Google Cloud Increases ESG in Asian Fintech with Updated Point Carbon Zero Program

Google Cloud introduces three key updates to the Point Carbon Zero program, including the formation of an advisory board, the launch of a climate finance accelerator and the introduction of more high-growth technology companies.

Google Cloud launched the program back in July, through a partnership with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The program seeks to catalyze the incubation and adoption of climate fintech solutions in Asia over the next three years.

The program’s latest updates, which were unveiled this week as part of the Singapore Fintech Festivalseek to advance the ambitions and scope of those achieving net zero in the region.

Here we discuss the updates and what they will mean for the program’s future capabilities.

Formation of the Point Carbon Zero Program Advisory Board

The first update includes the appointment of an advisory board, which will work together to guide the program’s strategy and ecosystem engagement initiatives.

The board consists of 12 senior employees in the region’s leading financial and technology companies, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and KPMG Singapore; among others.

The board’s committee deliberately consolidates sustainability and finance experts from the private sector, public service provision, academia and civil society.

This diversity reflects the integrative approach required to facilitate effective flows of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.

The board will design data-driven solutions and financial instruments to advance organizations’ decarbonisation agenda.

The board has played an important role in improving the mechanics of the Point Carbon Zero Climate Finance Accelerator and will serve as the program’s executive sponsors, mentors and judges.

Accelerator for climate finance

Organized by Google Cloud in collaboration with MAS and KPMG in Singapore, the first Climate Finance Accelerator aims to channel capital towards companies with market-ready climate fintech solutions.

It also seeks to facilitate financial institutions adopting these solutions to influence multinational corporations (MNCs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Accelerator actively seeks solutions developed by climate-aware fintechs to solve problem formulations created in collaboration with stakeholders

These problem statements reflect the following real challenges faced by financial institutions:

• Identify and quantify synergies and trade-offs between the social and environmental aspects of ESG, so that organizations can more effectively access and use transition finance.
• Leverage retrospective and prospective datasets to help organizations create achievable, science-based transition pathways that can be assessed against codified taxonomies.
• Standardizing the calculation, verification and publication of carbon emissions data across industries to allow customers – especially those in hard-to-reduce sectors – to monitor and manage their funded emissions.
• Automating the resource-intensive process of collecting validated carbon emissions data from an MNC client and its suppliers, so that a relationship manager can make an effective and reliable assessment of how the client is doing against its net zero commitments.
• Integrating ESG impact analysis into employee performance metrics to drive actions that reduce carbon emissions across an organization and its supply chain.
• Enables relationship managers to provide SMEs with tailored financing solutions linked to their implementation of sustainable business practices.

All eligible applicants will be given the opportunity to use cloud computing credit of up to $100,000, each year for two years, under the Google for Startups Cloud program.

By January 2023, up to 15 finalists will be shortlisted and matched with problem statement owners for a six-week program.

During this six-week pairing, the finalists will work to improve their solutions; receive mentorship from the board and Google Cloud’s technical subject matter experts.

Once polished, the finalists will present their solutions to the board, problem statement owners, venture capital and asset management firms and Google Cloud’s technology ecosystem partners at a demo day hosted at the Google Singapore campus.

The demo day will be followed by industry engagement sessions between the finalists and financial institutions at the newly launched ESG Impact Hub.

Submissions to the Accelerator will be open until 3 December this year.

“No organization can solve complex and ever-evolving challenges like climate change on its own,” comments Dr Darian McBainMAS’s special advisor for the Point Carbon Zero programme.

“Collaboration and partnerships are critical, whether it’s getting granular ESG data to understand issues unique to this region, or addressing problem statements about where and how sustainable finance can drive change,” McBain continues.

Anton Ruddenclawpartner and global head of innovation for financial services at KPMG International, added: “It is encouraging that companies around the world, particularly in Singapore, have stepped up their sustainability efforts.

“A greater push for a significant transition to a net zero economy will require businesses and financial institutions to collaborate in new ways to develop robust ecosystems capable of system-wide transformation.”

Build and scale digital offerings on carbon-neutral cloud infrastructure

Technology firms that provide digital solutions to drive economic inclusion or sustainable development in various ways are also joining the Point Carbon Zero program to scale their offerings using Google Cloud’s carbon-neutral infrastructure and services.

By migrating critical IT workloads and applications to the cloud, businesses will inherit Google Cloud’s carbon neutrality and improve their sustainability profiles.

They include:

• AgriG8an agri-fintech platform that connects institutional lenders with the underserved smallholder farming community.
• Catchan application that helps consumers track and reduce the carbon footprint associated with their daily lifestyle activities.
• Climate impact Xa marketplace and exchange for high-quality environmental credits.
• Fandoa tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) platform and marketplace for content creators to take part in the business decisions of sports brands.
• ZA Techan insurance company that enables traditional insurers and digital lifestyle platforms to offer digital insurance solutions to consumers.

“Southeast Asia is one of the regions most exposed to the risks and impacts of climate change, and its digital economy is estimated to produce 20 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030, according to the latest e-Conomy SEA 2022 report,” said Sherry NgCountry Director, Singapore and Malaysia, Google Cloud.

Ng also serves as chair of the Point Carbon Zero Program Advisory Board.

“Through the Point Carbon Zero programme, we are making a concerted effort to direct capital flows towards sustainability projects in Asia and deliver digitization solutions that minimize – or reverse – this environmental impact.

“Digital transformation and decarbonisation can happen in tandem and at scale as congruent imperatives in every organisation.”