1. Distinguished guests, friends, and colleagues, I am delighted to welcome you to the Impact Investing Roundtable 2024, or the IIR, a partner event of Ecosperity. The IIR is a flagship event co-organised by the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices and Temasek.
2. This year’s roundtable focuses on Ensuring Climate Resilience and an Inclusive Transition in Emerging Markets, a crucial issue given the climate crisis.
3. The climate crisis is a social as much as an environmental challenge, affecting the lives of millions. It disproportionately affects poor and marginalised communities and is intrinsically linked to issues of health, economic hardship, and displacement.
4. This is especially acute in Asia.
a. The region accounts for half of global carbon dioxide emissions.
b. Temperatures are projected to rise twice as fast in Asia than the global average, with profound consequences to island and coastal communities vulnerable to coastal flooding.
c. For more than 340 million smallholder farmers in Asia, any increments in heat or rain will lead to profound changes in crop yields.
d. Without climate action, the Swiss Re Institute projects that Asia’s GDP will shrink by almost a third by 2048 (in less than 25 years).
5. However, there are reasons to be hopeful.
Asia fueled about two-thirds of global growth in 2023 and has been deemed by the IMF to be a “bright spot in a lethargic global economy”.
a. There is a corresponding increase in philanthropic potential, with 35% of wealth in the hands of Asian millennials by 2030.
b. In a study conducted by Accenture in 2021, more than ¾ (77%) of youth in Asia aspire to be part of the green economy.
c. Impact investing has emerged as a major tool to address sustainability challenges and presents opportunities for investors aiming to deliver purpose and profit.
d. According to the Global Impact Investing Network, only about 25% of impact investors’ AUM as of 2023 is allotted to Asia. There is much room for growth, with almost half (42%) of respondents planning to increase investments in Southeast Asia in the next 5 years.
6. Impact investing will enable catalytic capital to flow to areas of high need and high impact.
7. The IIR reflects the coordinated efforts of the Temasek and Temasek Trust ecosystems to ensure sustainable returns for people and planet.
8. Let me say a bit about Temasek Trust. Temasek Trust was established in 2007 to provide financial governance of Temasek’s community gifts, and act as a steward of philanthropic assets, an advocate of sustainability, and a catalyst of positive impact.
9. These roles are anchored by four strategic priorities – Planet, People, Peace, and Progress. Given the scale and complexity of the challenges, we need to have a fifth P - ‘Partnerships’ - which underpins all that we do. We continue to forge partnerships with global, regional, and national bodies, across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. We believe that together, we go further, faster.
10. TT launched CIIP in June 2022 to foster impact investing and practices in Asia. CIIP builds knowledge assets to enhance capabilities and champions credible, practical industry standards. CIIP also convenes stakeholders with entities including UNDP, B Lab, and GIIN.
11. CIIP's research has been useful in engaging regional partners. For example, through their financial inclusion study, CIIP has engaged ASEAN’s Working Committee on Financial Inclusion, a sectoral body that coordinates policy initiatives to advance financial inclusion in the region.
12. CIIP’s next study addresses themes tied to our discussions today: supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, in the sustainable supply chain transition. They have embarked on this with a key partner in Khazanah Nasional.
a. Increasingly stringent regulations related to ESG disclosures, coupled with geopolitical tensions and a shift from ‘just in case’ to ‘just in time’, have caused corporates to rethink the design of their supply chains.
b. Khazanah and CIIP are seeking to understand the views and needs of MSMEs in this transition. MSMEs may lose commercial and financial opportunities should they be ill-equipped in their sustainability journeys. Given the importance of MSMEs in this region, especially when it comes to job creation, this risk must be addressed.
We will hear more on this effort later today.
13. CIIP is also involved in two key initiatives to accelerate capital allocation toward impact outcomes. They are initiatives where we welcome your partnership.
14. First, is to build momentum through the Amplifier. This is a 12-month mentorship programme organised by CIIP and the Philanthropy Asia Alliance, as a Temasek Trust initiative to catalyse dynamic multi-sectorpartnerships to prime Asia as a force for good. With support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the Amplifier aims to help start-ups overcome “the valley of death” and guide them on their journey towards commercial sustainability. As of now, the Amplifier counts 30 funds, corporates, and professional service providers as partners. We are delighted to welcome our first cohort of five mentees here today.
15. Secondly, we are putting in place the infrastructure for an impact marketplace. We have called this platform Co-Axis, a digital catalytic capital marketplace established with industry partners such as DBS Foundation and UBS Optimus Foundation, knowledge partners such as CIIP, and community partners such as AVPN and the Philanthropy Asia Alliance. Co-Axis stands for Collaborative Action to Accelerate Impact and Sustainability. Co-Axis connects funders, including family offices, corporates, and foundations to impact-oriented businesses, social enterprises, charitable organisations, and blended finance projects.
16. Through Co-Axis, we seek to address the problems of information asymmetry in the impact market and challenges in community support. We hope the platform will help to unlock and crowd in funding from diverse sources toward high-impact opportunities and create a community for the cross-pollination of best practices and learnings. I am delighted to share that Co-Axis has been launched this week. Whether as a funder, founder, mentor, or partner, we invite you to join Co-Axis.
17. Our theme for the IIR, ‘Ensuring Climate Resilience and an Inclusive Transition in Emerging Markets’, hopes to address the challenge as to how energy, mobility, the built environment, and agriculture can transition in such a way that communities can be uplifted in the process, and livelihoods improved.
18. We have a unique opportunity to translate discourse into action. Gathered here today we have not only investors, but MNCs, suppliers, startups, and standard setters, who provide a holistic view of supply chains.
19. We will hear about climate investing in emerging markets, about building inclusive and sustainable supply chains, and about galvanising collaborative action for impact.
20. We look forward to an afternoon of engaging talks and panel discussions, focused on our shared goal of uplifting communities and livelihoods, and enabling a just transition, so no one is left behind.
21. Let us all work together to build a better and brighter future for every generation.
22. Congratulations again to the first cohort of the Amplifier and to all involved in the launch of Co-Axis.
23. Thank you.
