With Southeast Asia facing a funding deficit to meet its burgeoning energy and infrastructure needs, the region needs stronger coordination, skills and transparency in elevating sustainable projects to investors. These findings, amongst 10 recommendations to government, banks and business, were shared in this report by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. The report was supported by HSBC and exclusive knowledge partner, KPMG in Singapore.
Titled “Financing Sustainable Infrastructure in ASEAN”, the report finds that underpinning Southeast Asia’s underutilisation of sustainable financing – in order to meet its vast infrastructure needs – is a lack of commonality in environmental and social (E&S) standards and risks considered by financial institutions, project developers, multilateral institutions and governments.
The findings of the study stemmed from secondary research, two working group meetings and closed-door interviews involving a total of 118 representatives from 49 organisations. These organisations included government agencies, multilateral organisations, banks and investors, and project developers, financial services companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and academics.
