Accelerating Impact Investments for Climate and Nature in Asia 2025

3.2 Collaboration opportunities Partnerships are essential in Asia, particularly due to the perceived or actual higher risks in the region. They provide an opportunity to distribute these risks across multiple stakeholders, including those focused on finance-first and impact-first investments. Blended finance often plays a central role in these partnerships, where public and philanthropic funds or concessionary capital are combined to unlock private sector capital and scale impact investments. Partnerships are there to really de-risk the intervention. So, when you look at a shared risk, it’s much better than taking it on yourself. Sector expert, July 2024 At COP28 in 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched FAST-P , a blended finance initiative that aims to mobilize up to $5 billion in collaboration with public, private and philanthropic sector partners to de-risk and finance green and transition projects in Asia. The Singapore government is pledging up to $500 million as concessional capital, to match dollar-for-dollar, other concessional capital from partners. FAST-P comprises three programmes targeted at Asia, with an initial focus in South-East Asia. Each programme has a different set of concessional and commercial partners and is managed by a manager with investment and impact objectives. Energy Transition Acceleration Finance partnership (ETAF): The ADB, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and MAS announced the intent to establish this partnership at COP28. ETAF focuses on energy transition projects, including early retirement of coal assets, renewable energy, and grid modernization and development. Green Investments Partnership (GIP): GIP seeks to deploy blended capital to address climate finance gaps and increase the bankability of green and sustainable infrastructure projects in Asia. GIP focuses on marginally bankable green and sustainable infrastructure in Asia, such as renewable energy and storage, electric vehicle, transport, as well as the water and waste management sectors. It is supported by Allied Climate Partners (ACP), International Finance Corporation (IFC), MAS and Temasek. Pentagreen Capital will manage and deploy capital into the target sectors. HSBC and Temasek, as the founding shareholders of Pentagreen, will commit capital to support the initiative. Industrial Transformation Programme (ITP): Asia’s ongoing urbanization and development have been a growing source of emissions. The industrial transformation investments needed in South-East Asia is about $35 billion in 2023, which increases to more than $130 billion in 2040. ITP will explore opportunities to provide debt financing to private-sector borrowers seeking to decarbonize their businesses, including projects in hard-to-abate sectors, technology solutions for the low-carbon transformation and industrial opportunities.Concessionary capital, typically provided by donors such as development finance institutions (DFIs) in the form of grants or guarantees or organizations like the ADB, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the World Bank, plays a critical role in supporting these initiatives. Many of these funds are specifically targeted at emerging markets. By accepting higher financial risks and lower returns, concessionary and philanthropic capital allows investments to address more challenging social and environmental issues,24 such as those targeted by the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) initiative, as outlined in case study 10. CASE STUDY 10 FAST-P Accelerating Impact Investments for Climate and Nature in Asia 18