Three keys to unlocking climate finance

OCBC sees proper risk allocation and regulatory actions as levers in successful climate financing

Scaling up climate finance is more urgent than ever.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme's Emissions Gap Report 2023, the world is heading towards a temperature rise of 2.9 deg C by the end of this century.

The report calls for all nations to "accelerate economy-wide, lowcarbon development transformations".

Developing countries alone require an investment of some US$1.1 trillion annually to meet mitigation and adaptation needs, according to an International Monetary Fund report. But they are only getting US$333 billion.

This presents a complex challenge for policymakers and businesses alike.

"A key challenge before us is to rapidly scale up currently available solutions, even as we work on the commercial viability of new technologies," says OCBC's group chief sustainability officer, Mike Ng.

He notes that according to the International Energy Agency, for net zero in 2050, technologies not yet available on the market would be required to deliver a significant portion of the emissions reduction.

"Newer solutions that would accelerate our climate transition ranging from green hydrogen, to sustainable aviation fuel and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) - are still in early stages of development, making the bankability of such projects a key issue," he says.

Looking ahead, "out-of-the-box" thinking from all quarters - be it policymakers, financial institutions or businesses - will be crucial to tackling such issues in the climate crisis, says Ng.

In his view, three areas are critical to unlocking and accelerating climate finance: risk allocation, enabling policies and what he calls "scaling scalability".

NO SUCH THING AS AN 'UNBANKABLE' PROJECT

What exactly is bankability? There is no concrete definition; one bank may find a transaction bankable, while another may not, explains Ng.