Harnessing transition finance to plug Asia’s net-zero funding gap

UNTIL recently, efforts to marshal global capital in the pursuit of a cleaner, fairer world have focused primarily on companies that fall neatly inside the parameters of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment.

However, as ESG investing has moved more into the mainstream, it has excluded in the process, high-emitting industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, mining or shipping.

This is more than an academic distinction: Governments, investors and society are recognising that these industries not only need assistance – both financial and technological – to enable their transition, but in some cases, they are critical enablers of the broader transition themselves.