I am originally from India, but I moved to London as a teenager where I completed my studies and worked at my first job at Arthur Andersen. I then moved to Indonesia to work as a strategic consultant/corporate financial advisor, mainly in the mining, energy and resources sector, and spent 12 great years there. Since 2005, I've been in Singapore, which I now call home. Most of my work has involved raising capital for companies in the resources sector, including a forestry group out of Sweden with projects in Laos and Paraguay.
Look, humanity and our planet is at an inflection point. Ultimately, maintaining profits alongside our very existence is only possible by preserving the planet.
People realise this, which is why we now have a new generation of 'green investors' demanding change and holding companies accountable for their climate action. Sustainable investing is becoming the norm, not the niche. It spurs companies to mitigate their carbon emissions and negative climate actions by raising their cost of capital if they don't, so companies invest to reduce their carbon footprint by adopting climate-friendly technologies and to ultimately reduce their cost of capital.
This is how much-needed private finance is being mobilised to fight climate change. Government, public and philanthropic money can only do so much, whereas private finance, which at the moment only represents 14 percent of investments into nature-based solutions, can not only contribute much-needed capital, but also provide the financial discipline needed to channel funds to the right projects.
It's tricky though, because the average investor isn't used to dealing with conservation or climate projects. So the question is, how do we create the right tools, incentives and frameworks to channel investments into nature which, after all, generates huge value for the world's economies?
The battle against climate change will be won or lost in Asia. Six of the world's ten largest producers of carbon dioxide are in Asia, as are more than half the world's most vulnerable countries. Due to their geographic location, countries in Southeast Asia have distinct vulnerabilities that are exacerbated as a result of rising temperatures. Long coastlines and heavily populated, low-lying areas make the region one of the world's most vulnerable to weather extremes and rising sea levels associated with global warming.
At the same time, Southeast Asia faces a dual challenge. It must not only adapt to climate change caused largely by greenhouse gases emitted over decades by advanced economies, but also alter development strategies that contribute increasingly to global warming. So the plans of most countries in the region focus on climate change reduction while simultaneously promoting energy development for economic growth using coal.
At a government level, leaders in Southeast Asia have already begun to chart the region's path towards ambitious decarbonisation goals without compromising the inclusive growth of their people.
However, achieving a sustainable future by tackling climate change is a complex battle needing different innovative technologies, regulatory support, access to viable projects and huge resources in terms of funding, educating and skilling people on the ground. Therefore, in order to be successful on a large scale, we need many stakeholders coming together and working hand in hand. This means organisations putting aside egos and their own singular goals and partnering and collaborating to pool together capital, people, knowhow and other resources. This should result in better and speedier outcomes for all concerned.
In Southeast Asia, long coastlines and heavily populated, low-lying areas make the region one of the world's most vulnerable to weather extremes and rising sea levels associated with global warming.
Blended finance helps mobilise private capital by using public donor funds to mitigate the risks of investing in projects that private companies might normally shy away from. By alleviating risks for private investors, it can help provide incentives for them to take a leap on a project they may have initially been cautious about. This approach is being used to direct money into renewable energy projects and infrastructure and could also be used to finance nature-based solutions to climate change. Ultimately, blended finance is a way of co-opting market forces to drive a more sustainable future. It can make the difference between a green project that is viable and one that never gets off the drawing board.
However, the main deterrent to blended finance and how it may fund projects is simply the lack of projects of a sufficient quality. This is where there is great scope for firms such as South Pole to partner up with philanthropic foundations, investors and governments via their development finance institutions to help channel private capital into the right projects in an effective way. South Pole has tremendous experience in developing climate-based projects, but we also work with numerous governments, philanthropic foundations and private sector organisations to ensure we can match quality projects with investment.
One great example of how South Pole is doing this is through the use of Technical Assistance Facilities (TAFs), which help early stage projects become more investment ready, thus helping to de-risk and make them more attractive for private investment capital.
Running a successful cricket club takes a lot of passion, honesty, commitment and perseverance. I believe the same holds true with our battle against climate change and mobilising finance to help in this fight. We need to strongly believe in what we are doing and have the passion and commitment to follow through.
A cricket club is also about mobilising and inspiring a group of people to all pull towards the same goals and objectives at the same time, and again, the same holds true in our battle against climate change. No one person can do it alone. It's about getting everyone to act in concert to ensure eventual success and to NEVER GIVE UP!
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