BlackRock and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), alongside other partners, will develop a new blended finance debt programme focused on industrial transformation projects under MAS’ Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) initiative.
The partners, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), and AIA Group (AIA), announced the collaboration at COP29 with the signing of a Statement of Intent (SOI).
This builds upon the broader FAST-P initiative launched by MAS at COP28 to mobilise capital for the region’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
The programme aims to mobilise capital for decarbonisation projects in Southeast Asia by expanding access for global investors seeking to finance these initiatives.
It will explore debt financing solutions for projects in hard-to-abate sectors, technology solutions for low-carbon transformation, and other industrial opportunities.
This initiative comes in response to the growing need for investment in clean energy in Southeast Asia.
According to IFC and the International Energy Agency, annual investment in clean energy needs to increase dramatically, from US$30 billion in 2022 to between US$208 and US$244 billion annually by the early 2030s.
FAST-P seeks to mobilise up to US$5 billion from public, private, and philanthropic partners to finance this transition.
Mark Wiedman, Head of Global Client Business, BlackRock, said,
“Emerging markets in Southeast Asia face hurdles in funding capital-intensive projects like decarbonisation.
BlackRock is bringing our blended finance and transition investing expertise to public-private partnerships like FAST-P, benefitting our clients and the societies in which we invest.”
Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director, Markets and Development, MAS, said,
“For Asia to transition to net zero, we must decarbonise sectors of the economy progressively, including carbon intensive or hard-to-abate sectors. Financing for businesses and sectors that seek to adopt cleaner technologies and processes, is an important enabler.
The signing of the SOI is an important step towards accelerating the transition in Asia and we are delighted to have BlackRock, IFC, MUFG, NEXI and AIA as partners in FAST-P.”
Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik
