Eco-Business

Tom Beloe, UNDP's Sustainable Finance Hub Director keynote at CASI

SMEs form the backbone of Asia’s supply chains and labour force across Asia’s emerging markets, yet many struggle to access the finance and insurance needed to withstand climate shocks. Eco-Business speaks to UNDP’s Tom Beloe in Hong Kong, who explains what it will take to reach them.

A large number of parked cars in Indonesia

The sector requires US$6.2 trillion by 2060 under Asean’s coordinated transition scenario, but high financing costs threaten progress, found a new study by the Asean Centre for Energy.

After a 2019 pause and two rounds of limited tenders, Singapore joins China, Germany and Japan in regulating data centre efficiency by law, while making operators' clean energy pledges binding.

Rising electricity demand from data centres is putting pressure on the country to expand generation and grid capacity, but shorter-term commitments from some operators could make it harder to recover the cost of those investments, said the country’s energy regulator.

By Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez

By Kelvin Yap and Kelvin Yap

By Siva Selan

By Rhick Lars Albay

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Electric grid in Semanggol, Perak, Malaysia

Coordinated investment, harmonised rules and protections for workers and households must underscore Southeast Asia’s push for a clean, connected power grid. By Dr Nora Yusma Mohamed Yusof

EB Studio Stronger standards and fire prevention can help, but lasting progress requires action across industries, governments and communities. By Aryo Gustomo

While there is no single prescription for energy security, strengthening 'response capacity,' such as by establishing stockpiles, substituting sources, and diversifying suppliers, is essential. The point is not to eliminate vulnerabilities altogether, but to ensure that there are options when disruption arrives. By Diego Hernandez Diaz, Luciano Di Fiori and Tiago Devesa

After a summer of apocalyptic headlines, a new survey finds that people across the political spectrum are deeply concerned about preparing for the effects of global warming. The adaptation imperative may end up being the kind of crisis that forces us to stop neglecting the green agenda and act at the necessary scale. By Simon Zadek and Natalie Samarasinghe

By Melinda Martinus

By Zenobia Chan

By Jayati Ghosh and Owen Gaffney

By Mahadi Sugiono

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Singapore’s Jeffrey Siow discusses how Asia can turn climate ambition into action and sustain momentum towards resilient, low-carbon growth as global cooperation comes under strain.

Speakers at Unlocking Capital for Sustainability Thailand 2026 discuss how private capital and blended finance can help build climate resilience across Asia Pacific.

Plenary 2 – Pricing the unpriced: Nature risk in Asia's capital markets

As nature loss emerges as a financial risk, Southeast Asia’s capital markets face pressure to price biodiversity into investment decisions.

As water stress intensifies across Thailand, speakers at Unlocking Capital for Sustainability Thailand 2026 examine how policy, finance and business can strengthen water security.

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Luanne Sieh has been group chief sustainability officer at CIMB Bank for the last eight and a half years

The Malaysia-headquartered bank's sustainability chief tells the EB Podcast about the discipline's mandate to prove value, wrestling with NGOs, and greenwashing in finance.

EB Studio Critical to the country’s energy security in the 1970s, geothermal is now re-emerging as the Philippines’ biggest clean energy advantage at a time when countries are seeking reliable, round-the-clock renewable power, says Francis Giles B. Puno, president and chief operating officer of First Gen Corporation.

Former Yale-NUS environmental social sciences professor Michael Maniates tells the Eco-Business Podcast that individual actions like going vegetarian, reducing plastic use or avoiding air travel are not only insufficient to address the climate crisis – they are counterproductive.

Government must call on development finance institutions to tap on risk management tools to make the capital-intensive technology more investible, Global Wind Energy Council’s Ann Margret Francisco tells the EB Podcast.

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