A circular economy transforms goods nearing the end of their useful life into resources for reuse. It aids climate action in three ways. It complements decarbonization measures, it supports the sustainable scaling of the clean energy transition, and it enhances adaptation to a changing climate. The value creation opportunity is US$4.1 trillion, according to one estimate. Our guest, Ellen Martin from Circulate Capital, is greatly involved in investing in this space. In the podcast, she first...

Hundreds of billions of dollars in global assets follow ESG principles. The massive growth seen in the past few years is set to continue, estimate various investments banks. This means that ESG research has become one of the pillars of green finance, socially responsible investing, impact investing and the like and is becoming part and parcel of standard investment research. In this episode, one of the region’s most respected ESG analysts, Charles Yonts who heads Asian ESG Research at...

Offshore wind generation capacity is one of the fastest growing forms of green energy globally. It will rise 10-fold this decade – to 330 GW by 2030 from about 34 GW in 2020 –based on one estimate (Wood McKenzie) and will need tens of billions of dollars. Our guest, Mark Hutchinson is one of Asia’s leading veteran experts in the energy sector in general and clean energy in particular. In our conversation we first discuss the current state of the US and European offshore wind markets. We then...

The Blue Economy’s annual turnover is US$3–6 trillion (UN), which some estimate will double by 2030, presents a growing opportunity for business and investment. In this episode, Dr Mike Abundo, CEO of OceanPixel, first offers a clear and detailed definition of the Blue Economy, its ecosystem, including ocean and marine clean energy, as well as the intersection with decarbonisation and the energy transition. Mike also discusses the data management and intelligence angle. We then move to...

The global carbon markets are an important source for funding the decarbonisation needed to mitigate the climate crisis. The compliance and the voluntary global carbon markets amount to almost US$1 trillion or so. They are set to grow dramatically. The smaller of the two, the voluntary one, will grow five-fold by 2030 from US$2 billion in 2022, Shell and BCG expect. China will be a key player in the growth given it has the world’s largest carbon market. Julien Hage from CICC Asset Management...

The Japanese government should be treating decarbonisation with the outmost importance and urgency.  It is one of the largest energy consumers in the world – fifth largest oil consumer for example –and it is almost totally reliant on fossil fuel imports. The authorities did set out a net zero road map which has been broadly criticised for not being robust. Our guest, Mika Ohbayashi of the Renewable Energy Institute in Japan, is uniquely qualified to discuss the government’s renewable energy...

 The Asian and global electric vehicle market is massive and growing fast. One of the many forecasts put the value of the sector to rise six-fold, to almost $1,110 billion by 2030 from about $180 million in 2021. Key to the growth of EVs, and thus to decarbonisation and the energy transition, is the charging and the companies that operate the charging infrastructure. Our guest is Vincent Yip, the Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Technologies Holdings Limited. The listed company...

The real estate sector accounts for about two-fifths of global carbon dioxide emissions meaning it plays a direct key role in decarbonisation and a major indirect role in the energy transition. This is something particularly important to Asia given the region has eight of the top ten largest urban agglomerations worldwide. Our first guest for 2023 is Johan Tellvik who is the CEO of ESG Real Estate Lab. He shares his experience and insights on the latest trends in real estate and smart cities...

In Episode 23, the last for 2022, we measure the current temperature of the energy transition in some key Asia economies with one of the region’s most experienced and respected energy economist and consultant, Mike Thomas. He explains how the region is rapidly transitioning today though it came very late in the game. He broadly talks about the great amount of investment interest and activity that he has been witnessing. Some of the selected countries discussed include Australia, India,...

It is a ideal time to take a temperature check of the state of sustainable finance in Asia as the year draws to an end. The episode’s guest is an expert in all things sustainable finance given his background and interactions with regulators, corporations, and investors. Tasos Zavitsanakis if the head of Sustainable Finance for Greater China at UBS’ APAC Sustainable Finance Office. We first define sustainable and transitional finance and then focus down on the evolution of this area in Asia....

Our guest is Jan Napiorkowski, global head of clean energy at Ariel Re. Jan first discusses his background and his work in insurance in clean energy, an area which is vital to sustainable finance. The elephant topic! Then we launch into two sections. In the first part of the episode, we look at some of the basics. Namely, the insurance and reinsurance of clean energy projects in the world in general and in Asia in particular. In the second part of the discussion, we take a deeper dive in the...

Welcome to the 20th episode. Our guest is Nicolas Leong from Wärtsilä Energy, based in Tokyo. We first discuss the company, a leading technology provider, as a case study of a firm heavily involved in the energy transition and decarbonization in Asia.  A firm which, amongst other things, is focused on grid balancing gas engines and energy storage systems. Nicolas also shares his thoughts and insights about Japan and the developments there on the clean energy front, as well as his thoughts on...

Andrew Koscharsky, Energy Markets Project Director at Australia’s Squadron Energy, shares his views on Singapore as a Asian clean energy hub at the operational level and at the sustainable finance levels. We compare and contrast two highly different clean energy markets Singapore and Australia and he evaluates key recent developments and challenges they each markets face. Other topics include LNG as part of the sustainability discussion as it is still the best firming capacity to help...

Brief yet comprehensive discussion on current developments in climate finance in mainland China, Hong Kong, in Taiwan. We first touch on the recent evolution of international Environmental and Social Performance Standards related to project financing. We then discuss what international banks require to make a project “bankable”. We talk about some of ERM’s experiences with companies and financial institutions and assess if there is a standard approach or methodology that companies can use on...

Southeast Asia is a massively important region given its population of almost 700 million and fast-growing energy consumption of 30 exajoules – the EU’s was 57 EJ. Many of the individual economies in the region are in the process of decarbonizing. Given the bulk of them are still developing, financing the energy transition is a crucial aspect. We discuss with one of the region’s thought leaders, John Yeap of Pinsent Masons, about three areas. We address, developments in regulatory consistency...

SUMMARY. We discuss with Fulvio Bartolucci the current state as well as the future of renewable energy trading in the world’s largest electric power market, China. Fulvio, a highly experienced industry participant and GM at Tera Energies, first provides his insights on the nation's energy transition from brown to green emphasising the country’s advantages and disadvantages in undertaking the transition. We then assess the current state of electricity trading and direct power sales in general,...

Summary. In-depth discussion with UBS Global Wealth Management’s Stephanie Choi about sustainable investing (SI) and finance. The discussion first puts SI into the global context as well as the regional one. Then Stephanie tackles SI products from a variety of perspective. Stephanie also clearly unpacks some of the SI critique which has been grabbing headlines recently and offered her insights as to what SI is supposed to do and what it cannot address. Other areas examined include corporates’...

Summary. Ep.14 is a comprehensive, insightful, and honest discussion on ESG and sustainable finance and investing with Matt Orsagh, a thought leader on the subject. It is a lively two-way chat covering all of the latest key trends and developments globally and putting Asia in the global context. Matt also honestly addresses why we are where we are and where we are going ESG-wise, including why it used to be easier and now it’s a lot more complex. He offers a rich array of insights and clearly...

Summary. Carbon finance and investing is a crucial area of development in climate and sustainable finance. Fund flows have been increasing exponentially and currently only the tip of the iceberg can be seen from the perspective of opportunities. It is a topic which is complex and, in some marketplaces, generates quite a bit of controversy. The Asia Climate Capital Podcast guest, Charles Bedford, unpacks carbon from the sustainable finance and investment perspective in general and in...

Summary. In episode 12 we go back to discuss Australia because of important recent developments in terms of clean energy policy as well as an ongoing energy crisis. Policy-wise the newly elected government is proving to be serious about shifting the energy system to a green and sustainable one. Crisis-wise, the nation has seen its national electricity market temporarily suspended, power supply failures and electricity prices have been skyrocketing. We discuss with our guest Rebecca Tilbrook...

Summary. In Ep11 we had the pleasure of chatting with a deeply experienced financier about the financing of clean energy projects around the world, Robert Todd from CIBC Capital Markets, a leading North American financial institutional with a global footprint.  He first touches on the key trends that he is experiencing in his day-to-day work and then digs in deeper into some of these areas, including the growing role of partnerships and also the shift for single assets investments to a more...

Summary.  The episode, recorded on June 16 20022, is an important discussion. It is about Australia evolving into a regional or even global clean energy leader from being a laggard. The Australian energy market may be small by Asian standards, but it has a leading global place in the energy markets. Innovation, ample capital, and a new clean energy-friendly government is going to change things quite a bit. The show’s guest is one of the region’s prominent thought leaders, Tim Buckley who...

Summary.  In this episode nine we focus on the relative success of the green drive adopted in Singapore. We tried to dig into the various business and finance aspects of the current state and the future outlook of Singapore’s transition towards a green and sustainable future. A transition which has been supported by government but also actively driven by local and international corporations. We first look at Singapore’s clean energy landscape and gauge the various government efforts,...

Summary. The podcast focuses on the challenges faced by private equity firms when investing in clean energy projects in Asia. Asia Renewable energy expert Fabian D’Avola provides is insights on some of the key current issues as well as his outlook on the issues. In the first part, Fabian details his background in the clean energy industry as well as introducing Glennmont Partners and the firm’s strategy in Asia. He then spotlights some key issues, including clean energy projects’ land usage,...

Summary.  The conversation started with a discussion on bankable nature solutions. These are financially viable projects which support the development of more climate resilient and sustainable landscapes and economies. Their bankability enables projects to accelerate scaling and replication, realizing large-scale positive impact on nature and communities (WWF). We then took a deep dive into public and  / or private financing examples and track record, as well as going through several examples...