Sustainable Switch: Southeast Asia’s climate finance conundrum

Hokuriku Electric Power Co

15/09/2022 14:00

Sharon Kimathi
Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
sharon.kimathi@thomsonreuters.com
    
Hello!
Climate financing is on the agenda once again this week, as
Southeast Asian nations need to more than double their annual
investment in renewables to accelerate energy transition https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/southeast-asia-needs-210-bln-annual-investment-renewables-irena-2022-09-15/
 and to meet climate goals, according to a report released by
the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). It comes as
Singapore announced plans to overhaul its financial services
industry in a bid to cement its position https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/singapore-outlines-financial-services-overhaul-with-eye-green-finance-boom-2022-09-15/
 in a "key battleground" to fight climate change. Meanwhile,
several Japanese firms will conduct further studies to establish
an ammonia supply chain from Australia to Japan to help cut
emissions from shipping https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/australias-woodside-japanese-firms-ramp-up-decarbonisation-study-2022-09-15/
 and power plants.
    IRENA said, in the long term, an average annual investment
of $210 billion was needed in renewable energy, https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/southeast-asia-needs-210-bln-annual-investment-renewables-irena-2022-09-15/
 energy efficiency and to support technologies and
infrastructure in the period to 2050 to limit a global
temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The investment is more
than two and a half times the amount currently planned by
Southeast Asian governments to reach their goals, IRENA said.
Southeast Asia is home to 25% of the world's geothermal
generation capacity, but the region also has major coal
reserves.
    
Elsewhere in the region, the Monetary Authority of Singapore
(MAS) released an 'Industry Transformation Map 2025' plan to
fight climate change https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/singapore-outlines-financial-services-overhaul-with-eye-green-finance-boom-2022-09-15/
 by mobilizing capital to support sustainable financing and
green fintech. The plan will include a S$100 million ($71
million) fund over five years to support sustainability within
the finance sector, in addition to measures which will
streamline corporate structures used by investment funds. It
will also provide a S$400 million investment in local talent
within the industry.
    
Further afield, several Japanese firms and Australia’s Woodside
Energy said on Thursday they would conduct further studies on
carbon capture in shipping https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/australias-woodside-japanese-firms-ramp-up-decarbonisation-study-2022-09-15/
 and power plants to help cut emissions. Woodside will work with
Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp, Marubeni Corp, Hokuriku
Electric Power, Kansai Electric Power, Tohoku Electric Power and
Hokkaido Electric Power. The feasibility study will track the
work completed last year on the viability of producing ammonia
from natural gas, capturing the carbon released in the process
and storing or using it, and utilizing the ammonia for marine
fuel or in power generation, they said in a joint statement.

Talking Points 
- Euro zone governments have raised 15 billion euros ($15
billion) from green bonds over the last two weeks, https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/european-governments-defy-market-volatility-with-green-bond-bonanza-2022-09-15/
 pushing volumes above a year ago even as heightened volatility
cuts issuance in the broader market.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest nearly $3
billion in projects to reduce climate-harming emissions https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-farm-agency-triple-investment-climate-friendly-farming-2022-09-14/
 from farming and forestry, tripling the funding it had
initially envisioned for the program, the agency announced.
- Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of the outdoor apparel
brand Patagonia, said he is giving away https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/patagonia-founder-gives-away-company-help-fight-climate-crisis-2022-09-14/
 the company to a trust that will use its profit to fight the
climate crisis.
- Meet Tim Duncan, the founder of Talos Energy, a decade-old
offshore oil firm with fewer than 450 employees. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-oil-executive-making-big-bet-combating-climate-change-2022-09-14/
 Duncan has jumped to the forefront of the energy industry's
greenhouse gas reduction efforts. 
- Breakingviews: A 10% drop in the price of oil in the past two
weeks, and a 30% drop since mid-summer, https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/oil-vs-esg-2022-09-13/
 might dampen pushback against environmentally based investing.
    
In Conversation
Aniela Unguresan, founder of the Economic Dividends for Gender
Equality (EDGE) Foundation, a global gender equality assessment
organization
“Claiming to adhere to best practice ESG or diversity, equity,
and inclusion (DE&I) policies doesn’t mean an organization holds
themselves accountable towards them, nor that they have taken
positive steps to implement meaningful change. For some, it’s
simply about improving their corporate image.
“The challenge presently is that ESG ratings and scoring can
vary, so for organizations to avoid accusations of
‘Pinkwashing’, we need standardized, independent verification
and third-party certification of an organization’s policies and
actions. 
“Organizations will find themselves disclosing ever greater
levels of ESG-related information. This data needs to be
categorized and assessed from a quality perspective;
stakeholders need to be able to distinguish a difference between
the compliant and non-compliant, reliable and unreliable.
“Proper change needs the public and corporate investors to speak
up and demand the continual raising of the bar so that whatever
is labeled as ESG – be it a product, a service or an investment
– becomes ever more compliant with standards that themselves
become better defined, more accurate, and stringent.
 “Organizations that hold themselves up to independent scrutiny,
rather than ‘marking their own homework’ will be the ones who
reap the rewards from being ethically responsible.”
    
ESG Lens
   
 
European Union lawmakers voted to raise the bloc's targets to
expand renewable power and save energy, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-parliament-backs-higher-targets-renewables-energy-savings-2022-09-14/
 backing proposals that had been made more ambitious in a bid to
quickly end Europe's reliance on Russian gas. The vote happened
as, separately, the European Commission proposed a package of
emergency measures https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/eu-propose-crisis-measures-curb-energy-price-spike-2022-09-14/
 to pull down soaring energy prices this winter, including
windfall profit levies on energy firms.
    
ESG Movers and Shakers 
- Global waste solutions company Blue Planet Environmental
Solutions has hired Vipul Shah as an advisor to its Board. Shah
served as chief operating officer for petrochemicals at Reliance
Industry. He also spent 26 years with Dow Chemicals, where he
held several senior executive positions from country manager for
the Indian sub-subcontinent to managing director and CEO of Dow
Chemical International.
- U.S.-based renewables recruitment firm Kelly has named tenured
vice president Keilon Ratliff as the company's first chief
diversity officer. Ratliff will lead the development and
execution of the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion
(DEI) strategy. Ratliff currently leads the company's
automotive, energy, and finance business. He joined Kelly in
2004 and has served in several key operational leadership roles
throughout his tenure.
- Ellen Friedman has been appointed as a partner in
international law firm Baker Botts within its global projects
department in New York. Friedman joins the firm from global law
firm Nixon Peabody, where she was co-head of the energy and
infrastructure projects team. She has experience in project
finance involving both traditional fossil and renewable energy
as well as carbon capture, renewable fuels, clean hydrogen and
other energy transition projects.
- International executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles has
hired Jonathan McBride as a global managing partner of the
firm's global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Practice.
McBride is a former head of the Presidential Personnel Office in
the Obama White House, and he also served as the global head of
inclusion and diversity at global investment company BlackRock.
He joined Heidrick & Struggles in 2021 as a partner in the DE&I
practice.
    
Quote of the Day
“In the midst of this energy emergency, the European Union’s
push to use excess profits to ease the pain of soaring energy
bills for consumers represents a crucial step forward. The only
way out of this crisis is to redouble our efforts to deliver
clean energy solutions for our residents and renovate at least
six million homes in the next year – starting with social and
low-income housing.”
Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan and Vice-Chair of the cities
climate leadership group C40
    
Looking Ahead
- Czech parliament meets to rush through legislation capping
power prices for households, the public sector and companies on
Sep. 16.
- China’s electric car maker Nio will start operation on its
first European plant and roll out the first battery swapping
station from the production line in Hungary on Sep. 16.
    
Franchise
The Great Reboot https://www.reuters.com/world/the-great-reboot/
In a trendy part of Mexico City, in a park surrounded by hipster
coffee shops and restaurants, stands a figure dressed in white https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/boon-or-threat-mexico-city-wrestles-with-influx-remote-us-workers-2022-09-13/
 with hands in prayer like a Catholic statuette: the so-called
patron saint against gentrification.
Sandra Valenzuela, a Mexican activist, created the statue to
rally neighbors against what she regards as a rising threat to
her community and others in the Mexican capital. A wave of
international visitors predominantly from the United States has
poured into Mexico City's cafes, parks and AirBnbs as they work
untethered from daily office commutes by the COVID-19 pandemic.
    

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