasting economic and environmental benefits, are essential for resilience and sustained growth.”  

Veng Hoong Loh, Vice President, Swiss Re Risk Data Solutions: “The insurance industry plays a vital role in building climate resilience. At Swiss Re, we combine risk-transfer expertise with risk-intelligence from our Risk Data Solutions platform to help governments and businesses assess and quantify extreme weather-related risks or to inform investors.” 

The event also included a dedicated masterclass on 22 October at SGX Centre on the topic of “Advancing an inclusive and credible transition in Southeast Asia”, exploring the role of finance in the Just Transition and featuring insights from Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), UNEP Finance Initiative, Standard Chartered Bank, DBS Bank and Olam Agri.  

Unlocking capital for sustainability is hosted in six markets across Asia in 2025. It held the Hong Kong edition in March, Jakarta in June, Kuala Lumpur in July, Manila in August, Bangkok in September and concluded with the main summit in Singapore in October. 

For more information on Unlocking capital for sustainability, visit our website. 

– Ends –    

Notes to Editors:       

For enquiries or photos, please contact:       

Mark Rao, Eco-Business      

mark.rao@eco-business.com     

About Eco-Business      

Established in 2009, Eco-Business is Asia Pacific’s leading media and advisory platform dedicated to sustainable development. It publishes high quality, trusted content that advances dialogue and enables measurable impact on a wide range of sustainable development and responsible business issues. Eco-Business is headquartered in Singapore, with a presence in Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and correspondents across major cities in Asia Pacific. Visit www.eco-business.com.   

About UNEP FI      

UNEP Finance Initiative brings together a large network of banks, insurers and investors that collectively catalyses action across the financial system to deliver more sustainable global economies.      

For more than 30 years the initiative has been connecting the UN with financial institutions from around the world to shape the sustainable finance agenda. We’ve established the world’s foremost sustainability frameworks that help the finance industry address global environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges.     

Convened by a Geneva, Switzerland-based secretariat, more than 500 banks and insurers with assets exceeding US$170 trillion work together to facilitate the implementation of UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Banking and Principles for Sustainable Insurance, as well as three UN-convened net-zero alliances. Financial institutions work with UNEP FI on a voluntary basis, and we help them to apply the industry frameworks and develop practical guidance and tools to position their businesses for the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy.      

Founded in 1992, UNEP FI was the first organisation to engage the finance sector on sustainability and incubated the Principles for Responsible Investment, now the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment.      

Today, we cultivate leadership and advance sustainable market practice while supporting the implementation of global programmes at a regional level across Africa & the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean and North America. More details about UN Environment can be found at www.unepfi.org.    

About Unlocking capital for sustainability      

Unlocking capital for sustainability is an annual flagship event organised by Eco-Business in partnership with UNEP FI that brings together high-level decision makers in finance, business, government and civic society to discuss and commit to actionable initiatives that mobilise the capital markets for sustainable development projects. Our full list of knowledge partners – past and present – can be found on our website: www.unlockingcapitalforsustainability.com.