The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched the ESG Impact Hub to drive collaboration and co-location between ESG fintech startups and solution providers, financial institutions and real economy stakeholders. The launch was officiated by Ravi Menon, Managing Director of MAS.
Located at The Great Room at Afro-Asia which provides catered hotdesking and dedicated office packages, partners will also be eligible to access the full range of The Great Room’s other offices, located across Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
The hub will also anchor industry-driven sustainability initiatives such the Point Carbon Zero Programme and KPMG’s ESG Business Foundry.
The establishment of the Hub seeks to capitalise on the strong industry interest in Project Greenprint and expedite the growth of Singapore’s ESG ecosystem on multiple fronts.
Firstly, MAS will engage knowledge partners, financial institutions and investors to organise key ESG initiatives out of the hub, such as ESG fintech accelerator programmes, training and capacity-building workshops, and thought leadership events.
The hub will also serve to grow ESG fintechs by facilitating the discovery, scaling and deployment of technology solutions to address the ESG needs of corporates and financial institutions. Among the areas of focus would be accurate measurement, reporting and verification of climate and sustainability data.
Lastly, MAS will engage the hub community to deploy its programmes and solutions to drive material, quantifiable impacts that support sectoral transition efforts, with particular emphasis on the eight focus sectors identified by the Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT).
At the time of launch, 15 ESG fintechs and organisations are already set up at the hub including Climate Impact X, KPMG, MUFG Bank, and STACS among others.
Dr Darian McBain, Chief Sustainability Officer, MAS said,
“The establishment of the ESG Impact Hub is a critical milestone in Project Greenprint’s journey to build a vibrant and robust ESG ecosystem in Singapore, underpinned by technology and data.
This physical hub will augment MAS’ plans to launch a digital Greenprint Marketplace next year to catalyse the growth of the region’s online ESG community; and will serve as the launchpad for public-private partnerships that support Asia’s just and sustainable transition to a low carbon economy.”