A green planet is good for business

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: What challenges - and opportunities - are there for businesses as they decarbonise their operations?

Deborah Ho Head, SEAsia and Country Head, Singapore BlackRock

We need to think long-term - a successful transition to net zero will need new technologies to generate, store, and distribute clean energy; to decarbonise manufacturing, agriculture and transport; and to capture carbon emissions. The opportunities are immense - and a successful net-zero transition could drive as much as 25 per cent higher GDP growth over the next 2 decades for Asean. The net-zero transition represents an investment opportunity of about US$50 trillion globally, and Asia will require at least US$1.7 trillion a year of investments in sustainable infrastructure through 2030. While investors today are still more used to sustainable investment strategies based on global exposures, localisation and commitment to individual markets is increasingly likely from larger investors. In Asia, there's a clear trend towards sustainable infrastructure, and those flows are rapidly coming through.