Singapore unveils Hub to help scale ESG Fintechs through partnerships
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched a new hub to drive co-location and collaboration between environmental, social, governance (ESG) fintech startups and solution providers, financial institutions and real economy stakeholders.
Fifteen ESG fintechs and organizations are already set up on the ESG Hub including Equilibrium AI, an ESG management and reporting software provider, Japanese bank MUFG Bank and World Wide Generation (WWG)a sustainability insurance fintech company
Located at The Great Room in the Afro-Asia Building in Singapore, the Hub will support industry-driven sustainability initiatives, such as the Point Carbon Zero programme. That will also help KPMG‘s ESG Business Foundry, a six-month accelerator program specifically designed to scale ESG fintechs.
MAS will also continue to engage key stakeholders in building the Hub’s communities, fostering partnerships to improve the financial sector’s access to high-quality climate and sustainability data, to support more efficient deployment of capital to green and sustainable projects.
The Hub aims to drive Singapore’s ESG ecosystem in three ways
Growing ESG fintechs
The hub will facilitate the discovery, scaling and deployment of technology solutions to meet the ESG needs of businesses and financial institutions. This will focus on accurate measurement, reporting and verification of climate and sustainability data.
Anchoring ESG enablers
MAS will engage knowledge partners, financial institutions and investors to organize key ESG initiatives out of the Hub, such as ESG fintech accelerator programs, training and capacity building workshops and thought leadership events.
Support ESG stakeholders
MAS will engage the Hub community to deploy its programs and solutions to drive tangible, quantifiable impacts that support sectoral transition efforts, with particular emphasis on the eight focus sectors identified by Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT).
Future plans
According to MAS, the establishment of the ESG Impact Hub is a critical milestone in Project Greenprint’its journey to build a vibrant and robust ESG ecosystem in Singapore, underpinned by technology and data.
“This physical Hub will reinforce MAS’s plans to launch a digital Greenprint Marketplace next year to catalyze the growth of the region’s online ESG community; and will serve as the launch pad for public-private partnerships that support Asia’s just and sustainable transition to a low-carbon economy, ” so Dr Darian McBainhead of sustainability, MAS.
While, Manjula Lee, CEO and Founder of WWG, said: “WWG applauds MAS for helping to facilitate bringing together government, business and civil society to pool our talents and resources, work as one ecosystem and under one roof to accelerate delivery and financing a sustainable future.
“WWG was thrilled to be selected to power SGX’s ESGenome Disclosure Portal with the G17Eco platform, and is very excited to set up our ASEAN regional headquarters in Singapore out of Impact Hub. We look forward to
meet and work with the other Impact Hub members very soon.”
