Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)

The GFANZ Asia Pacific (APAC) Network convened its annual GFANZ APAC Summit in Singapore on April 12, 2024. At the Summit’s Opening, Mary Schapiro, GFANZ Vice Chair, provided opening remarks to congratulate the Network on the second year of achievements. She highlighted GFANZ’s global priorities to address three main gaps in data, action, and investments to better position the financial sector to enable a global net-zero transition.   Ravi Menon, GFANZ APAC Advisory Board Chair and Singapore's Ambassador for Climate Action, gave a speech that underscored Asia’s vital role in the world’s journey towards achieving net zero by 2050. His speech can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eiKeHKW4   GFANZ also hosted a panel discussion on the unique opportunities and challenges that organizations face to mobilize capital for APAC’s net-zero transition. Esteemed panelists included Woochong Um, Managing Director General, Asian Development Bank; Gillian Koh Tan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore; Naina Subberwal Batra, Chief Executive Officer, AVPN; and Masa Takanashi, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. Yuki Yasui, Managing Director, GFANZ APAC moderated the panel.   The Summit Opening was followed by a CEO Roundtable Luncheon. Ravi Menon welcomed senior executives before a session on the role and vitality of transition finance to the region’s net-zero ambitions. To further set the scene, Edmund Lin, Chairman of South-East Asia Bain, gave an overview of transition finance trends in the APAC region. Before participants engaged in their roundtable discussion over lunch, a fireside chat included Masamichi Kono, Trustee, IFRS; Surendra Rosha, Co-CEO APAC, HSBC; and Boon-Chye Loh, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Exchange, who addressed the crucial role of transition plans in accelerating transition finance. Anna Skarbek, Chief Executive Officer, Climateworks Centre, moderated.   Thank you to the speakers, participants, and the GFANZ APAC team for organizing the Summit – Yuki Yasui, Vanessa Ng, Tim Chan, Joyce Khoh, Srivats Sankar, and Sei Howe NG.

Asia and Pacific Audiences:   On April 12th, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) APAC Summit's Opening seeks to highlight GFANZ's leadership role in bringing GFANZ to Asia Pacific and Asia Pacific to GFANZ.   APAC is a region with industries crucial to the net-zero transition, and its efforts aim to showcase how greater energy security, more resilient cities and infrastructure, and sustainable growth can limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. However, much more is needed. This is why GFANZ's Regional Network was launched - to help support a transition that is both globally inclusive and locally effective.   Supported by GFANZ's knowledge, resources, and capacity building, institutions in the region's financial sector are making individual net-zero commitments, utilizing the net-zero transition plan framework, and unlocking capital flows to invest in clean energy and the decarbonization of high-emitting industries. The Summit Opening will feature speeches by GFANZ Vice-Chair Mary Schapiro, GFANZ Advisory Board Chair Ravi Menon, and GFANZ Managing Director Yuki Yasui. We invite you to follow the conversation in this virtual livestream: https://lnkd.in/e69g4pY6

On Friday, March 29, 2024, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero’s (GFANZ) Japan Chapter released a Chapter Statement supported by seventeen Japanese financial institutions to send a powerful message on net zero to stakeholders within Japan and beyond. The GFANZ Japan Chapter Statement was discussed at the inaugural GFANZ Japan Summit held on March 12, 2024, where leaders across Japan’s financial system agreed on the need to appropriately work together to accelerate the country’s transition to net zero. The statement highlights the importance of scaling transition finance for objectively identified high-emitting sectors and entities with credible transition plans. The statement also calls for government support, collaboration, and leadership to identify detailed transition roadmaps for high-emitting sectors and the key policy actions necessary to achieve them. Read the full press release and statement in English: https://lnkd.in/eufZQVjU and Japanese: https://lnkd.in/ezFD2ViD #GFANZ #ClimateFinance #TransitionFinance #NetZero

Last week, GFANZ’ Mark Carney provided opening remarks at the Financial Services Agency, Japan (JFSA, 金融庁)’s Kick-off Meeting of the Asia GX (Green Transformation) Consortium. GFANZ's contributions focused on transition finance and Asian case studies of private financial institutions and public institutions seeking to deploy transition finance methodologies and projects in the real economy. Japanese banks, ADB, GFANZ, and ASEAN financial authorities attended the kick-off meeting, which marks the formal commencement of Consortium activities. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e6RQ_F8T #GFANZ #Japan #ClimateFinance #TransitionFinance

On March 12, 2024, the Japan Chapter of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) convened its inaugural Summit in Tokyo. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Mark Carney, Co-Chair of GFANZ, opened the Summit with virtual speeches. The Summit brought together approximately 30 high-level leaders across the Japanese financial system including CEOs and senior executives of leading financial institutions in Japan who are the members of Japan Chapter's Consultative Group. Financial institution representatives included Seiji Inagaki (Chair of the Board, Dai-ichi Life Insurance) and Hironori Kamezawa (Group CEO, MUFG), who are the current and incoming Chairs of the Group respectively. Government representatives included Shigeru Ariizumi (Vice Minister, Financial Services Agency) and Yo Yarimizu (Director-General, Ministry of Environment); and other representatives present such as Rintaro Tamaki (Japan Center for International Finance), Yukari Takamura (University of Tokyo), and Takeshi Mizuguchi (Takasaki City University of Economics). The participants discussed the GFANZ Japan Chapter Statement, which will be finalized for release at the end of March, in order to send a powerful message on net zero to stakeholders within Japan and beyond. #GFANZ #Japan #ClimateFinance #NetZero

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“Multilateral development banks must use all their capacities to maximise total financing from all sources to address the dual crises of climate and development. To that end, the Lab has convened private sector and World Bank leaders to develop and rapidly scale solutions to address the barriers to private investment in emerging markets and developing economies. Working together, we have prioritised the need for a simplified and consistent suite of guarantees that responds to the constraints and challenges faced by the private sector. This new platform will enable much greater scale and more rapid delivery of guarantees and therefore finance to help solve the world’s most pressing problems.” - Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance and Co-Chair of GFANZ

Thank you to Kate Wheble and the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore (BritCham) for the opportunity to talk about my 20+ years journey in #sustainablefinance and the work at Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) on #transitionfinance and #transitionplanning!

As host of the 2024 G20 meeting and COP30 in 2025, Brazil can show the world what's possible when it comes to fighting climate change, growing the economy, and spreading prosperity. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) is glad to be joining forces with BNDES to work towards a climate transition platform that will mobilize more international investment to support Brazil's ambitious green growth goals.    Brazil will also host the first GFANZ Country Chapter in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brazil has a key role to play in harnessing the power of capital markets to drive more investment to the fight against climate change, at home and abroad. https://lnkd.in/eeDzzRHG

Today, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance and GFANZ Co-Chair Mark Carney announced two new initiatives from GFANZ to help support Brazil’s ambitious climate transition plans and advance the climate finance priorities of its G20 Presidency: 1. A Climate Transition Platform for Brazil: The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and GFANZ announced their intent to develop a platform to advance Brazil’s ambitious green growth agenda as set out in the Ecological Transformation Plan (ETP). The platform will be Brazilian-led and Brazilian-designed, with BNDES support in partnership with GFANZ. 2. GFANZ Brazil Country Chapter: Building upon the launch of the GFANZ Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Network in October 2023, Brazil will host the first GFANZ Country Chapter in LAC. The Chapter will convene locally-based financial actors to raise awareness, ambition, and collaboration on climate finance and issues particularly relevant to Brazilian financial institutions. Working with the BNDES and Brazilian financial institutions, these initiatives will focus on scaling climate transition finance across the Brazilian economy in support of the Government’s ambitious green growth agenda. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gtzMZGhe #GFANZ #ClimateFinance #Brazil #ClimateTransition