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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 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 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 and power plants.
IRENA said, in the long term, an average annual investment of $210 billion was needed in renewable energy, 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 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 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. | | | | | |  | | | | Wind turbines of the Mozura wind farm are seen in Ulcinj, Montenegro, June 18, 2020. REUTERS/Stevo Vasiljevic/File Photo | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 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.” | | | | | | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | “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 | | | | | | | • | 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. | | | | | | | | | We think you may like these: | | |
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