Singapore’s academics and industry should work with the government to improve regulation and skills around sustainable finance, says Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Speaking at the seventh annual Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI) conference on Sept 2, Heng lists three areas that these parties can work together to advance sustainable finance.
The first area is to develop better definitions and outcome measures of sustainable finance. This reduces the risks of greenwashing, and helps guide companies and investors in decision-making, says Heng at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
“Taxonomies which define sustainable activities are the foundation of this. I am glad that efforts are underway to align these taxonomies across jurisdictions, including between Singapore, China and the EU. This will facilitate cross-border transactions by financial institutions in these jurisdictions,” he adds.
Secondly, input from academia and the industry will help the government create regulation that attracts sustainable finance flows while keeping costs low for companies, says Heng.
“For example, we have seen an increase in sustainability disclosure regulations in many jurisdictions, with some countries looking to progressively implement the International Sustainability Standards Board’s disclosure standards over the next few years,” he adds. “By working together, we could better develop reporting frameworks that are simple yet effective.”
See also: Large private companies must report annual climate-related disclosures from FY2027: Acra, SGX RegCo
Singapore’s listed issuers will be required to report annual climate-related disclosures aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) standards starting FY2025. Large private companies in Singapore with annual revenue of at least $1 billion and with total assets of at least $500 million will be required to do the same from FY2027.
Finally, Singapore’s financial professionals must uplift their skills and broaden the country’s talent base, says Heng. “While definitions, outcome measures and regulation are important, ultimately, any system is operated by people.”
The government announced in April that it will invest $35 million over the next three years to upskill and reskill finance professionals, as part of Singapore’s Sustainable Finance Jobs Transformation Map. This includes expanding the range of sustainable finance training courses for working professionals, undergraduate and polytechnic students, says Heng.
See also: SGFC co-director hopes new sustainable finance courses can deter ‘competence-washing’
“I encourage all of us here to develop new teaching modalities to make sustainable finance more accessible,” Heng adds. “For example, the Singapore Green Finance Centre leveraged SMU’s teaching infrastructure to deliver executive courses and provide a Massive Open Online Course that is open to the public.”
London’s Imperial College Business School and SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business launched the Singapore Green Finance Centre (SGFC) in 2020. Created with support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and nine financial institutions, it is Singapore’s first research institute dedicated to green finance research and talent development.
SMU’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is titled “Introduction to Sustainability & Sustainable Finance”. Its three modules feature interviews with over 20 subject matter experts, including key members of SGFC’s nine founding partners, such as Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Schroders, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS; along with representatives from the Singapore Exchange S68 , Blackrock and DBS.
According to SMU President, Professor Lily Kong, over 500 people have completed the MOOC.
GRASFI is an agreement by more than 20 universities worldwide to promote and share high-quality research in sustainable finance. Member universities include Yale University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Imperial College London and the University of Oxford. The previous edition of GRASFI was held at Yale University in Connecticut, US, in August 2023.
This is the first time GRASFI has convened in person in Asia. Over three days, the seventh edition of the conference — themed “Fostering credible transition, creating sustainable impact” — will showcase 45 paper presentations, shortlisted from a record number of 220 submitted papers.
SMU will present two papers, which explore the effects of a divergence in ESG reporting and how ESG incidents impact fundraising in private equity.
Sustainability and sustainable finance is a complex and fast-evolving field, says Heng. “We must continue to push the boundaries of our knowledge and deepen the capabilities of our industry. This will require us to bring together multidisciplinary research and real-life application, and bridge the varied fields of science, technology, economics and finance… Through research networks like GRASFI, we can bring together the best minds around the world, to explore, to learn and to share and learn.”
