Happy New Year and Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024.
Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFi) is a community of private investors who believe in catalysing capital towards sustainable finance. In our monthly newsletter, we'll share Asia impact deal news, 3 Things in Impact, and upcoming SFi and other relevant events.
In recent sustainable finance ASIA IMPACT DEAL NEWS...
ADM Capital Launches First Impact Fund: The Asia Climate-smart Landscapes Fund: The Indonesia-focused impact fund has secured seed commitments from Ceniarth, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies and RS Group and is targeting total commitments of up to USD200 million in further closes.
ADB Backs Databourg’s $1M Seed Funding for Climate Resilient Tech: The Luxembourg-based company specializes in innovative weather monitoring and is already operational in the Philippines, with plans to expand to Indonesia and Sri Lanka by the first quarter of 2024.
Singapore's OCBC to launch 500m Decarbonization Fund: Joined by an investment company affiliated with the Development Bank of Japan, the fund will focus on Southeast Asia.
Read on for 3 Things in Impact...
1.The World in 2024 - Govt's to start cleaning up industry
The Economist's 2024 outlook predicts that governments will move focus from visible polluters such as energy and transport to industry and the production of materials essential to everyday life, which currently makes up nearly double the greenhouse emissions than transport.
The Opportunity: For Innovators and investors looking at green industry via renewable electricity and decarbonisation technologies.
View more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMVF0PPqZI
2. China stokes Asia-Pacific demand for sustainable finance despite rising interest rates
Excerpt:
In the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan, issuance of green and sustainability-related bonds raised US$134 billion in the current year to December 11, compared with US$136.7 billion for the whole of last year, according to LSEG.
China accounted for 58.6% and transition finance is set to become a pivotal element in China’s sustainable finance landscape as the current scope and scale of green finance in China is insufficient for achieving the nation’s goal to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 according to KPMG China.
3. The UN wants us to "invest in women: accelerate progress"
We are facing a key challenge in achieving gender equality and women’s well-being : the alarming $360 billion annual deficit in gender-equality measures by 2030. The United Nations reports that conflicts and rising prices may lead 75% of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively impacting women and their essential services resulting in a huge need for female-focused funding.
Read on for 5 key areas needing joint action in honour of 2024 International Women's Day: https://www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day
photo credit: UN Women Americas and the Caribbeans
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With the very best wishes,
SFi Team