The Asia Climate Finance Podcast

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com  Decarbonisation efforts start with the commitment by a government. Once the broad policy is set, the real hard work of regulation begins. To understand and advance sustainable finance it is absolutely imperative to understand this work. In this episode our guest is Eugene Wong who shares his unique insights on the Southeast Asian experience. Eugene is the Chief...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Industry practitioners are a key source to understand the business and finance of the energy transition in Asia. In episode 37’s we have a conversation  is Robert McGregor. Robert is the Chief Corporate Development Officer of Gurīn Energy, a pan-Asia renewable energy company. He has a long, illustrious, and unique career in the energy industry first in the UK and...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com  Corporates all over the world are under immense pressure to address their carbon footprint.  They must worry about their own footprint as well as that of other companies their linked with, such as their suppliers. In this episode I chat with a specialist in this area, Albert Sutanto. Albert is the Southeast Asia Markets Manager at Mt. Stonegate Green Asset Manag...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Asia will account for 50% or more of global energy transition investments in the next three plus decades. Financing is of primary importance and is a challenge. In this episode, Andrew Kinloch, a leading infrastructure finance expert, discusses some of these challenges. He looks at financing renewable energy projects in general and then he discusses in detail som...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com The development of China's solar industry is key to the nation’s as well as the world’s net zero ambitions. Installed capacity was 392 GW in 2022 and is set to continue to grow further. In this episode, we speak to Frank Haugwitz who has been involved in the sector for over two decades. He is a Senior Advisor and China Representative of Apricum , a transacti...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Sustainability and green finance can be highly complex subjects as they comprise a multitude of disciplines. Recent years have seen the creation of a variety of advisor and consulting firms specialising on sustainability. In this episode, Wee Boon Siong , CEO of RHT Green which specialises in advising on sustainability and green finance, discusses how RHT Green h...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Carbon exchanges are an important component of sustainable finance as they enable the sale of carbon credits to reduce emissions. In this episode, we have Bill Pazos, Co-founder and Co-CEO of the AirCarbon Exchange (ACX), which won Environmental Finance’s Best Carbon Exchange award twice. The discussion starts with an overview of the role of carbon exchanges and...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com A circular economy transforms goods nearing the end of their useful life into resources for reuse. It aids climate action in three ways . It complements decarbonization measures, it supports the sustainable scaling of the clean energy transition, and it enhances adaptation to a changing climate. The value creation opportunity is US$4.1 trillion, according to one...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Hundreds of billions of dollars in global assets follow ESG principles. The massive growth seen in the past few years is set to continue, estimate various investments banks. This means that ESG research has become one of the pillars of green finance, socially responsible investing, impact investing and the like and is becoming part and parcel of standard investme...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Offshore wind generation capacity is one of the fastest growing forms of green energy globally. It will rise 10-fold this decade – to 330 GW by 2030 from about 34 GW in 2020 –based on one estimate (Wood McKenzie) and will need tens of billions of dollars. Our guest, Mark Hutchinson is one of Asia’s leading veteran experts in the energy sector in general and clean...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com The Blue Economy’s annual turnover is US$3–6 trillion ( UN ), which some estimate will double by 2030 , presents a growing opportunity for business and investment. In this episode, Dr Mike Abundo, CEO of OceanPixel , first offers a clear and detailed definition of the Blue Economy, its ecosystem, including ocean and marine clean energy, as well as the intersectio...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com The global carbon markets are an important source for funding the decarbonisation needed to mitigate the climate crisis. The compliance and the voluntary global carbon markets amount to almost US$1 trillion or so. They are set to grow dramatically. The smaller of the two, the voluntary one, will grow five-fold by 2030 from US$2 billion in 2022, Shell and BCG expe...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com The Japanese government should be treating decarbonisation with the outmost importance and urgency.  It is one of the largest energy consumers in the world – fifth largest oil consumer for example –and it is almost totally reliant on fossil fuel imports. The authorities did set out a net zero road map which has been broadly criticised for not being robust. Our gu...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com  The Asian and global electric vehicle market is massive and growing fast. One of the many forecasts put the value of the sector to rise six-fold, to almost $1,110 billion by 2030 from about $180 million in 2021. Key to the growth of EVs, and thus to decarbonisation and the energy transition, is the charging and the companies that operate the charging infrastruct...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com The real estate sector accounts for about two-fifths of global carbon dioxide emissions meaning it plays a direct key role in decarbonisation and a major indirect role in the energy transition. This is something particularly important to Asia given the region has eight of the top ten largest urban agglomerations worldwide. Our first guest for 2023 is Johan Tellvi...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com In Episode 23, the last for 2022, we measure the current temperature of the energy transition in some key Asia economies with one of the region’s most experienced and respected energy economist and consultant, Mike Thomas. He explains how the region is rapidly transitioning today though it came very late in the game. He broadly talks about the great amount of inv...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com It is a ideal time to take a temperature check of the state of sustainable finance in Asia as the year draws to an end. The episode’s guest is an expert in all things sustainable finance given his background and interactions with regulators, corporations, and investors. Tasos Zavitsanakis if the head of Sustainable Finance for Greater China at UBS’ APAC Sustainab...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Our guest is Jan Napiorkowski, global head of clean energy at Ariel Re . Jan first discusses his background and his work in insurance in clean energy, an area which is vital to sustainable finance. The elephant topic! Then we launch into two sections. In the first part of the episode, we look at some of the basics. Namely, the insurance and reinsurance of clean e...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Welcome to the 20th episode. Our guest is Nicolas Leong from Wärtsilä Energy , based in Tokyo. We first discuss the company, a leading technology provider, as a case study of a firm heavily involved in the energy transition and decarbonization in Asia.  A firm which, amongst other things, is focused on grid balancing gas engines and energy storage systems. Nicola...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Andrew Koscharsky, Energy Markets Project Director at Australia’s Squadron Energy , shares his views on Singapore as a Asian clean energy hub at the operational level and at the sustainable finance levels. We compare and contrast two highly different clean energy markets Singapore and Australia and he evaluates key recent developments and challenges they each mar...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Brief yet comprehensive discussion on current developments in climate finance in mainland China, Hong Kong, in Taiwan. We first touch on the recent evolution of international Environmental and Social Performance Standards related to project financing. We then discuss what international banks require to make a project “bankable”. We talk about some of ERM’s experi...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Southeast Asia is a massively important region given its population of almost 700 million and fast-growing energy consumption of 30 exajoules – the EU’s was 57 EJ. Many of the individual economies in the region are in the process of decarbonizing. Given the bulk of them are still developing, financing the energy transition is a crucial aspect. We discuss with one...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com SUMMARY. We discuss with Fulvio Bartolucci the current state as well as the future of renewable energy trading in the world’s largest electric power market, China. Fulvio, a highly experienced industry participant and GM at Tera Energies , first provides his insights on the nation's energy transition from brown to green emphasising the country’s advantages a...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Summary. In-depth discussion with UBS Global Wealth Management’s Stephanie Choi about sustainable investing (SI) and finance. The discussion first puts SI into the global context as well as the regional one. Then Stephanie tackles SI products from a variety of perspective. Stephanie also clearly unpacks some of the SI critique which has been grabbing headlines re...

Comments/ideas: ACFpod@outlook.com Summary. Ep.14 is a comprehensive, insightful, and honest discussion on ESG and sustainable finance and investing with Matt Orsagh, a thought leader on the subject. It is a lively two-way chat covering all of the latest key trends and developments globally and putting Asia in the global context. Matt also honestly addresses why we are where we are and where we ar...