Singapore should lead hub to manage ocean plastic

LAST year capped with the failure of the COP 25 UN climate talks in Madrid, which showed little progress towards limiting global warming as countries failed to agree on many of the much-needed outcomes.

One of the most contentious points was on finance, with developing countries asking for developed countries to fund climate adaptation, but developed countries pushing back, by saying it should come out of national budgets.

This failure in setting up a system to channel finance to countries facing the impact of climate change sheds light on the gap in financing. This financing gap is now being filled more and more by the private sector, as shown by the recent launch of the world's first investment fund of US$106 million, dedicated to addressing Asia's plastic crisis.